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Post by andydecker on Nov 21, 2014 18:14:44 GMT
Hi Pulphack and thank you for the information on the Charles Hood series. It sounds very interesting and I shall keep a look-out for one to try. Also interesting that the author was in intelligence with Fleming during WW2. I am sure that there are many books in the spy genre that were published in the 60s that are now unjustly forgotten. I don't think I have come across anything by two of the other authors you mentioned i.e. Eastwood and Woodhouse. If you want to get some information about spy fiction I recommend Spyguysandgals.com . The comments are generally a bit positive, but as information on spy novels it is a very good source. I discovered a lot of writers I didn't know existed.
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Post by andydecker on Nov 21, 2014 18:55:16 GMT
Spy fiction can be educational. The first I read about the Philby story was in a novel by Ted Allbury when I was in my 20s.Same goes for George Blake, where he fictionalized his then unknown destiny. He got it wrong, still it was fascinating reading. The other side of silence and Shadows of Shadows. Don't know if these novels aged well, havn't read them in 30 years. But they interested me enough for the topic, and I even bought the DVD of The Cambridge Spies last year.
I guess for a writer this is a serious question of his abilities. Everybody can write a James Bond pastiche or a Nick Carter, but a espionage novel which is based on facts? A different animal. I reread two of Anthony Price' spy novels this year. Still quite interesting in its approach, but a bit dull on the reading experience. Still the novel with the british Civil War enactment was fine. But as a reader you marvel about all the historical details and the effort it must have taken to work it into the plot.
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Post by ripper on Nov 21, 2014 18:57:57 GMT
Thanks very much for the link, Andy, and I shall be sure to check it out. I am quite partial to a spy novel, but my experience of them is limited mainly to the usual suspects such as Le Carre, Fleming and Adam Hall.
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Post by pulphack on Nov 21, 2014 19:03:35 GMT
Spyguys etc is an excellent site indeed. It's good for checking biblio on authors you've stumbled on, as he's pretty thorough, and also for some comparisons as he has a good eye, and the other posters have some informed views.
Sev - almost right! The Sangster was actually one of his John Smith pair (Private i), which are more serious and darker than the Touchfeather books, though I must admit I actually prefer Katy to Modesty Blaise in prose form - the Modesty I feel for was the strip in the London Standard, and so the books always came second best for me. Not a reflection on the writing, just first loves and all that...
I would recommend the Anna Zordan on the strength of the one I read (The Chinese Visitor) - slightly harder in tone than either Touchfeather or Modesty, and the better for it. I hadn't read any Giles Yeoman before, either, and would certainly look for the others on the strength of this one (Rock Baby). Excellent dry sense of humour and Yeoman, being a scientist suckered into the service to get a research grant, is not your average spy. Alastair MacLean blurbs on the paperback of the Yeoman that Martin Woodhouse "is going to be very big indeed". Sadly - and unjustly - not the case.
Rip - Eastwood and Woodhouse wrote primarily for TV and movies; Woodhouse for The Avengers and ITC shows (though like his hero he was also a scientist and inventor between scripts), while the shadowy Mr Eastwood is primarily recalled for scripting great chunks of those Scotland Yard and Scales Of Justice B-shorts featuring Edgar Lustgarten. Like Sangster, they were more successful in script than prose, but this was not due to quality - all three have the knack of bringing TV and movie pacing to the thriller novel, which moves it at a greater clip than the established names like Bagley, Innes and MacLean. They were all three bucking for some Bond action, undoubtedly, but there wasn't enough to go round, and the James' Mayo and Leasor got there first!
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Post by pulphack on Nov 21, 2014 19:11:37 GMT
The Cambridge Spies was a great series - Samuel West as Blunt is wonderful. There's a moment when someone berates him for being a communist and loving 'decadent' upper class art, fine living, etc... He looks at them and says 'You don't understand, I think everyone should have this,' flinging his arm out to indicate his surroundings. And why not - there's a very British Socialist thing that you can't love social justice and Rembrandt - it has to be whippet racing and pints of bitter. Anything else is class traitordom. Glorious...
But anyway, Andy, it is amazing how much political history you can pick up from the 'serious' and well-researched spy novel. I suspect they sometimes don;t sell so well simply because they are so densely researched, and most casual readers just want a bit of the Nick Carter action... The pulp thriller writers great dilemma!
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Post by dem bones on Nov 21, 2014 20:00:29 GMT
Can't help with any relevant spy fiction, but here's a concise guide to home-grown cold war treachery, concise being the operative word as it's abridged from the original to meet Nel's then preferred 128 page format. John Bulloch - The Traitors (New English Library, Nov. 1970. Originally Arthur Barker, 1966) Blurb: The Englishmen and women who have conspired to work against their country.
The Playboy Traitor Hitler's English Followers The Atom Spies and many more...
In the quiet austerity of the No. 1 court at the Old Bailey, an Attorney General of England spelt it out in clear and ominous tones. 'These offences,' he said, 'are akin to treason'.
Quite apart from the well-publicised treacheries of the Krogers, Philby, Burgess and Maclean exist little-known cases of equal dishonesty and malice. Far from the glare of publicity there operates a labyrinth of espionage, intrigue, ideology and radical conviction that marks treason as the scourge of international law and order.
John Bulloch, a foreign correspondent and leading authority on spying and security, explores the top secret labyrinth and reveals true stories as strange as any thriller.
Appropriately enough, a previous owner has pencilled what can only be a coded message on the inside back cover: "Mr. Vastey 467 8625 Phone about squash Mondays off Perhaps Sunday or Wednesday."
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Post by ripper on Nov 22, 2014 19:53:42 GMT
I have had a look at the Spy Guys site. Wow I didn't realise there were so many characters in spy fiction. A very useful site for finding out about likely books of interest. He also gives details for episodes of TV series and films, which I really like.
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Post by ripper on Nov 22, 2014 20:03:22 GMT
I agree that it must be difficult to write a story using historical events and weave a fictional character into them convincingly, rather than just writing a wholly fictional story. If you get your facts even a little wrong then you can be sure that someone will gleefully point it out.
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Post by browndog on Mar 15, 2015 2:02:07 GMT
Men Of Violence #3 (Nov. 2014) Merchant Of Death. Andreas Decker tackles Joseph Rosenberger's Death Merchant series. I'm doing research into Rosenberger's life and am wondering what is the best way to get a copy of this article. Please send me a PM if you can help. Thanks!!!
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Post by dem bones on Mar 19, 2015 10:11:27 GMT
Men Of Violence #3 (Nov. 2014) Merchant Of Death. Andreas Decker tackles Joseph Rosenberger's Death Merchant series. I'm doing research into Rosenberger's life and am wondering what is the best way to get a copy of this article. Please send me a PM if you can help. Thanks!!! Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Short of Andy getting in touch, the person you really need to speak to is the editor, and you'll find Justin's contact details on the Paperback Fanatic site.
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Post by browndog on Mar 20, 2015 21:43:47 GMT
Thanks!
I was actually able to get a copy from Joe Kenney of Glorious Trash.
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