Licence to Spill is a Spybrary's Q&A series in which spy authors are grilled by spy thriller book fans.
Licence to Spill with James Stejskal
I draw heavily on my own life and travels to write and, although I have not done half the cool things my characters have gone through, I know people who have.
James Stejskal
Welcome to Licence to Spill, Spybrary’s spy author Q&A series, where we put spy writers under the spotlight and ask them the questions spy thriller readers really want answered. This time it's James Stejskal, a former Green Beret and CIA officer turned thriller writer and historian.
James Stejskal answers his interrogator, Spybrary's Shane Whaley
- Take us back to the beginning — what was the book or author that made you think, “I want to write spy fiction”?
I was posted to Berlin in 1980 when I read Robert Moss’ Carnival of Spies, a brilliant novel based on fact. It takes on the Soviet COMINTERN from the POV of a young Berliner in the 1930s, a fervent German Communist who begins to have second thoughts about his bosses as he discovers how they really operate. It prompted me to begin a story of my own, which eventually turned into my first novel, A Question of Time. It’s based loosely on my experiences living and working as a Special Forces operator undercover at the height of the Cold War. I was lucky to meet and work with (or against) many interesting personalities there, some of whom find their way into the story. That book became the basis for my series “The Snake Eater Chronicles.”
1a For those new to your work, where do you recommend Spybrary readers start?
The best place to begin is with The Ratcatcher of Berlin, a book Tim Shipman called “Far and away my favourite of the Stejskal thrillers.” It takes place in my favorite spy city: Berlin 1957 and sets the stage for my series “The Snake Eater Chronicles.”.
“In a Cold War city awash in intrigue, tension builds between the Soviet and the Allied occupation forces. Amid this conflict, two Americans, a CIA officer and a Special Forces soldier, make an uneasy pact to find the killer of another American, an intelligence officer. It's a pact that requires them to play a deadly game in the grim shadows of communist East Berlin. It’s a tale of “gunpowder, treason, and plot” in a city of uncertain and deceptive alliances, a cast of flawed and dangerous characters, and a school of red herrings.”
2. Walk us through your research process. Are you an “immerse yourself for months before writing” person? Do you visit and scope out locations?
I draw heavily on my own life and travels to write and, although I have not done half the cool things my characters have gone through, I know people who have. As far as location settings, I have either traveled and “worked” there, or I use my writing as an excuse to get there to do research. After that, there are always books, travel guides, maps, and things like the TNA and NARA.
3. Which era of espionage is your absolute favourite era to write in, and what makes it so irresistible?
Absolutely the Cold War… although the Cold War never ended, did it? I lived it and it is very much part of my psyche now, especially Berlin and some of my other haunts like Prague and Sofia. But Berlin is my favorite Spy City; I often say you can leave Berlin, but it never quite leaves you. That led to my writing Berlin: A Spy’s Guide to its Cold War History.
4. Which spy fiction book do you wish you had written yourself — and why?
I am still working on The Book I want to write. Although I love many books by many authors (not solely espionage), there is not one I wish I’d written. What they have done, however, is inspire me to write my own best. I’m still working on cracking that code.
5. What are you reading right now — and what's the one book in your TBR pile you keep meaning to get to but haven't yet?
I’m enjoying Alex Gerlis now. After being introduced to his “Double Agent” series (and waiting for number 3 to hit the stands), I’m reading his Second World War espionage thriller, Agent in Berlin. They’ve been described as atmospheric, but I think they’re quite immersive, well-researched, and quite absorbing.
My poor TBR pile; it rivals the stacks in the Library of Congress… so many good books and so little time.
6. Great spy fiction lives or dies on its antagonists. What makes a truly great spy fiction villain — and how do you approach writing yours?
“Nobody does it better.” That’s the kind of antagonist you see in Ian Fleming’s books, guys like Doctor No, or Auric Goldfinger, but they rarely exist in real life. I try to temper my “bad guys” with the fact that there are no purely evil antagonists.
Bad guys are people and like all of us, they are never strictly black or white – some are sanctimonious, some weak, usually smart and clever, and some are quite entertaining – all have more than one and some many sides. Look at guys like Hitler, Che, and maybe a couple of folks from contemporary times – they all have little weaknesses they try to hide all while they try to show themselves as a formidable enemy. If you can show them as a multifaceted person, you will have a memorable villain.
7. What's the one detail — a location, a piece of tradecraft, a historical fact — you uncovered during research that was so good you had to put it in the book?
Markus Wolf had a secret or two that showed up in The Ratcatcher of Berlin. Another detail is Eric Honecker’s “Red Suitcase” – expect it to appear soon.
Other than that, I have had some personal experiences that have influenced events in my stories.
8. What is the strangest or most unexpected place/situation/person/story you have ever taken inspiration for a plot or character from?
Northern Ireland in my novel Direct Legacy. I was warned by a literary agent not to write about that because it wouldn’t be well received in the UK, and then I remembered Harry’s Game by Gerald Seymour. The plot came from a true story and my experiences there, including my contacts with the SAS and MI6 in the UK and elsewhere.
9. Which of your own characters would you most want running an operation you were part of — and which one would you absolutely not trust with your life?
I wouldn’t mind being linked with almost any of my characters, but Kim Becker would be my team leader. Nick Kaiser might be the one to avoid, as he tends to get in trouble a lot – he gets out of it is because he’s great in the field and on the street, but everyone else working with him might be killed in the process.
10. Is there a spy fiction author working today who you think deserves far more attention than they're getting? And what's the one book of theirs you'd start with
There are actually several spy fiction authors who I am reading and supporting currently – not in any particular order: Jonathan Payne (Citizen Orlov) with a very atmospheric writing and comical twists reminiscent of Graham Greene; Charles Beaumont (A Spy Alone), whose writing is scary realistic and informed by his own experiences; and Lachlan Page (Magical Disinformation), who writes his spy stories with a light and often humorous and tropical touch that rings true – all different stories and styles, all good reading and each needs more support.
11. You're hosting the ultimate spy fiction dinner party — three guests, real or fictional, living or dead. Who's at the table?
All my guests will be recalled to duty from the great beyond: First, Markus Wolf, a principled spy master who I’d like to talk about his Romeo spies; Oleg Penkovsky, a spy with principles who might talk about the commitment to a task he must have known would lead him to his execution; Josephine Baker, a spy against unprincipled tyranny who would hopefully delight us with tales of her seductions and the intelligence she gleaned from hapless men … there are others, but these are the guests I’d like to break bread with.
12.. What's next for you — and is there anything about your current project you can tease us with?
Right now, I’m waiting for my sixth Snake Eater manuscript called Escape Hatch to be cleared by Headquarters (to ensure I haven’t spilled too many beans) before it’s off to the publisher, but I can give you a sneak preview:
“When a high-stakes Cold War mission goes very bad, one elite soldier finds the only way to redeem himself is to go AWOL and get himself entangled in an even more dangerous mission.
On the run from Berlin to North Africa and back to Europe, Paul Stavros dives into the world of CIA operatives gone bad, a lunatic dictator, and free-lance terrorists in a ruthless cat-and-mouse game of deception, murder, and betrayal, all while eluding those U.S. Government that is seeking to bring him to army justice.”
I expect it to be released by Casemate in early 2027.
After that, I’m plotting some quite different scenarios…
Check out our Dead Drop 5 interview with James on the Spybrary Spy Podcast. He shares his top 5 spy books!
James Stejskal Official Website
More Spy Author Interviews – Licence to Spill
I.S. Berry on Writing Spy Fiction
Dan Fesperman on Writing Spy Fiction
Alex Gerlis on Writing Spy Fiction
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