Wow! Who knew? Way back in 1999, when people started writing fan fiction for 1632, who'd have thought it would grow like this? This is our tenth volume—and the fifth in 2006. And there's no lack of material for the next volume, either.
Volume 10 includes our first "pro" submission, from Bradley H. Sinor, "On the Matter of D'Artagnan." It's not your grampa's Three Musketeers, that's for sure. Aamund Breivik entertains us with a little, ah, dirty problem in "A Filthy Story," while Virginia DeMarce is rewriting the musical Oklahoma! in her story "Franconia!" A young English lord and a not-yet-famous philosopher are touring Europe in Iver P. Cooper's "Grand Tour," while our Dr. Phil gets a new visitor—or three—in "Dr. Phil's Family" from Kerryn Offord.
Non-fiction for this volume includes Vincent Coljee's "Herd Immunity," along with Kim Mackey's "Crude Penicillin: Potential and Limitations," as well as Iver P. Cooper's "All Roads Lead. . . ." and Anette Pedersen's "The Feast." We have more fiction from Terry Howard, who has written "Star Crossed," and Jose J. Clavell tied "NCIS: Lies, Truth and Consequences" into that situation . . . with an, ah, interesting ending. Richard Evans wonders what's going on in Bern with "The Launcher," while Russ Rittgers gives us the rundown on some illicit activity in "Fiddling Stranger."
Speaking of illicit activity, "None So Blind" from David Carrico shows what happens when the good guys win, while "Little Angel" by Kerryn Offord shows us what happens when they don't. If you don't have the medications down-time that you have up-time, what do you do? "The Prepared Mind" by Kim Mackey gives us one possiblity. Part three of the continuing series "Butterflies in the Kremlin" by Gorg Huff and me continues our take on what's going on in Russia, while "The Salon" introduces a Grantviller no one has heard from before.
Mark Huston's "Twenty-eight Men" brings Grantville tragedy along with hope, and helps us understand some of the many, many things that can go wrong. And things will go wrong, as we all know. But the continuing hope for our relocated Americans is that they'll prevail in the end. Will they? Well, you just never know.
We hope you enjoy the stories
Paula Goodlett and the Grantville Gazette
Editorial Board