1637: Dr. Gribbleflotz and the Soul of Stoner (33) (Ring of Fire)

A 17th-century alchemist confronts modern science with unintended and amusing results. Another sparkling addition to the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire alternate history series created by Eric Flint. SCIENCE AND MEDICINE VS. FLIM-FLAMMERY Thomas "the Great Stoner" Stone once performed miraculous surgery upon Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz, the World’s Greatest Alchemist, using his bare hands, no anesthesia, producing no pain, and leaving no scar. It would have been wonderful if it was real. But Dr. Tom Stone, the face of modern medicine, has been engaging in fake treatments—bringing all modern medicine into question. Phillip, who has learned a thing or two about actual science from those uptime elopers from Grantville, West Virginia, decides to go to Padua and turn his problems into Tom Stone's problems. Meanwhile, the wily Bernardo Ponzi has assembled a team to support his evangelical touring roadshow featuring a light show, faith healing and yet more psychic surgery. Now Gribbleflotz and Stone are on a collision course with the Magnificent Ponzi, who has moved beyond showman-like fakery to causing actual harm to many people. It’s time for Gribbleflotz and Stone to resolve their differences, debunk one of history’s greatest bunko artists, and save the reputation of modern science and medicine from ruin! About Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire series: “This alternate history series is ... a landmark...” — Booklist “[Eric] Flint's 1632 universe seems to be inspiring a whole new crop of gifted alternate historians.” — Booklist “. . . reads like a technothriller set in the age of the Medicis . . .” — Publishers Weekly A 17th-century alchemist confronts modern science with unintended and amusing results. Another sparkling addition to the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire alternate history series created by Eric Flint. THE ALCHEMY OF INVENTION Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz, the world's greatest alchemist and a great-grandson of Paracelsus—and a Bombast on his mother's side—had been a man history forgot. But when the town of Grantville was transported by a cosmic accident from modern West Virginia to central Germany in the early seventeenth century, destiny gave him a second chance at fame and fortune—and this time he doesn’t intend to blow it! The world's greatest alchemist does not make, ahem, mere household goods. But with suitable enticements, he might be persuaded to create baking soda, and then baking powder, so that the time-displaced Americans can chow down on their biscuits and gravy. An alchemist he remains, but with his relentless quest for the quinta essential of human nautre, Gribbleflotz plays a central role in jump-starting the seventeenth century’s new chemical and marital aids industries—and perhaps bringing on a scientific revolution three centuries before its time! About Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire series: “This alternate history series is ... a landmark...” —Booklist “[Eric] Flint's 1632 universe seems to be inspiring a whole new crop of gifted alternate historians.” —Booklist “. . . reads like a technothriller set in the age of the Medicis . . .” —Publishers Weekly "SCIENCE AND MEDICINE VS. FLIM-FLAMMERY Thomas "the Great Stoner" Stone once performed miraculous surgery upon Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz, the World's Greatest Alchemist, using his bare hands, no anesthesia, producing no pain, and leaving no scar. It would have been wonderful if it was real. But Dr. Tom Stone, the face of modern medicine, has been engaging in fake treatments-bringing all modern medicine into question. Phillip, who has learned a thing or two about actual science from those uptime elopers from Grantville, West Virginia, decides to go to Padua and turn his problems into Tom Stone's problems. Meanwhile, the wily Bernardo Ponzi has assembled a team to support his evangelical touring roadshow featuring a light show, faith healing and yet more psychic surgery. Now Gribbleflotz and Stone are on a collision course with the Magnificent Ponzi, who has moved beyond showman-like fakery to causing actual harm to many people. It's time for Gribbleflotz and Stone to resolve their differences, debunk one of history's greatest bunko artists, and save the reputation of modern science and medicine from ruin!"-- Provided by publisher