Discuss Bondwriter's story "Blow Up", in this thread.




Spoilers below!!!





Spoilers below!!!





Spoilers below!!!

A historical tale, set in the years leading up to World War II, we have just one of the adventures of Lucien and André. I suspect that if Bondwriter wanted to, we could have a collection of tales, on the assumption that the pair join the Resistance. There is certainly enough material there

Lucien is the idealist, while André is the leader. Both members of the Communist party, they have their views on what was right and proper, and what should be done. André, in particular, seems prophetic with his concerns about Hitler, but Lucien seems to be the thinker. They make a good, complementary pair.

The opening of the story set the scene for me. The flavour of the valiant agent working against the villainous foe reminded me quickly of the old WWII movies I would watch when I was younger. It just wasn't often that the Communists were the good guys.



Lucien is certainly an original thinker....

It is truly a beautiful tale of two agents. It gives a glimpse of the goings that went before the War.

Well written there, Francois!

The BeaStKid

Good story. Unfortunately, I'm not really into politics but those characters (French! ) and the setting (historical) was made it easy for me to follow the story. The chemistry between Andre and Lucien is so obvious and I just love it! They are made for each other. The small French inserts were cool, for me!

Great story in an original set-up!

Ieshwar

Bondwriter took on what, to me, was a very difficult task; his protagonists were communist, yet he portrayed them in such a way that he had this reader cheering them on by the end. Superbly done, I loved it, every bit.

The historical context was wonderful, not to mention accurate.

All around, a superb and wonderful story.

I have to agree with CJ. They came off as so heroic, and that couldn't have been easy to do. I loved it and was so relieved that Charles used the dagger to cut them free instead of carrying out the murders.

I've never been one for straight up history. Bores me to tears. Good fiction, though, placed within an historical setting, accurately portrayed, always give me a thrill.

Very well done, Bondwriter.

Your lead characters complimented one another splendidly. Idealism and action merged, harnassed by their mutual respect and devotion.

Bravo!!!

Conner

Very well written story! The story just reached out and consumed me until I was hopelessly lost in their adventure. I agree with pretty much everything that's been said already, and would LOVE to see more adventures of Andre and Lucien!

Glad you guys liked my Communist "terrorists". I actually come from a family that would have had more to see with the de Doriville. And both my grandfathers were named André. I also grew up in a town in which streets were named after Karl Marx, Lenin, Yuri Gagarin, etc. Though when I told my dad about a friend at school, whose parents were Communist, who had to go to Moscow for learning Russian, the reply was: "Poor kid!"



I'm glad you could have a feel of the thirties. This is fiction, and it has no intent to be a history lesson, but it's meant to get you into the period. As for the French inserts, I put them in because Carl Holiday told me it lacked a bit of an exotic flavor. But by adding them after the story was written, I didn't have to translate, and they're just small local flavor touches.

Had it been posted in chapters, this would have been a perfect place for a cliff-hanger! As pointed by Graeme, I love popular fiction in which the heroes win in the end. So they'd have gotten out of distress one way or the other. Charles was initially as bad as his dad, and leering and ogling, but having an evil gay guy seemed in bad taste in such a short story.

Yeah, a cute couple going through hard times. I drew from Lucie and Raymond Aubrac, a famous couple of Resistants (Lucie died in January of this year), who had amazing adventures during World War II. The 'love conquers all' thing is nice to work with in an adventure.

They will be back in the Fall. I won't get them into WWII right away, there are lots of interesting facts that took place in the following four years. But André's mastery of explosives, and his job in the railroads are bound to have him join the Résistance.

Thanks for reading and commenting, people.

Well written story and nice caracters.
I know it is just fiction, but the way Bonwriter brings the political situation in 1934 seems me not exactly realistic. I was 7 years old in 1936, my parents (left-oriented) had a lot of friends among the "Front Populaire", and if I remember well, the "terrorists" were more on the right side (Les camelots du Roy, les Croix de Feu, aso) than on the left.
And about the Resistance, dont forget that the communists were "neutral" (because of the German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact in 1939) until Germany attacked Soviet Union in summer 1941. And even during the former german occupation in France, resistance groups were competing, on one side the left and the communists, on the other side the right and the former Action Française.
It would be interesting to know on which side was "Bondwriter's family before and during WWII . But this has nothing to do with the story.... well, the nicest caracter is Charles, human, friendly and.. gay. I could imagine that he is the nearest to the personality of Bondwriter ?

One thing that made the encounter with Charles especially scary for me; Bondwriter had, quite clevery, had the thugs mention "skiining alive" and Charles had a knife. Skillful shading there, Bondwriter!

The description of the mannor grounds and buldings was well done; not too much detail, just enough to give a feel for it.

The "opposites attract" romance was perfect. I also found the rash acts quite believable.

Bob raised a very good point, one I'd been wondering about myself; when will they join the resistance? Will they stay true to the party and be neutral to the Nazis until Operation Barbarosa in the summer of '41? Or will they be amongst the few party members who joined after the fall of France in 1940? Either way, I'll bet it's a soul-wrenching decision, and I can't wait to see where Bondwriter takes these two.

CJ

I'm reminded a bit of Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint and Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series, even though those are fantasy and not historical. I guess it's because of the swashbuckling couples. Anyway, I'm always glad to see historical settings. I think it's under-represented in gay fiction.

I'd like to see more of their adventures, too. Luckily, 'worth fighting for' should be an easy theme for you!

I'm glad you stopped by and commented, Bob, since I thought about you when doing research: Lucien & André would be ten years older than you are. Since nobody seemed sorry for the nine men who got killed in the final explosion, I'd imagine they were seen as people who had it coming.

The take on the historical reality comes from a conversation with an administrator of the caprine kind (about current terrorism and rogue states), in which he equated some current reactions in Europe with those of the 1930s. That's how I imagined André (I already had the idea of the gay heroes up against the Leagues), an enlightened and visionary Communist. He sees the danger of the leagues, and he was not the only one to do so, but the Communist Party had a big rally to build a Popular Front, whereas André picked up some dynamite from his job and decided to do something against the hereditary enemy, up to some evil deeds with this renewed conspiracy set up by la Cagoule. This is not an invention, la Cagoule organized and did gather weapons and explosives, and they had plotted a coup the police dismantled.


As for my family, as I pointed out above, they were right-wing supporters on both sides. Though I'm proud to say they stayed clear of any infamous behavior: one of my grandfathers spent the war in an Oflag in Germany, the other was a traditional conservative rural Catholic, so once he came back home in 1940, he just went back to his job, and neither got into Collaboration nor into Résistance. He had six children to raise, which kept him busy. But my views on the world are quite different from those of my other numerous family members.


I'm sorry for scaring you guys. It's true an author should NEVER get his characters in such distress, CJ. Pot... Kettle... Darkness...


Do you think André will be an obedient follower of the party doctrine? Actually, I'm researching a bit on the railroad workers and the Résistance in my area. We had lots of Communists, and lots of heroic stories from the Résistance (not only Communists, btw, but they made for the best stories, especially because the City Council was made of PCF elected officials until 1989, and the memory was preserved for obvious communication reasons)


Thanks a lot. And yes, in 1936, there are lots of causes worth fighting for. I'd like to have them go through what's left of their teenage years before I throw them into the great turmoil. And there's more research doing historical stuff than smut. Plus you always get someone to tell you you've got your facts wrong!

hey François !
I didnt say that !
Need any help for your researches doing historical stuf ? Just ask !
BTW, the fiction part of your story is very good. Stay on the same line

I was teasing you, Bob. I accept your offer, though writing in retrospect allows to make smart guesses and to have visionary characters easily. I'm currently researching the Front Populaire happenings in my département, la Somme. With an emphasis on the railroad company, which prior to 1936 was called "la Compagnie du Nord".

I'm afraid I couldn't help very much if it goes with details about just one département. If I understand well, you have 3 periods to instigate : the Front Populaire (1936-1938), la drôle de guerre (1939-1940), la résistance "ferroviaire" (1941-1944).What I could help is to make researches concerning the whole France (libre and occupée). Ask if possible detailed questions. I will answer if I can. My point of view is from an young observer, who was quite near to the opponents against the germans and the french right and nationalist side and even participated to some events at the swiss border.
BTW, did you see the movie "La bataille du rail" ?