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How do writers come up with our ideas?

May 4, 2018 | Uncategorized

Hello reader peeps!

Blowback, the first book in my spy romance series, the Black Cipher Files is FREE at all retailers right now. I loved writing this book. (Think Jason Bourne if Jason was a woman and enjoyed sexy times) Jamie Hunt is an agent for a fictional branch of the National Security Agency and she kicks a$$.

I thought I’d take today to highlight one of my research books for this series. Body of Secrets by James Bamford is a book about the history of the NSA. It’s a fascinating look at the agency’s evolution. There was a small section about a joint task force between the US and Britain in World War Two. TICOMM was searching for German codebreakers, trying to beat the Russians because we knew that the Germans had broken Russian and allied codes. We wanted to protect the information the Germans had compiled about our codes AND see what they had on the Russians (who were our allies but we didn’t trust them). But what caught my attention was the fact that (as of 2012…I’m honestly not sure if this has changed) to this day the details of the task force are still classified. Seventy odd years later, and only privileged eyes can read the case files. How crazy is that? So, of course, that got my thoughts buzzing with every writer’s plot question…WHAT IF?

If you are interested in reading more about the NSA, click here.

Body of Secrets by James Bamford

(One note, I have attached an affiliate code to this which means I would get a very tiny percentage of the sale price if you click on the link.)

And here’s an excerpt of Blowback, in case you haven’t had a chance to read it yet.

I was recruited by the NSA at fifteen.

It seems young, I know. But, I was ripe for it. All they needed was the carrot.

Revenge.

As I lay in the cold sterile hospital bed, anonymous government men whispered, “Come work for us.”

I ignored them, lost in a haze of agony…and grief. The beep of the machines barely registered. Constant pain splintered through my leg and arm.

Help us catch the terrorists who killed your family. Your mother, father, brother.

All dead. Even with my eyes closed, damn, I could hear the whoosh as the armored car went up in a fireball, smell the burning flesh, and feel the impact of my right side hitting the limestone steps. The only reason I wasn’t dead now was because I’d been throwing a tantrum.

A silly, childish tantrum had saved my life.

In my hospital room, the radio murmured with the top song of the day, Cutting Crew, singing about dying in their arms. Those foolish singers had no clue.

They didn’t kill you.

I wasn’t dead. I knew that. But in an instant my world had shattered. I’d watched my family blow up. Despair settled over me, weighing me down.

Come work for us.

I could have resisted. Did resist. Unable to make an effort to do anything but drown in an abyss of pain.

You can help stop this from happening again.

What did it matter? They were dead, all dead. Then, with a logic designed to convince me, they succeeded. What if they get your little sister?

Fear crystallized in my heart. Not Bella. Not her too. I couldn’t bear it.

“Work for us. Train with us,” they murmured. “We’ll keep Isabella safe.”

I would do anything to protect my little sister. And so I said yes.

My childhood was over, as dead and gone as my family. To keep Bella safe, they told her I died too. The NSA became my life. I trained, attended college, learned the business of espionage, excelled in the business of revenge.

The only one who knows about Bella is Carson, my handler. I keep tabs, mostly electronic, on Bella. Without his knowledge, of course.

I don’t want anyone to use her against me.

Then again, I don’t exist.

Happy Reading!!!

 

<3 Lisa

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