Spybrary Spy Podcast

Welcome to Episode 167 of the Spybrary Spy Book podcast. Today, we bring you a spy author interview. Spybrary host Shane Whaley finds out more about How to Betray Your Country with spy writer, author James Wolff Something I want to address with you all before we get into the conversation, the elephant in the room, James Wolff is not the author's real name. James Wolff reveals he has worked for the British government but does not reveal which branch nor where he was based. As a Spybrarian, naturally, I'm wondering, am I speaking with a George Smiley, a Bernard Samson, maybe it's a Dickie Cruyer or 007 or maybe he was the janitor at GCHQ? He's not going to talk about his past today, but I tell you something I can share with you. The boy can write!   More about How to Betray Your Country by James Wolff Things are looking bad for disgraced spy August Drummond. In emotional free fall after the death of his wife, fired for a series of unprecedented security breaches that saw him labeled a traitor...and now his neighbour on the flight to Istanbul won’t stop talking.  The only thing keeping him sane is the hunch that there’s something not quite right about the nervous young man several rows ahead - a hunch that is confirmed when August watches him throw away directions to an old European cemetery seconds before being detained by Turkish police. And when a reckless August decides to go in his place, little does he know that he is setting in motion a series of events that will test his ingenuity and resourcefulness to the limit, and bring him face to face with a terrifying figure from the dark heart of the Islamic State. The second novel in a trilogy about loyalty and betrayal in the modern age, How to Betray Your Country is an authentic thriller about walking the line between following your conscience and following orders.

London Station has fizzed into action, Sunday Times journalist and Spybrary contributor Tim Shipman chats with spy author Matthew Richardson. They discuss Matthew's spy novels, his writing style, his literary influences plus they pay tribute to the new generation of spy writers.  And much more!!

Spy Rewind is back with Matthew and Jeff taking a look at the currently airing spy comedy starring David Schwimmer and Nick Mohammed - Intelligence.   They discuss whether GCHQ is held in less esteem than MI5 or MI6, why spying is the perfect setting for a workplace comedy, and how Intelligence has more laughs than Ted Lasso. Plus, why Nick Mohammed was more interested in the GCHQ cafeteria than the eavesdropping and when the computer asks you to delete those files, think twice! All that and more in this episode of Spybrary.   Mentioned on the show -    Intelligence on Peacock - https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/tv/intelligence/6315047360232653112/seasons/1    Intelligence on Sky - https://www.skygroup.sky/title-intelligence    David Schwimmer’s #ThatsHarassment video - https://youtu.be/bieGkf2n8LQ    More on the anti-harassment campaign - https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/thatsharassment    Matthew’s review of Intelligence (2014) - https://doubleosection.blogspot.com/2014/01/tv-review-intelligence-2014.html    CBC’s InSecurity - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InSecurity    Matthew’s Website - https://doubleosection.blogspot.com/    Matthew’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/DoubleOSection    Jeff’s Website - https://spywrite.com/  Jeff on Twitter - https://twitter.com/spywrite 

In this episode of the Spybrary Spy Podcast Jeff Quest speaks to the former director of CIA’s Technical Service Robert Wallace about his time in the CIA and the various non-fiction books he has co-authored since leaving the agency. They discuss how the CIA is similar to all other bureaucracies, why spy tech is so important for successful spy operations and how hard it can sometimes be to get past the CIA Publications Review Board. Plus, we talk about the spy that pulled the “Reverse Beatles” maneuver and some Chicago spies! All that and more in this episode of Spybrary.

Spy Rewind is back! Matthew Bradford and Jeff Quest go deep on an episode of Spy TV show Get Smart! Shownotes at www.spybrary.com/163 Please consider subscribing to Spybrary so you don't miss out on future episodes.

Author CP Bennison gives us her thoughts on the spy novel Transcription by Kate Atkinson on the Spybrary Spy Book Podcast. Brush Pass Review. Transcription is a spy novel by British novelist Kate Atkinson, published in September 2018. The novel focuses on the activities of British orphan Juliet Armstrong throughout World War II and afterwards, and how she begins a career as a low-level transcriptionist for MI5, before rising through the ranks.

Author Andy Onyx shares the 5 spy books, movies and tv shows he would want to be stashed in his dead drop. (our riff on desert island discs with a spy twist!) Check out our Facebook group for more spy discussions and chat!

Author Andy Onyx gives us the lowdown on G K Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday on the Spybrary Spy Book Podcast.

In this episode of Spy Rewind, Double O Section's Matthew Bradford and SpyWrite's Jeff Quest take a look at the globetrotting cable spy tv show Covert Affairs. They discuss whether all spies need to meet at the Berlin listening station, the benefits of location shoots and how to be a “fashion-forward” spy. Plus, Bowie in Berlin, R.E.M., cliff diving white Jaguars, and Jeff makes another failed attempt at an accent, this time German! All that and more in this episode of Spybrary.

Guest host Steven Minegar chats with author Ralph Hope about his latest book. What do you do with a hundred thousand idle spies? By 1990 the Berlin Wall had fallen and the East German state security service folded. For forty years, they had amassed more than a billion pages in manila files detailing the lives of their citizens. Almost a hundred thousand Stasi employees, many of them experienced officers with access to highly personal information, found themselves unemployed overnight. This is the story of what they did next. Former FBI agent Ralph Hope uses present-day sources and access to Stasi records to track and expose ex-officers working everywhere from the Russian energy sector to the police and even the government department tasked with prosecuting Stasi crimes. He examines why the key players have never been called to account and, in doing so, asks if we have really learned from the past at all. He highlights a man who continued to fight the Stasi for thirty years after the Wall fell, and reveals a truth that many today don’t want spoken. The Grey Men comes as an urgent warning from the past at a time when governments the world over are building an unprecedented network of surveillance over their citizens. Ultimately, this is a book about the present.