History Literature / SixteenThirtyTwo

** Flint has admitted that he writes his Spaniards and French (save Ruy Sanchez) as StupidEvil [[MoustacheTwirlingVillain Moustache Twirling Villains]] because he thinks it's funnier.

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Realising that he's going to be tortured to death and then used to frame the USE in a plot to assassinate the pope, and despite being bound to a chair, [[spoiler:Joe Buckley]] fights back against his captor with only his ''teeth.'' This moment of defiance eventually leads to the thwarting of the plot, since his captor loses his temper and kills [spoiler:Buckley]] ''too'' quickly, having to stage the intended torture after he's already dead; this in turn rouses the suspicions of the victim's comrades and sets them on the path to discovering what's actually going on.

* ShoutOut: ''The Bavarian Crisis'' features several tributes to ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic''; Maria Anna adores the musical, she and her co-conspirators use lyrics from the show as code phrases, there are several moments when people who are on the run either flee or consider fleeing over the Alps (one character even considers escaping to Salzburg!) and the entire plot of the book could very easily be described as 'How do you solve a problem like Maria (Anna)?'

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: At the end of ''The Bavarian Crisis'' Duke Albrecht of Bavaria muses that after the fallout of the novel (a RunawayFiancee, several dead family members, including [[spoiler:Albrecht's wife]], the torture and executions of ''numerous'' innocent people, a new ally for the U.S.E. and Sweden in the form of the King in the Netherlands and his bride [[spoiler:Archduchess Maria Anna]] and Bavaria's international reputation in tatters) his brother Maximilian is in the exact same position as he was when his beloved wife Elisabeth Renata died -- refusing to remarry and considering Albrecht's own sons as his heirs. Albrecht concludes that they probably could have avoided the whole mess if Maximilian had simply been allowed to abdicate as he'd desperately wished to after Elisabeth's death.

* SharedUniverse: FanFic authors are invited to submit stories which are regularly published in the "Grantville Gazette" and "Ring of Fire" anthologies. So far, there are two novels, The Kremlin Games and Sea of Fortune, that started out as serialized Grantville Gazette stories before being compiled into full novels, with at least one other collection of short stories being recompiled into their own [=eBook=]. FanFic probably makes up the majority of the wordcount for the series at this point, and even the books by "real" authors are almost invariably written by two or more people.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: At the end of ''The Bavarian Crisis'' Duke Albrecht of Bavaria muses that after the fallout of the novel (a runaway fiancée, several dead family members, including [[spoiler:Albrecht's wife]], the torture and executions of ''numerous'' innocent people,a new ally for the U.S.E. and Sweden in the form of the King in the Netherlands and his bride [[spoiler:Archduchess Maria Anna]] and Bavaria's international reputation in tatters) his brother Maximilian is in the exact same position as he was when his beloved wife Elisabeth Renata died -- refusing to remarry and considering Albrecht's own sons as his heirs. Albrecht concludes that they probably could have avoided the whole mess if Maximilian had simply been allowed to abdicate as he'd desperately wished to after Elisabeth's death.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: At the end of ''The Bavarian Crisis'' Duke Albrecht of Bavaria muses that after the fallout of the novel (a runaway fiancée, several dead family members, including [[spoiler:Albrecht's wife]], the torture and executions of ''numerous'' innocent people and a new ally for the U.S.E. and Sweden in the form of the King in the Netherlands and his bride [[spoiler:Archduchess Maria Anna]]) his brother Maximilian is in the exact same position as he was when his beloved wife Elisabeth Renata died -- refusing to remarry and considering Albrecht's own sons as his heirs. Albrecht concludes that they probably could have avoided the whole mess if Maximilian had simply been allowed to abdicate as he'd desperately wished to after Elisabeth's death.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: At the end of ''The Bavarian Crisis'' Duke Albrecht of Bavaria muses that after the fallout of the novel (a runaway fiancée, several dead family members, including [[spoiler:Albrecht's wife]], the torture and executions of ''numerous'' innocent people and a new ally for the U.S.E. and Sweden in the form of the King in the Netherlands and his bride [[spoiler:Archduchess Maria Anna]]) his brother Maximilian is in the exact same position as he was when his beloved wife Elisabeth Renata died -- refusing to remarry and considering Albrecht's own sons as his heirs. Albrecht concludes that they probably could have avoided the whole mess if Maximilian had simply been allowed to abdicate as he'd desperately wished to after his wife's death.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: At the end of ''The Bavarian Crisis'' Duke Albrecht of Bavaria muses that after the fallout of the novel (a runaway fiancée, several dead family members, including [[spoiler:Albrecht's wife]], and the torture and executions of ''numerous'' innocent bystanders) his brother Maximilian is in the exact same position as he was when his beloved wife died; refusing to remarry and with Albrecht's own sons as his heirs. Albrecht thinks that they could have avoided the whole mess if Maximilian had simply been allowed to abdicate as he'd desperately wished to after his wife's death.

** Maria Anna is betrothed to her uncle Maximilian of Bavaria (her family gets a papal dispensation to allow the marriage when they're so closely related) who's nearly forty years older than her (Maria Anna looks forward to hopefully becoming a powerful regent when her husband inevitably outlives her), she's stripped nearly naked and redressed in front of a crowd when she crosses from Austria into Bavaria to symbolize how she has become part of the latter, and during this ceremony she muses on how her marriage will be physically consumated in front of multiple people, along with giving birth in front of fifty or sixty witnesses as well.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: At the end of ''The Bavarian Crisis'' Duke Albrecht of Bavaria muses that after the fallout of the novel (a runaway fiancée, several dead family members, including [[spoiler:Albrecht's wife]], and the torture and executions of ''numerous'' innocent bystanders) his brothers Maximilian is in the exact same position that he was when his beloved wife died; refusing to marry and with Albrecht's own sons as his heirs. Albrecht thinks that they could have avoided the whole mess if Maximilian had simply been allowed to abdicate as he'd desperately wished to after his wife's death.

** There is a scene with an Austrian princess meditating over a wonderful performance of ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'' she has just seen. She ponders just how "realistic" it was for the Baron to get into a morganatic marriage willy-nilly, but comes to the conclusion that the Baron had enough heirs from his first marriage that he could probably get away with it. TruthInTelevision as morganatic marriage (from the Latin phrase ''matrimonium ad morganaticam'', originally referring to the gift given to the bride by the groom on the first day after the wedding), that is to say, marriage between persons of unequaly social rank, was - while common - frowned upon unless the husband had a living heir, or heirs, from his first marriage. In a historically recent example, also from Austria, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the ill-fated Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne, had tremendous difficulty securing the consent of his uncle Emperor Franz Joseph to his marriage to Countess Sophie Chotek (who, though a daughter of an ancient and excellent Bohemian aristocratic family, didn't qualify for marriage into the Habsburg clan under ancient and arcane rules) until he agreed to make the marriage morganatic; as he'd not been married before and thus had no living heirs, his children - he and Sophie eventually had two sons and a daughter - were therefore ineligible for succession to the throne.

* MedievalMorons: The series deliberately sets out to subvert this from the start. In the very first book James Nichols has to consult with Doctor Balthazar Abrabanel, his "downtime" counterpart, and it quickly becomes clear that the "local" doctor not only doesn't use leeches and ground bat's wing, he has a medical library in nearly a dozen languages, all of which he speaks and reads fluently. Some of those books are even in English. Nichols, who is fluent in English and... English, is completely dumbfounded. The local high school history teacher, Melissa Mailey, breaks down laughing and says "You didn't actually think you were ''smarter'' than these people, did you?" In addition, although they have their initial fears, the early modern characters are extremely quick to recognize and appreciate American technology instead of writing it off as witchcraft, and even logically deduce why it cannot be magic or the work of the Devil. Many downtimers become as adept as, or even better than, their uptime companions in using either the technology that was brought during the initial Ring of Fire or the subsequent tech that's developed as Grantville 'gears down'. As for contemporary superstitions, when Veronica Richter scares two rowdy children into behaving by spinning stories of an ogre in a supply cabinet, she remarks that ''obviously'' she doesn't believe in such monsters, but they're an excellent means to stop young children from getting into trouble: "By the time they are old enough to realize for themselves that there are no ogres or trolls or monsters, they are old enough not to eat soap or fall in the water."

* MedievalMorons: The series deliberately sets out to subvert this from the start. In the very first book James Nichols has to consult with Doctor Balthazar Abrabanel, his "downtime" counterpart, and it quickly becomes clear that the "local" doctor not only doesn't use leeches and ground bat's wing, he has a medical library in nearly a dozen languages, all of which he speaks and reads fluently. Some of those books are even in English. Nichols, who is fluent in English and... English, is completely dumbfounded. The local high school history teacher, Melissa Mailey, breaks down laughing and says "You didn't actually think you were ''smarter'' than these people, did you?" In addition, although they have their initial fears, the early modern characters are extremely quick to recognize and appreciate American technology instead of writing it off as witchcraft, and even logically deduce why it cannot be magic or the work of the Devil. Many downtimers become as adept as, or even better than, their uptime companions in using either the technology that was brought during the initial Ring of Fire or the subsequent tech that's developed as Grantville 'gears down'.

** Virginia [=DeMarce=] is a professional genealogist. A lot of the books and stories in the series written by her feature paragraph after paragraph after paragraph of long, involved detail regarding just how one person is related to another, and what the implications are to a third. Because of this, at least a couple of her works seem to be more character study than plotted stories. There's even a subtle TakeThat in Flint's novella ''The Austro-Hungarian Connection'' which serves as a sequel of sorts to [=DeMarce=]'s short story ''Second Thoughts,'' when Janos Drugeth has the backstory of Noelle Stull explained to him:

** Virginia [=DeMarce=] is a professional genealogist. A lot of the books and stories in the series written by her feature paragraph after paragraph after paragraph of long, involved detail regarding just how one person is related to another, and what the implications are to a third. Because of this, at least a couple of her works seem to be more character study than plotted stories.
** Flint has admitted that he writes his Spaniards and French as StupidEvil [[MoustacheTwirlingVillain Moustache Twirling Villains]] because he thinks it funnier.

* MedievalMorons: The series deliberately sets out to subvert this from the start. In the very first book James Nichols has to consult with Doctor Balthazar Abrabanel, his "downtime" counterpart, and it quickly becomes clear that the "local" doctor not only doesn't use leeches and ground bat's wing, he has a medical library in nearly a dozen languages, all of which he speaks and reads fluently. Some of those books are even in English. Nichols, who is fluent in English and... English, is completely dumbfounded. The local high school history teacher, Melissa Mailey, breaks down laughing and says "You didn't actually think you were ''smarter'' than than these people, did you?" In addition, although they have their initial fears, the early modern characters are extremely quick to recognize and appreciate American technology instead of writing it off as witchcraft and even logically deduce why it cannot be magic or the work of the Devil; many downtimers become as adept as, or even better than, their uptime companions in using either the technology that was brought during the initial Ring of Fire or the subsequent tech that's developed as Grantville 'gears down'.

* MedievalMorons: The series deliberately sets out to subvert this from the start. In the very first book James Nichols has to consult with Doctor Balthazar Abrabanel, his "downtime" counterpart, and it quickly becomes clear that the "local" doctor not only doesn't use leeches and ground bat's wing, he has a medical library in nearly a dozen languages, all of which he speaks and reads fluently. Some of those books are even in English. Nichols, who is fluent in English and... English, is completely dumbfounded. The local high school history teacher, Melissa Mailey, breaks down laughing and says "You didn't actually think you were ''smarter'' than than these people, did you?" In addition, although they have their initial fears, the early modern characters are extremely quick to recognize and appreciate American technology instead of writing it off as witchcraft and even logically deduce why it cannot be magic or the work of the Devil.

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: Mike and Rebecca's children are named Sepharad, Baruch, and Kathleen.

** In another ''Gazette'' story, a band plays Music/Sabaton 's "Lion from the North", a song written in tribute to Gustavus Adolphus; however, this is almost certainly an anachronism, as the song was released on Sabaton's album ''Carolus Rex'' in 2012, twelve years after the Ring of Fire.

“That’s because up-time they used antitampering devices. Lots of wires, and if you pulled the wrong one, the bomb went off. [...]

* RightForTheWrongReasons: In ''The Viennese Waltz'', a maid who overhears part of Sarah Wendell's conversation about fractional reserve banks assumes that [[spoiler:she's referring to the bank of Austria-Hungary and that it doesn't have enough silver to back all its currency. The rumor spreads, leading to a run on the bank]]. This turns out to be true, since [[spoiler:embezzlers who stole part of the silver reserve and printed extra paper money to line their own pockets]].

->'''Scaglia:''' Dear God, what a preposterous siege this has turned into. The chief diplomat for the besiegers setting up his domicile in the city besieged. What's that American expression? Charles V must be spinning in his grave.\\

** Eddie Cantrell, high school kid turned navy lieutenant, with the [[InsistentTerminology king's daughter]] Anne Cathrine of Denmark in ''1634: The Baltic War''. Another one with an interesting twist: [[spoiler:the two's ShotgunWedding was actually engineered by her father -- aka the king of Denmark -- because he wanted a son-in-law with knowledge of uptime technology]].

Unfortunately, the arrival of Grantville upsets the balance of power that UsefulNotes/CardinalRichelieu, First Minister to King Louis XIII of France and the ''de facto'' leader of France, has worked so hard to engineer. A brilliant strategist, Richelieu quickly realizes the importance of the event termed the Ring of Fire and the implications of the historical and technical manuals found in Grantville's library and quickly sets about seeking to block Grantville's influence and using the knowledge of the future to make France the supreme power in the world.

** Don Fernando, King in the Netherlands (formerly the Cardinal-Infante of the Spanish Netherlands) of ''The Bavarian Crisis'' flew into a battlefield to rescue his beloved Maria Anna from what could have been a three-way pile up of Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, Maximilian I of Bavaria, and the city fathers of Basel.

** Flint has admitted that he writes his [[AcceptableTargets Spaniards and French]] as StupidEvil [[MoustacheTwirlingVillain Moustache Twirling Villains]] because he thinks it funnier.