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Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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1634: The Galileo Affair For those following Eric Flint's popular series about a West Virginia town thrown into the midst of the Thirty Years War, "1634: The Galileo Affair" is another amusing entry. It does not touch on the town members who were left stuck in besieged Amsterdam or the Tower of London in earlier books. This one follows the town's Catholic priest as he is ordered to Rome to participate in Galileo's infamous trial, which historically was inspired by his publishing "Dialogue Concerning the Two World Systems", which had the defender of the Ptolemaic system bearing a name meaning "the most very simple minded one". Changes brought about by the Americans have delayed the trial by about a year and a half from its date in OTL. Unfortunately, some of the town's kids overhear that their priest is going to Rome, and think he is being put on trial also, so they organize a rescue mission. Cardinal Richeliu schemes. There are alarums and excursions as various groups head for a showdown in Rome, the kids' group incorporating a double agent. The conclusion is a certain amount of fun, as it has the Pope (Urban VIII) uttering words historically attributed to Galileo. The Jesuit Fr. Scheiner, who competed so closely with Galileo that he independentally discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter right after Galileo, appears as a rather vindictive rival. BUT: I had a few problems. For a book supposedly about Galileo, his name is not even mentioned until page 122, and he nevers appears until after page 400. One character makes reference to Galileo having invented the telescope, a vulgar error that no contemporary would have let pass. (Inventor: Hannes Lippershey, Netherlands, 1608; first scientist to use, Thomas Harriot, England, August 1609; Galileo's first use of telescope, November 30, 1609.) And the picture on the dust jacket is more fanciful than anything in the book. It shows Galileo and an American on a terrace with one of his telescopes, while in the sky overhead flies a Leonardo Da Vinci glider and an F-16. WOW! The book carries the traditional legal warning about
all characters being fictional. I would love to put the lawyer who ordered
that under oath, and make him swear Pope Urban VIII, four of his cardinals and
at least one future Cardinal are all fictitious. The book concludes with
an afternote which indicates some of where the series will be going in future
books, and the origins of some of the characters in the series.
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