A CONTINENT ADRIFT, A Novel by Vladimir Chernozemsky. Triumvirate Publications,
Los Angeles, CA; Triumpub DeleteThis @aol.com. 2004. 495+viii pp. $24.95 hardcover.
Chernozemsky's stimulating, expansive novel works of many levels. In some
respects, its a cosmic science-fiction novel moving through eras of time and
levels of consciousness. Geopolitics, Armageddon-like catastrophe, and
Christian eschatology also figure into it. All of the themes and elements are
held together by the central character, namely the protean figure of Satan. In
his many guises over time and space, this central character is working to keep
the world from destruction because without the world and its inhabitants, he
wouldn't be able to foment his evil. As the Devil says in an introductory poem,
"My need for protection created God./Without me/He has no eyesight, feelings or
presence of mind...I made him Human,/Not in my likeness, but Godlike...."
Chernozemsky is not unmindful of the wry aspect of this twist in the figure of
Satan, who is ordinarily described as trying to destroy God's handiwork of an
ordered and ongoing world.
This skilled author keeps his grand themes, shifts in time and place,
multiple characters, and novel ideas in balance in a well-paced narrative. The
devious, diabolical character's first incarnation on Earth is in prehistory,
when he and others arrive from a dying planet and mate with apes--thus becoming
a part of life of Earth at a early stage of evolution. Following episodes take
place in ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, Nazi Germany, and modern-day
Washington, D. C., among other settings. The reader is drawn along by observing
with fascination the working of Satan's wiles in these different historical
times. Chernozemsky has accomplished a masterful work exploring the duration
and scheming of evil in an alternately light, alarming, and thought-provoking
style.
Henry Berry, book reviewer
The Small Press Book Review
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