@Eric Southard Last Summer Sadly. His wife and Co authors have taken control of the series. They're rumors of a continuation to complete the main series of the Ottoman Saga from his manuscripts, and the co authors will finish their side series like Russia and a potential West Africa series.
I am one of the multitude of Grantville Gazette authors. It was both an honor and a privilege to be accepted and published in the Grantville Gazette. It was my very first foray into the world of authorship, and I sincerely appreciate the leg up that Eric Flint provided for so many other people, myself included!
This video touches on it, but doesn't address explicitly: Eric Flint was notably, remarkably generous. With his time, with his success, and with his energy. I got the privilege of seeing him at general SciFi fan conventions in Illinois several times, and he was always whip-smart, not just in his analysis of history, but in his understanding of how the publishing industry worked. Speaking of history: I ran into him in a hallway at one of those cons a little over a year ago, and I took the opportunity to thank him for what he created. I mentioned one scene from "1633" (the first of the subsequent sequels), and his eyes lit up as he explained how he based it on an actual event that happened several hundred years later. A wonderful moment.
1632 really needs to be at least a graphic novel, and a miniseries. We are in desperate need of originality instead of all the reboots and milking we have now.
I read 1632 when it first came out, and have been a huge fan ever since. You learn so much about world history in that era, just through osmosis, by reading these books and immersing yourself in Eric Flint's universe. I hope they find a way to consider this fascinating experience.
The first time I read 1632, I read it three times in a row. It's still my favorite series and I've reread it countless times since. RIP Mr Eric Flint.😢
Can’t say I was a big fan of 1632. I always preferred Island in the Sea of Time. However, I always had a deep respect for Flint. I always liked how he put his money where his mouth was, and opened his world up to the fans, and allowed them to be part of his creation. Not many other writers can say that.
This series 1632, is the first series that I found that portrayed union members and unions in a positive light. Because I am a leftist progressive trade union activist, finding this author and series was a revelation to me. It, in fact, rekindled my love of SF and fantasy. I owe a huge debt to Eric Flynt. May he Rest in Power. Educate, Agitate, Organize!
I only just now learned from this that he'd died, but Flint was probably my favorite author, I've reread the Belisarius series five or six times, and the first three books from 1632 at least four times. I'll really miss knowing htat hes was out there working on more stories :(
Im more surprised that as far as can see their isnt a Single assault rifle in grant, more than enough bolt action, lether Action or semi automatic rilfe as well a ine m16, but no ARs🤨
@@chheinrich8486 No surprise on my part. I'm from a small, rural community. When 1632 was first published in 2000 I can't think of a single person in the county that owned an AR-15 at that time. That changed a few years later and people started getting them. Now you'd probably find them in about 90% of the homes.
@@chheinrich8486 For further edification, the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act aka the Federal Assault Weapons Ban was in effect from 1994 to 2004. While AR-15s were not fully illegal, they were of limited popularity untill after 2004.
I can only assume some of the financial and copyright issues surrounding Flint's passing are being resolved, as Bjorn Hasseler just said on YT that they are working on the next issue of the Grantville Gazette right now. I don't expect the 1632 universe to die at this point, as you imply. I think too many people are interested in it, and there's still a market for it. I hope Flint's widow will see fair compensation for any publications going forward, but I expect it to continue.
To clarify, the Gazette closed after 102 issues, but Eric Flint's 1632 & Beyond has just published its first issue. Short fiction in the 1632verse is back. -Bjorn
As a semi driver that gnaws through audiobooks (sometimes 6-8 hours at a day) I’ll give this series a shot, as they’re available in my library. Thanks!
I hold a job that allows me to listen to audiobooms while I work. I have read and reread most every book and magazine issue outside of those which are no longer avaliable due to the fallout of the death of Flint and his publishing house. However the once lost works are being republished through verying means. Only a few are only worth reading once. Some books can be a slog the first time. The massive casts and the connections between individuals and families can make certain books can be overwhelming but this just adds to the depth and realism of the works as well as furthering the theme of The People's history as opposed to the Great Man theory of history that underpins the series.
What is weird is the book has been available for free since I think 2005,But Flint was still making royalties as of 2019 from the book. I think he said it was four figures of royalties during Dragoncon 2019.
It's really not fair to call Baen a right wing publisher. Jim Baen wanted to publish good stories and great stories, the politics weren't important. He didn't recruit and mentor authors of a certain political stripe, he looked for talent. Eric Flint wrote a great book, that's all that really mattered.
Jim Baen was largely apolitical. What made him different is that he CONTINUED to stay apolitical, not allowing politics to sway the editorial filters of his company. (Still true today).
Yep. And Flint's 1632 was also largely apolitical, more about the hardworking little guy instead of big heroes, which is why it resonated with so many people
Something that I feel might not get as much representation as it deserves: As much as I love 1632, I love 1633 and 1634: The Baltic War even more. I don’t know if it was because of David Weber’s involvement or some other factor, but I feel like the following books do a much better job of providing a more…I guess, “humanized”? depiction of various other sides of the political and religious spectrum. Just one example: In 1632, John Simpson is basically Mr. Burns. In later books, he evolves into one of my favorite characters in the series. He leans fairly conservative in the 20th century American sense of the term, but the later books do much more to flesh him out beyond just “arrogant CEO evil bad man”. By 1634: The Baltic War, he’s fully evolved into a more “hard but fair/asshole with a heart of gold” kind of character. His interactions with Mike Stearns as the two of them come to terms with this new world they’ve been dumped into and their respective roles in it are some of my favorite parts.
@willrogers3793 My understanding is Eric Flint wrote 1632 thinking it would be a single book, so many of the characters are caricatures. I agree that turning Simpson into a real person was a great move.
@@willrogers3793 I love John Simpson - great character. Looking forward to his Navy taking on the Ottomans in the Mediterranean. Published soon, I hope.
When I read "Time Traveling Hillbillies Save Europe," I didn't expect "union miners ignore an isolationist proposal to shelter refugees in the middle of a war and ensure religious tolerance". The term "hillbilly" sure is more flexible than we usually give it credit for. 5:30: Speaking as an American, even if the average resident of a small town owns _maybe_ one gun, it doesn't take a lot of -gun nuts- firearm enthusiasts to drive the average through the roof. 12:40: It's rarely a good thing to put your novel in the same category as a Roland Emmerich film, and practically never in the case of _Anonymous._
Whoever said that having an accident of guns was unrealistic for this story he has obviously never been to West Virginia I actually thought there wasn't enough machine guns. I personally know at least four people in that town that have both class 3 ffls and DDL for Europeans that's a federal firearms license and destructive device license, that allows us to own the really really big guns.
Yep. Anyone thinking there were too many guns has never been around gun owners. Most people don't go talking about what they have openly with people they don't go shooting with or know well, for the same reason you don't talk to strangers about your financials or jewelry collection.
Ive long liked this series, I stumbled across it in the library years ago and then kind of fell into the series. I read pretty much every paper back in the series that I could get my hands on at my local library. Though considering Flint's backstory, some of the comments I've seen online about him are quite surprising. There are all sorts of people online who call him a right-wing extremist for writing the way he did. And considering he's a union man and apparently was part of the American Communist party, it's kind of surprising on people's reaction to his work. The one thing I've wondered for a while now is what happens with the various invasive species from granville? Now in the book Second Chance bird and the bird Lady of Grantville they do talk about birds and they mentioned raccoons being a past, but there are a couple frogs and turtles that could really become invasive if not handled carefully. And there might be some coyotes as well, and they can become a problem too.
To be clear he was part of the Socialist Workers Party, not the American Communist party. As for why people think of that, most people don't dive into an author's backstory that much so their opinions may be based on a) the reputation his publisher has and b) how other writers in the 1632 timeline impacted the story. For example, the character of John Simpson who I briefly mentioned in this video got rehabilitated in later novels. Not sure how much of this was Flint's doing or whether, as some have speculated, other authors didn't want the one CEO to be a bad guy. If I ever do my 1632 full chronology video I will try to find out more.
@@TheAlternateHistorian got it. Also, if you want the opinion of a random person on the internet, I would watch your chronology of this series or any other further episodes discussing the books or the 100 plus editions of the Grantville Gazette
The Socialist Workers Party, actually. The SWP was the "official" Trotskyist party in the USA, but Flint wasn't among the relatively orthodox Trotskyists who were purged in the late 70's and early 80's by Jack Barnes, the SWP's chairman. You can see the SWP's "workerism" - an orientation towards blue collar workers, especially in the "big battalions of labor" (if I'm remembering the phrase correctly) in manufacturing and mining - in the 1632 series (I used to characterize the SWP's love of flannel shirts and blue jeans as being "prolier than thou"). In his Trail of Glory series, you can see the SWP's flirtation with black nationalism put into practice in the Arkansas Confederation. I think Flint's nods towards the relative success of the American dream in 1632, his paean towards the American public high school, for instance, and the fact that so many of his characters are relatively mainstream, apolitical or conservative, and actively Christian, has drawn conservatives to the series, and made liberals and progressives more hesitant, even with the presence of Melissa Mailey and Mike Stearns. And the fact that Flint is so good at writing military action is another draw for fans of military SF and military fiction, who I believe tend to be more politically conservative.
@@TheAlternateHistorian David Weber would be the person to ask about John Simpson, since he wrote the short story "In the Navy" in the first "Ring of Fire" anthology and co-wrote "1633" with Flint. Weber was originally supposed to co-write a sub-series with Flint focused on the USE Navy and, if memory serves, it's fight to end the slave trade before it really took off. My guess is that you'll find that Weber says Flint didn't have a problem with making John and Mary Simpson multi-dimensional and, ultimately, decent human beings. I mean, hell, if Flint could warm up to Andrew Jackson like he did in the Trail of Glory series, he could probably find the humanity in even the CEO of a petrochemical multinational.
If they had made it 15 to 20 years ago, shortly after the first few books had been published, I think Gerard Butler would have made an excellent Mike Stearns, and Natalie Portman a fine Rebecca Abrabanel.
Imagine the costs involved though. Locations, costumes, language would play a major role as well. The underlying politics is also something I could see being objected to by corporate sponsors and or bungled by producers and one off directors. The series is awesome in its writing but it lacks character drama i.e. cheating, disloyalty or misunderstandings driving filler side stories. Plenty of sex happens just off screen and a bit on but the only Channel I could see picking it up is AMC but it would have to be a tent-poll series.
@@davidfoster7034 I was at the 1632 Minicon at LibertyCon in Raleigh, NC a few months ago, and someone mentioned that some production arm of the BBC owns the TV rights.
This video got me to listen to the free audiobooks. Amazing in detail and research and realistic outcomes like World War Z if you liked that boon read this one. Only complaint is the author(s) describing every supporting cast woman's breasts 5 times before we learn the main character's hair color. Just skip those parts you wont miss anything
I missed the plot point where Shakespeare didn't write the works attributed to him. Which book was that in? Was that one of the core novels actually authored by Flint? Many books were either co-authored or not written by Flint at all.
@@erikawhelan4673 Flint later allowed that to be walked back in a couple of stories in the Grantville Gazette. Shakespeare's...nephews, I think...survive the plague, or whatever killed them in real life, and make their way to Grantville. They resent the story going around that their relative didn't write the plays attributed to him, and I think it's even written that Dr. Abrabanel walks back his contention that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, was the true author of the plays, or at least the great ones. And since all stories published in the GG were considered canon, the authorship of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets is now either settled in favor of the Bard of Avon, or at least in question again.
I read 1632 and a couple of the sequels. I stopped for the same reasons the expansive universe is so large it gets tedious to read. Also as a conservative I enjoyed the book. It was great sci-fi yeah the author throws in some of his own politics but not a major part of the book.
i love this book series and anyone who is a true american would support the united mine workers of america and all unions! ITS NOT COMMUNISM TO BE PART OF A UNION.
Did they bring the contemporary understanding of nationalism back with them? American constitutional ideals are one thing, but that nationalism could be pretty disastrous if transported to a world of feudal landlordism.
Flint discusses it a bit, and notes that the beginnings of German nationalism, for instance, are being stirred by the changes Grantville brought. And he has Mike Stearns, I think, specifically say that one of his goals is to direct German nationalism away from what it would have ultimately led to. But in the six or so years that the series has so far covered, 1631-1637, I wouldn't say that nationalism has become a particular ideological or political force anywhere.
@@CraftsmanOfAwsomenes Yeah, there are quotes from scholarly works of the alternative future looking back at the Ring of Fire and its impact on the worlds of music - the banjo as a symphonic instrument, for instance - and mathematics, but Flint always emphasized that he wanted to show how complex the real world is through this series, so you had story lines taking place in China, the Indian subcontinent, Russia, the Caribbean and different parts of North America, and those were just the stories that Flint himself was helping to write, as other authors were covering other countries and parts of the world. It's so bizarre to think that the series has been going for over 20 years now, but has only managed to cover six to seven years since the ROF.
@@King.Leonidas If you define nationalism down to the city-state level, or even down to the level of a village or town, you might be able to say that nationalism has always existed. But to say that nationalism as a mass phenomenon, as opposed to an intellectual one, has always existed, and done so at the level of the nation-state, would be questionable.
It’s interesting that you have someone identify as a communist but also portray a lot of the American ideals in a positive light, especially for 1600s Europe where the enlightenment was still a little ways off.
He is an American leftist after all. For as much as people on the right claim to live our country, they can hardly find anything positive to say about it now. Actually knowing and appreciating your country requires finding then admitting its faults, which is something the left is great at
According to communist thought liberalism is progressive in comparison to feudalism and must supplant feudalism and form capitalism for history to move forward
@@valentinaaugustina The problem is, the left does not stop there, they often go on and start claiming absolutelt everthing is wrong, then change it and then often time's it end's up even worse
Yep. In fact there was a plot point about whether or not they should lock it up and guard it or let the information out. They decide to let the information out and people from literally all over Europe stop by. And not only did they have a town library, they also had a school library and that's not even taking into account the privately owned books ( another plot point ).
Several: the town library and various school libraries, plus personal collections books, magazines, and whatnot. Some of the subsequent stories get into how they use those as the building blocks for a wide-ranging research library (and others briefly touch upon it)
That's one of the first points I make when I introduce the book and the series to people, that all of a sudden, this dying West Virginia mining town has one of the biggest, if not the biggest, libraries in the world in its high school library!
@@cka2nd to be fair, I remember my own high school having quite a large library. It was a Two story building, and baring a single a/v equipment storage closet, was completely dedicated to books, both fiction and non-fiction.
@@aco319sig3 That's definitely bigger than my high school library, which at the time was located in an old New York City school building. My apologies if my comment came across as an insult to small towns; I didn't mean it as such.
You shouldn't be so sure that people would adopt the concepts of freedom, democracy and liberty just because they're presented to them. The Americans tried that in Afghanistan, yet religious zealots refused the idea of not imposing their ideas on others and most of the rest declined to fight for a democratic system, even though it would have been better than the alternative they ended up with. Old ways of thinking aren't abandoned for "better ideas" as readily as we might wish they could be.
OK but these people are mostly poor farmers with no rights or property. In Afghanistan they had everything they wanted and just wanted to be left alone. Wanted neither communism or democracy.
Those concepts weren't new in the German lands in 1631 either. What the Grantvillers brought were ways of organizing them and a tradition of them working. Plus enough firepower to keep it safe until it got off the ground.
That point is touched on a couple of times through the many works that make up the whole series. It's partly from the disruptions of the ongoing war that give Grantville the "space" to do it. If it had dropped someplace more organized and Grantvillers had less in common with who they encountered -- say, China or Czarist Russia or the Ottoman Empire -- the larger entities would have surrounded and squashed them. But that's not much of a story.
@@worldofdoom995 Some of the people in Afghanistan were interested in modernization and/or communism and/or capitalism and/or some version of democracy and/or republicanism, and some, especially the powers that be in the rural and mountainous regions, weren't.
Not my cup of tea. I think it's a wholly American story which doesn't travel far past it's shores. It's like the 2nd amendment, no one understands that outside the U.S.
"Out of curiosity, if i challenged to a honor duel what would you choose for weapons?"
"10lb sledge hammers."
On of the best exchanges of the whole series!
Rip Eric Flint my favorite author of my favorite book series of all time. The world and community he created is the best of any fiction I've seen.
He died?! 😨
@Eric Southard Last Summer Sadly. His wife and Co authors have taken control of the series. They're rumors of a continuation to complete the main series of the Ottoman Saga from his manuscripts, and the co authors will finish their side series like Russia and a potential West Africa series.
@@chrisgarbutt1893 man…I just…I can’t believe it took me so long to find out.
Did he die as a dumb patriot, or did he realize the error of his ways?
I am one of the multitude of Grantville Gazette authors. It was both an honor and a privilege to be accepted and published in the Grantville Gazette.
It was my very first foray into the world of authorship, and I sincerely appreciate the leg up that Eric Flint provided for so many other people, myself included!
Thank you for your contribution, Airborne.
325 !
You know if 1632
ever been a TV series it would has a leg up because they had so many writers
Me too
This video touches on it, but doesn't address explicitly: Eric Flint was notably, remarkably generous. With his time, with his success, and with his energy. I got the privilege of seeing him at general SciFi fan conventions in Illinois several times, and he was always whip-smart, not just in his analysis of history, but in his understanding of how the publishing industry worked.
Speaking of history: I ran into him in a hallway at one of those cons a little over a year ago, and I took the opportunity to thank him for what he created. I mentioned one scene from "1633" (the first of the subsequent sequels), and his eyes lit up as he explained how he based it on an actual event that happened several hundred years later. A wonderful moment.
P
1632 really needs to be at least a graphic novel, and a miniseries. We are in desperate need of originality instead of all the reboots and milking we have now.
I read 1632 when it first came out, and have been a huge fan ever since. You learn so much about world history in that era, just through osmosis, by reading these books and immersing yourself in Eric Flint's universe. I hope they find a way to consider this fascinating experience.
The first time I read 1632, I read it three times in a row. It's still my favorite series and I've reread it countless times since. RIP Mr Eric Flint.😢
Can’t say I was a big fan of 1632. I always preferred Island in the Sea of Time. However, I always had a deep respect for Flint. I always liked how he put his money where his mouth was, and opened his world up to the fans, and allowed them to be part of his creation. Not many other writers can say that.
I read and heard the entire Ring fo fire series and it doesnt get hard to read, because of all the lore, it gets cooler because of it
This series 1632, is the first series that I found that portrayed union members and unions in a positive light. Because I am a leftist progressive trade union activist, finding this author and series was a revelation to me. It, in fact, rekindled my love of SF and fantasy. I owe a huge debt to Eric Flynt. May he Rest in Power.
Educate,
Agitate,
Organize!
Based as hell bro
Interesting history they have
I only just now learned from this that he'd died, but Flint was probably my favorite author, I've reread the Belisarius series five or six times, and the first three books from 1632 at least four times. I'll really miss knowing htat hes was out there working on more stories :(
Unusual number of guns? I always thought 1632 didn't show enough guns in the stockpiles of people.
Im more surprised that as far as can see their isnt a Single assault rifle in grant, more than enough bolt action, lether Action or semi automatic rilfe as well a ine m16, but no ARs🤨
@@chheinrich8486 No surprise on my part. I'm from a small, rural community. When 1632 was first published in 2000 I can't think of a single person in the county that owned an AR-15 at that time. That changed a few years later and people started getting them. Now you'd probably find them in about 90% of the homes.
@@travislogan1482 oh thanks, the qay of listened to the whole series on audible and its awesome, i am not at all overwelmed by the lore
@@chheinrich8486 For further edification, the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act aka the Federal Assault Weapons Ban was in effect from 1994 to 2004. While AR-15s were not fully illegal, they were of limited popularity untill after 2004.
I can only assume some of the financial and copyright issues surrounding Flint's passing are being resolved, as Bjorn Hasseler just said on YT that they are working on the next issue of the Grantville Gazette right now. I don't expect the 1632 universe to die at this point, as you imply. I think too many people are interested in it, and there's still a market for it. I hope Flint's widow will see fair compensation for any publications going forward, but I expect it to continue.
To clarify, the Gazette closed after 102 issues, but Eric Flint's 1632 & Beyond has just published its first issue. Short fiction in the 1632verse is back. -Bjorn
@@bjornhasseler5209 Yes sir! I subscribed immediately when it premiered. Thanks so much.
As a semi driver that gnaws through audiobooks (sometimes 6-8 hours at a day) I’ll give this series a shot, as they’re available in my library. Thanks!
I hold a job that allows me to listen to audiobooms while I work. I have read and reread most every book and magazine issue outside of those which are no longer avaliable due to the fallout of the death of Flint and his publishing house. However the once lost works are being republished through verying means.
Only a few are only worth reading once. Some books can be a slog the first time. The massive casts and the connections between individuals and families can make certain books can be overwhelming but this just adds to the depth and realism of the works as well as furthering the theme of The People's history as opposed to the Great Man theory of history that underpins the series.
Literally started listening to this on audiobook a couple days ago!
I think I found a new favorite series to plunge into.
Edit: I’m already on part 2.
me too, if part 2 means the sequel 1633
6:37 his exact words were “his plan is upside down and ass backwards!” 😂
This would make killer miniseries!
What is weird is the book has been available for free since I think 2005,But Flint was still making royalties as of 2019 from the book. I think he said it was four figures of royalties during Dragoncon 2019.
Didn't know there was so much to this and Flint's personal story, thank you for this video!
I really wish I could hear the Ring of Fire version of Sabaton, that would be frickin’ epic!
It's really not fair to call Baen a right wing publisher. Jim Baen wanted to publish good stories and great stories, the politics weren't important. He didn't recruit and mentor authors of a certain political stripe, he looked for talent. Eric Flint wrote a great book, that's all that really mattered.
Jim Baen was largely apolitical. What made him different is that he CONTINUED to stay apolitical, not allowing politics to sway the editorial filters of his company. (Still true today).
Yep. And Flint's 1632 was also largely apolitical, more about the hardworking little guy instead of big heroes, which is why it resonated with so many people
Something that I feel might not get as much representation as it deserves:
As much as I love 1632, I love 1633 and 1634: The Baltic War even more. I don’t know if it was because of David Weber’s involvement or some other factor, but I feel like the following books do a much better job of providing a more…I guess, “humanized”? depiction of various other sides of the political and religious spectrum.
Just one example: In 1632, John Simpson is basically Mr. Burns. In later books, he evolves into one of my favorite characters in the series. He leans fairly conservative in the 20th century American sense of the term, but the later books do much more to flesh him out beyond just “arrogant CEO evil bad man”. By 1634: The Baltic War, he’s fully evolved into a more “hard but fair/asshole with a heart of gold” kind of character. His interactions with Mike Stearns as the two of them come to terms with this new world they’ve been dumped into and their respective roles in it are some of my favorite parts.
@willrogers3793
My understanding is Eric Flint wrote 1632 thinking it would be a single book, so many of the characters are caricatures. I agree that turning Simpson into a real person was a great move.
@@willrogers3793 I love John Simpson - great character. Looking forward to his Navy taking on the Ottomans in the Mediterranean. Published soon, I hope.
Thanks!
I still remember reading the first book. It’s pretty wild
I love this series.
Great review!
When I read "Time Traveling Hillbillies Save Europe," I didn't expect "union miners ignore an isolationist proposal to shelter refugees in the middle of a war and ensure religious tolerance". The term "hillbilly" sure is more flexible than we usually give it credit for.
5:30: Speaking as an American, even if the average resident of a small town owns _maybe_ one gun, it doesn't take a lot of -gun nuts- firearm enthusiasts to drive the average through the roof.
12:40: It's rarely a good thing to put your novel in the same category as a Roland Emmerich film, and practically never in the case of _Anonymous._
Great series with a strongly synchronized fan fic.
I hope the series continues with a curator.
1632 is a pretty good novel.
Whoever said that having an accident of guns was unrealistic for this story he has obviously never been to West Virginia I actually thought there wasn't enough machine guns. I personally know at least four people in that town that have both class 3 ffls and DDL for Europeans that's a federal firearms license and destructive device license, that allows us to own the really really big guns.
Yep. Anyone thinking there were too many guns has never been around gun owners. Most people don't go talking about what they have openly with people they don't go shooting with or know well, for the same reason you don't talk to strangers about your financials or jewelry collection.
KEEP BLOODY READING IT!
12:30 thank you it's so hard to find a proper time travel novel. the only one I've found was 1930s one. and i spoiled that one
As a rural American I have to say, the number of guns is completely normal.
Ive long liked this series, I stumbled across it in the library years ago and then kind of fell into the series. I read pretty much every paper back in the series that I could get my hands on at my local library.
Though considering Flint's backstory, some of the comments I've seen online about him are quite surprising. There are all sorts of people online who call him a right-wing extremist for writing the way he did. And considering he's a union man and apparently was part of the American Communist party, it's kind of surprising on people's reaction to his work.
The one thing I've wondered for a while now is what happens with the various invasive species from granville? Now in the book Second Chance bird and the bird Lady of Grantville they do talk about birds and they mentioned raccoons being a past, but there are a couple frogs and turtles that could really become invasive if not handled carefully. And there might be some coyotes as well, and they can become a problem too.
To be clear he was part of the Socialist Workers Party, not the American Communist party.
As for why people think of that, most people don't dive into an author's backstory that much so their opinions may be based on a) the reputation his publisher has and b) how other writers in the 1632 timeline impacted the story. For example, the character of John Simpson who I briefly mentioned in this video got rehabilitated in later novels. Not sure how much of this was Flint's doing or whether, as some have speculated, other authors didn't want the one CEO to be a bad guy.
If I ever do my 1632 full chronology video I will try to find out more.
@@TheAlternateHistorian got it. Also, if you want the opinion of a random person on the internet, I would watch your chronology of this series or any other further episodes discussing the books or the 100 plus editions of the Grantville Gazette
The Socialist Workers Party, actually. The SWP was the "official" Trotskyist party in the USA, but Flint wasn't among the relatively orthodox Trotskyists who were purged in the late 70's and early 80's by Jack Barnes, the SWP's chairman. You can see the SWP's "workerism" - an orientation towards blue collar workers, especially in the "big battalions of labor" (if I'm remembering the phrase correctly) in manufacturing and mining - in the 1632 series (I used to characterize the SWP's love of flannel shirts and blue jeans as being "prolier than thou"). In his Trail of Glory series, you can see the SWP's flirtation with black nationalism put into practice in the Arkansas Confederation.
I think Flint's nods towards the relative success of the American dream in 1632, his paean towards the American public high school, for instance, and the fact that so many of his characters are relatively mainstream, apolitical or conservative, and actively Christian, has drawn conservatives to the series, and made liberals and progressives more hesitant, even with the presence of Melissa Mailey and Mike Stearns. And the fact that Flint is so good at writing military action is another draw for fans of military SF and military fiction, who I believe tend to be more politically conservative.
@@cka2nd got it.
@@TheAlternateHistorian David Weber would be the person to ask about John Simpson, since he wrote the short story "In the Navy" in the first "Ring of Fire" anthology and co-wrote "1633" with Flint. Weber was originally supposed to co-write a sub-series with Flint focused on the USE Navy and, if memory serves, it's fight to end the slave trade before it really took off. My guess is that you'll find that Weber says Flint didn't have a problem with making John and Mary Simpson multi-dimensional and, ultimately, decent human beings. I mean, hell, if Flint could warm up to Andrew Jackson like he did in the Trail of Glory series, he could probably find the humanity in even the CEO of a petrochemical multinational.
6:10 I can’t find that map online. Where did you find it?
Well That’s Unique
The books were great. I always hopped someone would make a TV show out of them.
If they had made it 15 to 20 years ago, shortly after the first few books had been published, I think Gerard Butler would have made an excellent Mike Stearns, and Natalie Portman a fine Rebecca Abrabanel.
Imagine the costs involved though. Locations, costumes, language would play a major role as well. The underlying politics is also something I could see being objected to by corporate sponsors and or bungled by producers and one off directors.
The series is awesome in its writing but it lacks character drama i.e. cheating, disloyalty or misunderstandings driving filler side stories.
Plenty of sex happens just off screen and a bit on but the only Channel I could see picking it up is AMC but it would have to be a tent-poll series.
@@davidfoster7034 I was at the 1632 Minicon at LibertyCon in Raleigh, NC a few months ago, and someone mentioned that some production arm of the BBC owns the TV rights.
@@cka2nd This causes emotion. Not certain what emotion just emotion.
This video got me to listen to the free audiobooks. Amazing in detail and research and realistic outcomes like World War Z if you liked that boon read this one. Only complaint is the author(s) describing every supporting cast woman's breasts 5 times before we learn the main character's hair color. Just skip those parts you wont miss anything
Didn't Flint and his co-writers take the entire census of Grantville and assign names to each and every person in the town?
The- Thank you!that's maazing , see u around,
I missed the plot point where Shakespeare didn't write the works attributed to him. Which book was that in? Was that one of the core novels actually authored by Flint? Many books were either co-authored or not written by Flint at all.
It was in 1632 itself. ericflint.fandom.com/wiki/William_Shakespeare
@@TheAlternateHistorian I realized that after I re-watched. It's been ages since I read it, so no big surprise that i forgot about it.
@@erikawhelan4673 Flint later allowed that to be walked back in a couple of stories in the Grantville Gazette. Shakespeare's...nephews, I think...survive the plague, or whatever killed them in real life, and make their way to Grantville. They resent the story going around that their relative didn't write the plays attributed to him, and I think it's even written that Dr. Abrabanel walks back his contention that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, was the true author of the plays, or at least the great ones. And since all stories published in the GG were considered canon, the authorship of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets is now either settled in favor of the Bard of Avon, or at least in question again.
This kind of reminds me of the anime Gate.
I just stopped reading because I didn't know what to read next, and I didn't like 1633 as much as 1632, or the Spinoff Time Spike.
I think 1634: the Baltic War is a real humdinger, though.
I read 1632 and a couple of the sequels. I stopped for the same reasons the expansive universe is so large it gets tedious to read. Also as a conservative I enjoyed the book. It was great sci-fi yeah the author throws in some of his own politics but not a major part of the book.
I might go read it
i love this book series and anyone who is a true american would support the united mine workers of america and all unions! ITS NOT COMMUNISM TO BE PART OF A UNION.
I got this book and some more
Did they bring the contemporary understanding of nationalism back with them? American constitutional ideals are one thing, but that nationalism could be pretty disastrous if transported to a world of feudal landlordism.
Flint discusses it a bit, and notes that the beginnings of German nationalism, for instance, are being stirred by the changes Grantville brought. And he has Mike Stearns, I think, specifically say that one of his goals is to direct German nationalism away from what it would have ultimately led to. But in the six or so years that the series has so far covered, 1631-1637, I wouldn't say that nationalism has become a particular ideological or political force anywhere.
@@cka2nd Interesting. I guess the timeline was cut far too short for us to really know the long term ramifications.
@@CraftsmanOfAwsomenes Yeah, there are quotes from scholarly works of the alternative future looking back at the Ring of Fire and its impact on the worlds of music - the banjo as a symphonic instrument, for instance - and mathematics, but Flint always emphasized that he wanted to show how complex the real world is through this series, so you had story lines taking place in China, the Indian subcontinent, Russia, the Caribbean and different parts of North America, and those were just the stories that Flint himself was helping to write, as other authors were covering other countries and parts of the world. It's so bizarre to think that the series has been going for over 20 years now, but has only managed to cover six to seven years since the ROF.
Nationalism has always existed. and why would it be disastrous.
@@King.Leonidas If you define nationalism down to the city-state level, or even down to the level of a village or town, you might be able to say that nationalism has always existed. But to say that nationalism as a mass phenomenon, as opposed to an intellectual one, has always existed, and done so at the level of the nation-state, would be questionable.
It’s interesting that you have someone identify as a communist but also portray a lot of the American ideals in a positive light, especially for 1600s Europe where the enlightenment was still a little ways off.
He is an American leftist after all. For as much as people on the right claim to live our country, they can hardly find anything positive to say about it now. Actually knowing and appreciating your country requires finding then admitting its faults, which is something the left is great at
According to communist thought liberalism is progressive in comparison to feudalism and must supplant feudalism and form capitalism for history to move forward
@@valentinaaugustina The problem is, the left does not stop there, they often go on and start claiming absolutelt everthing is wrong, then change it and then often time's it end's up even worse
just a reminder, it's 'CAValry' _not_ 'CALvary" - unless you're referring to the christianity-related hill.
Did they have a library?
Yep. In fact there was a plot point about whether or not they should lock it up and guard it or let the information out. They decide to let the information out and people from literally all over Europe stop by. And not only did they have a town library, they also had a school library and that's not even taking into account the privately owned books ( another plot point ).
Several: the town library and various school libraries, plus personal collections books, magazines, and whatnot. Some of the subsequent stories get into how they use those as the building blocks for a wide-ranging research library (and others briefly touch upon it)
That's one of the first points I make when I introduce the book and the series to people, that all of a sudden, this dying West Virginia mining town has one of the biggest, if not the biggest, libraries in the world in its high school library!
@@cka2nd to be fair, I remember my own high school having quite a large library. It was a Two story building, and baring a single a/v equipment storage closet, was completely dedicated to books, both fiction and non-fiction.
@@aco319sig3 That's definitely bigger than my high school library, which at the time was located in an old New York City school building. My apologies if my comment came across as an insult to small towns; I didn't mean it as such.
You shouldn't be so sure that people would adopt the concepts of freedom, democracy and liberty just because they're presented to them. The Americans tried that in Afghanistan, yet religious zealots refused the idea of not imposing their ideas on others and most of the rest declined to fight for a democratic system, even though it would have been better than the alternative they ended up with. Old ways of thinking aren't abandoned for "better ideas" as readily as we might wish they could be.
OK but these people are mostly poor farmers with no rights or property. In Afghanistan they had everything they wanted and just wanted to be left alone. Wanted neither communism or democracy.
@@worldofdoom995 Yeah, sure, because the Taliban's whole thing is leaving people alone.
Those concepts weren't new in the German lands in 1631 either. What the Grantvillers brought were ways of organizing them and a tradition of them working. Plus enough firepower to keep it safe until it got off the ground.
That point is touched on a couple of times through the many works that make up the whole series. It's partly from the disruptions of the ongoing war that give Grantville the "space" to do it. If it had dropped someplace more organized and Grantvillers had less in common with who they encountered -- say, China or Czarist Russia or the Ottoman Empire -- the larger entities would have surrounded and squashed them. But that's not much of a story.
@@worldofdoom995 Some of the people in Afghanistan were interested in modernization and/or communism and/or capitalism and/or some version of democracy and/or republicanism, and some, especially the powers that be in the rural and mountainous regions, weren't.
5:32 laughs in American!
Trotskyist, not Trotskyite, which is an insult.
Gott mitt uns
1:22 i would not call antisemitism epic lol
i would and i mean epic as in the literal scale of damage of said hot take
Not my cup of tea. I think it's a wholly American story which doesn't travel far past it's shores. It's like the 2nd amendment, no one understands that outside the U.S.
Im only watching this because i have to read it for school but didn’t