The 1632 series, also known as the Ring of Fire series, is an alternate history book series, created, primarily co-written, and coordinated by historian Eric Flint. The 1632 series began with Flint's stand alone novel 1632 (released in February 1, 2000) and currently includes twenty-six works of all kinds including e-published only works (e-books), of which twelve are standard trade printed books that are the printed, canonical Grantville Gazettes.
The series focus on the late 20th century town of Grantville and its population that were astronomically transported by a "Ring of Fire" to the midst of 17th-century Europe during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).
Novels in the Series[]
- 1632
- 1633
- 1634: The Bavarian Crisis
- 1634: The Galileo Affair
- 1634: The Baltic War
- 1634: The Ram Rebellion
- 1635: The Cannon Law
- 1635: The Dreeson Incident
- 1635: The Eastern Front
- 1635: The Tangled Web
- 1635: The Papal Stakes
- 1635: The Wars for the Rhine
- 1635: A Parcel of Rogues
- 1635: Music and Murder
- The Anaconda Project
- 1636: The Devil's Opera
- 1636: The Saxon Uprising
- 1636: The Barbie Consortium
- 1636: The Kremlin Games
- 1636: The Viennese Waltz
- 1636: The Atlantic Encounter
- Original working title was 1636: Drums Along the Mohawk
- 1636: Seas of Fortune
- 1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies
- 1636: The Cardinal Virtues
- 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught
- 1636: The Chronicles of Dr. Gribbleflotz
- 1636: Mission to the Mughals
- 1636: The Vatican Sanction
- 1636: The China Venture
- Original working title was 1636: The Mandate of Heaven
- 1636: Calabar's War
- 1636: Flight of the Nightingale
- 1637: The Volga Rules
- 1637: The Polish Maelstrom
- Original working title was 1637: The Polish Ruckus
- 1637: No Peace Beyond The Line
- 1637: The Peacock Throne
- 1637: The Transylvanian Decision
Grantville Gazette[]
The Grantville Gazette began as a web publication that compiled stories within the 1632 world. The first four volumes eventually made the jump to print publication, and there have been additional "best of" print volumes as well. As of June 2021, the e-book series of Grantville Gazettes is currently up to volume 96.
Ring of Fire Anthologies[]
Ring of Fire, Ring of Fire II, Ring of Fire III and Ring of Fire IV are story anthologies published within the 1632 universe. These anthologies follow a common pattern of ending with a short novel by Eric Flint, which is preceded by a closely related short story.
Series reading order (as of August 2019)[]
Although Flint believes that the right reading order of the series is akin to asking what the right order of studying the Thirty Years War was, he created a list that best summarizes the order to read the series for those who are interested.[1] Since the site ringoffirepress.com no longer has the list posted, the list has also been posted on 1632.org.[2]
- 1632
- Ring of Fire
- 1633
- 1634: The Baltic War
- Grantville Gazette I
- Grantville Gazette II
- Grantville Gazette III
- 1634: The Ram Rebellion
- 1634: The Galileo Affair
- 1634: The Bavarian Crisis
- 1635: A Parcel of Rogues
- Grantville Gazette IV
- Ring of Fire II
- 1635: The Cannon Law
- 1635: The Dreeson Incident
- 1635: The Tangled Web
- Grantville Gazette V
- 1635: The Papal Stakes
- 1635: The Wars for the Rhine
- 1635: The Eastern Front
- 1636: The Saxon Uprising
- 1636: Mission to the Mughals
- Ring of Fire III
- 1636: The Kremlin Games
- 1637: The Volga Rules
- Grantville Gazette VI
- 1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies
- 1636: The Cardinal Virtues
- 1636: The Vatican Sanction
- 1635: Music and Murder
- 1636: The Devil's Opera
- 1636: Seas of Fortune
- 1636: The Barbie Consortium
- 1636: The Viennese Waltz
- Grantville Gazette VII
- Grantville Gazette VIII
- Ring of Fire IV
- 1636: The Chronicles of Dr. Gribbleflotz
- 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught
- 1637: The Polish Maelstrom
- 1636: The China Venture
- 1636: The Atlantic Encounter
- 1637: No Peace Beyond The Line
These last few are not mentioned in the suggested reading order provided at https://1632.org/1632tech/reading_order/:
- 1636: Calabar's War
- 1636: Flight of the Nightingale
- 1637: The Peacock Throne
- 1637: The Transylvanian Decision
Relation to other works[]
The 1632 series clearly belongs to a sub-genre originating with Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", and of which a later prominent example is Sprague de Camp's "Lest Darkness Fall". This is based on the premise of a present-day individual - one with considerable knowledge and initiative - being transported back into the past and completely changing the society found there by introducing present-days technologies and ideas. Flint's variation on this theme was to transport into the past a whole present-day community, complete with many present-day tools and weapons - making the possibility of changing the past far vaster than with a single individual travelling back. This variation is shared with Stirling's Nantucket series, where an American community ends up in the Bronze Age.