D.V. Chernov's Blog, page 5
April 8, 2021
Commissar is a Semi-Finalist for the Goethe Award
Commissar has been selected as a Semi-Finalist by the Chanticleer International Book Awards for the prestigious 2020 Goethe award for historical fiction. From here, the novel will compete for the for the Finalist position. About the Goethe AwardThe Goethe Book Awards recognize emerging new talent in post-1750s Historical Fiction. The Goethe Book Awards is a division of the […]
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April 2, 2021
Commissar is shortlisted for the Goethe Award
Commissar has been shortlisted by the Chanticleer International Book Awards for the prestigious 2020 Goethe award for historical fiction. From here, the novel will compete for the for the Semi-Finalist position. About the Goethe AwardThe Goethe Book Awards recognize emerging new talent in post-1750s Historical Fiction. The Goethe Book Awards is a division of the […]
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August 31, 2020
Dora (Fanny) Kaplan
One of many factual events in the novel Commissar is the attempted assassination of the Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. In the evening of August 30th, 1918, as he was leaving a political rally at the Michelson factory in Moscow, Lenin was shot and seriously wounded. The apprehended assassin was a 28-year-old woman named Dora Kaplan, […]
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August 26, 2020
Allied Intervention in Russia: Siberia
One of the events in the novel Commissar is the Allied intervention in Russia. Overshadowed by World War I, this is an often-forgotten episode in world history which influenced the Soviets’ relations with the West for decades after the war. In the summer of 1918, a coalition of WWI allies deployed troops to Russia’s Far […]
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August 14, 2020
Weapons of Commissar: Armored Trains
During the Russian Civil War, both the Reds and the Whites relied on trains to move troops and equipment across Russia’s vast expanses. Many of these trains were armed and armored for defense, while others were more heavily equipped to provide active support in battle. Armored trains play an important part in the novel. On […]
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Weapons of Commissar: Mark V Tank
The British heavy tanks are probably some of the most recognizable machines of WWI. Manufactured by the Metropolitan Carriage and Wagon Company in Birmingham, UK, the Mark V version was produced towards the end of the war. In the novel, the Mark V tanks are used by the White Army. Originally developed to cross the […]
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Weapons of Commissar: Mauser C96
The iconic Mauser “broom handle” pistol was popular on both sides of the Russian civil war. Although not as ubiquitous as the Nagant revolver, the Mauser was renowned for its quality and power. In the novel, Anna carries the Mauser, as did many Cheka agents of the period. The German arms manufacturer Mauser produced the […]
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August 13, 2020
Characters of Commissar
Commissar is based largely on real historical events and people. Here is a handy reference to who is a real historical person and who is fictional in the novel. THE REDS Anna Sokolova Cheka agent – fictional Sergei Zaverin Cheka agent – fictional Anton Egorov Cheka agent – fictional Colonel Berzin Cheka agent – real […]
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William’s World
When we meet William in the novel, he is back in the US after spending a year on the frontlines of Europe. Having maintaining neutrality for the first three years of WWI, the US entered the war in 1917. By the summer of 1918, American soldiers were arriving in Europe at the rate of around […]
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August 12, 2020
Anna’s World
The plot of Commissar starts in the summer of 1918. As Anna begins her service in the newly-formed CHEKA state security agency, Russia is a powder keg of political and cultural tensions. In the prior year, the country was rocked by a series of major changes: the popular revolution by the starving people impoverished by […]
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