1634-The Bavarian Crisis
 THE MAELSTROM THAT IS EUROPE,
COMPLICATED BY IRON,
LOVE AND 20TH CENTURY AMERICANS
The Thirty Years War continues to ravage 17th century Europe, but a new force is gathering power and influence: the United States of Europe, forged from an alliance between Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, and the West Virginians from the 20th century, led by Mike Stearns, who were hurled centuries into the past by a mysterious cosmic accident.
This troubled century was full of revolutions and plans for more revolutions before the Americans arrived, and gave every would-be revolutionary an example of a revolution that succeeded. Europe is a pot coming to a boil, and Mike Stearns finds himself walking the fine line between keeping the pot boiling while keeping it from boiling over and destroying the USE in the process.
The USE has the know-how of 20th century technology, but needs iron and steel to make the machines. The iron mines of the upper Palatinate were rendered inoperable by wartime damage, and American ingenuity is needed on the spot to pump them out and get the metal flowing again—a mission that will prove more complicated than anyone expects. First, because the expedition sent to revitalize the mining industry in the upper Palatinate walks into the middle of a ferocious battle between the USE and the Duke of Bavaria. Second, because in the maelstrom that is Europe, even a 20th century copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica can precipitate a crisis from the most unexpected quarters. The young and beautiful daughter of the Austrian emperor, sent to marry the Duke of Bavaria for reasons of state, comes to an unforeseen conclusion based on her study of up-time history. The decision she makes as a result transforms the Bavarian war into a crisis for all of Europe.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Eric Flint is a popular star of SF and fantasy. 1634: The Baltic War, a collaboration with David Weber, was the latest New York Times best seller in the Ring of Fire series. His first novel for Baen, Mother of Demons, was picked by Science Fiction Chronicle as a best novel of the year. His novel 1632, which launched the Ring of Fire series, won widespread critical praise, as from Publishers Weekly, which called him "an SF author of particular note, one who can entertain and edify in equal, and major, measure." A longtime machinist, and labor union activist with a master's degree in history, he currently resides in northwest Indiana with his wife Lucille.
Virginia DeMarce, after jobs as peculiar as counting raisins for the Calif. Dept. of Agriculture, received her Ph.D. in Early Modern European History from Stanford University. She has published a book on German military settlers in Canada after the American Revolution and has served as president of the National Genealogical Society. She taught at Northwest Missouri State University and at George Mason University. She has had stories in the Ring of Fire anthology and Grantville Gazette (#1), and more stories in the online Grantville Gazettes. She has three grown children and five grandchildren, and lives in Arlington, VA, with her husband.
Cover Art by Tom Kidd
Maps & charts by Gorg Huff
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 Hardcover
Paperback
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
First printing, October 2007
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Flint, Eric.
1634 : the Bavarian crisis / Eric Flint and Virginia DeMarce.
p. cm. — (The ring of fire series)
"A Baen Books original"—T.p. verso.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-4253-7
ISBN-10: 1-4165-4253-1
1. Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648—Fiction. 2. Time travel—Fiction. 3. Europe—History—17th century—Fiction. I. DeMarce, Virginia Easley, 1940– II. Title.
PS3556.L548A6175 2007
813'.54—dc22
Pages by Joy Freeman (www.pagesbyjoy.com)
Printed in the United States of America
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ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-4253-7
ISBN-10: 1-4165-4253-1
Copyright© 2007 by Eric Flint & Virginia DeMarce
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.baen.com
Electronic version by WebWrights
http://www.webscription.net
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