Why I have written 'Lokomotive'
There are many people out there who, like me, grew up with stories of the second world war from their parents. As a child, this instilled in me a fascination about why the war happened, how it unfolded and, probably most importantly of all, why we had to win. To that end, I read everything I could get my hands on - and this was a long, long time before the internet existed.
One of my greatest areas of interest is secret weapons, particularly prototype aircraft of all sides. When I visited the (mercifully) uncomissioned V-2 rocket base known as La Coupole in Wizernes, France in the summer of 2014, it had such a profound impact on me, I felt I had to write about it. I've been a published author for over twenty years, and while I'd written a YA novel, it was a work of fantasy and fitted with much of the professional work I had done in my career. This is the the first 'serious' novel I have written. While it took me over a year to redraft it to my satisfaction, everything seemed to make sense as I wrote it because it called upon every bit of knowledge I had, contextualised by a part of th world I have grown to love.
The suffering of the men and women conscripted into building this monument to Nazi engineering - and hatred - played a major part in my motivations. I hope I have not trivialised their sacrifices, which were truly dreadful, for the purposes of entertainment. It certainly was not my intention to do so.