By Raymond Benson Peter Janson-Smith passed away on Friday, April 15, 2016, at the age of 93. He was a giant in the world of British publishing, a major figure in that arena for nearly seventy years. Serious James Bond fans will know him as Ian Fleming’s literary agent, the man who spearheaded the exploitation…
We welcome Jeff Quest in from the cold, to discuss his impressive collection of first-edition, signed spy novels. What drew you into collecting spy novels? I’ve always been a reader. I started with kid mysteries before branching out into stories with spies, like Gordon Korman’s “Our Man Weston” and the Hardy boys books. As I got…
First published on The Trebuchet Britain – it could be argued – invented the archetypal spy novel. Born out of political fears and insecurities during two World Wars and a subsequent Cold War, heroes and anti-heroes were dreamt up by a distinguished line of novelists including Erskine Childers, John Buchan, Eric Ambler, Somerset Maugham and Graham…
It is our delight to put some questions to one of the best spy thriller writers working today. Spy novelist Charles Cumming, is the author of 7 books and counting with his latest ‘A Colder War‘ the second installment of the Thomas Kell series. Charles was kind enough to take some time during the busy…
Article by Benjamin Welton. Straddling the ancient Bosphorus, Istanbul (alias Constantinople and alias Byzantium) has always been more of an idea and an ideal than a city. Istanbul is where the Orient and the Occident meet. It has been home to Greek traders, Roman emperors, Byzantine bureaucrats, and Turkish sultans. Istanbul, in the words of…
Article by Benjamin Welton The espionage novel is one part “imperial adventure story” and one part detective tale. The former, which is extensively examined by Dr. Caroline Reitz in her slim study entitled Detecting the Nation: Fictions of Detection and the Imperial Venture, often details the exploits of Englishmen abroad, specifically those educated Englishmen who…
So much for Ian Fleming’s top ten books. What about James Bond’s? Kingsley Amis (writing as Bill Tanner) might have thought it a struggle to find ten books at all, let alone ten of Bond’s favourites, as he considered Bond’s library to be modest. But careful reading of the Bond novels brings up a respectable…
Artistic Licence Renewed 