by Lisa Black Though Chris mentioned Noor Inayat Khan in a previous roundup of female spies, I ran across a small display of her story this past summer in DC’s The Spy Museum. Her tale is complicated, surprising, and...
AN UNLIKELY SPY
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ROGUE FLASH – Gayle Lynds in the London “Guardian”
Scottish American author Helen MacInnesExciting news! British female authors are making in-roads in the male-dominated field of spy fiction. They’re publishing first-rate novels across the pond that are winning awards and making best-seller lists. In fact, as Guardian writer Alison...
SOME OF THE BEST SPIES WEAR FUR
by Chris GoffYears ago, Smithsonian Magazine published an article by Tom Vanderbilt entitled "The CIA's Most Highly-Trained Spies Weren't Even Human." It's worth sharing.During World War II, a psychologist named B.F. Skinner received defense funding to research a pigeon-based homing device...
Quintessential Rogues
. . . by Karna Small BodmanWe Rogues write novels about plots, spies, and danger among other things. And we are often inspired by "real life" experts in spy craft, who we could call "Quintessential Rogues" in their own right. I'd like to share two brand new stories with you about some...
MY 3 DAYS WITH A KGB COLONEL … or was he?
Julian Semyonov, Dennis, and I in the barby Gayle LyndsHave you ever spent time drinking, talking, and brain-storming with a KGB colonel? Maybe Julian Semyonov wasn’t a colonel. Maybe he wasn’t even KGB. Maybe he was “just” the most popular Soviet detective novelist of his...
NANCY BILYEAU GOES ROGUE: Goodreads & BookBub herald her new historical spy thriller
Nancy in Metropolitan Museum of Art, Louis XV roomsGayle Lynds: Some authors just have that historical espionage touch, and at the top of the list is the multi-talented Nancy Bilyeau. It's an honor to welcome her here today. Nancy is a historical fiction author (her first,...
Research and troubled children
How I research, in one word: audiobooks. Okay, two words: audiobooks and a wireless earbud. A while ago I discovered how to download library ebooks to my phone, enabling me to listen while I classify fingerprints, wait around for...
“SPY GIRL”
by Chris GoffElizabeth “Betty” Peet McIntosh (1915 to 2015)During World War II, Betty worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of today’s CIA, lying in the line of duty.Born in Washington DC, the daughter of a sportswriter, she attended Journalism school, then worked...
Great Books and Films about Great Spies
Submitted by Karna Small BodmanStories and films about spies, real and fictional, have always been popular but seem to have engendered even more readers and movie-goers of late. Many are on the bestseller lists and even heading for a theater near you. This weekend we'll see the opening...
HOW DO WRITERS CHOOSE SETTINGS?
In 1918, it was a thriving city of commerce and culture.By Gayle Lynds. Here’s a brain teaser for you, dear readers. Can you identify the location of the following?Night gave the city little relief. Electricity was fitful, garbage rotted along the boulevards, and clean running water was a...
