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Spy Flash
A collection of espionage flash fiction featuring two operatives for a fictional international counterintelligence organization based in the United Nations.
156 pages, Paperback
First published December 7, 2012
140 people want to read
About the author
Phyllis Anne Duncan (P. A. Duncan)
24 books32 followersP. A. Duncan is a retired bureaucrat but one 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 beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. A graduate of Madison College (now James Madison University), she has degrees in history and political science. Politics and history manage to work their way into her writing.
Her fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies. When not reading, writing, editing, singing in a UU choir, watching the Yankees, or cheering on Dale Earnhardt, Jr., she delights in spoiling her grandchildren.
She is president emeritus of the Virginia Writers Club, one of the oldest writer organizations in the country.
A commercial pilot and former FAA safety official, she lives and writes in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. A graduate of Madison College (now James Madison University), she has degrees in history and political science. Politics and history manage to work their way into her writing.
Her fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies. When not reading, writing, editing, singing in a UU choir, watching the Yankees, or cheering on Dale Earnhardt, Jr., she delights in spoiling her grandchildren.
She is president emeritus of the Virginia Writers Club, one of the oldest writer organizations in the country.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 30, 2013
Spy Flash started as weekly flash fiction for the Rory's Story Cube Challenge I run on my blog, so I saw many of the stories during the six months Duncan spent writing them. What blew me away about Spy Flash was how she knitted the stories together into a cohesive whole that showed the evolution of Mai Fisher, Alexi Bukharin and the other characters in the Spy Flash world.
If you missed Blood Vengeance, Duncan's first book with Mai and Alexi, you're set. You don't need to have read it for these episodes to make sense. If you have, though, you'll recognize places when Duncan has filled in the blanks of Mai and Alexi's life. Her characters are compelling, the spycraft feels authentic and the touches of reality woven though Mai and Alexi's escapades will have you wondering if the Directorate is real. Even better, Mai is the epitome of a strong female character, one with flaws and foibles like all of us, but who also doesn't settle for less than her best — even when those around her are underestimating her abilities.
Spy Flash isn't your typical espionage book, and Mai and Alexi aren't your typical spies — you'll enjoy them a whole lot more and remember them long after you finish the book.
If you missed Blood Vengeance, Duncan's first book with Mai and Alexi, you're set. You don't need to have read it for these episodes to make sense. If you have, though, you'll recognize places when Duncan has filled in the blanks of Mai and Alexi's life. Her characters are compelling, the spycraft feels authentic and the touches of reality woven though Mai and Alexi's escapades will have you wondering if the Directorate is real. Even better, Mai is the epitome of a strong female character, one with flaws and foibles like all of us, but who also doesn't settle for less than her best — even when those around her are underestimating her abilities.
Spy Flash isn't your typical espionage book, and Mai and Alexi aren't your typical spies — you'll enjoy them a whole lot more and remember them long after you finish the book.
February 23, 2013
This was the first time I have read a collection of short stories all based on a continuing series of events and characters. After I got over the initial shock of the time jumps, thinking I was missing something, I began to enjoy each story more and more. For such a small book it was packed with plenty of action and emotion in each story. Some books will take hundreds of pages to tell a single story spanning maybe a few days to maybe a few years, this one takes you through decades of their lives. Each story feels to me to be the key moments that make up the two main character lives together and makes them who the are over time.
It was nice to find another book that has a female main character with the amount of action that is in here without adding in all the extra romance. There is romance in here, but just enough to keep it real and not put it into the romance category of the book shelf.
It was nice to find another book that has a female main character with the amount of action that is in here without adding in all the extra romance. There is romance in here, but just enough to keep it real and not put it into the romance category of the book shelf.
May 12, 2013
Received from goodreads
This book was a collection of short stories, each chapter featured a different mission in Mai's spy career. I found it very confusing because I wasn't sure how much time had passed and was missing crucial details. However, it was also interesting in its unique style and idea. I liked this book, but the reader must have patience in order to slowly piece everything together in order to look at the whole picture.
This book was a collection of short stories, each chapter featured a different mission in Mai's spy career. I found it very confusing because I wasn't sure how much time had passed and was missing crucial details. However, it was also interesting in its unique style and idea. I liked this book, but the reader must have patience in order to slowly piece everything together in order to look at the whole picture.
April 21, 2016
I have never reviewed anything before. I liked this writing style; learning about the characters bit by bit, but not everything. Keeps you wanting more and I'll look for more. Short book with storyline over long period of time, yet it worked. The use of "current" affairs added to the reality and you wonder if.....
April 26, 2021
Duncan fills in backstory on her two favorite spies in many of her books, Maitland "Mai" Fisher and Alexei Bukharin. Classic spycraft, evil villains, compromised values play out against various locations familiar to cold war spy thrillers. A great read to understand why Mai and Alexei behave as they do.
July 13, 2013
Spy Flash is a collection of Flash Fiction stories. I had high hopes for this book, but was disappointed. There were a couple of okay stories in the novel, but overall there wasn't a good flow from one chapter to the next, and most of the adventures that the characters took, you never got the full story. I think that there are better spy books out there and wouldn't recommend Spy Flash.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews