Along with the rest of fandom, we mourn the death of author and publisher Eric Flint. He has been a part of the LibertyCon family for many years and will be sorely missed. A strong-willed man who was both brilliant and entertaining, Eric was our Master of Ceremonies at LibertyCon 15, 21, and 23. He was also the Guest of Honor for the 1632 Mini-Con held in conjunction with LibertyCon 28. Eric spent several LibertyCon's before, during, and after those years with us as an attending guest.
Born on February 6, 1947, Eric published his first novel, Mother of Demons, through Baen Books in September 1997. His writings didn’t stop there. He would then go on to collaborate with David Drake about alternate Roman history in the Belisarius series and with David Weber in the Honor Harrington series. Besides alternate history, Eric wrote series about humorous fantasy (Joe’s World), humorous science fiction (Pyramid series), historical fantasy (Heirs of Alexandria), space opera (Joa Empire), and hard science fiction (Boundary, Castaway, and Rats, Bats, and Vats series). As an editor, Eric was instrumental in getting several collections of classic science fiction written by greats such as Christopher Anvil, Randall Garrett, Murray Leinster, Keith Laumer, and James H. Schmitz republished. However, his best-known series, the Assiti Shards, started in February 2000 with the publication of 1632. This book would start one of the most memorable portions of Eric’s writing career. He would grow this series into a massive alternate history universe spanning over 80 novels and novellas and invite hundreds of writers to participate in it.
Eric strongly believed in nurturing writers and creating spaces for them to grow. He was the lead editor for Jim Baen’s Universe, where he published several new authors. With all the stories being written in the 1632 universe, he started the e-zine Grantville Gazette and eventually expanded into publishing new writers through Ring of Fire Press.
Though he is gone, the indelible mark he left behind on authors, readers, and our hearts will never be forgotten.
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