GIFnotes: Giving you the basic plot summary of an upcoming book with the help of the Graphics Interchange Format. This week, Thomas Kell embarks on a dangerous mission of revenge in the 3rd thriller in the Thomas Kell series from Charles Cumming, A Divided Spy. Take a visual tour with GIFnotes!
Created in 1953 by Ian Fleming, James Bond has captivated moviegoers as the world’s famed secret agent since Sean Connery first portrayed 007 in Dr. No in 1962. With all of the world saving over the last 50 years, 24 films, and 6 different actors, James Bond has defeated a motley crew of villains. We…
Hollywood tells us that the world of espionage is glamorous, dangerous, sexy, and unpredictable. It's full of femme fatales, debonair secret agents, car chases, and equal parts gunfire and explosions. Bond, Bourne, Hunt: these are our heroes. They're handsome, muscular, and always ready with a quip. They go through women like tissue papers—women who are…
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen features a captivating, duplicitious narrator who's a communist sleeper agent living in America after the Vietnam War. Nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. While it’s likely that the Vietnam War spawned many bookshelves full of novels written by Vietnamese authors, an awfully small number of these…
When you think of spy movies, you inevitably think of Bond. James Bond. Ian Fleming’s 007 has been the quintessential spy character since his 1953 creation—complete with the coolest cars, the most hi-tech gadgetry, and the most beautiful women pining for his affection (despite the rampant misogyny of the film series, Angie Barry was able…
My mother is still shocked that I enjoy James Bond. Partly because Bond has always been one of the ultimate male fantasies, a testosterone-and-martini-soaked wish-fulfillment on steroids. But mostly because I'm a very vocal feminist, and the Bond franchise has always been, well, let's put it bluntly here—disgustingly misogynistic. But as a feminist who enjoys…
Consider the world of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF)—tracing its history in reverse order. Imagine that Rogue Nation is (for now) the beginning of Ethan Hunt’s career and he is eventually replaced by Jim Phelps. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise): Agent Hunt’s physical talents and capacity for tolerating what almost anyone else might consider punishing abuse…
Undercover ops and fancy gadgetry; cold War tensions and hand-to-hand combat; secret government programs and high-speed chases—espionage films have been a mainstay in Hollywood since before WWII, and recent years have only seen an uptick in their popularity. Little wonder, they're full of action, mystery, exotic locales, and sex. Everyone always looks so cool with…
It’s the 1960’s, and as the James Bond franchise is in the midst of exploding onto the scene, the author and creator of 007, Ian Fleming, dies on August 12, 1964. While Goldfinger (1964), the third Bond film drawn from Fleming’s novels about the British secret agent with a license to kill, would be released…
Read an exclusive excerpt of Chapter 1 of Day of the Destroyers, a linked-prose anthology starring Jimmie Flint, Agent X-11 (available April 28, 2015). Comment to enter for a chance to win a signed copy! Based on a real historical event during the Roosevelt administration! Guest starring pulp heroes The Green Lama, The Phantom Detective,…
