http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=458

I’ve wondered whether Mike Stearns will receive blowback when he leaves the office of PM from some of his most faithful supporters — because when they took their oath to the USE, they thought they were taking it to Mike, the “Prince of Germany”. It might not have clicked with them that they were swearing fealty to an abstraction. And if it didn’t click, they might see his stepping down as a betrayal on his part. My understanding is that an oath of fealty is analogous to a marriage vow. If the office of “husband” were passed around at the whim of some wierd balloting ceremony, I could see how a wife could get a tad upset.

while i wont call the anthologies and short stories that are put out trash. i will say they are mildly entertaining, and something that i dont mind reading while im waiting on the rest of the series. I do believe that both individuals are more disgruntled by the fact that after reading 32 and 33 .. the reader is just kinda left up in the air as to what happens next. this for me personally has been less than pleasing. had thier not been so much distance between the last novels and the current.. then perhaps thier disatisfaction would not be so great. we have recieved a large amount of short stories or fanfiction, or side stories but very little on the main story for some time

As you said yourself, the drought should be less this time around. I eagerly await your next novel in the 16xx series.

.. on a lighter note.

I myself have also stopped reading the Robert Jordon series. if he actually finishes it or begins to wrap the series up i may pick it up again.. but for now.. going in circles with your readers.. isnt very fun.

last but not least.. have you read the Crosstime Engineer series by Leo Frankowski? if so what were your thoughts?

Boundary: Read this a second time only last week, and loved it even more. Hope you are able to write a sequel.

Keep up the great work. I look forward too reading much more.

Respectfully,

Wilford Tibbetts

You see, in the year 1632 Charles I granted the charter for the Proprietary Colony of Maryland to Cecil Calvert, the Second Lord Baltimore (the Baltimore in southern Ireland, not the one in Maryland). This was originally Cecil’s father’s idea. The idea was to establish a haven for (English) Catholics in the new world/make money, and originally they tried with a colony called Avalon in Newfoundland.

When Cecil got the charter, it took him two years to dispatch settlers aboard the Ark and the Dove to Maryland under his brother, Leonard Calvert, an expedition that left in 1634.

Now, I don’t remember when in the 1632-alternate the English sold the New World to the French, so I don’t know if that came before or after the settlers left, but I do know that either way Cecil might ally himself with anyone who could help his colony (as he did in reality, with an uneasy balance between Parliament and the king), either simply to make money or to protect his fellow English Catholics.

Even better, if you added a up-timer character who had recently moved to Grantville, WV from Maryland (I’d suggest them being from the Prince Georges County/DC area, Bawlmer (Baltimoreans have a really weird accent), the northwestern counties, or possibly the Annapolis area), and who was really state-patriotic, that’d be even better.

Oh, and a good incentive for the uptimers to help Calvert is the “Act Concerning Religion”, more commonly known as the “Act of Toleration”, he and his protestant governor, Stone, drafted. Though the Act was extremely intolerant (any non-Christians or those who denied the trinity could be executed)it was a hell of a lot better than a lot of other legislation at the time.

Just wanted to mention this, as inspired by the concurrent dates.

GO FREE STATE!
A Marylander
(Old Line State too, but that has nothing to do with anything.)

I am a huge science fiction fan because I like the way it stretches my imagination. I am also a big fan of David Weber’s Honor Harrington novels. A big thing I have noticed about the two of you as writers is your ability to incorporate humor that comes naturally from the characters into the stories. I think that more then the battle sequences is what really keeps people into a plot line because my least favorite Honor Harrington novel was Ashes of Victory which didn’t suffer from a lack of action.

I think what most people are noticing at least in the anthologies and in 1634 is less developed ability of some writers to create humor in a novel while maintaining or hightening the drama of a story. Still I just want to congradulate you on the hard work you have put into this novels.

Jordan, for example, was someone I could no longer tolerate simply because I did not like his characters, I did not like or approve of their actions, and I certainly did not like the fact that plot lines never get wrapped up.

If there’s too many new characters introduced, and none of those characters are developed or have had their individual destinies filled in part or whole, then that’s a proble for me. If however, there are too few characters, like with the Belisarius series, then that’s another dissatisfaction. The Dance of Time was refreshing because it told the story through the eyes of another. Even the most favorite of characters, gets old if the same old same old is seen through their eyes.

I’m a fan of underdog stories. 1632 obviously was a great story of the underdogs winning in the face of adversity. However, all underdogs eventually either die or they become the top dog. When they do become the top dog, the challenge is no longer there, and therefore the excitement wanes. I was reading Piers Anthony’s Bio of a Space Tyrant series, which was one of his more serious and comprehensive works. After the entire series was over, he then wrote a sort of Ender’s Shadow like sequel, with the story told from the perspective of another secondary. Even though I knew the exact plot, there were still lots of things I learned and a lot of fun to be had from reading that last book.

The reason why Honor Harrington never got old, was the simple fact that this whole theme of a war being fought by characters you could relate to and cheer on, from both sides, is a very potent mix and study in human nature. And the fact that you could never tell what major plot line would be present in a new novel, adds spice to expectation. The ability to change the main plot line, without actually changing how the series will progress, is a pretty neat trick.

I always liked anime series in which the hero would always get stronger, and face stronger opponents. It doesn’t get old, you always get something new to look foward to, and it’s fun to see people rise above their own limitations.

I’m a military science fiction reader. I don’t like RIngo’s fantasy works, and I don’t like novels without a strong military esprit de corps. But that’s no surprise. The story in 1633 of building a navy from scratch is another story of OTB solutions, and underdogs that will rise to the challenge. Just military stuff won’t be enough for me, I got to have new stuff, new people, and stunning plot lines. It helps when I don’t get my hopes up. Getting your hopes up is a good way to become demoralized.

I’m not disgruntled by the status of the 1632 novels simply because I don’t expect that the next novel will be so stunningly good that I just “must” have it. High expectations are hard to meet, so lower them. Ground the voltage.

Sometimes people become too emotionally involved with novels and characters. It’s not just seeing a media story about them on screen, reading actually involves hearing their thoughts and emotions which form a greater connection to the reader. But that has negative consequences as well as positive.

I’m interested in that novel where George Washington’s army goes back to the ROman Empire times.