Volk (43 page)

One additional reason I completed the novel at this time: I had the research assistant, Alan Riggs. He was to work for me a year, and I realized that this was the time to do my research novel. Because I have found that I have been spoiled by the ease and speed of fantasy, and am no longer satisfied to take the necessary time for research. There are those who spend three years in research before starting to write a novel, but in the three years prior to
Volk
I completed thirteen novels and reworked one. Three were collaborative, and one was a movie novelization, which speeded things up; nevertheless, it is evident that I move at a good clip, and I'm just not about to take years on any one piece. So with Alan's help I was able to write
Volk
at almost the speed of a non-research novel. Alan mentions that he had help in the library, locating references, from Dan Monkhern, Drew Wojciechowski and Peg Rombach. There is surely little connection to this novel, but Drew later committed suicide, and Alan married Peg.

As I proofread the novel in 1999, 19 years after starting it and 8 years after finishing it, I was struck by the degree to which it is drawn from my own experience and that of my parents in peripheral ways. There is more of me here than mere writing effort. In Chapter 3 I drew from my mother's experience in Spain, such as her reaction to the sight of freshly dismembered bodies after the artillery barrage—but she died three months after I finished the novel, long before it saw print, and never got to read it.

You may wonder why I keep departing from the fantasy genre where I have had such success. The answer is that I started in science fiction and fantasy because that was what I liked and knew best. But I never wanted to be limited to it. I want to be free to write in any genre where I may have something to say. But since I have an easier time with fantasy, and make more money there, I don't step out of it unless I have special reason. Thus my non-genre efforts tend to have significant and perhaps controversial elements, as is the case in this novel. What is the point in breaking out of the barrier of one genre, only to be confined in another? I want to be known, ultimately, not merely as a fantasy writer, but as a writer with something to say, whatever the genre.

At any rate, I hope that it has been worthwhile for you, the reader. I hope also that those of you who object to the final chapter will do your homework before sending me angry or ignorant letters or emails. I am well aware that there is still no general public awareness in America of what happened to the disarmed German soldiers. Denial is a powerful if misdirected force. It is not me you have to refute, but history.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1996 by Piers Anthony

ISBN: 978-1-4976-5838-7

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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