Eric Flint’s place on the web

1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 51:

            Leebrick arrived not long after Thomas reached his quarters. Once Wentworth had explained the situation, and what was needed, the captain quickly left to make the arrangements. Even with as well-trained and disciplined a company as his, Leebrick was still dealing with mercenary soldiers—who were not prone to do anything “on the morrow” except sleep off a bout of drunkenness, unless they were actively on campaign in the field.

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 50:

Chapter 17

Whitehall Palace

London, England

            “Three more!” shouted King Charles, holding up the middle three fingers of his left hand. With his right, he pointed accusingly in the direction of the palace’s servant quarters. “A cook and two cleaning women. That’s quite enough! The city has become a pesthole. The queen and I depart for Oxford on the morrow.”

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 49:

            Eddie Cantrell stared up at the canopy over his bed, feeling like an idiot.

            Four times over, to make everything perfect.

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 48:

Chapter 16

            When he emerged from the workshop, Prince Ulrik discovered that the overcast skies of the morning had turned into an afternoon’s snowfall. He was just as glad, though. First, because the really bitter cold days in January were the days with clear skies; secondly, because he liked snow anyway. When he was a boy, he and his brothers had greeted a heavy snowfall with great enthusiasm. It meant days of marvelous play in the castle gardens, digging tunnels through the snow and erecting what they were pleased to call fortresses.

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 47:

            Five minutes later, after he finished his study of the first project Baldur had led him to, Ulrik straightened up. His spirits, even more than his back.

            “A ‘spar-torpedo,’ you call it? Nothing more than a big simple bomb, really, stuck out on the end of a pole. Taken into battle by a sturdy boat, such as we’ve known how to make for centuries.”

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 46:

            “And what else is dangerous?”

            Norddahl shrugged again. “That was the only thing he could tell me specifically. But all of the dangers, including the bends, seem to come from the same general peril. What he calls the pressure of the water itself. That’s another way of saying—”

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The forthcoming page is somewhat out of date, but until we can get it fixed up, here's the master's schedule in his own words, quoting from a Baen's Bar post on Jan 17, 07

 – Loyal Minions

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 45:

Chapter 15

Frederiksborg Castle

Hillerød, Kingdom of Denmark

            The more he saw in the workshop that his father had built in a new wing of Frederiksborg Castle, the more appalled Prince Ulrik became. By the time he got to the worktable at the end, with its dully gleaming centerpiece, Ulrik felt as if his stomach was residing somewhere below…

            Best not to think about that.

            He turned his head to examine his guide. More precisely, to gauge how much he could confide in him.

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 44:

            Thorsten’s relaxation at Caroline’s obviously friendly attitude vanished the moment he went through the door she’d led him to. Other than Maureen Grady, he knew neither of the women in the room beyond. But everything about them, from the obviously expensive clothing they wore to their hair styles to subtleties about their expressions and mannerisms made it clear as day that they were noblewomen. Probably Hochadel, to boot, not lesser nobility.

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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 43:

Chapter 14

Magdeburg

            “Well, go in, why don’t you?” Eric Krenz had his arms crossed, his hands tucked into the folds of his heavy coat. “It’s cold, Thorsten. I always hated January even before an up-timer told me we’re in the middle of what they call ‘the Little Ice Age.’”

            Thorsten was very cold himself, it being one of those clear-skied days in mid-winter when everything seemed to turn to ice. But he still wasn’t ready to take the last few steps to reach the entrance to the settlement house. Mostly—so he told himself, anyway—because the settlement house was actually a large and impressive-looking monastery. The oldest surviving structure in the city, in fact, founded centuries ago.

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