The sequel to “The Kandinsky Project” has been in the works for four years and has gone through multiple iterations. My expertise has always been in WW2 History, Art and Art History; I didn’t want Rebecca to go back to Paris, so I looked at the other part of the war that always intrigued me–The Manhattan Project. I had never done much research on that particular part of the war’s history until I decided to use it as the backdrop for the next art and espionage story. From the American point of view, it was almost exciting–the race against time, the anticipation of a potential end to the war, the discovery of a groundbreaking technology. Of course, there were a few people that understood the harsh consequences of the bomb, but most of the people working at Los Alamos were operating on two assumptions: first, that the enemy would also be developing the same technology to use on the US and we were racing to beat them, and second, that what they were working on would surely end the war and save countless lives. It’s easy in hindsight to condemn, but at the time that was the foundation from which Los Alamos grew.

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum was Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two cities full of people going to work, going to school, running errands, not knowing that everything they knew would be so horribly destroyed that day when the bombs were dropped. I’ve actually seen the Enola Gay, which is on display at the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum in Dulles, VA, and could either be viewed as the Savior of the War or the Great Destroyer of Men–it depends on which side of history you’re on. One of the characters in the sequel is originally from Japan; her family was greatly impacted by the bomb and she believes that travel through time should be used to right wrongs. Rebecca, on the other hand, is tasked with maintaining history, no matter how horrible. Paris was one thing–she was trying to stop something bad from happening, but in Los Alamos, her mission was to ensure that the bombs were dropped and that part of history was preserved. It ends up being a crisis of conscience that propels her through the rest of the story.

I know this is taking forever, but I’m getting there. As soon as I know how things turn out, you’ll be the first people I tell. More soon.