KEYLA VASCONCELLOS
Staff Writer
For those who enjoy war novels with drama, “star-crossed romance” and politics, “Split Creek,” by V.O. Blum would be a fantastic pick. This novel is about camps in America for German prisoners during World War II.
V.O Blum came to the Diesel bookstore in Malibu on February 26th, at 7 p.m. Around 20 people came to view Blum and an actor act out different scenes from his book. He also spoke about different components regarding the novel. Blum answered any questions the audience had and did a book signing.
The author, Victor Oscar Blum, also known as V.O. Blum, resides in Oregon. He was born in New York City, the day World War II ended in Japan, September second, 1945.
As a child, Blum wanted to be a journalist and as an adult he fulfilled his dream by writing featured articles that were published in, among other periodicals, Playboy, The Village Voice and Northwest Magazine.
In 1989, he wrote his first novel, “Equator.” He recounted the tale of an overseas volunteer who became tangled in a sexual threesome with a trendy European couple in West Africa. He enjoys telling this kind of story, in which the protagonist is confronted with a dilemma.
In the novel “Split Creek,” protagonist, Lieutenant Friedrich Dassen, is torn between German nationalism, democratic ideals and loyalty to the Communism, which his mother defended with her immense views, surrounding the war.
As a young boy, Dassen witnessed his mother being taken away and put in confinement for her pro-Soviet allegiance. While living with family, his aunt and uncle forced him to serve in the Hitler Youth, which is an extension of Hitler’s beliefs that its future Nazi Germany was to be the children. He then gets drafted into a German army unit in North Africa with a mission to disrupt allied oil lines.
Ultimately, Dassen is captured and transported to a POW camp in the American West in an attempt to “disnazify” the soldiers.
Dassen falls in love with a woman named Helen who admires the Nazi party. In the novel, extreme sex scenes are plentiful, including Tantric sex, which was becoming popular in Germany during that period of time.
Blum added that because of the loyalty the main character had with family and his sexual attraction for Helen, this began to drive the story. It proposed titles such as “The Great Divide” or “Split Creek.”
“I never expected ‘Split Creek’ to have a mass appeal, because of the aversion in the U.S. to detailed depiction of twentieth century totalitarian ideologies like Communism and National Socialism.” said Blum in an online interview. “But I did believe that if the novel was adopted for the screen, its star-crossed romance, through the power of the moving image, could reach a larger audience.”
“Dassen reminds me of several German expatriates I know, who after being conscripted into Hitler Youth and/or the Wehrmacht some 60 years ago, now yearn for a peaceful world devoid of militarism,” said Blum.
The book was also well researched about politics and philosophy. The author, while residing in Big Ranch, Wyoming, in 1987, came across the remains of a wartime camp for German POWs in nearby Clearmont. He learned that some interned officers in other camps had been from Communist families. There was speculation regarding U.S fascist sabotage in the Deep West right before World War II.
Blum used an extensive amount of books to research for the novel, including: German Communism, U.S. Fascism, German POWs in the U.S and the Deep West. He has an obvious talent for examining history.
“Split Creek” contains dialogue with an extensive amount of German words. The author also uses all caps when he begins yelling at someone or an argument is being started. Both are a tad distracting. The sex scenes were also a bit overdone, tremendously graphic and explicit. Otherwise, the novel was exceedingly well-written.
Barnes and Nobles website cited that “It is a beautifully written book. The plot is very thrilling, very witty and it’s a romp through history. It’s a tremendous amount of fun to read… it’s a very exciting book.” said Walt Curtis, author of the novella “Mala Noche.”
V.O Blum says his next project will most likely be a short story. It is based on a true incident, a boy in New York City in the late 1940s who got the notion that he could fly. Keep your eyes open for the upcoming novel in local bookstores. For more information you can go to http://www.timeseaglebooks.com/timeseaglebooks.html.
04-23-2007