The War That Never Ends

Forward to Piers Anthony’s novel Volk

Piers Anthony is a writer of passion. Something has been growing in his work for years—and this is a reference to fecundity. His bestsellers occupy whole shelves is the chain bookstores! The largeness to which I refer is a special kind of empathy. He sees the universe from a variety of points of view but always with an emphasis on youth. Adults know all about the pain of loss. The young still feel the pain of longing.

There is no literature without passion. Yes, I said literature. Academic snobs automatically discount a writer who has the temerity to be popular with teenagers. Their attitude seems to be that Piers Anthony is the guy who made a fortune selling puns to adolescents. They are immune to the cleverness of the Xanth books. Word play offends people who do not want to play. Nor are the old at heart likely to appreciate his best science fiction and fantasy.

So when Piers Anthony turns to historical subjects and produces Serious Novels by any conceivable standard, he faces the challenge of finding the right audience. It hells to educate young readers who then grow up to read the author’s major work. William Morrow publishing such a novel, Tatham Mound, about Native Americans. The publicity campaign was virtually non-existent compared to the treatment afforded his genre series. At least Tatham Mound was published in hardback and attracted critical attention.

For me, it created a hunger for another historical novel by Piers Anthony. Nothing satisfies the appetite better than what you now have in your possession. Thanks to Pulpless.Com. Anthony has turned to one of history's true turning points to tell an unforgettable story.

Volk is a masterpiece, a love story set during World War II. It is certain to arouse controversy because it is not a hate story. Without giving away any of the carefully developed plot, the theme may be safely discussed in this foreword. Volk brings together three people who become close friends despite profound differences in belief. Quality is a Quaker who volunteers to help the sick and needy in war-torn area. She is a woman who in her quiet way demolishes the insults of those who doubt the courage of a true pacifist. Lane is an American patriot who wants to go to England and be a fighter pilot with the RAF. He anticipates eventual hostilities against the Third Reich. After all, the Spanish Civil War was the warm-up act for the most horrible war in history. There were a number of prescient Americans like Lane who couldn’t help but see the handwriting on the wall. So far, so good. Right?

The remaining member of the trio is Ernst, a Nazi. No, I don’t mean the clichéd “good German” who often appears in fiction set during this period. Ernst is a party member, a true believer in National Socialism. A Nazi. There is no deception between these good comrades. Lane and Quality know what Ernst is. So how can a woman in the Society of Friends be friends with two warriors, one whom serves a perfidious regime? It takes a writer with the skill of Piers Anthony to provide the answer. Sometimes it is the person who feels emotions most deeply who is willing to think through a situation to its logical end, act accordingly.

Anthony’s characters are not reworkings of stock characters from other people’s fiction. He draws on life and a close study of personality, a sure way to get into trouble. Volk is the kind of novel Victor Hugo would write if he’d lived in our times. A true Romantic can make a personal possession into a symbol of anything he chooses, inverting or reinforcing the original intent of the symbol, baptizing or exorcising a symbol, reinterpreting it as befits the ideology of the human heart. So it is that Ernst’s silver swastika takes on a meaning undreamed of by Adolph Hitler.

Come to think of it, Victor Hugo might have had trouble placing a novel this honest about material normally treated with a host of considerations taking precedence over characterization. Piers Anthony did his homework. The historical figures ring true. For example, no movie has come close to capturing the real Reinhard Heydrich whose style was both urbane and sinister. Generally, the movies give us interpretations that would barely achieve credibility in a cartoon. When Anthony insists on reality here it bodes well for believability in the rest of the narrative.

Which leads to another problem. Some readers may find Volk too convincing. A doctorate in history shouldn't be necessary to figure out that in a war there will be good people and bad people on all sides. Common sense should be enough, but as the night follows the day, and black markets follow Total Victory, so too does ill treatment of prisoners of war happen no matter who is in charge.

Sometimes the losers die. That’s why it’s better to win. Volk shows us that for some German prisoners at the end of hostilities, it was better to fall into British hands than American or French or Russian hands.

Hold on. Did I say American? We all know Germans didn’t want to surrender to Russians. That’s well-documented. Besides, we’ve seen this acted out in uncounted numbers of Hollywood films. That's where most of us get our history. But as already noted, Piers Anthony did his homework. Volk would be a great novel even without the unpleasant history lessons about certain American-run camps at the end of the war. There will probably be critics who complain that Britain comes off too well.

The research and expert storytelling combine to make Volk a modern classic. Thanks to Pulpless.Com, we finally get to read this important book.

Reprinted with permission from the author.

Brad Linaweaver is the author of the critically acclaimed Moon of Ice, about what the world might be like if the Nazis had won World War II. He is also the author of 50 short stories, some radio and film scripts, Sliders: The Novel and is co-author with Dafydd ab Hugh of the best selling Doom novels based on the popular video game from Id Software.

Volk is available at http://www.pulpless.com