Erika Mitchell's Blog, page 5

The Exploding Envelope Series: My Favorite Spy Gadgets

Leading up to the release of Take the Bai Road, and the re-release of Bai Tide, I’ve started a blog series about various espionage terms. Today’s installment? A list of my favorite spy gadgets (which, let’s be honest, are a large part of the reason I got into writing spy fiction in the first place).

I want you to picture me rubbing my hands together in glee, because this will probably be my favorite post to write. Spy gadgets are SO COOL, because they’re so CREATIVE. The innovation and creativity that go into these blow my mind on a constant basis, and I have nothing but admiration for the devious minds who thought around corners to build these. Let’s jump in!

Although there are no confirmed kills from this beauty, it was developed by the KGB to deliver one 4.5mm shot should a female operative (or cross-dressing male operative) find herself in need of a quick escape.

This was the real-life spy gadget that made me fall in love with espionage. It’s so clever, so subtle, so covert, and SO PRACTICAL. It’s a functional umbrella with a pressure-loaded tip that can inject the operative’s victim with a poison pellet quick as a flash. This is actually the method that was used to assassinate Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident writer, in 1978. One minute he was standing at a bus stop, the next? He felt a sting on the back of his leg. He was dead three days later.

These are pretty clever! Capture and interrogation are the worst possible outcomes for a covert operative, because they almost certainly involve torture, and any information an operative reveals can and will be used to hurt other people and compromise the safety of the operative’s nation. To plan ahead for this and provide covert operatives on dangerous assignments, these glasses have a cyanide capsule hidden in the tip of the glasses. If captured, all the operative has to do is chew on the end of his or her glasses and take the final escape hatch of all. Pretty sobering to realize the courage of these people, who would rather take cyanide (which isn’t a pleasant way to die) than betray their country. (There’s actually a cyanide capsule scene in Take the Bai Road, but I won’t tell you more than that because SPOILERS!)

This is a CIA-issue dead drop spike. An informant can slip information or film into the spike, then seal it and embed it in the dirt somewhere, where his or her handler can retrieve it later. I’ve always loved the idea of dead drops. It’s so elegant.

THINGS IN SHOES!!! Oh man, this is good. This shoe transmitter was used by the Romanians in the 1960’s and 70’s to spy on American diplomats. When the diplomats would order shoes from their cobblers back home, Romanian spies would intercept the shoes at the post office, plant these little beauties, and enjoy listening in on whichever conversations the ambassadors happened to be wearing shoes for.

This Dragonfly Insectothopter is an early model of an unmanned aerial vehicle from the 1970’s. This was the CIA’s first foray into intelligence collection via tiny remote-controlled devices. From what I understand, their intelligence collection methods are a lot more sophisticated now, with devices that are UV-powered and truly tiny, but this one is pretty darn cool. An operator would fly this device through an open window or even just land it surreptitiously on top of a bookshelf or something, thereby planting a literal bug.

If you’re interested in learning more about these gadgets, check out these two Wired posts  (here and here) for more.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, be sure to order a copy of one of my books for more in-depth looks at the fascinating world of espionage!

The Exploding Envelope Series: An introduction

I’ve been lucky enough to have had three spy novels published in the six years since I’ve been a professional writer. I’ve learned a lot, and I’m going to start sharing some of what I’ve learned with all of you in honor of the impending release of Take the Bai Road (Book 2 of the Bai Hsu series) on July 3, 2017 (woo hoo!).

Every Tuesday for the month of June, I’m publishing a blog post that pulls the curtain back on some aspects of the shadowy world of espionage in a series I’m calling The Exploding Envelope Series.

Why an exploding envelope? Well, I watched a lot of Mission Impossible in my youth and I’ve always loved how dramatic it was when the hero received his orders and then the ominous voice said, “This message will self-destruct in three, two, one…” BOOM!

So for now, this is just a heads-up that there will be some fun content coming up around here starting next week.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read those blog posts, learn cool new stuff about the spy trade, and then order and read a copy of Bai Tide if you haven’t already so that you’re ready when Take the Bai Road comes out in July.

Good luck!

A Quick Birthday Break

By the gracious generosity of Wes’s parents, Wes and I were able to escape our children this weekend so that we could embark on a series of capers in celebration of my upcoming 32nd birthday. Examples of said capers?

Bowling (I scored two strikes in a row my first two frames, then began missing the pins entirely for the rest of the game. No, I don’t know why.)
Arcade games (There’s an arcade near the bowling alley that has a Terminator game for two in it and Wes and I freaking DOMINATE that game together. We have a system and everything. To my lukewarm annoyance, however, Wes was still a more accurate shot than me even with a broken gun. {Although I did score more points at the basketball dunking game, which made me happy.})
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 (Which we freaking LOVED! Even though it made me cry big fat tears at the end, I still thoroughly enjoyed watching that movie. Go see it.)
Shooting range (We rented a 9mm 1911 {but we can’t remember what brand} and emptied two boxes into a big green target. It was loads of fun! Wes is a MUCH better shot than I am {again. Duh.} but I think I did okay. Here’s a picture of the target after my first round of shots:Not too shabby, right?
Clothes shopping (for Wes, who has lost a bunch of weight and is now in desperate need of a pair of jeans that actually fits his smaller body. We didn’t end up finding anything {boo} but we did see Michael Bennett {a Seahawk} at Old Navy. He was very polite, and he was with a friend who may or may not also have been a football player. I actually ran into a rack of clothes in front of said friend, who smiled and said, “Better you than me,” to which I couldn’t come up with a reply because, outside of the context of him being a professional athlete, why better him than me? When Wes explained that he was likely a football player, too, I felt less confused but more embarrassed, because, you know, clumsiness.)

The weekend went by in a blink, and before we knew it we had to go pick up our kids again. What a fun break, though!

Are You Ready to Take the Bai Road?

[image error]It hit me the other day that Take the Bai Road (book #2 of the Bai Hsu series) is coming out in less than two months. July is going to be an absolutely insane month for me, schedule-wise, thanks to the release of both Take the Bai Road and Close to the Bones, a writers conference in NYC (Thrillerfest! Woo!), and an appearance at the Eagle Harbor Book Company out on Bainbridge Island, so of course it’s right about now that I’m starting to get a bit worried about having bitten off way more than I can chew.

But listen to me, wah wah over here with my first world author problems. What I should be focusing on is that I have a new book coming out soon! It’ll be available for pre-order soon, so here’s a Q&A to fill you in on what you need to know about it:

Do I need to have read Bai Tide first to enjoy Take the Bai Road? Noooooooope. You can dive right into the series with this one, and if you like it you’re welcome to circle back for Bai Tide when you’re done with taking the Bai road.
What’s this one about? Bai Hsu is a CIA case officer (read: spy) who’s been stationed at Headquarters after the events of Bai Tide. He’s bored and itching to return to the field when a dangerous assignment gets dropped into his lap: His mission is to shadow a crate that’s being smuggled into Mexico along cartel trade routes by a mysterious organization that may or may not already have hooks in the U.S. government. Operating without official cover and on his own in every way, Bai must survive cartel wars, conspiracies, and chaos in order to stop corruption that reaches into the highest echelons of American power.
Is Bai still a smart-ass in this one? Duh.
Will I like this one? I don’t know. You’d probably better buy it and find out.
Will there be more books? Yes! I’m actually in rewrites for Bai Treason (book #3 of the Bai Hsu series) as we speak. Well, right now I’m writing a blog post, but when I’m done with this post I’ll dive back into rewrites.
What’s your favorite part of Take the Bai Road? The road trip with the racist truck driver, which was actually my friend Matt’s idea (he’s the King of the Beta Readers, all hail the king).
Is there violence and strong language in this one? Ummm, yes. It takes place in an incredibly dangerous place with some horribly dangerous people, so yes. There’s quite a lot of violence and some profanity (though most of the profanity is in Spanish). I’d like to think the violence stays on the tasteful side of gory, though. There’s no sexual content, however, because I’m a prude.
Does anyone besides you think it’s a good book? Thankfully, yes! Like this: “Mitchell’s winning tale…is constantly in motion, taking Bai from one perilous predicament to the next…Fast-paced, invigorating, and entertaining.” — Kirkus Reviews

And this: “What makes this series so pleasurable to read is Bai himself, his somewhat snarky attitude and self doubt make him more than the mere superhero jumping into the chaos to save the day.” — Jeff Ayers for Suspense Magazine

And this!: “Take the Bai Road is chock full of danger and suspense.  Starting with a slow burn in the power corridors of Washington, D.C., the story erupts into violence in Mexico and slams to an exciting finish in Seattle.  Bai Hsu’s search for the elusive Ghost Cartel will enthrall you.”   — Gayle Lynds, New York Times best-selling author of The Assassins

Pre-orders are coming soon, and I’m SO unbelievably eager to share this one with all of you because it’s my most ambitious story to date with twists, turns, and conflicts that absolutely rip apart everything Bai holds dear (like all good conflicts should).

Stay tuned, dear readers! The exit for the Bai Road is coming up fast!

Cockles Aglow

There’s nothing that warms the insecure, neurotic little cockles of an author’s heart than positive book reviews. You see, we work for hours upon countless hours alone, just us and the voices in our heads, and then we set these stories loose in the world for other people to read and, usually, we’re never really sure whether the things we thought were funny/scary/intense/emotional/etc. are going to land that way for other people.

And sometimes they don’t. There is not a single book out there that doesn’t have at least one bad review. Taste is subjective, and sometimes your writing just absolutely offends someone or, (worse yet?) does nothing for them. To this you can only shrug and move on. As my dad used to say, “The poop is in the pudding,” which I’ve always assumed meant the damage was done and you might as well keep on rolling.

Anyway, I got a review of Bai Tide that was such a rave, I’ve been aglow all day. It’s from book blogger Sara the Introvert, who had this to say of Bai Tide:

“Bai Tide was a welcome and pleasant surprise. I love TV shows like Quantico and Criminal Minds. I’m just a sucker for a good crime or spy story. I’m also a sucker for stories that feature people who aren’t white dudes…I also loved how Mitchell handled writing the section of the book that takes place in North Korea. It’s so easy to make fun of North Korea or to make light of the situation over there, but I think she painted a real picture of it. There was nothing to suggest that she was making fun of the country; on the contrary, it seemed like she was trying to do the country justice.”

You guys, Sara gets it. All the things she pointed out as her favorites are my favorite parts of the story, too. I love that my hero isn’t a white dude with a waxed chest and sculpted jaw. I love that he has to go toe-to-toe with female spies and often gets his ass handed to him. I’m pleased and punch that she felt I did North Korea justice.

That was my goal. That was why I spent so many hours researching North Korea, giving myself nightmares in the process. It’s why I consulted native Korean speakers to get the Korean bits of dialogue correct. It’s why I haunted Google Maps so much I could probably navigate around Pyongyang pretty easily.

North Korea is a human rights travesty and, as easy as it is to make fun of North Korea, the people who are suffering and starving at the mercy of a tyrannical, paranoid despot deserve better.

So anyway, this review made my whole day. You can click here to read the whole thing; it’s a good read.

(By the way {or should I say, Bai the way? Heh heh heh}, Bai Tide is available in print with the kickass new cover, and it’s only $10.95!!! Check it out!)

Happy Cinco de Mayo, my friends! Hoist a margarita for me tonight!

Empty Tubes and Tests for Days

Man, I tell you. Coming back from Santa Barbara was a great, big, freezing cold splash of reality. Wes had to leave on a series of business trips, which is normally the cue for both my kids to get all kinds of peeved about their father’s absence and take it out on me.

They did not disappoint.

Me in my giant scrubs, mere moments before yet another health professional jammed a needle into my poor knee.

Adding to the fun, I did another MRI with contrast to see why my knee continues to be a literal and figurative pain and lo and behold, it wasn’t all in my head (ha?). I have a flap of cartilage that’s collecting edema, and the microfractures I had done a couple years ago healed irregularly, which means things are all kinds of messed up in there.

Before I go in for (yet another) surgery, I’m going to get tested by a rheumatologist to see if it’s possible to determine why the cartilage in my knee is shredding like a nice mozzarella.

As if all that wasn’t enough, I’m currently undergoing testing from an endocrinologist to see whether he can figure out why I keep gaining weight despite healthy eating and exercise habits.

Just think blood tests. Blood tests for days. All the doctors are holding up empty tubes with my name on them.

It’s all stressful, and at times terrible, but I’m keeping my focus firmly on the things that are going right. Things like:

Wes is home from his business trips, and will be home for awhile.
I have friends and family who care about me and all my suddenly myriad health issues. My best friend, husband, and mother-in-law all collectively spent hours on the phone with me when I found out about my knee, just letting me feel sorry for myself and assuring me things would turn out ok. I’m inclined to believe them.
I’m free of deadlines for now and making progress on revisions for Bai Treason (book 3 of the Bai Hsu series). I love it as much now as I did when I wrote the first draft, which is always a good sign of a worthwhile story.
There’s a book blog tour of Bai Tide (book 1 of the Bai Hsu series) that’s happening now and the reviews are uniformly positive so far! Like this one, and this one. I’m always particularly gratified when people who don’t normally read my genre enjoy my books. It shows me I wrote a good story, not just a good spy story.
I might be getting LASIK soon because you know what? My knee may be FUBAR but damn it, there’s still hope for my eyes.

That just about brings you up to current. Rest assured, if I’m not blogging it’s probably because I’m hiding from my health woes by writing stories. Given all the feelings around here lately? Bai Treason is going to end up being a goooooooood book. Trust me on that one.

A Moon Shaped Post

Radiohead. Santa Barbara Bowl. April 11, 2017.

What does this have to do with anything?

I was there. So was Wes. We were there, and it was awesome.

Not too shabby, right? The place we stayed at was freaking GORGEOUS.

It all started in February. Radiohead had just announced an additional bunch of tour dates, most of which were along the west coast, and I emailed the link to Wes as a kind of, “Ha ha, wouldn’t this be amazing?” thing. Radiohead was coming to Seattle, and while it most definitely would have been awesome to see that show, I knew tickets would sell out in an instant so I figured it would go nowhere.

Wes is not a going nowhere kind of guy, so he plotted. And planned. And prepared. The moment tickets were available, he worked his magic and actually managed to score a pair of tickets. In Santa Barbara.

When he called me to tell me he’d achieved the impossible, I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to think. The importance and significance of Radiohead’s music in my life can’t be overstated. I gave birth to my first child while listening to Hail to the Thief on repeat. “How to Disappear Completely” helped me survive election season last year. I more of less wore out my copies of OK Computer and Amnesiac in high school as I drove the hour-long route to and from school.

If I’m ever stressed or scared or anxious or happy or calm or introspective or relaxed, Radiohead is my go-to. Every time. This band means something to me, but they’re so immensely popular (for good reason) that I’d resigned myself to the likelihood I’d never get the chance to see them perform live.

But Wes doesn’t accept impossibilities when it comes to me. He knew this would be the trip of a lifetime, so he made it happen. I was so nervous before the band came out, Wes says I was shaking a little. I couldn’t talk. I could barely remember to breathe.

I took this of us while 15 Step was playing.

And then there they were. And the music was even better live, if you can believe that. They played the song Wes most wanted to hear (“15 Step”), and too many others to name, and then left the stage.

I was crestfallen. As much as I loved the songs they’d played, they hadn’t played “Nude,” my favorite of their songs.

The show, it turned out, wasn’t over, and they ended up playing “Nude” during one of their four encores. The feeling when the song crested and then receded was indescribable, which is really saying something because I describe things for a living. The closest I can come to explaining how it felt is to say overwhelming, searing joy, the kind that consumes you and leaves you in a daze afterward.

It really was a true fan’s show. Many of the songs they played were obscure, and there was even a song that I think was completely new that I’d never heard before. It was pure magic. A perfect show in a perfect location with a perfect man by my side to enjoy it with.

Are there any other Radiohead fans reading this? What’s your favorite Radiohead song?

Throwing Fellow Writers Under the Bus

I’m reading an interesting book right now called Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction by Benjamin Percy. It’s interesting as it deals with many of the concerns in my genre: Violence (how and when to do it), set pieces, designing suspense, etc. Percy’s writing is fun to read for the most part (though I will admit to getting frustrated while reading the beginning of the book. He waxes long and poetic about his childhood, which has little to do with the purpose of the book).

I read something last night, however, that genuinely surprised me. He was explicating the restraint writers should use when inflicting violence on our readers, and the fine line between authenticity and gory indulgence when he mentioned the writing of both Chuck Palahniuk and Bret Easton Ellis. To wit:

“That’s what the work of Chuck Palahniuk and Bret Easton Ellis occasionally feels like: a special kind of CGI meant to sour your stomach…Their flamboyant style aestheticizes the mayhem, as if the authors love what we are meant to despise. They linger on the violence, wallow in the gore, celebrate it to such a degree that I can almost see them smirking, hear them snickering, and they essentially become that kid we all went to middle school with – Cody: big ears, buzz cut, braces – who would fake a punch, and then, when you startled, would screech, “Two for flinching,” and sock you twice in the shoulder. Don’t be a Cody. Nobody liked him.”

Why did this surprise me? It’s not because I disagree. I haven’t been able to stomach Palahniuk’s writing since Survivor for precisely this reason, and I despised American Psycho so much after watching it that I’ve never agreed to watch it again despite many impassioned pleas for me to give it another chance because the violence is symbolic and a commentary and blah blah blah.

No, I was surprised because it’s quite rare for an author to publicly disparage a fellow author in this way. There’s an unspoken code of honor amongst authors that our critics are hard enough on us, so if you can’t say anything nice, keep your mouth shut and change the subject. (With the notable exception of Dan Brown. For some reason, it’s always fine to make fun of his writing, which doesn’t bother him in the slightest as he laughs at all of us plebes from his castle).

In a book like Percy’s, there’s plenty of room to use various authors’ work as an example of what to do, instead of what not to do, and up until now that’s almost exclusively what he’s done. That was why I was so surprised to see these two getting singled out. It’s possible they write their stories in precisely such a way as to elicit this kind of disapproval, in which case this was a smashing success.

I thought I’d open this up to all of you and see what you think. How do you feel about violence and gore in storytelling? Any pressing thoughts on either Chuck Palahniuk or Bret Easton Ellis that you’d like to share? Hit me up in the comments section!

Return of the Auntie

At long last, I have returned from my adventures in the sunny wilds of southern California. I spent a lovely week taking care of my sister in law and brand new nephew which, if you’ve ever taken care of a newborn, you know means hundreds of tiny tasks that don’t seem like much and yet, somehow, still take up an entire day. The fatigue didn’t catch up to me until Sunday afternoon, when I quite simply ran out of gas and had to collapse into bed for a two-hour nap.

My husband was incredible in my absence, however, and managed to work his full-time job while also keeping our children alive and on time for school. I came home to a house that was freshly vacuumed, swept, and scrubbed. The laundry was done, the trashcans were empty, and my car was washed, vacuumed, and full of gas. It was the absolute best way to come home, and I felt truly loved. Those of you who know me well know that I’ll take a clean house and car over flowers and chocolates any day.

Somehow before I left, I was able to submit the final edits to my editor for Take the Bai Road, and I’m thiiiiiiiiis close to finishing the short story I’m submitting to the anthology that’s coming out in the fall. Good thing, too, because the deadline for that is on Friday.

Gulp.

In other news, my book cover designer is almost done with the cover for Take the Bai Road and it is sweeeeeeeeeet. Oh man, this series is looking pretty darn slick, if I do say so myself. I’ll share it as soon as she’s put the final touches on it and hopefully we can start offering pre-orders.

Stay tuned!

Edits, Revisions, and Babies

From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

This is going to be a fast, to-the-point blog post so strap in and hold on.

I’m in the thick of several things right now, which feels exactly like drowning if instead of water you substitute edits, revisions, and deadlines.

For some mysterious reason (read: because I’m a masochist who loves being busy and until I’m actually busy, at which time I regret all my life decisions) I signed on to participate in an anthology at the same time I was working on a full-length novel. As you can imagine, the revisions are all hitting the fan at the same time, and I’m under deadline for both, which means I have mountains of fun, engaging, excellent work to get through before the end of the month.

Now, to make things even more fun, I’m heading down to California on Saturday for a full week because my brother and his wife had their first baby last week and 1) I needs must hold my tiny nephew and 2) she’s going to need some help when my brother goes back to work.

This is a very good thing I’m excited to do, but it’s rather unexpected as her due date was not until April. So wish me luck this week, I’m going to need it. I have a month’s worth of work to do, and one week here, and another week there to do it.