by Eric Flint
“ ‘Too ambitious’? What do you mean?”
He gave Gustav Adolf a level stare. “You know perfectly damn well what I mean. A prime minister had a clearly delineated position within the law. Powerful, but limited. A prince…has no clear limits. He might be capable of anything. What produces fear in some quarters can produce delusions of grandeur in another. Well, not that, exactly. I’d have to be the one with delusions of grandeur, and while I have my faults, that’s just not one of them. But some of my supporters would get too…enthusiastic, let’s say.”
Neither one of them said anything for perhaps half a minute. Then Gustav Adolf sighed softly and slumped a bit in his chair.
“Thank you for that, Michael. Yes, that is exactly where my fears lay.” He took a slow, deep breath and let it out. “Who would you run then?”
“We haven’t decided yet. Either Strigel or Piazza. But since Ed isn’t here yet, we can’t make any final decision.”
The emperor smiled a bit crookedly. “My own preference would be your wife, actually. But I suppose that’s impractical.”
Mike’s smile was not crooked at all. “Leaving aside the fact that the Germanies are not ready for a Jewess as prime minister, Becky would have a fit if anyone proposed it. She doesn’t like being in the limelight.”
He finished his own coffee. “And it wouldn’t be a good idea anyway—although I agree with you that she’d be superb in the office. The problem is that prince business again. Too many people—both those overly fearful as well as those overly rambunctious—would assume that she was simply my surrogate.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s got to be either Matthias or Ed.”
“Of the two, my own recommendation would be Piazza.”
“Privately, I agree. I’m curious though, Gustav. What’s your reasoning?”
“Two factors are critical, I think. The first is that I believe the nation would find it a bit reassuring to have an up-timer in the position of prime minister. In a peculiar sort of way, you provide the same sort of…call it ‘distance,’ that a royal family provides. You came from so far away that people think—not entirely foolishly, either—that you are a bit removed from the petty factionalism of everyday politics.”
Mike thought about it. “There’s possibly some truth to that. I agree that people tend to react to us that way. At least a bit. And your second reason?”
“Strigel is from Magdeburg province, Piazza from Thuringia-Franconia. The second is the one that more closely reflects the nation as a whole. I think he’d bring a wider experience to the position than Strigel would. Between the two of us, I also think he’s more capable. But that speaks more to Piazza’s strengths than to any real weakness on Strigel’s part. I’d certainly be comfortable enough with Strigel as prime minister.”
Mike’s private assessment was the same, but he saw no purpose in stating it aloud.
“To go back to the beginning, Gustav, ask me for something else.”
“A compromise, then. Something—it has to be of real substance, Michael—that your party will be willing to cede to the Crown Loyalists. Or whoever winds up being your principal opponent in the election. I suspect the Crown Loyalists are on the verge of collapse as a single and unitary party.”
“They were never really that to begin with. Yes, I think you’re right. I think Amalie Elisabeth will now be the most influential figure in a new conservative movement. She won’t run for prime minister herself, of course. First, because she’s not about to relinquish her title; and second, because she’s a woman. The nation wouldn’t be much more willing to accept a gentile female prime minister than a Jewess, I think. Wilhelm will probably run again, more or less on her behalf.”
He considered the emperor’s request. Not for long, though. This didn’t really come as a big surprise.
“I am not willing to compromise on the citizenship issue, Gustav. I’d rather lose the election than retreat from our basic principles there. I would be willing, though—and I believe I can persuade the FoJP to agree—to compromise on the question of the established church.”
“The nature of the compromise being…?”
“Each province can decide for itself whether it wants an established church. But I would insist that the legal options would have to include complete separation of church and state. Without that, the Committees of Correspondence would dig in their heels.”
Gustav picked up the pot. “More coffee?”
“Please.” Mike extended his cup.
They used the brief time needed to prepare the beverages to ponder the matter silently. Or rather, the emperor did.
After he took his first sip, he set down the cup and said: “Agreed. With your permission, I will privately let the key parties on the other side know where you are prepared to compromise, and where you are not.”
Mike had lifted his cup to his lips but paused just before taking a sip. “Satisfy my own curiosity, if you would. Who are these ‘key parties,’ as you see it?”
“Wilhelm and the landgravine, of course. Also Duke George of Brunswick. Just because he’s in the siege lines around Poznan doesn’t mean he’s not a central figure in the nation’s political life. No one of any importance in Brunswick will do anything without George’s approval.”
“Who else?”
The emperor named half a dozen prominent figures. All of them were in what could be called the moderate wing of the Crown Loyalist party—and not one of them had come to Berlin in response to Oxenstierna’s summons.
“Finally…” Gustav Adolf hesitated. “I think also Ernst Wettin.”
Mike’s eyebrows raised. “He considers himself an administrator, you know. Not a politician.”
The emperor chuckled. “Yes, I know. It is time he expanded his horizons, I think.”
The next two hours went smoothly, almost effortlessly. By the end, Gustav Adolf assured Mike that he would rescind his disqualification of the Crown Loyalist MPs in a week or so.
That done, Mike stood up. “And now that we’ve agreed I won’t run again for the prime minister’s post and I’ll stay in the army, what do you want me to do?”
The emperor’s nostrils flared. “You need to ask?” He pointed to the south. “I have had enough of Duke Maximilian! Since the Poles are being pigheaded, I have to leave Lennart and his two divisions at Poznan. So I’d appreciate it if you would take your Third Division down there and crush him like a bug.”
Mike stared down at him, for a moment. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“You don’t have any doubts—”
“Michael, please!” The emperor stood up himself. “Will you allow that I know whereof I speak, when it comes to military affairs?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then here is the truth, whether you understand or accept it. You have now won three major battles. One of them included taking a well-fortified town, another resulted in the complete destruction of the enemy army. By the end, your forces were larger than they were when you started. Larger in numbers—and better equipped. And you managed to do all this without generating hatred among the populace as a whole. Indeed, I’m told civilians are more likely to regret seeing your soldiers leave than they are to welcome the sight.
“These are signal accomplishments, whether you realize it or not.” He raised his hand dramatically, as if to hold back the tides. “By all means, deny it! Continue to insist to any who will listen that you are a novice, a witless bumbler, and are only kept from total disaster by the desperate efforts of your staff. But please spare me the silliness. You are already one of the best generals in the continent. Still crude in some ways, but not in what really matters—you are willing to fight and you fight to win. So, as I said. Crush the Bavarian bastard for me, would you?”
There didn’t seem to be anything Mike could say to that. So, off he went.
On the way back to his townhouse, he wondered if perhaps he should put together a brass band for the Third Division. Fo
r the endless series of triumphal parades the emperor seemed certain were in his future.
When he raised it with Becky that evening, her reply was: “Of course you should.”
He raised it again several hours later, just to be sure that hadn’t been her hormones at work. By then, the hormones—his too—had been given a thorough workout.
She stirred, half-asleep, and nuzzled him. “Of course you should,” she said.
The next morning, at breakfast, his daughter Sepharad weighed in.
“Barry thinks you need a brass band, Daddy.”
He gave Becky an accusing glance.
“I said nothing to them,” she insisted. “It’s obvious to all.”
He looked at Baruch. The three-year-old philosopher-to-be gazed back at him solemnly.
“It’s just in the nature of things, Daddy,” he explained.
“I knew it!” exclaimed his wife.
It was a little unsettling, in fact. Mike steeled his resolve again. As soon as possible, that kid needed to get a Harley-Davidson patch for his jacket.
Jeff Higgins swore he had one, buried somewhere in his old junk. He thought he might have a Cat cap too.
His wife was now giving him a suspicious look. “Hillbillies!” she accused.
“Hey, hon, I was just thinking about how many instruments I should get,” he protested.
“You have no respect!”
Cast of Characters
Ableidinger, Constantin
Member of USE Parliament; leader of the Ram movement.
Abrabanel, Rebecca
Leader of the Fourth of July Party; wife of Mike Stearns.
Achterhof, Gunther
Leader of the Committees of Correspondence.
Baner, Johan Gustafsson
Swedish general.
Bartley, David
Supply officer in Third Division; also a financier.
Beasley, Denise
Teenage girl employed as an agent by Francisco Nasi; informally betrothed to Eddie Junker.
Bugenhagen, Albert
Mayor of Hamburg; leader in Fourth of July Party.
Christian IV
King of Denmark.
Dalberg, Werner von
Leader of the Fourth of July Party in the Oberpfalz.
Donner, Agathe “Tata”
Daughter of Reichard Donner, leader of the Mainz CoC; now a CoC organizer in Dresden.
Drugeth, Janos
Hungarian nobleman; friend and adviser of Ferdinand III.
Duerr, Ulbrecht
Officer, USE Army; aide to Mike Stearns.
Engler, Thorsten
Captain in USE Army; fiancé of Caroline Platzer; also the Imperial Count of Narnia.
Ferdinand III
Emperor of Austria.
George, Brunswick-Lüneburg, duke of
Major general in command of the 1st Division, USE Army.
Gundelfinger, Helene
Vice-President of the State of Thuringia-Franconia; leader of the Fourth of July Party.
Hahn, Liesel
Member of parliament from Hesse-Kassel.
Hans Georg, von Arnim
Commanding general of the Saxon army in Leipzig.
Hesse-Kassel, Amalie Elisabeth, Landgravine of
Ruler of Hesse-Kassel, widow of Wilhelm V.
Higgins, Jeffrey (“Jeff”)
Lieutenant Colonel, USE Army; husband of Gretchen Richter.
Hugelmair, Minnie
Teenage girl employed as an agent by Francisco Nasi; friend of Denise Beasley; adopted daughter of Benny Pierce.
Junker, Egidius “Eddie”
Former agent of the SoTF government, now employed as an agent and pilot by Francisco Nasi; informally betrothed to Denise Beasley.
Keller, Anselm
Member of parliament from the Province of the Main.
Kienitz, Charlotte
Leader of the Fourth of July Party in Mecklenburg
Knyphausen, Dodo
Major general in command of the 2nd Division, USE Army.
Koniecpolski, Stanislaw
Grand Herman of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Krenz, Eric
Lieutenant, USE Army.
Kresse, Georg
Leader of guerrilla movement in the Vogtland.
Kuefer, Wilhelm
Guerrilla fighter in the Vogtland; Kresse’s assistant.
Leebrick, Anthony
Officer, USE Army; aide to Mike Stearns.
Long, Christopher
Officer, USE Army; aide to Mike Stearns.
Mailey, Melissa
Adviser to Mike Stearns; leader of the Fourth of July Party.
Nagel, Friedrich
Lieutenant, USE Army.
Nasi, Francisco
Former head of intelligence for Mike Stearns; now operates a private intelligence agency.
Norddahl, Baldur
Norwegian adventurer and engineer in Danish service; friend and assistant of Prince Ulrik.
Opalinski, Lukasz
Polish hussar.
Oxenstierna, Axel
Swedish chancellor, chief advisor of Gustav II Adolf
Piazza, Edward (“Ed”)
President of the State of Thuringia-Franconia; leader of the Fourth of July Party.
Platzer, Caroline Ann
Social worker in Magdeburg; companion for Princess Kristina; betrothed to Thorsten Engler
Richelieu, Armand Jean
Cardinal; first minister of Louis XIII; the effective head du Plessis de of the French government.
Richter, Maria Margaretha “Gretchen”
Leader of the Committees of Correspondence; Wife of Jeff Higgins.
Saxe-Weimar, Ernst, duke of
Brother of Wilhelm Wettin; regent for Gustav Adolf in the Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate).
Saxe-Weimar, Wilhelm IV, duke of
See: Wilhelm Wettin.
Stearns, Michael “Mike”
Former prime Minister of the Unites States of Europe; now a major general in command of the 3rd Division, USE Army; husband of Rebecca Abrabanel.
Strigel, Matthias
Governor of Magdeburg province; leader of the Fourth of July Party.
Stull, Noelle
Former agent for the SoTF government, now employed by Francisco Nasi; is being courted by Janos Drugeth.
Szklenski, Tadeusz (“Ted”)
Polish CoC member in Dresden.
Thierbach, Joachim von “Spartacus”
Leader of the Committees of Correspondence.
Torstensson, Lennart
Commanding general of the USE army.
Ulrik
Prince of Denmark; youngest son of Christian IV in the line of succession; betrothed to Princess Kristina of Sweden.
Vasa, Gustav II Adolf
King of Sweden; Emperor of the United States of Europe; also known as Gustavus Adolphus.
Vasa, Kristina
Daughter and heir of Gustav II Adolf.
Vasa, Wladyslaw IV
King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Walczak, Waclaw
Leader of the Polish CoC contingent in Dresden.
Wettin, Wilhelm
Prime Minister of the USE; leader of the Crown Loyalist Party (formerly Saxe-Weimar, Wilhelm IV, Duke of).
Wojtowicz, Jozef
Nephew of Grand Hetman Koniecpolski; head of Polish intelligence in the USE.
Afterword
The 1632 series, also sometimes called the Ring of Fire series, is now up to nine novels and nine anthologies of short fiction. That’s what has been produced in paper editions. There is also a bi-monthly electronic magazine devoted to the series, the Grantville Gazette. As of the month this novel comes out, the magazine will have published thirty-four issues. If you measure things by word count, which is how authors tend to think, almost three million words have so far been published in paper editions—1,674,000 words in the novels and 1,312,000 in the anthologies. A little over two million wo
rds have also been published in purely electronic format in Gazette stories and articles, not counting the stories and articles that were reissued in paper editions.
About five million words, all told. To make things still more complicated, the story line of the series is very far from linear. The 1632 series isn’t so much “a” story as it is a complex of stories. (See below for my suggestion for the order in which to read the various volumes.) Any given character is likely to weave in and out of both novels and short fiction, in stories which are often written by several different authors or collaborations of authors.
To give an example of a character who appears in this novel:
Denise Beasley’s best friend Minnie Hugelmair was first introduced into the series in Virginia DeMarce’s story in the first Grantville Gazette paper edition, “The Rudolstadt Colloquy.” Thereafter, she reappears in Virginia’s “Mule ‘Round the World” (Grantville Gazette #7, electronic edition; Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett’s “Trommler Records” (in the same electronic issue of the Gazette); my story “The Austro-Hungarian Connection” in Ring of Fire II; Wood Hughes, “Turn Your Radio On, Episode Three” (GG #21, electronic edition); Virginia DeMarce, “Franconia! Parts II and III,” (GG #25, electronic edition); my story “Steady Girl” in Grantville Gazette V (paper edition); Eric Flint and Virginia DeMarce, 1635: The Dreeson Incident; Virginia DeMarce, “Or the Horse May Learn to Sing” (GG #28, electronic edition; and my 1635: The Eastern Front. In some of these stories she is simply mentioned, but even so her appearance is a matter of record.
