The other place I looked was in the now very large group of fans who participate daily in an online discussion of the 1632 universe. That discussion takes place in Baen’s Bar, the discussion area which is part of Baen Books’ website—see note below—in a conference specifically set aside for it: “1632 Tech Manual.” The discussion has now gone on for over two years, with tens of thousands of posts having gone up during that period.
Last year, after discussing the idea with my publisher, Jim Baen, I decided to put together an anthology of stories set in the 1632 universe. I wanted to do it in a way which would incorporate, as much as possible, the bubbling cauldron of ideas which the Tech Manual has become. So I adopted a rather unusual format. As is standard procedure for such anthologies, I asked a number of established authors to contribute stories for the anthology. I invited those I was sure would write stories which fit into the setting and would add something to it. The authors involved are David Weber, Mercedes Lackey, Dave Freer, Kathy Wentworth, and S. L. Viehl—and all of them did exactly as I had hoped. And I’ll be writing a novella of my own for it, of course.
But I set aside half the space for new writers, and threw the anthology open for submissions from the participants in the discussion in the “Tech Manual.” A number of the participants are aspiring writers as well as fans, and I was confident that they’d be able to produce a number of excellent stories. Which, they did. About sixty stories were submitted, and I selected nine of them for the anthology.
What was most important to me, though, is that the anthology stories—those from the newcomers as well as the established writers—expanded my own view of this world. The basic framework of the 1632 setting remains the one I had created in 1632, but that theme now has well over a dozen variations on the tune. Aspects of the story to which I had given little thought were now developed into stories in their own right. Characters were introduced who began to shape the ongoing story I was writing myself, and the way I thought about it.
I could give a multitude of examples. The character of Tom Stone, for instance, was first developed by Misty Lackey in her story “To Dye For”—and was then incorporated by Dave and me into 1633 and will become a major character in a sequel which I will be writing with Andrew Dennis. That sequel will develop Andrew’s story for the anthology, “Between the Armies.” It involves characters who were either minor in 1632—such as Father Larry Mazzare—or were first developed by Andrew, and will relate the impact which the Ring of Fire has on Italy and the Catholic Church.
To conclude, although I created this setting and will continue to write solo novels in it, I see myself as part of an ensemble. Sometimes as soloist, sometimes as a participant in chamber music—especially in my duets with Dave Weber—and sometimes conducting the orchestra.
One of the members of the orchestra needs to be singled out for special mention in this afterword, and that’s Mike Spehar. Mike was in the course of writing a story for the anthology when the events on September 11 required him to break off from it due to his professional responsibilities. Mike is such a good writer that I hated to see his work simply go to waste. So, with Dave’s agreement, we incorporated what he had written into some of the earlier chapters of 1633. The character of Jesse Wood was developed originally by Mike, along with the technical basis for the aircraft. (With some input from Evan Mayerle, I should add.)
Then, as we continued to write the novel, things developed further. Periodically, Dave and I would ask Mike if he could write a new scene for this or that chapter, since Mike—who is a retired U.S. Air Force pilot—could give the flying scenes a vividness and detail that neither Dave nor I possibly could. Mike did so, and the first drafts of many of the scenes in a number of the chapters were written by him. Except for the final battle at Wismar, in fact, all of the flying episodes were originally written by Mike—and he was our technical editor for that final scene.