1636: Sea Of Fortune-Iver Cooper

1636: Sea Of Fortune Iver Cooper Baen, Jan 7 2014, $15.00 ISBN 9781451639391 “Stretching Out.” In Belem do Para, Brazil, Henrique Pereira da Costa and his servant and best friend Maurico enter the Amazon Valley seeking rubber trees. They show drawings to the native Indians, who fail to comprehend what the outsiders want until Maurico makes a clay model that lead them being escorted to rubber trees. Henrique and Maurico send sap to Portugal for testing. When they come home, Henrique finds a cracked vase with the silver candelabra secretly inside gone. He knows the inquisitors will destroy him as a Jew and take everything he owns including Maurico. Dutchwoman Maria Vorst illustrates plants and animals in Grantville, but craves working in South America. She persuades Dutch sea captain David Pieterszoon de Vries to take her on his colonization voyage to Suriname as his science officer. “Rising Sun.” For several years Portuguese priests converted Japanese to Christianity until the religion was banned from the locals though secret ceremonies still occur. Shogun Iemitsu Tokagawa and his senior councilor Sakai Tadakatsu struggle with their Christian subjects when they learn about the soon to come rebellion. Many Christians are executed while others sent to New Nippon in the Northern New World under the control of Grand Governor Date Masamune. Both segues expand the Ring of Fire universe into new or previously limited geography and culture. “Stretching Out” includes seven excellent entries mostly in South America and the Caribbean built on real events but with a nice Grantville twist. “Rising Sun” contains five terrific tales in Japan and the American-Canadian West Coast also built on real events enhanced by historical speculation but with a nice Grantville twist. Harriet Klausner