The Ring of Fire seres

Has anybody else read this series? It's about a modern West Virginia mining town that gets transplanted into Thuringia, in the middle of the Thirty Years' War. Do NOT let that sci-fi premise turn you off. Eric Flint did his homework. In fact, the series' online community regularly contributes historical and scientific info.

Don't thnk it's about Americans who use their technological marvels to enthrall the natives and rule over them. They have modern guns but no way to make more ammunition. A contemporary German mercenary might only have a wheel-lock pistol and sword but is more than capable of separating a modern American's head from his shoulders. The Americans discover they need to adapt, and they need German farmers and craftsmen a whole lot more than the other way around.

In the first book, 1632, he thoroughly describes the Battle of Breitenfeld. Gustav's Saxon allies fled almost without firing a shot while the Swedes turned a potential disaster into one of the most decisive victories of military history. The descriptions of life in the 17th century Germanies are also spot on.

I'd recommend that people read the first and second books before making a decision on this series, as 1632 is too full of American "propaganda" to be a decent showing of what makes this series awesome.

What is "propaganda"

Is it different then plain old propaganda?

Originally Posted by Unorthodoxt

What is "propaganda"

Is it different then plain old propaganda?

It's not really propaganda, and is so obvious that anyone can catch onto it (the standard message of "AMERICA #1, USA, USA, USA!).

That kind of BS.

I loved the 1632 books.They were excellent reading.(Freedom Arches still cracks me up)
Hearing that they were going to make into a TV show.........Has me split in wether I should embrace it or keep the good memory from the books and not ruin it by watching.

Maybe I will wait for reviews and if they are somewhat positive I will give it a look.

Originally Posted by Scipio Afracanis

I loved the 1632 books.They were excellent reading.(Freedom Arches still cracks me up)
Hearing that they were going to make into a TV show.........Has me split in wether I should embrace it or keep the good memory from the books and not ruin it by watching.

Maybe I will wait for reviews and if they are somewhat positive I will give it a look.

A TV series? Seriously? If they can recreate the unmitigated brutality of the Thirty Years' War I'll be a very happy man. One of the best parts of the book is at the beginning, when the miners stumble across some mercenaries nailing a German farmer to a door and gang-raping his wife. You can almost feel the anger and hate smoldering on those pages. Sorta like that scene from Watchmen when Rorschach discovered what the kidnapper did to that missing girl.

No, I didn't give away a spoiler. You can read that on the back cover of 1632.

Okay. I was curious. I haven't read any of the books, but I have seen them.

You have to remember its the SCI-Fi channel and there shows can be somewhat on the cheap and on the corny side.
Fox is showing the Terry Goodkind book and that even looks questionable.
So I have reason to be sceptical until I hear good things.

Originally Posted by Scipio Afracanis

You have to remember its the SCI-Fi channel and there shows can be somewhat on the cheap and on the corny side.
Fox is showing the Terry Goodkind book and that even looks questionable.
So I have reason to be sceptical until I hear good things.

And those Sci-Fi movies always seem to be filmed in Bulgaria for some reason.

I thought you were talking about HBO. After all, they are filming the Game of Thrones miniseries.

My mistake,is it HBO that is doing the series?

In that case it might be good.

For some reason I thought the Sci-Fi channel was producing it.

I don't know who's producing it. I was just hoping that HBO would. While Sci-Fi can do awesome TV series (Battlestar Galactica, anyone?) their movies tend to be putrid cinematic diarrhea.

I've read 1632, 1633, and am halfway through 1634: The Baltic War. I've also read about half of the first Grantville Gazette.