One of my biggest revelations as a member of the Spybrary Facebook group was discovering the works of Ted Allbeury. Allbeury, a man who not only could claim to be a former intelligence agent but lived a colorful, was a bestseller in his day, spoken of in the same breath as Len Deighton or John le Carre. Following his 2005 passing, he has drifted into the background, though his works have begun … [Read more...] about The Kresal Dossier: The Lantern Network
Spybrary Blog
Spybrary Virtual Happy Hour – April 11
Join us for a virtual happy hour via Zoom. 3.30pm EST - Saturday, April 11th. If you are not a zoom user - click the invite link and download the app that will allow you to access the meeting room. Spybrary is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Spybrary Virtual Happy HourTime: Apr 11, 2020 03:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom … [Read more...] about Spybrary Virtual Happy Hour – April 11
From book nerd, to spy book scout to spy bookseller.
A message from Spybrary's John Koenig Spybrarians, some of you know me as much for my tales of hunting for and buying books as anything else. I have a lifelong passion for reading and books, passed along by my father. I cannot remember not being able to read, nor enjoying it. At age 8 or so I wrote and “published” a little book about the Civil War. This was inspired by the Sunday newspaper … [Read more...] about From book nerd, to spy book scout to spy bookseller.
Berlin: Uprising by Paul Grant – Review
Review by John Koenig. Post-war Berlin is the epicenter of Paul Grant’s third entry in his fine trilogy, Berlin: Uprising. Change is happening in Germany, even after the relentless upsets of World War II and the Russian “liberation” and occupation of Berlin and much of the country. Berlin: Uprising stands on it’s own, but getting your hands on the self-published Berlin: Caught in the … [Read more...] about Berlin: Uprising by Paul Grant – Review
The Kresal Dossier – The Russian Engima
One of the joys of listening to and being involved with the community around the Spybrary podcast has been discovering books I might never have heard of otherwise. Clive Egleton's The Russian Enigma (aka Pandora's Box) is just such an example of that, having been posted about by C.G. Faulkner whom I had the pleasure of meeting (alongside other Spybrarians) at last spring's Spy-Con. Though it took … [Read more...] about The Kresal Dossier – The Russian Engima
The Intelligence Trail – News just in for spy tourists (and not the sort that visit Salisbury.)
Who’s heard of London’s in-depth spy tour, THE INTELLIGENCE TRAIL? Perhaps you’ve listened to Spybrary Episode 24, where Founder and Guide Brian Gray waxed lyrical (well, a lot, to be honest. Too much for one episode, in fact). Anyway, sadly Brian is winding down the ‘Trail at the end of this year. Yep, in little over a month’s time. He’s worried that Harold Macmillan’s reckoning that anyone … [Read more...] about The Intelligence Trail – News just in for spy tourists (and not the sort that visit Salisbury.)
The Kresal Dossier: Doctor Who – Endgame
Philby. Burgess. Maclean. If you're a student of Cold War spies (and if you're at Spybrary there's a decent chance you are), those names will be very familiar. The latter pair's 1951 defection helped to make public the most famous spy scandal of the era. In the decades since, they've also inspired countless works of fiction on page and screen. One of the more unusual comes from the realm of … [Read more...] about The Kresal Dossier: Doctor Who – Endgame