Spy Games – Homeland

Every so often I’ll be highlighting some of the spy games I’ve picked up from various second hand stores over the years. I haven’t played most of these yet, as finding willing spy game participants can be tricky, but I’m hoping to road test some of these as the kids get older. HOMELAND was the …

Continue reading Spy Games – Homeland

The Spy Who – The Art – Part 4

    It's been over two years but I've laid hands on yet another abridged version of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. We've seen two previous abridged versions, one in a magazine called True and the next in Reader's Digest. My latest find ran in a magazine called Show - The Magazine …

Continue reading The Spy Who – The Art – Part 4

Spy Write – Highlights of 2018

Looking back at Spy Write in 2018 I had a lot of fun trying to keep up with posting something once a week. This post will look back at some of the high points. Author interviews It was a good year for talking with authors. I traded questions with Toby Manning on his look at …

Continue reading Spy Write – Highlights of 2018

Transcripton by Kate Atkinson

Kate Atkinson’s latest book Transcription tells the story of fictional spy Juliet Armstrong. She’s an eighteen year old who is recruited to assist with an operation to track German spies in London during WW2. While a colleague reels them in from the apartment next door, she transcribes their recorded conversations. Atkinson jumps between three timelines …

Continue reading Transcripton by Kate Atkinson

Collecting A Legacy of Spies

The biggest story of last year was the announcement that John le Carré had written a new Smiley novel. Fans of le Carré's all over the world were shocked. Le Carré had seemed to put a button on Smiley with The Secret Pilgrim so every fan is excited about the new novel. As a collector, …

Continue reading Collecting A Legacy of Spies

Broken Covers – John Creasey

Publishers are always looking to refresh the backlist of authors and sell more copies. In the 70’s the beautiful painted book covers went out of fashion and photo covers came into vogue. The UK publisher Fontana had paperback rights to many of the well known thriller writers of the time like Desmond Bagley, Alastair Maclean, …

Continue reading Broken Covers – John Creasey

Broken Covers – Hammond Innes

Publishers are always looking to refresh the backlist of authors and sell more copies. In the 70's the beautiful painted book covers went out of fashion and photo covers came into vogue. The UK publisher Fontana had paperback rights to many of the well known thriller writers of the time like Desmond Bagley, Alastair Maclean, …

Continue reading Broken Covers – Hammond Innes

The Spybrary podcast

One of the best things over the past few years has been the appearance of the Spybrary podcast. Spybrary is run by Shane Whaley, an avid spy fan who wanted to create something that gave people a place to learn more about spy fiction and create a community of spy fans. The podcast has consisted …

Continue reading The Spybrary podcast