A couple of months ago, I stumbled on a series of booksat Barnes & Noble. Since I am interested in history, they caught my eye. The first book is named 1632, the second one 1633, and they are parts of a series calledthe 1632 series or "Ring of Fire". Yesterday I happend to stumble on more information about the books, and found out it is a whole series of books, e-books, etc. Many of the books are available as free legal downloads at the publisher Baen Bookswebsite, through the Baen Free Library.
From Wikipedia (slightly edited for length:
The fictional town of Grantville, West Virginia and its power plant are displaced in space-time. A hemispherical section of land about three miles in radius measured from the town center is transported back in time from April of 2000 to May of 1631. The town is thrust into the middle of the Thirty Years’ War, in the German province of Thuringia in the Thuringer Wald, near the fictional German free city of Badenburg.
Grantville, led by Mike Stearns, president of the local United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), must cope with the town’s space-time dislocation, the surrounding raging war, language barriers, and numerous social and political issues, including class conflict, witchcraft, feminism, the reformation and the counter-reformation, among many other factors. One complication is a compounding of the food shortage when the town is flooded by refugees from the war. The 1631 locals experience a culture shock when exposed to the mores of contemporary American society, including modern dress, sexual liberation, and boisterous American-style politics.
Grantville struggles to survive while trying to maintain technology sundered from twenty-first century resources. Throughout 1631, Grantville manages to establish itself locally by forming the nascent New United States of Europe (NUS) with several local cities even as war rages around them. King Gustavus Adolphus rapidly moves the war theater to Franconia and Bavaria, just south of Grantville. This leads to the creation of the Confederated Principalities of Europe (CPoE).
I just downloaded 1632 and will start reading it tonight. If it is good, I might just go ahead and buy the books. I think this kind of publishing is great, you get to read some, see if you like it, then buy the books and support the authors.