Finally, I have a contract to do what amounts to a sequel to my short novel "The Wallenstein Gambit" (which appeared in Ring of Fire). The title of it is 1635: The King of Bohemia, and I'm co-authoring it with Mike Spehar.

So far as solo novels by other contributors to the series is concerned, the problem there is a marketing one. There are already two story lines developed by other authors for the online magazine The Grantville Gazette - one by David Carrico and one by Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett - that would be easy to turn into good novels. The problem becomes, how do you market them? The simplest way to do it would be to add my name as a co-author, but I won't do that because my contribution to these stories has been entirely that of an editor, not a writer. That crosses a line I consider illegitimate. (Yes, I know it's been done in the history of SF, and plenty of times. But not by me, and I don't intend to start now. Any book that lists me as a co-author is a book that has a lot of input from me as a writer.)

But if you try to market the books under the authors' names, that poses the problem of trying to sell books by new authors which are in someone else's setting - i.e., have all the disadvantages of any first novel and none of the advantages. At the moment, the only feasible way I can think of doing it would be to use a formula that kept my name - presumably combined with the 1632 series as a "brand" - but didn't list me as one of the authors. Something like "Eric Flint presents a 1632 novel." Essentially, you'd be marketing it as a 1632 book and distributors and bookstores would order and shelve it accordingly.

That's... possible. But to be successful, it presupposes a higher level of sales for the series than it has at the moment. It's by no mean impossible in the future, since the series seems to be picking up more readers as it goes along. We'll just have to see.

CO: There are also rumors you have begun work on the final Belisarius series. Is this true?

EF: Yes. I've got about 3/4 of the first draft finished, and I don't expect any major rewriting will be necessary. In fact, the book is already scheduled for publication in February of 2006. The title is The Dance of Time.

CO: What other forthcoming works can we look for from you?

EF: After The Rivers of War comes out in mid-May, there'll be a hiatus of a little over half a year before any new title of mine comes out. There are quite a few of my titles being reissued in paperback during that stretch, as well as several reissue volumes of old SF writers that I edited. But the first new stuff of mine won't be coming out until February. Then, in the same month, I'll have two new novels appearing. In addition to the last Belisarius series book, The Dance of Time, I've got a hard SF novel coming out that month that I'm very pleased with. It's titled Boundary, and I co-authored it with Ryk Spoor.