Not every hero stands at the forefront of battle, chopping up, or gunning down the foe. Johan Kipper, an old and worn mercenary who had done more than his share of chopping up and gunning down, finally found his hero, his liege lord, not in a great captain, but in David Bartley, a fourteen year old boy who was just trying to make sure his family could get by. A lad who was trying to protect his family by making rather than taking, by building rather than destroying. And, more, a lad who didn't need to knock Johan down to feel tall or make Johan afraid to feel brave.
Never in his long life of war and hate had Johan met someone courageous enough to be kind.
This is the story of Johan Kipper, known across the Germanies as Bartley's Man. How he went from down-and-out mercenary to, well, you know what he became. Everyone knows what he became. Bartley's Man.
Bartley's Man Started out as several stories in The Grantville Gazette. We, Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huff, were filling in the gaps just for the fun of it. Later, we were asked to rewrite and add to it so that it could stand alone as a novel. This expanded edition of Bartley's Man is written expressly for Eric Flint's Ring of Fire Press which sadly passed with Eric. But it's still a good read and introduction to Eric's 1632 universe.