Shadow of Vietnam

Mozzie inserted a lurking anti-war sentiment into Arkham Files. His character, the astrophysicist Dante Atwood, was a vehement protester of the Vietnam War. Like many scientists and scholars, he was appalled by the toll taken both on people and the environment. Mozzie found an unexpected ally among the members of the Arkham Round Table writing group with Tricia who'd been an environmental activist in college.

In Mozzie's arsenal of arguments against the war, one aspect particularly rankles him and that is the draft. Being forced to do something, whether it be to pay taxes or serve in the military, is anathema to his principles. Mozzie can expound at length on the inequities of the Selective Service System in place during the war. Only straight men were drafted and loopholes in the law allowed some to bypass service.

In Arkham Files, Peter and Jones are representative of men who enlisted of their own free will. Peter served in the early sixties before the major escalation of the war in 1964. Henry is representative of yet another category—men who wanted to serve but were denied the opportunity. The Vietnam War was such a dominant aspect of the period that it would be difficult not to include it in Arkham Files, but by 1975 the war was winding down. The fall of Saigon occurred on April 30, 1975—about six months before the start of the first story in the series. However, issues caused by the war, such as Peter's grief for his younger brother who died while on active duty, continue to linger.

Some of you know that I'm working on an original novel. Mozzie is encouraging me to set in the early 1970s. He points out that much of the voluminous research he's done for the period could be recycled. He has also written copious notes about the potential presented by the war. He makes a compelling case.

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