Line #21 Creator/EricFlint


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eric_flint.png]]
2	Eric Flint (February 6, 1947 - July 17, 2022) was a noted science fiction author who tended towards hard science fiction, often in collaboration with other authors such as Creator/DavidWeber.
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4	Notable aspects of his writing style include a number of trademark affections and concepts, including:
5	* Unusual tonal tags, structured in a general manner like the following: he said "something something something." Emotional tone: "Something."
6	* [[AuthorCatchphrase Certain turns of phrase]] tend to show up across all of his work quite often, some particularly common ones being "butter wouldn't melt in his/her mouth" and "[insert adjective here] as you please."
7	* A tendency to have fun with characters' emotional and physical relationships that's somewhat unusual for most science fiction authors.
8	* At least one [[RomanceArc romance]] per book. Some of his co-writers have mentioned Flint {{shipping}} the characters the co-writer developed. He has even unabashedly shipped {{Historical Domain Character}}s that he thinks should have gotten together.
9	** Rather than any long term dating or engagement, many of his romances tend to be based on the rather old-fashioned notion of the protagonists first quickly making commitments, and then working out the details as they go along, such as HappilyArrangedMarriage and FourthDateMarriage.
10	* Heavy usage of ArcWords, often in the form of a BadassBoast, or an epiphet, such as "[[Literature/BelisariusSeries Deadly with a blade is Belisarius]]"., or "[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo Hidalgo true and pure]]".
11	* A notable bantering style of dialogue between most of the major cast, especially in a "cheerfully grim" attitude towards fighting in wars.
12	* A distinct tendency towards being able to make workable, interesting and entertaining omni-competent and plot-bending characters (examples: see [[Literature/BelisariusSeries Flavius Belisarius]], [[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo Michael Stearns]] and [[Literature/HonorHarrington Victor Cachat]]).
13	* Where the setting allows, Scots-Irish or West Virginia based characters portrayed favorably
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15	If not the creator of the Assiti Shards time travel idea (also known as ISOT events, after the ''Literature/IslandInTheSeaOfTime''), then the writer of the best example. Assiti being an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] of As It Is, and the idea is simple: a location is picked up whole and dropped in another time, with only the resources they would have on hand--As It Is--to survive.
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17	Prior to becoming an author, Flint worked as a labor organizer and political activist, earning something of a reputation as a leftist radical. Up to the day he died he was a member of the Socialist Workers Party, one of the largest far-left parties in the United States (relatively speaking). To a casual reader this is generally not apparent--most notable is that his books generally have heroes with strong blue-collar values--but a reader schooled in Marxist theory or socialist history can pick up plenty of references. This usually confused people who considered Baen, where he held several important editorial positions, to be a conservative publishing house.[[note]]Which, for note, isn't entirely true. One of their flagship authors, for example, is Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold, a noted liberal.[[/note]]
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20	!!Notable works include:
21	%%http://www.ericflint.net/index.php/bibliography/
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23	* ''Literature/MotherOfDemons'', his first published novel. Human ship crash lands on an alien world and we get to see how the two societies interact.
24	* ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'', the most successful and well known of the Assiti Shards concept; in 2000 AD, a West Virginia coal mining town is dropped into Germany, in the year 1632. In the middle of one of [[UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar the worst wars of the past millennium]]. Some hilarity ensues, along with a whacking great dose of {{character development}} for pretty much everyone, romance, heroics, and death. Oh, and the American Revolution -- a century or so ahead of schedule.
25	* ''Wages of Sin'' subseries in the larger Creator/DavidWeber's ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', where one of his favorite characters, superspy Victor Cachat, comes into play.
26	* ''Literature/TrailOfGlory'', an AlternateHistory in which after the UsefulNotes/WarOf1812 the Cherokee, in collaboration with freed blacks and other Native American tribes, head west decades early and found a small nation in Arkansas.
27	* ''Literature/JoesWorld'' written with Richard Roach, a class-warfare satirical fantasy series; this is one where his aforementioned political views really come to the fore.
28	* The ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'', written by Flint from an outline by Creator/DavidDrake, in which two rival intelligences from the unimaginably distant future attempt to influence human history in sixth-century Rome and India.
29	* ''Literature/RatsBatsAndVats'' series, written with Creator/DaveFreer.
30	* The ''Literature/KrimPyramid'' series, also with Dave Freer.
31	* The ''Literature/{{Boundary}}'' series, written with Creator/RykESpoor.
32	* The ''[[Literature/TheCourseOfEmpire Jao Empire]]'' series, written with Creator/KDWentworth.
33	* ''Literature/TheHeirsOfAlexandria'' series, written with Dave Freer and Creator/MercedesLackey.
34	* The ''[[Literature/TheWitchesOfKarres Karres]]'' series, sequels to ''Literature/TheWitchesOfKarres'' by Creator/JamesHSchmitz.

Context Creator / EricFlint