Why am I passionate about this?
I'm a writer based in Wisconsin. I write in a genre that exists much like its subjects: lurking in the shadows. It's something I call Gothic Espionage, which is the intersection of the Gothic and Espionage/Spy genres. My first novel, Bite of the Wolf, was the first synthesis of these two worlds, and continues with the follow up, slated for release in September, Operation Frankenstein. Appropriately enough, spies are often referred to as āspooks,ā and these selections will highlight both the spooky and the spooks of Gothic Espionage, and Iāll highlight why both horror and spy novels can both be described as āthrillers.ā
Wade's book list on the Gothic-espionage connection
Why did Wade love this book?
A man is sent to visit a mysterious count in his secluded mountaintop fortress, where a diabolical plot unfolds, involving an attack on England using his Angels of Death, women under his hypnotic command. The man finds himself slowly becoming a prisoner, leading to his planning an escape and a race to stop the Countās plot from unfolding.
Sound familiar? It is, essentially, the plot of Dracula. It is also the plot of Ian Flemingās On Her Majestyās Secret Service, the tenth James Bond novel. If Count Dracula is the king of vampires, then James Bond is inarguably the king of spies.
1 author picked On Her Majesty's Secret Service as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
2002 Penguin PB ed. Blue and black jacket. James Bond shiver and shakes SPECTRE at Stavro Blofeld's arctic base.