Jeff Foltz
grew up in the Philadelphia area. He received a B. A. in history from Marietta
College. In 2002, he returned to school and received an MFA in creative writing
from the University of Southern Maine. Jeff is an avid cross country skier and
sculler, competing at the highest level of rowing during college and post
college years. He has three grown children and seven grand kids and lives with
his wife, Sue, in Camden, Maine.
Welcome back to my blog, Jeff. Please tell us about
your new book, Two Men Two Suns.
Two Men Ten Suns is
World War II historical fiction with a twist to the commonly accepted theory
about why Truman was so quick to use the atomic bomb. Two young men, one
American and one Japanese, battle their personal demons to win the first
nuclear arms race. One is driven by grief and hatred, the other by pride and
ambition. Doubts plague both men, but neither can stop as their governments
push them to develop the deadliest weapon.
Only now is information about this desperate competition
creeping out of history’s dark corners. Some historians believe Japanese
scientists had kept pace with those of the Manhattan Project and were ready to
test. Did a handful of the world’s most powerful men bury all evidence that
Truman dropped the bomb to beat Japan to the punch? History has criticized Truman’s
decision. “It saved half a million G.I.s” was the administrations mantra. Yet
the United States could not have marshaled adequate troops and material for an
invasion of Japan until five months after Germany’s May 8th surrender. In that
time, continued allied bombing and blockades could have pounded the Japanese
into submission.
Perhaps Truman knew a deadly clock was ticking as he gave
the order to destroy Hiroshima. If intelligence had warned him Japan was close
to using their Genzai Bakudan (atomic bomb)
on an American city, he could not have risked delay. Two Men, Ten
Suns is a gripping fictional account of
this perilous episode.
Wow! This story sounds like it’s full of suspense.
Where did you get your inspiration for this novel?
Discovering the details of history is fascinating for me.
Sorting out which ones to use in a work of fiction is a challenge I enjoy.
Enough “facts” to generate an atmosphere of authenticity, mixed with enough
tension generating speculation about or deviation from “the accepted story” is
the balance I seek.
When the corners of history don’t square or details of an
historical event ride on the stooped shoulders of coincidence, I’ve found my
fodder, my inspiration. I wrote Two Men Ten Suns as I did because both the American and Japanese atomic bomb programs
offered some of those fascinating loose ends.
That’s so interesting. What kind of research did you do
for this book?
Once I had my inspiration, I looked for three things in my
research. First I sought historical facts, particularly those that might be
unknown to most readers. I sorted out facts which could be evidence that, for
reasons of national security or perhaps politics, some parts of the truth were
buried. Second, I looked for the corners that didn’t square, the “accepted”
versions of history that were light on common sense or heavy on coincidence.
Third, I wanted to find ways, based on indisputable history, to offer the
reader a reasonable, believable alternative to the conventional perceptions.
What first disturbed me during my research was Truman’s rush
to drop the bomb. The test at Trinity Site took place on July 16th,
1945. The Enola Gay dropped the first bomb (Little Boy) on Hiroshima exactly
three weeks later, on August 6th, the first possible satisfactory
weather date. Components of both
bombs (Little Boy and Fat Man), though many accounts indicate that only the
Hiroshima bomb was on the Indianapolis,
reached Tinian Island on July 26th. Only ten days elapsed
while the military moved a nine thousand pound weapon from New Mexico to the
middle of the Pacific. In 1945 that’s as fast as they could transport anything
so large and so classified. It’s reasonable to ask, “Why the hurry?”
Second, details about the advanced state of the Japanese
uranium bomb program have not been detailed in our history texts. Two facts are
indisputable. There were two Japanese programs, one run by the army at the
University of Tokyo and one overseen by the navy in North Korea. Both had made
far more progress than the Nazi program. I had to ask, “Why haven’t we heard
more about the Japanese attempt to develop a bomb?”
Third, it was clear, even to the Japanese, that the Allies
would win the war, especially if and when the Russians kept their Yalta
Conference pledge to declare war on Japan. But from May 8th, 1945,
when Germany surrendered, until August 8th, Stalin was content to
let the U.S. military do the heavy lifting in the Pacific. Was it a coincidence
that Stalin entered the Pacific war two days after Hiroshima? His spies had
informed him of the success of the Trinity test. He had had three months to
find evidence in German records of at least one shipment of U-235 from Germany
to Japan. How could he have not suspected that the Japanese had a viable
uranium bomb project? How could he have not wanted the opportunity to be first
to reach Japanese atomic bomb data?
With those anomalies as a starting point, it was fun to
hypothesize an alternative reason for dropping the bomb. Was there pressure on
the “national security” nerve? Were Truman and his top advisors disturbed by
more than the possibility of half a million military casualties in a full scale
invasion of the main islands of Japan? Did they have knowledge, or at least
sensible and genuine fear, that the Japanese might use an atomic bomb to
annihilate an American city?
To be more specific, Two Men Ten Suns contains a great deal of historical accuracy. For
instance, the fact that the Japanese built the largest submarine in the world
and that it carried three airplanes is a fact. It was indeed called I-400.
Manhattan project scientists did use lead lined Sherman tanks to navigate the
Trinity test site immediately after the test. Nagasaki was not the primary
target for the second bomb and that mission did encounter the incredible difficulties
I describe. Scenes of the aftermath of the Nagasaki bombing are composites of
actual eye witness accounts. It was the most gruesome research I’ve ever done
and I wanted to be selective in what I used, but use enough to generate an
authentic sense of horror for my readers.
Perhaps a bit of general philosophy about historical fiction
is appropriate here. For me, an historical novel can and probably should be
less accurate than a history text book (but some of those are becoming a bit
trumped up), but fall well short of fantasy. Age of the history, the bias of
the historical source, and the reader’s willingness to suspend disbelief are
some of the factors that delineate an author’s boundaries as he or she puts
together a story. Ten year old history is likely to be more accurate than
history ten centuries old. Some recorders of history may have biases or
agendas. Others may feel a need to protect secrets or perceptions. Some may
never be privy to the facts or misunderstand them or the relationship of one
fact to another. Enough history to generate authenticity blended with
sufficient fiction to entertain is a good recipe.
I love it when authors add real life situations to
their stories. Thank you so much for this great interview, Jeff. Your book
sounds so intriguing. To learn more, visit Jeff at his website: http://jefffoltzauthor.com/index.html.
Every week I have a new book giveaway so stop by often.
