Status Updates From Ring of Fire IV

On the road, in a very bad situation, thanks to a wild pig. A sow with a litter nearby, so a very different dynamic from that of an actual boar. And then the peasant village they took refuge in wants to rob them -- not greed, but desperation. And Harry Lefferts rescues them, in his own hillbilly version of "you won't like me when I'm angry."

Eva sets her cap for Harry, and goes about seducing him as a matter of pride. She will not be one of his conquests, yet she will have her night with him -- and it looks like both of them are left wanting more.

What a difference a few days make -- between one chapter and the next, the disastrous events of 1635: The Papal Stakes take place, Harry Lefferts loses a big chunk of his team, including people Gerry and his brothers know, and comes back a very different man. Like Ken in Michael Z. Williamson's _The Weapon_, he'd gotten complacent in his success, and paid a terrible price.

Working out the logistics of following Lefferts on his mission.

A conversation with Harry Lefferts -- when he still has all his bravado intact, before that devastating moment when he failed, abysmally and some of his team died.

An encounter with the local Committee of Correspondence nearly goes very badly -- until Harry Lefferts steps in. This is still the brash, bulletproof Harry Lefferts of the early books, before his horrific failure to rescue Frank and Giovanna Stone -- which is one of the drawbacks of such a widely-branched 'verse: a story written later has a different impact because of knowledge of what will happen later.

No, this story isn't about a gangster or other criminal, but a woman who survived smallpox, and has been told that she is relegated to spinsterhood because of the scarring. And then the Ring of Fire deposited Grantville in the past and Everything Changed.

Discussion of religion in Brandenburg

Discussion of how bad the OTL marriage was, damaging the House of Rohan. Can a better match be made in the new timeline, which will keep the family from diminishment?

Approaching the borders of Burgundy -- which in those days appears to have been to some degree a separate realm, given the concern about the grand duke's border posts. A reminder that the concept of a sovereign nation was far blurrier in this period than the present. The Treaty of Westphalia would be a major part of that change.

Another reminder of how deeply steeped in religion downtime culture was. Really making us feel it in a way that Mr. Flint often wasn't able to because his focus was elsewhere.

A play that will be a distraction while another operation is carried out -- but it's not so simple as their plans had been.

An astonishing revelation of identity. Uptime and downtime cultural interaction related to sexual orientation. And how knowledge of original-timeline history shapes the self-perception of downtimers with famous descendants who may well be entirely butterflied away.

A grand scheme -- but can it be pulled together?

The minesweeper ship has arrived, so the previous teams leave. The "hard hat" dive rigs are being put to use, with two death-row prisoners volunteering to have their sentences commuted, presuming they survive. Except nobody told the downtime dive master about nitrogen, dive times, decompression or the bends. Superstition takes the place of knowledge.

A mishap that looks deadly proves merely injurious, and a discussion of free diving (holding one's breath, like a whale or a penguin) vs SCUBA, which leads to having to explain about nitrogen and gas theory and a whole bunch of knowledge that modern divers take for granted as Stuff You Learn In School.

Maritime insurance and salvage in the 1600's, with uptime technology, some of it brought back in the Ring of Fire, and some of it made by downtime artificers -- this time with proper safety measures, if our uptime crew have anything to say about it.

The culprit is identified and apprehended after a brief standoff. A confession that reminds us how much the supernatural was a part of people's lives and mindsets at that time -- but also raises the issues of tertiary syphilis and neurological issues. A reminder of just how harsh penalties were at that time. In all, a very satisfactory police procedural.

Talking to an elderly lady whose infirmities keep her homebound, but desperately needs connection. Promising that after the case is solved, they'll come back to tell her what they can about it. And then off to the new suspect's church, with the previously suspected clerics, to find evidence not only of murder, but perhaps framing an innocent man of God.

Apparent suspect has been cleared. Now looking at a possible witness, from an earlier case these two detectives were on (not sure where or when it was published, or if it's just backstory to give the feeling of a world that continues beyond the edges of the story).

Returning to investigate further. The uptimer recalls an uptime in-service training in interrogation, taught by a former JAG and WV state trooper, on how to lead perps to reveal themselves.

The. mayor's unhappy -- and then a third body appears, same MO. Definite serial killer, definitely bigtime mentally disturbed. Given the bible verses, our detectives turn to the local clergy. A deft portrayal of how deeply religion and faith were suffused into society in that place and time -- and how Eric Flint bringing in collaborators made this 'verse bigger than the sum of its parts

A second body -- and now a puzzle. Are we dealing with two killers, or one killer who's polished his technique? One things's for certain -- if he's not caught and stopped, he will kill again, and again, and again.

A police procedural with a very disturbing killing, with a high probability of being the first act of a serial killer. And then a mountebank with a shell game.

At least something good does seem to have come out of grief. Marta is starting a new life with a more settled man, instead of someone who's forever chasing the Big Win.

The revelation that the villain in this story is an actual historical criminal, who in our timeline went on to keep killing until 1652, at which point he was apprehended, tortured into a confession and executed.

More very grim scenes of what today would be considered gross atrocity, but were unexpected in that day, when there were no formal logistics trains and "the strong take what they wish and the weak suffer as they must" was still very much a rule of life.

The horrors experienced by a downtime soldier, and the psychological effects upon him.

A young man decides that Sir Isaac Newton's birth must not be butterflied away -- and in an England gripped by the obsession of Charles I with the future of the original timeline, his parents decide it's best to keep out of the King's attention -- but to fulfill what they are coming to see as God's Will and wed and seek to birth the great man.

Concerns about a new preacher, and whether he's elevating himself and his writings above Scripture, and thus becoming the leader of a dangerous mind-control cult, as opposed to just another denomination or sect within Christianity. Refs to uptime incidents -- probably David Koresh and the Branch Davidian, although Jim Jones and the People's Temple could qualify as well.