Alternate history master Eric Flint returns to top form with an epic addition to the multiple <I>New York Times </i>best-selling Ring of Fire series.  A cosmic accident sets the modern town of Grantville, West Virginia, down in war-torn seventeenth century Europe and a new nation is forged.  Now after carving a place for itself among the struggling powers of Western Europe, Grantville must throw up its eastern bulwarks against Dark Age domination. But the challenge for the down-time Eastern European horde is just as great: how to crawl out of a deeper feudal shadow than any in the west–and step into the light of freedom.  <P><b>About Eric Flint's Ring of Fire series:</b><P>“This alternate history series is…a landmark…”—<I>Booklist</i><P>“[Eric] Flint's <I>1632</i> universe seems to be inspiring a whole new crop of gifted alternate historians.”—<I>Booklist</i><P>“…reads like a technothriller set in the age of the Medicis…”—<I>Publishers Weekly</i><P>“…each new entry appears better than the previous one, a seemingly impossible feat…terrific.”—<I>Midwest Book Review</i><P>“[C]ombines accurate historical research with bold leaps of the imagination.”—<I>Library Journal</i>