Ring of Fire (anthology)

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Ring of Fire

Ring of Fire cover art with backdrop of an armored coal truck.
Author	Eric Flint (ed.) and various others
Cover artist	Dru Blair
Language	English
Series	1632 series or Ring of Fire
Subject	Anthology, fiction in a shared universe setting
Genre	Alternate history, science fiction
Publisher	Baen Books
Publication date	January 1, 2004
Publication place	United States
Media type	Hardcover
Pages	528 pages; 1.6 lb, Physical Description: 6.6"x9.7"x1.6"
ISBN	0-7434-7175-X (2004 hardcover) ISBN 1-4165-0908-9 (2005 paperback)
OCLC	53145277
Dewey Decimal	813/.0876608 22
LC Class	PS648.F3 R55 2004
Preceded by	1633 (novel) (Written in parallel, with crossed plot lines)
Followed by	1634: The Galileo Affair (novel) or in time The Grantville Gazette (more anthologies, November–2004)
Physical Description: 6.6"x9.7"x1.6"; 528 pages; 1.6 lb Edition Info: Physical Description: 6.6"x9.7"x1.6"; Hardcover; 2004-01-01

Ring of Fire is the third published book by editor-author-historian Eric Flint of the 1632 series, an alternate history series begun in the novel 1632 (February 2000).^[1] The Ring of Fire is both descriptive of the cosmic event as experienced by the series' characters, but also is at times used as the name for the series itself. The series is set in war-torn Europe during the middle of the Thirty Years' War.

Ring of Fire is a collection of short stories —half by a variety of established science fiction authors invited into the setting, half fan-fiction by enthusiasts who helped take the stand-alone novel into a series numbering works in the tens of books; all set in the universe initially created by Flint's science fiction novel 1632 written as a stand-alone novel and turned into a series by popular demand. Unlike most short works in a novel created series, the stories within are important milieu shaping creations—story threads which are formalized into the series canon for they helped establish it, and act as a spring board for further developments in the books. Many characters debut in these short stories who play an important role in subsequent longer works.