Which character would I spin off from my series?

by Rebecca Cantrell

Finally a question that gives historical writers an unfair advantage! I can jump forward in time, so I can spin off even the children. And that’s just whom I would pick.

In A TRACE OF SMOKE, Hannah comes across an orphan 5 year old boy named Anton. Anton’s been raised by a prostitute. The identity of his father is in dispute. And he talks like he’s an Apache brave. I’ve received more fan mail about him than any other character in the book.

I actually did submit a proposal to write a book with a 22 year old Anton as the main character set in Berlin in 1948. The book was to be called IN MY FATHER’S SHADOW.

In 1948 Berlin is in a state of transition. World War II has ended and American, British, French, and Russian troops occupy the city now stranded deep in the Russian zone. Refugees stream in from the Eastern Zone of Germany, Eastern Europe, and concentration camps. Those returning home often find their houses destroyed or usurped by those who stayed behind. On June 24, 1948 the Russians blockade all train and automobile traffic into the city, hoping to force the other allied troops out of Berlin so that they can occupy it.

The Cold War has begun.

A few weeks before, Nazi doctors were hung in Nuremberg. Attacks on American troops and military bases still occur, although with far less frequency than in the first two years after the war. Fluent in the German language, Anton is still unprepared for the cultural changes wrought by the Nazis, the war, and the Occupation. He works in the Berlin Airlift, where American forces will fly in all the supplies for a city of two million people for almost a year.

Anton’s mother spent her life trying to rescue Jews from Hitler, but the man Anton thinks might be his father helped put Hitler in power and set up the first concentration camps. Nothing is as he expected as he struggles to understand what it means to be German at heart but American in loyalty.

When I sold A TRACE OF SMOKE, they requested a two book deal and both had to have Hannah Vogel as the main character, so I went back to the drawing board and came up with A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES (June 2010), set during the purge of the same name (because who doesn’t want to write a book that starts with a zeppelin jacking?). I still think someday I might write the book of Anton’s coming of age, but now that I’ve sold books 3 & 4 with Hannah (A GAME OF LIES (June 2011), set during the Berlin Olympics, and A NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS (June 2012), set during Kristallnacht), I don’t know when I’ll find time.

If you ever read it, you’ll know why I had to make that disclaimer.
I did use a similar character, a young American soldier coming back into Berlin during the airlift, in my short story COFFEE in the anthology MISSING from Echelon Press. But let me say right here that he is NOT Anton and his mother is NOT Hannah. If you read it, you’ll know why I need the disclaimer.

I’d also like to tell Dracula from Mina’s point of view, not quite a spinoff, but a new tale nevertheless…more details on that very, very soon…

4 Comments
  1. I gave your book 5 stars on Amazon, saying I was looking forward to new work. I think your idea of a book about Anton, in 1948 sounds excellent.

    By the way, have you read, “Berlin”, by Pierre Frei? Set in Berlin in 1945, it’s a mystery/police procedural that will just blow you away.

  2. Thank you for the great review! one of these days I want to write that Anton book.I haven’t read BERLIN by Pierre Frei, but I’m adding it to my list.

  3. This is the review I wrote for it.

    “I love a great detective story, and this is one. But what separates this story from most novels is the emphasis Frei places on the CRIME VICTIMS.

    Four or five blonde women are found murdered in post-war Berlin. A spree-killer is on the loose. The novel centers on the German policeman (and his family) and an American policeman, stationed in the occupied city, who team up to find the killer. But, not neglected are the women who were murdered. All were “fleshed out”. All the women had played a role, some large and some small, in anti-Nazi activities during the war. All were on the verge of life-changing events that were cut still by the murderer’s chain.

    Along with the crime story is an often-humorous story of the German policeman’s 15 year old son, playing the angles to try to buy a well-cut suit that will win him the heart – and body – of a hot-to-trot girl. (The tailor’s daughter). As the author’s note says that author Frei was born in 1930, I wonder if this part was “his” story.

    This is a very good book. ”

    Also, will you be sending out a notice when your new book is ready to order? Amazon doesn’t have it listed yet, and I don’t want to forget it. I usually put a not-yet-published book on my Amazon Wish List, even though I generally order it through my local bookstore.

  4. Fascinating review! I just ordered the book.

    My next book, A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES, comes out in June 2010. If you sign up for my mailing list, you’ll get an announcement as the pub date nears.

    To sign up, go to About Rebecca Cantrell > Join my Mailing List or
    https://rebeccacantrell.com/about/join-my-mailing-list/

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