Spybrary Spy Podcast

We talk all about the British Cult Classic TV show 'The Prisoner' starting Patrick McGoohan on today's Spybrary Spy Podcast You are a number, but it is not Number 6, you are number 22 as this is the number of this weeks Spybrary Podcast episode. Today we are going to do something a little different. As regular listeners know the reason I cannot put out a weekly show is that I insist on reading the book of a guest before we chat. I think it makes for a much better conversation, after all this is podcasting not cable news..ouch! So I have an admission. I have never watched the iconic tv show 'The Prisoner.' I know, a bit embarrassing for someone like me who loves the spy niche and especially 60s/70s spy shows. I think I saw the odd clip of it as a kid and put it in the Dr Who category of weird and disturbing. (The Prisoner comes up a lot in our listener discussion group on facebook. If you are interested in extra bonus content to the podcast then check out our group on spybrary.com/facebook) So I asked in our group who wants to come on the show and tell us more about The Prisoner. I have a stack of DVDs to catch up on this winter so my viewing time is at a premium. Matthew Kresal who featured on Episode 12 of our spy podcast has volunteered to get into the hot seat here at Spybrary and tell us more about the Prisoner.

Into the Shadows – The Fever with Michael Brady Lt Col Michael Brady was an intelligence officer for over 20 years. Find out more about his first spy novel 'Into the Shadows' on the Spybrary Podcast with Host Shane Whaley. This is the story of Michael Brennan, a career CIA non-official cover (NOC) intelligence officer and his quest to identify and disrupt a plot crafted by the Islamic State terror group. After Michael travels to Israel and meets with Israeli intelligence, he partners with Elif Turan, a Mossad agent working in Turkey as a false flag along the Syrian border. Together, they must use their skills and tradecraft to stop Islamic State's scheme of introducing the deadly Ebola virus into New York City. Now let me tell you a bit about Michael. Lieutenant Colonel Michael Brady, USA, (RET), earned his MS in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University in Washington, DC in 2003. His classified thesis focused on the current and emerging issues confronting China and Taiwan. He has performed a wide variety of tactical and strategic intelligence functions including long-range surveillance, interrogation andintelligence analysis, He served as the Director, Presidential Emergency Operations Center in the White House from January 2001 until July 2002 under President George W. Bush. LTC Brady is a 1990 graduate of The Citadel, Marine Corps Command and General Staff College, Joint Forces Staff College, US Army Airborne School and US Army Ranger School. His areas of expertise and research include threats to the homeland, intelligence collection systems and programs, intelligence analysis, and intelligence support to national policy making. The point I am making here is that today's guest knows his stuff when it comes to spying and now he is following the likes of Graham Greene, John Le Carre, Ted Allbeury and others who journeyed from the secret world to writing espionage fiction. We talk about how Michael Brady's background in intelligence contributed to 'Into the Shadows' in particular looking at the technology used by the Intelligence services today. It is a far cry from Harry Palmer and George Smiley! Brady also talks about the characters in his novel, the exotic locations and he shares with us what advice he would give to anyone wanting to join the intelligence services. And much much more! What did you think of today's chat with Michael Brady? Love it? Hate it? Do you have a burning question about it? We are carrying on the conversation about Into the Shadows and many other spy books over at our private Spybrary discussion group, feel free to join us here

Author Barry Lancet reveals how an approach by a Soviet spy to recruit him inspired his 4th Jim Brodie book The Spy Across The Table published by Simon and Schuster.

Goodbye to an Old Friend 'Brush Pass' Review Goodbye to an Old Friend is the first novel written by Charlie Muffin creator Brian Freemantle. He wrote this book on his daily commute to and from work. Spybrary Host Shane Whaley is a huge fan of Charlie Muffin so he decided to give Freemantle's debut spy novel a go. This is the first 'Brush Pass' episode on Spybrary. The aim of this format is to share our thoughts on a spy book or movie straight after finishing the last page of the novel or just after titles go up after a spy flick. I want to capture those raw feelings we experience on immediately finishing a novel. Don't worry we will still have deep dives, round tables and interviews on our favorite spy books, this new feature will allow you to share your thoughts *(up to 5 or 10 mins) on a book or movie. One of the major goals of Spybrary is to talk about all the wonderful spy books that are out there. That is where you come in. When you have read a book, feel free to record your own short review (brush pass) on it. Please remember Spybrary is not a community of literary critics, sure we have some very knowledgeable spy fans here but they too want to hear from you! Kicking off the series, Shane Whaley the Spybrary host talks about Brian Freemantle's first ever novel 'Goodbye to an Old Friend' (And yes after recording it I realised there were things I missed out or wanted to say but the whole purpose of Brush Pass is that they are our initial thoughts so this is not supposed to be a polished/well honed review.) If you are interested in sending in a Brush Pass review you can record your submission here or better still use your smartphone, voice memo on Iphone works well and email it to me. (If you have problems with this please email me and I can send you a dropbox link.) Any submissions we use on the show will earn a $20 Amazon gift card, hopefully you will buy another spy book to review for us.