Bulldozer Impossible

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CuttingEdge
2010 crawler
2010 crawler
Posts: 534
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:13 pm
Location: Maine

Bulldozer Impossible

Post by CuttingEdge » Sun Dec 12, 2021 3:17 am

So I think I did nearly the impossible: I wrote a romance-suspense novel on bulldozers.

Okay, I will give you a minute for that to register! :D

I am not joking actually. Since my wife left me a year ago, I took up writing and have chewed out five mystery novels. These are full, 85,000 word novels which has been fun. Themes like railroading, tower climbing, transmission line work, snowplowing with the last one being about bulldozers! My idea was, women like to read novels, but they have husbands that have real jobs, so why not include those themes into a novel instead of more dull topics like office building politics? They have been a pretty big hit in any case.

I always wanted to do a historical novel and knew the time America invaded Russia was long forgotten, and so I wanted to do a book on that era (1919). I also assumed with Japan, Britain, France and the United States there, along with Russian's; all would be looking to stay warm in Siberia far more than they would be in fighting. I also knew Siberia has a lot of coal, and that coal would be needed to fuel ships of that era, along with heating needs. So I developed a logical plot, and after months of research found out...what I had fictionally plotted actually happened for the American Doughboys back then!

The book starts out with a husband and wife taking silver bullion collected from the town to get a Japanese tank to go after a legendary tale about coal in an old coal mine that is just ready for the taking. But her husband double crosses her, and her town, by trading his wife to the Japanese and takes the towns money, with intent to use the coal for his own family's heat. But as she is accosted, an American hauling supplies on a Lombard sees this, and intervenes. Upon interrogation of her husband, they find out about the coal, and so two Doughboys set out with the Russian woman (who they do not know is married) to act as a guide to the old coal mine since she has "been there once with her father as a child to get coal". Just as they do, the Russians attack the barracks and release the Russian husband who is a prisoner of war.

As the US doughboys and Russian woman cross mountains, they get stuck in a swamp, climb a mountain precariously, get chased by the Japanese and Russians who are also bent on getting the famed coal for their own use. Along the way the steersman of the old steam Lombard Log hauler gets killed, and the woman has to steer the Lombard to the coal mine. The Russian wife and American doughboy also fall in love. That gets tested when a Siberian Tiger pins the woman down after dark, and yet the US Doughboy chases it off, refusing to kill something after seeing so much death in the trenches of the Great War in France.

After skirting death many times by the Siberian Wilderness and those Japanese and Russians chasing them, they find the coal. Right on their heels is their enemies and they set up an elaborate decoy in order to get the coal so the American Barracks can stay warm for the winter. Just as they are about to drive off with the coal, her Russian husband and his Japanese friend hold them at gunpoint, realizing that the set-up for the other soldiers was a decoy. All seems lost, with no way out, and all their hard work for not. But then the Siberian tigress bolts from shadows and defends the woman, killing her husband and repaying the Doughboy for not killing her (the Siberian tigress) when he had the chance.

But as with all novels, the real story is in the characters, and this is about a woman who is told she has freedom (Russia gave women rights in 1917, USA in 1920), but realizes they have been lies. Tenacious and stubborn, all the men she comes into contact with want to tame her, except the US Doughboy who loves her for who she is. But he has his own motivations to confront. As they pull the coal along the roadway, he has to decide to whom to take the coal. In the end he chooses the small Russian village that is freezing to death rather than his own barracks, and finds out her father is dying, and the whole impoverished town has no coal for heat. The father finds out the Russian husband did mean things to his daughter, and tells her to marry the doughboy and go to America. I takes some convincing as she is proud of her Siberian heritage, but then she says she will have a dozen girls if she has to until she can have a boy for her fathers honor, he tells her to just have a girl and be a Siberian Tigress just like her... tenacious and strong... he is proud of her, and in America she has a future.

With an abbreviated plot line like this, it sounds silly I know, but it is really a rather nice novel. A lot of twists and turns, and deeper meaning then just "get coal:stay warm", it is about a woman's journey in discovering that she can be herself despite a harsh environment in the grips of war. For those that like bulldozers...that is...assuming you feel a Lombard Log Hauler is an actual bulldozer, you will like the challenges that they face while operating theirs, and the history along the way. I strive to be very accurate, and provide an interesting read that is not boring.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

dtoots1
350 crawler
350 crawler
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Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 8:54 am
Location: akron, ohio

Re: Bulldozer Impossible

Post by dtoots1 » Sun Dec 12, 2021 9:11 am

Interesting!

Just makes you think a bit....ALL of us are foreigners!!! but citizens....which is important

Welcome back

B Town
350 crawler
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Posts: 752
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 7:04 pm
Location: Western Iowa

Re: Bulldozer Impossible

Post by B Town » Sun Dec 12, 2021 10:25 am

I like the plot and story line. Is “Bulldozer Impossible “ the title of the novel?

Best regards, Bruce

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Lavoy
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Re: Bulldozer Impossible

Post by Lavoy » Sun Dec 12, 2021 5:57 pm

Glad to hear you are staying busy.
Lavoy
Parts and restoration for antique and late model John Deere crawlers.
Owner and moderator www.jdcrawlers.com

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