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, Hammond Innes, Helen MacInnes and Eric …
Rarely am I shocked while reading a book, but this was the exception. As I perused my latest purchase, a binded transcript of a speech John le Carré gave at John Hopkins University in 1986 titled The Clandestine Muse, I had a shocking revelation. John le Carré had won Blistex lip balm’s 1985 “Most Beautiful …
Continue reading Secret Lip Services – The honor John le Carré doesn’t want you to know about
Over the past few years I have been looking at versions of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, particularly ones that had artwork created for the story. Previous posts looking at various editions and collectibles related to le Carré’s most famous novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold can be found …
An occasional feature highlighting spy related things found in the everyday world.
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, …
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Matryoshka Dolls
There are a few different versions of the Moscow Rules, the term that refers to how a spy should handle themselves behind enemy lines. I like this version I found on a postcard in the International Spy Museum.
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, …
A look at Mick Herron's spy novel, Slow Horses
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, …
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, Alistair MacLean, …
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, Alistair MacLean, …
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, …
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, Alistair Maclean, …
Last year I put together a short list of some of my favorite things from the past year. I’ve done it again and here they are in no particular order - A Divided Spy by Charles Cumming - This one is a little selfish. I won a auction to have my name appear in the …
The Charlie Muffin spy series by a Brian Freemantle is among one of the most underrated spy series. Running sixteen novels over the course of forty years it's followed the trials and tribulations of the working class Muffin as well as the state of Russia from the height of its power in the Cold War …
For even more of my posts on John le Carré, click here. I recently read A Small Town in Germany by John le Carré and loved it. It's surprisingly maligned by most critics and fans but it’s very readable. The book follows Alan Turner, the Foreign Office cleanup man, as he's sent to the …
Continue reading A Small Town in Germany by John le Carré – An appreciation and rarity
Just before the release of The Honourable Schoolboy, Time published a cover story profile of John Le Carré. If you're too lazy or busy to read Adam Sisman's recent doorstopper of a biography, the Time profile is a very good shortcut. The work of Stefan Kanfer, Dean Fischer and Anne Hopkins, it's a very nice …
Throughout the 1960's Evelyn Byrne, a teacher at a New York public school, wrote well known authors and asked if they would write back with the books that had the biggest impact on them as they were in their teens. She would then print these responses in the school newspaper in hopes that it would …
The recent biography by Adam Sisman spends a bit of time on the early professional life of le Carré when he was attempting to become a working artist. He didn't have much success as a working painter, to our advantage as readers, but he did get at least one commission for a book cover. The …
If you are a male of a certain age who grew up in America then chances are that you held an issue of Mad Magazine in your hands at some point in your adolescence. You always knew something was big in the popular culture when you saw it in Mad. In the September 1966 issue …
We left off discussing an abridged version of "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" and I'm back after digging up another one. From 1937 to the present Readers Digest condensed books have been providing shortened versions of the popular fiction of the day. The winter 1964 release saw a collection of four novels.Included …
Following up on my previous post about "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," in the next few posts I'll be highlighting some of the odd or rare versions of the book I have. First is a compilation of le Carré's third, fourth, and fifth novels - The Spy Who, A Small town in …
Who knew that Chicago was such a hot bed of intrigue? This story from 1977 in the Chicago Reader brought it to light. The article tells the story of how the CIA used (uses?) legitimate companies to provide a cover for CIA agents in other countries. In return these companies received lucrative contracts from the …
On Wired.com there is a really interesting story about an artist, David Moore, who is currently the only civilian allowed to photograph a secret British bunker for top Military and Governmental officials.
Ok, get ready for the coolest spy concept ever - Astrospies!!!
NOVA just aired a program about how the military was training pilots to orbit the earth and spy on Russia in the mid-1960's. It's a bit more hype than anything, the program never put anyone in space, but the idea is awesome.
The largest espionage case in the US was the Duquesne spy ring. Led by Fritz Duquesne who despised the British and became a spy for Germany in both World Wars I and II, the ring was caught and prosecuted by the FBI in 1941. Interestingly they were found guilty on December 13th, 1941. I would …
Leon Theremin is known for the creation of the Theremin, the electrical instrument made famous in the 50's for it's eerie usage in the soundtracks of low budget sci-fi movies. However, what is not as well known is that he also functioned as a spy for Russia. Theramin became a bit of a celebrity in …
Following up on a quick look at Union spies, here is Belle Boyd a spy for the Confederacy. She was captured on suspicion of spying three separate times and died after the war in Wisconsin Dells, WI. More at Wikipedia.
Following up on the this weeks site of the week, this is a letter from George Washington to a member of the Culper Ring his collection of spies against the British. This letter was captured by the British and never made it to it's intended recipient.
There are few events that attracted as much attention a hundred years after the fact as the mystery around the accused spy, Mata Hari. Even now, the court records related to her trial are still sealed until 2017! Look here for a interesting first person account of the execution from a reporter on the scene. …
Continue reading Mata Hari’s execution – Spy Image of the Week
For decades the thought of being taken to the KGB headquarters, also known as Lubyanka, struck fear in the hearts of Russians and spies alike. Originally an insurance agency, it was taken over by the secret services after the revolution and still houses part of Russia's current intelligence agency the FSB. The above picture was …
A pretty widely reproduced picture of Lincoln with Allan Pinkerton. Pinkerton is well known for his founding of the Pinkerton Detectives, but he was also a crucial part of the Union military as head of the Union Intelligence Division. He's also one of the few civilian members of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. More …
"A map from the trunk of Royal Air Force soldier Douglas Britten's car is just one piece of evidence proving his guilt in acting as a British spy for Russia." - Photo from Corbis Images. Link found through University of Warwick page on GCHQ.
In January of 1968 the crew of the USS Pueblo were captured off the coast of North Korea and accused of spying. The US finally secured their release in December of that year. Full story at Wikipedia. A interesting video of a visit to the ship, still held by North Korea, is at VICE TV.
A great Civil War spy image off of Wikipedia “01/01/1863 - Long Bridge, Lincoln's Time. Washington, D.C. Union troops guarding a bridge over the Potomac River to Virginia to prevent infiltration by Confederate spies.”