Jonathan Dyer's Blog: The Nick Temple Files, page 11

A Sneak Peak at Chapter 1 of the Newest Nick Temple File, The Heidelberg Gap

A Heidelberg Gap Preview

Just for the hell of it, here’s a draft of Chapter 1 of my new Nick Temple File, The Heidelberg Gap. It will be the sixth title in the series. So far, so good. I passed 10,000 words yesterday, and feel like I’m hitting a productive stretch after some time away from the book. So here’s a taste. I hope it makes you want more! If you want to catch up with the series, click here for Nick Temple Files 1 through 5.

A mock-up of the cover for Nick Temple File no. 6

CHAPTER 1: I...

Uncles

Uncles

My brother sent me the picture below this morning. It’s a picture of my father, the man on the far right, and his four brothers. It was taken in the late 1960s. As far as I know, it’s the last photograph of them all together as my Uncle Pete, the man seated in the middle, passed away shortly after this picture was taken. Getting this picture from my brother brought back many powerful, wonderful memories. I wrote a short piece about uncles a few years back when one of them died. Here it is...

The Old Man and the Tee

The Old Man and the Tee

I’ve been giving leisure time a good deal of thought the last couple of years in anticipation of retirement. Given my age and other demographics, the game of golf came to mind and would not go away. When I was a kid, I used to go to a driving range with a friend of mine or with my dad and brother. I’d hit a bucket of balls using one of the clubs they had available at the shack where you paid for and got the balls. It was fun, especially on summer evenings when the range l...

More of My Poetry Published by The Writers Club

More of My Poetry Published by The Writers Club

The Writers Club has published another poem of mine. This one, entitled “Resolve,” is a quick riff on conformity and adulthood, and it is below. This is the sixth poem of mine that they’ve published. I think it’s great that a platform like The Writers Club exists for all sorts of writing. It’s not only a great place for writers, it may be obvious that it’s also a great place for readers! Check out their extensive catalog of publications that includ...

A Cold War Podcast with Mark Valley and Jonathan Dyer

A Cold War Podcast with Mark Valley and Jonathan Dyer
Nick Temple File Covers and The Live Drop Podcast

Mark Valley, West Point Grad, Berlin veteran, actor, producer, writer, and all around good guy, has a podcast called The Live Drop. A while back he interviewed me. We talked about a wide range of matters including my time as a Russian Linguist in Berlin during the Cold War, and my more recent efforts at writing Cold War spy thrillers. Thanks to Mark for reaching out and including me in his pro...

A Poem Here and There

A Poem Here and There

A recent submission of mine to The Writers Club is their “Favorite Submission of The Week.” The poem, “Museum Piece,” was inspired by a walk along the South Carolina Coast one evening with my family, and my Uncle Tom, Aunt Anna, and my cousin Elizabeth. We passed a roped-off section in the dunes above the high tide mark. On the other side of the rope was a small, lovely stand of sea oats. The poem is below.

The Sonoma, California Coast

Above the tides the sea oats stand,

fr...

What’s the Point of Espionage in a Spy Novel?

What’s the Point of Espionage in a Spy Novel?

Espionage is conducted by nations to shape policy. Pretty simple. One country gathers information about another country, analyzes it, and then makes policy decisions based on the analysis of the information. The policy result is national in scope, although it is often not made public for a variety of reasons. Those policy choices can include reallocating assets, refocusing training, undertaking new initiatives or retooling existing ones, shifting pol...

A Zoom Talk: How I Write a Spy Novel

A Zoom Talk: How I Write a Spy Novel

[Author’s note: These are the notes I used to give a 30-minute talk via Zoom to the McMinnville, Oregon Lions Club on 9/2/20. I was invited to give the talk by Sam Justice, a fellow soldier I first met at the Defense Language Institute in 1981. We are still friends after all of these years. The notes have been modified to eliminate personal references, and edited for clarity.]

I’ve been asked to talk to you today about how to write a spy novel. I’m flattered ...

First Impressions of Berlin and the Cold War

First Impressions of Berlin and the Cold War

I was born in 1957, the year the Soviets launched Sputnik and the race to the moon began, a signal event in the Cold War. There are still a lot of us around for whom the defining geopolitical position of our early years was the Cold War. Truman’s speech in early 1947 set out the conflict in simple “us vs. them” terms, reflecting a reality that had been in existence since the end of World War II in Europe. Subsequent events such as the successful test ...

Landscapes, Poetry, and Superfluity in a Novel

Landscapes, Poetry, and Superfluity in a Novel

A maxim of jurisprudence enshrined in the California Civil Code is, “Superfluity does not vitiate.” What a beautiful sentence! Its meaning is its own abrupt precision. The rule it expresses is clear and unqualified; it sets an excellent standard for legal writing. I love that sentence. However, as a general matter, I don’t like rules about creative writing. Believe me, there are many of them out there.

I understand that readers expect and enjoy cer...