Staunton author releases latest novel of intrigue

Spy Flash
by Phyllis “Maggie” Duncan
Book signing at Bookworks in Staunton on Saturday, Jan. 12, 3-5 p.m.

Call Bookworks at (540) 887-0007, or visit the shop at 101 W. Beverley Street in historic Downtown Staunton, with any questions.

“Alexei wanted that. The two of them to grow old together. Somehow that had become meaningful to him, and, once, that had mattered to her as well. In the grand scheme of things, in the big picture of what their jobs entailed, such a wish seemed self-indulgent.”
– From the Spy Flash story, “Four Seconds”

From the deserts of Egypt to Parisian markets to the Balkans, take these brief glimpses into two covert operatives’ lives … both the personal and professional.

Maitland “Mai” Fisher is a spy because her parents died as spies. She has a legacy to fulfill, and she intends to do just that by maintaining her principles. What may conflict with that is the fact she believes in achieving justice by any means.  Alexei N. Bukharin defected from the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War because the Soviet system caused the death of his young wife. He is, however, a member of an internal cabal determined to bring down the Soviet Union from within–and with the help of the United Nations Intelligence Directorate.

Bukharin and Fisher–they make an unusual partnership and an unlikely couple.

 

Reader Reaction to Spy Flash

“Wow! I read your book today – terrific. How did you do the research to make it so believable? And of course I loved the JUSTICE you handed out!”

 

A review of Spy Flash: “Staunton Author’s Spy Tale is Enticing”

“Readers who enjoy stories with strong female characters will appreciate Duncan’s protagonist, Mai Fisher.”
–from the review.

 

About the Author

Phyllis Anne Duncan is a retired bureaucrat with an overactive imagination – at least that’s what everyone has told her since she first started making up stories in elementary school prompted by her weekly list of spelling words.

A commercial pilot and former FAA safety official, she lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. A graduate of Madison College (now James Madison University), she has degrees in history and political science. Her love of politics continues to this day.

Her first print collection of short stories was the 2000 paperback, Rarely Well Behaved, which, in 2012, became two separate, reissued books, Blood Vengeance and Fences.  Other short stories have appeared in eFiction Magazine in 2011 and 2012, in the 2013 Blue Ridge Anthology, and in 100×100, a collection of 100-word flash fiction. Ms. Duncan has studied writing at the Gotham Writers Workshop, Writers.com, and Tinker Mountain Writers Workshop. End Times, book one of a trilogy on domestic terrorism, was a semi-finalist in the 2011 James River Writers Best Unpublished Novel contest.

When not writing, reading, or reviewing books, she takes delight in spoiling her grandchildren.