I took a similar liberty with both Karel Doorman and the cruiser Sumatra. While the real Karel Doorman was promoted captain and assigned to that command in 1937, it was not until the fall of that year. I took the liberty of advancing his fictional equivalent in this timeline’s promotion and reassignment by about six months. It goes without saying that both Sumatra and her Admiralen-class escorts are also appropriate to the period.
Who is Vic Frank?
Victoria Frank, or to use her full name and title, Countess Victoria Catherine Elizabeth Marie Frank, better known as Vic is the secondary protagonist and main reader identification character in the series. One of the fun things about writing in the interwar period is that it was an era of such rapid change. The old order had fallen apart at the end of the Great War, and the new one wasn’t really going to come into being until the end of the next one. That’s one of the reasons why I gave Vic a Russian émigré
background. As someone whose roots have been wiped away, she’s the perfect choice to reflect the social upheaval of the new world.
Personality-wise, Vic’s a daredevil and an adrenaline junkie. She has a relatively short attention span and a low threshold for boredom. With those characters and a penchant for living in the now, she’s always there to drive the story along. She is never one to wait and let the action come to her. While her grandmother taught her all the high society social skills she could ever need, Vic would much rather not have to use them. The problem is that they all require patience, and that’s something Vic hates to employ.
As a character, Vic’s been part of the series since the very beginning. She was in the first paragraph I ever wrote in this setting. Originally conceived as a riff on Pat Savage by way of Natasha Romanoff and Monk Mayfair, she quickly grew into her own person. She was always going to be one of the “big three” with Doc and Gus, but she quickly eclipsed Gus by virtue of being more of a contrasting personality. Physically the smallest of the three, she fills the page in a way that makes her seem bigger.
When it comes to her relationships with other characters, one thing came clear very early. Vic wasn’t going to be Doc’s romantic interest. That was vitally important to me from almost the very beginning because I wanted her to be her own character, and I was afraid she would become an appendage if they got together that way. Her relationship with Ming grew out of a simple question that arose before she even had a name: why was this shopkeeper reacting with such intensity?
There’s more to come with Vic, including the question of her birth.
About the Author
I’m Dave, and I write. I’m also a father, a reader, gamer, a comic fan, and a hockey fan.
The problem with those terms is that they don’t so much describe as label me; the map is not the territory. Calling me a father says nothing about how my daughter thinks I’m silly. It ignores the essence of the relationship for the convenience of simplicity. It’s the same with my love of books, comics, role-playing games, and hockey; labels miss all the good parts.
The best way to understand me is to read my works. Writing is like telepathy; it’s a window from one mind to another. The Doc Vandal series is my attempt to recreate what I like to describe as “Yesterday’s Tomorrow.” This is my homage to the pulps, from Doc Savage and the Shadow to Astounding Stories, Planet Stories and so much more. Expect to see giant robots, alien races, lost cities, and world-spanning conspiracies. I call it dieselpulp dialed to eleven, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
If you want a biography: I was born in the UK, grew up in Canada, and have spent time in the US. I’ve been freelancing for the last decade. As a freelancer, I’ve done everything from blog posts to novels. Before that, and in no particular order, I’ve managed a bookstore, worked in a pawnshop, been the guy you get transferred to when you ask a phone rep for a supervisor, and even cleaned carpets for a living.
Right now, I’m working on Doc Vandal and the team’s next adventure.
Air Pirates of Krakatoa Page 17
