Bugged rocks and exploding rats? Our Man Jeremy Duns, author of Free Agent, has posted his top-10 list of real spy gadgets on his blog, The Debrief. Along with some rather wild inventions, Spy Vibers will recognize a few toys that showed up in the fictional tales of John Drake (Danger Man) and James Bond. If you are interested in seeing more on the illustrated history of spy gadgets, check out the book The Ultimate Spy by Keith Melton. By the way, the hardcover edition of Jeremy's novel Free Agent is currently on sale for under $3 on Amazon. Penguin is gearing up to launch the paperback edition on June 29th in the US with this fantastic design by Jonathan Gray. Don't miss it!
For spy book lovers and collectors, you may also want to check out the auction catalog for the Otto Penzler Collection. From The Debrief: On April 8, the famed bookseller, publisher and friend to many thriller-writers Otto Penzler is selling off part of his massive collection at the Swann Auction Galleries in New York - specifically, his British espionage and thrillers. This must be the finest collection of its kind in the world, and offers both a deep insight into the history of the genre, and is part of that history. It includes rare correspondence between Ian Fleming and Richard Chopping about the jacket art for the James Bond novels, signed first editions by Eric Ambler, Len Deighton, Graham Greene, John le Carré, Adam Hall and Dennis Wheatley, scarce editions by William le Queux and E Phillips Oppenheim... and much more besides. The asking prices are a little too high for me, but what a gorgeous, gorgeous catalogue. You could read it for hours. -Jeremy Duns