Customer Reviews

Ring of Fire (Assiti Shards)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Ring of Fire" is a collection of short stories set in the universe created by Eric Flint in his 2000 novel "1632." In "1632," the town of Grantville is ripped from modern day West Virginia and dropped in the middle of Germany, in the middle of the Thirty Years' War, by a cosmic accident (commonly considered an Act of God) which is eventually dubbed the 'Ring of Fire.'

The fifteen stories in this anthology seem to have been written after the publication of "1632," but before that of its sequel "1633." They take place concurrently with the action in those two novels: "Power to the People" by Loren K. Jones goes all the way back to the Ring of Fire that kicked off 1632, while Eric Flint's "The Wallenstein Gambit" is set in the middle of the year 1633. As with all anthologies, the styles and qualities of the stories varied from author to author, from the 16-page "To Dye For" by Mercedes Lackey to Flint's 120-page novella. However, although I enjoyed some stories in "Ring of Fire" more than others, I can honestly say there were none I actively disliked, which is pretty much as good as it gets for anthologies.

What makes "Ring of Fire" so interesting is the fact that it is not your typical anthology. Most 'spin-off' anthologies like this one feature stories peripheral to the main plot of the series, involve minor characters and don't play a significant role in the grand scheme of things. Some stories such as "Power to the People" and "When the Chips Are Down" by Jonathan Cresswell and Scott Washburn seem to follow that model. However, most of them actually play important roles shaping both the plots and the characters of the later books in the series. For example, David Weber (who coauthored "1633") writes a story about the founding of the new American navy that plays a prominent role in "1633" and Andrew Dennis's story sets up "1634: The Galileo Affair" (which he coauthored) and develops some of its main characters. Meanwhile, "The Wallenstein Gambit" incorporates other stories in "Ring of Fire," redraws the map of Europe, and lays the basis for forthcoming "1634: ..." novels.

The point is that this anthology plays an important role in the series, and needs to be read by anyone who wants to enjoy future 163x books. This is a part of Eric Flint's interesting approach to the whole series, which tries to make the '1632 universe' a full-bodied and realistically complex place. To do this Flint writes the main books of the series with a number of different coauthors (David Weber, Andrew Dennis, Mike Spehar, Virginia DeMarce), while at the same time allowing all of the authors who contributed to "Ring of Fire" to make their own mark on the developing series. Flint has even begun publishing fan fiction in an online magazine (the "Grantville Gazette") and incorporating it into 163x novels. It is (to my knowledge) a unique approach, and so far seems to be producing excellent results.

So not only is "Ring of Fire" a solid anthology in its own right, it is required reading for those who intend to follow Flint et al.'s 163x series. Although "1633" builds off of several stories in "Ring of Fire," it can be understood and enjoyed without reading the anthology. The same is less true of the "1634: ..." books that are currently being written and published. If you enjoyed "1632" enough to want to read more books in the series, "Ring of Fire" should be a sure bet.

To conclude, and to emphasize one last time the important role played by "Ring of Fire" in the development of the 163x series, I will sketch out the current shape of the series and indicate which stories in "Ring of Fire" are incorporated into each of the planned books. Of the fifteen stories in the anthology, only three do not seem to play a role in the larger series, though they may yet be incorporated into one of the volumes currently being planned or written.

"1633" with David Weber
---"In the Navy" by David Weber
---"A Matter of Consultation" by S.L. Viehl
---"Skeletons" by Greg Donahue
"1634: The Galileo Affair" with Andrew Dennis
---"American Past Time" by Deann Allen and Mike Turner
---"To Dye For" by Mercedes Lackey
---"A Witch to Live" by Walt Boyes
---"Between the Armies" by Andrew Dennis
"1634: The Baltic War" with David Weber
"1634: Escape from the Tower" (Eric Flint solo)
"1634: The Austrian Princess" with Virginia DeMarce
---"Biting Time" by Virginia DeMarce
"1634: Bohemia" (tentative title) with Mike Spehar
---"A Lineman for the Country" by Dave Freer
---"The Three Rs" by Jody Dorsett
---"Here Comes Santa Claus" by K.D. Wentworth
---"The Wallenstein Gambit" by Eric Flint
"1635" with Virginia DeMarce

Stories that don't (yet) play a role in the series:
---"Power to the People" by Loren K. Jones
---"Family Faith" by Anette M. Pedersen
---"When the Chips are Down" by Jonathan Cresswell and Scott Washburn

Briefly, this anthology is a must-read for those reading the "1632," "1633" series. The next full novel (presumably 1634) will be out soon and "Ring of Fire" provides character development, plot details, and timeline descriptions that will be valuable. Stories in this new collection date from the "Ring of Fire" incident right up to "1633" an involve many of the same characters.

Despite the wide variety of authors, the tales hold together well, with a real sense of place and time. Not all the stories will appeal to everyone. Some are more militaristic, others are social or romantic in nature. "A Lineman for the Country" gave real depth and progression to the timeline while similar odd-couple romance "Power to the People" left me saying "yeah, and?"

Overall, this is a must-read, and could be read right after "1632" w/o first facing the more fractured, slow-paced, and overly military/technical aspects of "1633." In fact, these downsides to "1633" will be lessened quite a bit by the character development and background details in "Ring of Fire," so why are you waiting? Add it to your shopping cart now!

This is an absolutely must-read book for those who enjoy the 1632-ish universe created by Eric Flint. Anyone who likes great alternative history, or for that matter, likes history at all, will enjoy the stories of a group of Americans tossed back to 17th Century Europe and stranded there.
The complexity and texture of the universe has been remarkable. In the first book, 1632, Flint brought in Gustavus Adolphus and his generals as major characters along with a raft of fictional characters from two different centuries. The 1633 collaboration with David Weber expanded the field to include Richelieu in France, Cromwell in England, and Frederick Wilhelm of Holland, as all of Europe became part of the changed history. Real and fictional characters met and blended well. Coming a bit later in 2004 is the the book entitled "1634: The Galileo Gambit" that will center on Venice and include many of the Church people of the time including Giului Mazarini, generally known to history for his life a bit later as Cardinal Mazarin.
This book is a collection of stories that fills in gaps, that prepare the way for other books.
Some of the stories are by well-known science fiction writers, others by amateurs who participated in a contest run by Flint and his publisher (at Baen.com).
David Weber's "In the Navy" focuses on two characters who were center stage in "1633", John Simpson and Eddie Cantrell, as they create a new navy for the new nation, the United States of Europe. And it is a nice narrative tale, particularly fun for those who had previously read the book.
Mercedes Lackey's "To Dye For" is a comedy focusing on a 60's "drug chemist" hippie who needs to find a way to make enough money to win over the father of the woman he loves. David Freer;s "A Lineman for the County" brings in a couple of characters who will be in other works, Dougal, Len, and Ellie who create the first "telephone" system. Andrew Dennis has a story "Between the Armies" that looks at the impact of religion as brought in by those from the 21st Century on those living in the 17th and is a key to the upcoming book. Virginia DeMarco has a cute story about getting dentures for a key character that is a lovely comedy of manners. S.L. Viehl brings in William Harvey as a character in a way that brings a thread from 1633 full circle. "The Three R's" by Jody Dorsett, "Here Comes Santa Claus" by K.D. Wentworth, and most particularly, "The Wallenstein Gambit " by Eric Flint move key components of a new major element into the whole tapestry.
The first two stories combine with the third, in which the man who was the lead villain in 1632, Count Wallenstein, changes sides and is willing to work to prevent the largest porgrom in Eastern Europe that existed before the Holocaust (at Chmielnicki) if he gets support from the lead characters. The combination of fictional characters along with the historical ones (Wallenstein, Pappenheim, Comenius) is fascinating, along with a glimpse of life in East European ghettoes.
The book, again, is a "must read" for fans of the series and alternative history. Also, not a bad way to get into this series. As a former history teacher I must also add that it is a fascinating glimpse into an era that is often never examined in schools.
Bravo! to Flint (the "Wallenstein Gambit" is one of his best works) for putting together this group of stories and for including the work of non-professionals as well.

Eric Flint's decision to open his alt-hist to anyone who wanted to write has turned out to be a good choice. Although the previous book in the series, 1633, is not strong, this collection of stories has a lot to offer fans of this series. The implications of a modern American culture being transported back to the Thirty Years War is explored by several different authors from the well known Mercedes Lackey, to the unknown, with several middling efforts among the stronger pieces.

Lackey's piece about Grantville's dope farmer's dying business is fun and enjoyable, as well as being historically intriguing. The piece about dentures isn't so strong, or at least I didn't find it so. K.D. Wentworth's X-mas party with deep political implications is my favorite of the lot - I went out and bought Wentworth's Moonspeaker right after I finished reading ROF- but Flint's story of how a small town Jewish jeweler becomes the savior of Prague is the most impressive of the group.

I didn't expect too much when I bought this book, but I was happily surprised by both the level of writing and the level of invention.

If you liked 1632, this is a good read. If you're interested in this altnerative universe, ROF is a good introduction.

Eric Flint burst on my consciousness as a writer to watch with the publication of "1632". A late 20th Century West Virginia coal mining town is engulfed by some sort of cosmic "accident"(?) and blasted back through time and space to 16th century Germany, right in the middle of the 30 Years War. As a piece of "alternative history" it followed in the footsteps, sort of, of S.M. Stirling and his "Island In The Sea Of Time" series (also highly recommended), but where Nantucket was simply (?) moved in time, Grantville, Kentucky is moved in space as well.

Ring of Fire is a "shared universe" collection of short stories by various authors both well known and unknown (Mercedes Lackey, for example) as well as a novelette by Eric Flint. Timewise, these stories generally fit in between 1632 and its sequel 1633. And oddly, for a shared world anthology, characters introduced in these stories have important parts to play in 1633 as well as the forthcoming "1634:The Galileo Affair".

Generally speaking, I would NOT recommend this book as an introduction to Grantville, please read "1632" for that, but as illuminations upon the world of 1632, I can't recommend it highly enough. To get a taste of this book, you can actually read the first four chapters from "Ring Of Fire" on the Baen website.

As an example of "alternate history", American ingenuity, "strangers in a strange land", etc., this is a truly wonderful series. But the transplanted Americans needs must beware, for the people who've only been characters in history books, have READ those history books now, and know what the future used to be...

Ring of Fire is an anthology of stories that take place in and around the novels "1632" and "1633" by Eric Flint. Some move various plot points along or explain how the events that take place in subsequent books are set-up, but most emphasize how moving a slice of modern day West Virginia to 17th century Europe has changed the lives of the residents of West Virginia and the people who live near where it "plopped'". The writing is good, but never great, and the stories are limited in scope and feeling. Not recommended for those who have not read the other books, but a nice enough diversion for those who have.

The problem with anthologies. Some are good, some are bad. Let's break it down.

In the Navy gives a good back story to the development of the Virginian Navy. 4 stars. Then we go downhill talking about daily life of minor characters, without even really focusing on issues of correlating uptime and downtime. To Dye For, When the Chips are Down, and Biting Time are all not only poor puns, but boring to boot. American Past Time is similar, but it would have been a lot better if it has focused on the Croat invasion rather than simply baseball. 2,1,1, & 2 stars respectively.

A Lineman for the Country gives us more of the perspective of the outsiders of the strange Americans. We need more stories like this. 3 stars. Between the Armies is intriguing in the search by men of religion to find Truth and follow the ethical path. And it's nice to see some of these stories begin to be interwoven with eachother. 5 stars.

Power to the People goes back to the beginning to show us how people dealt with being pulled out of time, and away from their families. 3 stars.

A Matter of Consultation is interesting, but ultimately unhelpful as it picks up a continuing theme in this series of there being no problem with witches, or that they don't exist. While it is true that people should not be burned for their beliefs, it is unfortunate that the authors seem to have bent over in the other direction to allow that any old belief is eithe permissable or nonexistant. 2 stars. A Witch to Live at least takes a look at these issues more from a persecution standpoint, and therefore has more redemptive value. 4 stars.

Family Faith was just so badly written I could barely follow what was happening. 1 star.

Skeletons was excellent, moving, and suspenseful. There were real, interesting characters written here. Likewise Along with Here Comes Santa Claus, which had deuling intrigues and the reader has no idea where it will end. Both 5 stars.

The Three R's could be an intriguing development, with it's focus on the Moravians- but they could do more in highlighting the pacifist stance, rather than encouraging them to join in the fighting. It was nice to see this story picked up in a later story in the book. 3 stars.

It was also good to have the story really move forward finally in the Wallenstein Gambit, which picks up the Santa Claus and 3 R's stories, and begins to develop more plot. It helps that Flint writes this one. I wish he'd write more. He's the best author of the bunch, and knows his own universe best. 5 stars.

This book is much better than the previous sequel 1633 but not near as good as 1632 which started the series. This one right up front lets you know it is a collection of short stories unlike 1633 which was about 4 short stories intermixed haphazardly throughout the book with about 3 or 4 hundred pages of boring history and old plane safety and flying.

The stories in Ring of Fire introduce new people and have occasional appearances of our heros and heroines from 1632 - some of the stories happen before 1633 and some after 1633. A few of the stories even had some of the joy and adventure which made 1632 so good. It was a nice look back into the Mr Flint's 1632 time frame by many authors but did not really advance the overall series much.

Hopefully Mr. Flint will re-engage and put some effort into writing a real sequel.

For fans of Eric Flint's series following a small West Virginian town transported back in time to seventeenth century Germany in the middle of the 30 Years War RING OF FIRE will be a must read. This is not a full novel and not really a sequel to either of the prior two books. It is a compendium of short stories by various authors each taking a small thread from the original and weaving it into a, well not really new, but expanded visions of the original story. The characters are familiar, some being rather minor in the original but here they are brought to life in their own individual stories.

Personally I'm not much of a fan of the short story genera. I like to see a lot more character development than is usually possible in this abbreviated form, but RING OF FIRE is different and in some cases unique. By using the characters already introduced in 1632 and 1633 the authors didn't have to start from scratch, the characters were already known; they just needed to be fleshed out. I must say Editor Flint did one heck of a job meshing these particular stories with 1632 and 1633. Even with the wide diversity in authors and writing styles these stories seem to seamlessly flow from one to the other, creating one continues epic comprised of many different viewpoints and not just a collection of jumbled non-related plots.

For the fans of 1632, a must. For those of you that haven't yet read it, do. My guess is you will be back for more afterwards.

I RECOMMEND it.

A brilliant idea: both this book and the new series of which it is a part. All red-blooded Americans will like these stories, and probably many Germans, too.

This is a better reading book than Flint's "1632" or "1633." Those are the novels that introduced the idea, of a bunch of small-town West Virginians mysteriously transported back to 1632 in south German lands in the middle of the misery of the Thirty Years War, into a series. This volume is the first to consist of a number of short stories and a novela, each one focused on a single topic or set of characters that are much simpler to understand than the novels. The argumentation or plots are short and tight here. Each story is an entire capsule, rather than open-ended threads (as in the novels), within a saga that is gradually spreading to encompass (and rewrite the "history" of) all of Europe, and equally difficult to integrate. The "main line" of novels sprawls a good bit, each juggling numerous parallel threads--like real history-- which will all, hopefully, link up some day. In this collection we get entire stories of how some line of innovation got started after the Americans arrived down-time, such as naval ships, the dye industry, religious rapprochements, telegraphy, infiltration, and the propagation of the American way, seen as the only route to survival. The idea is a bit like Twain's The Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, but now for an entire town of 3500 facing and adapting to the brutal challenges of a strife-torn Europe.

The brilliant innovation of the series is its structure. Besides the novels, written by the creator Eric Flint and picked collaborators, Ring of Fire begins a line of anthologies that fill out the big picture developed in those huge novels. This anthology is not the usual passel of authors riffing on someone's created world, each in their own inimitable but clashing styles. It includes stories set in the world of "1632" submitted by unknown authors over email, taking advantage of an intense online community that has grown for the further development of this world. They produce a coherent collection of disparate stories, but linked by style and consistent background events, thanks to Flint's strong editorial hand and the cooperation of the writers. Significantly, some stories provide the backstory of major characters seen in the novels, while others show the contributions of minor characters to the fight for survival. Most remarkably, new characters are also introduced who will be allowed to become leading actors in the future main line novels. This series is a truly collaborative enterprise; the many authors of this anthology are not merely guest writers. Their stories spin in to, not spin out from, Flint's world of "1632." This structure is very generous, excitingly productive, and is unique in my reading experience.

While the novels contain major military actions, as one might expect from Flint's other books, this volume concentrates mostly on a great variety of civilian matters vital to the survival and then expansion of the community. The prose is so-so, quite literal, and just drives staight ahead. There also must be lots of pedantic history necessary to make sense of the specific problems and situations addressed here. Although this book should be read after "1632," the stories are not confined to a time line, and so can be read alongside any of the "1634: xx" novels. The Assiti Shards moniker has nothing to do with the series at present, but may eventually explain the mysterious initial time travel element.