It is looking increasingly likely that the series will go to a seventh book.
Unfortunately to get Arturo back into space in a reasonable book length given how long it would take to develop the technology it will mean having do a book that consists of a series of time jumps forward – like say (And this is just an example of what I mean – not written stuff yet)
a chapter 4 years from the end of book 6 where they get their first transistor working
a few chapters a few years later again where something important happens
a few more years and a chapter where they get their first object into orbit
a chapter a few years after that where they get the antigrav machine from Arturo’s shuttle rebuilt and they get their first person into space – with difficulty
a year or two later and we get the first solid state microchip made – computers used for orbit calculations and so on
some time later they get a copy of the fusion engine in the shuttle built. Which had problems…
a couple more years and the get their first steam propelled, antigrav capable, fusion powered space ship into orbit.
and so on – there’s about twenty years just there and I was rushing it. Probably take longer in practice but you see what I mean by a series of short jumps.
eventually Arturo will get his rebuilt and repaired shuttle to the jump point and try and reverse his travel to Earth.
Is a book of what will be essentially time separated short stories and acceptable way to finish the series?
Or at least Arturo’s part in the New Roman Empire?
(I may have a few ideas about stories involving other characters and their adventures for publication at some point in the future)
Thoughts welcome.
rhodanblog 
Well I always like more Arturo novels 😉
However…I think you are way out on the timeline
the advances, learning, improvements…to take a SOCEITY towards the stars, cannot happen that fast IMHO, sorry
it takes iterations of learning, experiment, accident, improvement, to refine machining etc
it’s not merele what Arturo can give them advice on
THEY as people, and systems, have GOT to learn it by experience and that takes time
Arturo’s help will shave corners and avoid SOME mistakes, but it’s always “iterations of improvement”…takes time
a century is more like the lowest time to have some serious space capacity, as in, chemical rockets IMHO
remember, this is the start of the Dark Ages, so there’s that much chaos it will take each area maybe 20 years at least to recover from that chaos BEFORE it can really progress
as has, Arturo’s Britain.
You also have to wonder about the epidemics, plague smallpox etc are all serious issues that would arise from increased organized trade and travel (see today’s mess)
sticking to the Gold Standard and making “fractional reserve banking” a DEATH sentence would help stability, actually 😉
Arturo’s ship senors would probably have analyzed and found all major resource deposits on the Earth
such is certainly plausible for such advanced tech (spectroscopic and gravitational senors etc)
if the ship’s computers are still viable, AND they have suitable CAD/CAM, CNC programs, now that would help a lot , oddly enough
because prototyping, and improving iterations of machinery is a HUGE huge bloody expensive pain in the arse job most folk have no clue about, ick!
CAD/CAM and CNC reduced the time and costs of such a LOT
3D printing was a monumental game changer for prototyping
the difference between say, a lathe of the 1850s
and a lathe of the 20th century is very serious, you need that modern lathe’s degree of precision for say, automatic weapons (especially in smaller calibres or for modern steels), high performance engines for aircraft etc (note, late 20th and 21st century steels are as to earlier 20th century steels, what WW2 steel was to 1830s steel! stuff nowadays is just enormously better)
and a CNC machine is…orders of magnitude in capacity and precision beyond the Victorian tool.
my 2 cents 🙂
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don;t forget they still have his shuttle to pull apart and study. Sitting the water for I think it works out at around fourteen years when they finally move it, won;t have been good for it but even so a lot the stuff would give them a big jump – I was thinking more like about 60 years from the end of book 4 to Arturo takes off
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Oh I could well believe that such advanced tech might be corrosion proof or highly resistant and so when recovered Arturo could use the shuttle computer 🙂
but without a computer, it’s records, and computational power…
I don’t think you get the leap required, and even with such a computer it may take longer than century
You have to broaden the society and it’s experience
people learn by experience, that cannot be forced
add more tech knowledge and it may take less than a century to reach the Moon in a chemical rocket
but…transistors would be their maximum tech
the colossal logistics train needed to manufacture say, a modern computer board is…staggering
You will need exotic and expensive materials, like Germanium, that doesn’t grow on trees
so Arturo may need to set up colonies in South Africa and Central America for some resources…and that will be a huge challenge especially if he keeps it ethical as he has so far.
We take it for granted that you can get almost anything from almost anywhere
but that’s a very recent thing resulting in centuries of effort, population growth, pirate elimination etc
what if his gravity drive requires rare earth materials only found in China?
what if he doesn’t even KNOW where such materials maybe found? (hence scanning record of Earth’s resources by the shuttle would be vital…please read up on the search for things like molybdenum, tungsten, etc)
people and society’s simply cannot adapt too fast or they fracture
rebellions etc occur.
Industries get wiped out.
Severe problems occur as we’ve seen too often.
a flintlock smoothbore is capable of being made in a Dark Age society
a smokeless, rifled, scoped semiauto rifle…not a chance
Now, again it’s perfectly logically to say Arturo’s folk, who’s tech is several thousand years beyond ours
to have a have computer on a mere shuttle containing their equivalent of Wikipedia, plus, CAD/CAM etc. Look at today’s storage capacity etc.
So a shuttle having repair capabilities, info for crew survival or just *useful beneficial* entertainment etc is reasonable.
heck they maybe able to put all Human knowledge on a chip the size of a penny!
which would give a colossal boost…but, Arturo would know he’d have to do it carefully, step by step
if you “Miss out steps”, simple grasps of problems maybe lost
ie, hydrogen aircraft go “boom!”
The “Hindenburg” taught that…though even that “social belief” is somewhat wrong, comparatively if, big if, well done, lighter than air are a hell of a lot safer and more useful than heavier than air until really advanced high performance, reliable engines become a thing and even then, turbo props are way better for cargo/heavy work
Lighter than air craft can float down even when on fire and thus many folk were saved…most jets fly like bricks and few ever survive!
To an ancient society, so what if a few zeppelins crash each year? it’s still a hell of a lot safer than normal travel!!! (storms, pirates, wars, disease etc)
easy way to stop hydrogen zeppelins crashing is to rig up a “lightning detector”, storms/lighting are the craft’s biggest threat, detect the lightning strokes…fly away, less Zeppelins lost! it’s relatively simple 🙂
Though…if Arturo’s folk know better ways to generate and store electricity…true electric power zeppelins would be amazing cargo and military vessels!
By the way, read up on “PLIMPS”, cross between an conventional aircraft and a blimp
bets of both worlds, if you have the tech for it 😉
So when folk truly understand the pro/con of tech, it helps a lot.
but if you miss steps out, go straight to turboprop heavier than air or, gravity drives…folk lose out.
also, each iteration of new machine costs money, and takes time to learn to use
another point is that advanced manufacture of an INTERSTELLAR race may well require nanomanufacturing and exotic material for energy
were only vaguely touching on that today.
anyway you are the author so hey you can do as you wish, it’s literally your world 😉
again, thanks for a great series!
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remember we went from valves and mechanical devices (a la Turing and cracking the Enigma machine to (1940’s) to silicon chips (70’s) – I agree about some of the possible rare elements problems – one of the future side stories is about Danella and Coren going to Southern Africa for instance but our earth went from flintlock muskets (1860’s) to smokeless powder (1900’s) to mini-guns (1960s) and rockets – small liquid (30’s) to large liquid(40’s) to big rockets to the moon (60’s) to the latest up and down things –
I agree metallurgy will need to improve but by the same token they will be able to analyse what it is they need to make by testing bits of the shuttle, And the temperature problem really only applies to the fusion reactor –
keep throwing points at me 🙂
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No worries! 🙂
Well, remember that those advances took place in societies with much larger populations, formal education and resources…and an “acceptance” of such changes.
again it’s like the military numbers issue where on average it takes 10 civilians to support 1 soldier, but that’s the ancient wars, now it’s more like 100+ thanks to tech as military numbers drop but capabilities sky rocket.
Titanic barrages in WW1 achieved little, where as now guided shells can whack out enemy batteries and bunkers with ease.
only “x” amount of folk can work in research and manufacturing
by 1800s, the European population was exploding so that allowed more tech
so it’s a certain growth pattern.
The lands Arturo has taken over in Europe were wrecked by neglect mismanagement and barbarians, so like Wales/England, he’s going to have to rebuild a lot of stability, infrastructure to achieve a stable society that can *then* work on industrialization.
But, as noted, military numbers can be reduced as tech makes up for numbers
though, pirate suppression would be a huge issue.
While steam ships could avoid most pirates/belligerent enemy fleets, harbours can still be attacked…
Equipping merchant ships with 2nd or 3rd rate weapons, but ones not a threat to your ships etc, would help.
i.e. muzzle loader carronades (carronades are much better than full sized cannons for merchant ships) and eventually 20mm Oerlikon cannons or the like.
Now…I can’t recall if in the novels better crop rotation was worked out?
that and the mechanical harvesters which are in storyline would boost population growth but it still takes time.
Seawater contains many elements as, in a certain sense, it’s incredibly corrosive
1 ton of gold per cubic kilometre iirc!
but no way *we* can get that out
however, if Arturo’s computer/ship had some “super” filtration system?
Not sure all the elements dissolved in sea water but that’s one interesting possibility? 🙂
militarily, with working on mortars, what Arturo or ally might bring in is “rebounding fuses”
air burst mortar shells are WAY more deadly than machine guns or anything else on the battlefield, however, clockwork ones are expensive/difficult to make
Chemical timed (burning) fuses are SO not safe in modern weapons, ick!
not so bad in smoothbore cannons, ala US Civil War cannons “spherical case shot” which were triggered by flame of firing rather than inertia, but not for high speed high pressure systems where some milliseconds can make a gunner’s life short or make the shell explode underground …but…maybe ok for gunpowder mortars though?
On 1800s cannon shells timed fuses were a circular area, with a coiled fuse inset into metal made of very fine powder, holes were pricked through the metal at set points corresponding to time and range flame on firing ran around the shell, ignited the fuse. Fuse was loaded to the front so it was’t blown in, and shells were strapped to a wooden circular “sabot” so they were held in place and also helped ensure good propulsion
So as Germans discovered in World War 2, putting a small, specially designed charge in the shell , think it was a shotgun cartridge they used at first, on impact, it blows the shell back up in the air, detonates above head height with…grizzly results! And, cheap.
Ooooh, side stories! Cool! 🙂
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Go for it – without wishing to be negative, it/they are ‘just’ novels so a degree of licence is fine IMHO.
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Failure IS an option, imo. Even if Arturo gets back into space in his repaired shuttle, getting back to his time would require some handwaving, not to mention that he’s going to be a lot older by the time he gets ‘home’. And he’s left behind an advanced Roman civilisation that will have space capability 1500 years early. If he’s permanently stuck in that era, he will have achieved something momentous. Compared to a court-martial for losing his ship, he might eventually accept that.
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I have a present day version of such a Roman Empire in another story I am working on…… They have a Concilium Planetarium…..
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I give up, where can I get a copy of book five?? It’s not on kindle and I’m jones’n bad.
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currently being edited – Book 5 “Sailing East” should be out the end of next month – give or take a week or so either way
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I would be inclined to agree with most of Steve’s points about technological progression – just look at Japan and China in the 1800/1900s and the time frame it took them to industrialise and modernise to the point of the West. Could a dark age society do the same to the point of space flight over even a century with Arturo’s slightly hazy and “gapy” knowledge of modern technology?
Having said all that, I binged books 1-4 before Christmas and will avidly read whatever you decide to publish.
Is there a reason it has to end in 7 books rather than 8?
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you are forgetting that Japan went from Samurai in the 1850’s when Perry visited to beating the Russian navy in 1905 – so 50 years – and I think you are not giving enough weight to Arturo being there to direct developments and having a sample present as well once they pull his shuttle out of the lake and transport it to Fort Mars…..
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Japan though had a huge wealth of expertise, written and people, plus working examples, to learn directly from.
They could order a steam engine from England, with some folk to install, instruct, plus manuals…and even folk to teach the science and/or engineering to set up their own, local learning, designing and manufacturing systems.
that’s not possible for Arturo.
It’s a huge difference.
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One positive aspect that no-one has mentioned about a longer time line for the needed technological progress is more time for more stories.
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ha! I have a couple of chapters of a four or five chapter ‘short story’ detailing event sin 1185 or 431 for you Christian types
another single short scene set around 1215 or 470 give or take a few years as the dating of this little set is not set in stone.
And that’s it. Well I know where Arturo is going when he finally repairs his shuttle but I haven’t actually written it down yet.
and thats it – at the moment Book 7 is only 4k words and even finishing the section I have started and adding Arturo’s shuttle flight I’d be lucky to get to 10k words.
But, well, you never know what amazing ideas might jump into my head.
But I will be honest and say that I have another motive for publishing something else after Book 6 but I will address that in another blog entry at some point down the track.
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Jeff,
yup, like Cabdury’s chocolate: more is always good! 😛
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The Horror of it all. Forced to read more well written stories by an author who knows his business and how to make it interesting. Some how I will suffer through. By the way, are they done yet?
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very nice words there. Thank you. Nearly have the first draft of 6 done and the editing is proceeding on book 5 – Sailing East – so far those two are on schedule….
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The biggest gap in all these theories and thoughts isn’t the timeline to get into space.
It’s the timeline that will allow the New Empire to build stability. You can’t control tech once it’s out in the wild. As more samples of Tech get out, the more it will be adopted by the more mature civilizations already in existence. The Eastern Empire is already manufacturing their own muskets, cannon and powder. The Western Empire hasn’t exactly been hiding steam technology or industrial processes.
In order to build a secure Empire, the borders will have to extend all the way to Moscow and the Urals in the north, all the way to Sahara in the South and as far as the India in the east. It’s in the east where problems will really occur. India is unified under the Gupta Empire where they’re developing Algebra of all things, so it’s a scientific society that will absorb all the new tech, the Guptas were very militaristic so weapons adoption will be quick. On the other side of India you have the Northern/Southern Kingdoms of China who are also scientifically advanced, organized and embroiled in long term wars. Another society happy to adopt the new technology.
Steam engines are the problem. Trains will unite any landmass you take or already has a solid industrial base that can be converted. India/China fit the bill. It won’t take them long to build their first steam engines. Meaning trains and steam ships. Chinese/Indian Steam ships going east means they”ll be the Australia and the America’s in less than 10 years after their first steam ship leaves the docks.
Enterprising Roman captains by that time will have made it to the east coast of the America’s. What will the Chinese and Roman Empires do in the Americas. One wonders.
If Arturo’s shuttle gets him back to his space time and it’s a direct timeline and not a multiverse, then the world he left won’t be there. 5th Century Rome/India/China will have proof that space can be reached and conquered. With the conquest of the America’s by pragmatic rulers instead of Religious Zealots, Maya star charts and mathematics may be preserved and built on. Arturo may find himself in a 2000 year old space faring civilization when he gets home.
Just a few things to consider
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It’s funny you should mention Russia…. well the Ukraine is close.
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Once you’re in Kiev you’re on the Silk Road. The tech will proliferate from there. In the 20 years or so to get to a tech base close enough to launch the shuttle, you’ll have the Indians and Chinese on the borders.
As someone who’s worked in the hardware side of tech for 25 years, without fabricators or replicators it’s going to take that long to get the material science, the mechanical controls and coding to get Arturo’s shuttle back to snuff. In the mean time, you’ll can build simple Single Stage To Orbit vehicles with just enough tech to get into and back from orbit probably in 10 years.
Un-shielded Space worthy Hull.
Basic fusion engine thrust?
Mechanical Gyros.
Limited re-breather air supply.
All manual controls like the original 707’s that had 6 man flight crews.
Can’t really go far with that, but still further than where we are today. If it’s straight timeline, Arturo’s future won’t be there when he gets back,
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no – it won’t…. on the other hand….
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Are you planning to get Arturo on his way home and finish the series before he crashes into Mohammed? Or is this time line not going to have Islam?
I like this series a lot but just one tiny thing gets me. It is often difficult to work out exactly where Arturo is. Some of the place names are obvious, some mostly guessable, but the rest no idea
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this is the map I use-
https://imperium.ahlfeldt.se/
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