About SAM: Appearing a normal housewife, she led a secret agent life.

by Randall S. Smith

Also appears in Willful Women

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Many of the prior years of my life were spent working at normal endeavors which had nothing to do with creative writing. Then one night I dreamt I was on a retreat walking through the fall-colored foothills of New England celebrating the publication of my first novel. I awoke with a feeling of such fulfillment that I realized it was time to begin my literary journey.

I put pen to paper and started on my first story About Sam, the tale of a young housewife with children who was also a secret agent. The opening rough draft included conflict, adventure and romance, but I needed help. I ventured off to a local club called Sarasota Authors Connection.

There I met Leah Dallaire, an editor whose continued guidance proved invaluable. At subsequent club meetings I had the good fortune of listening to speeches by the creators of Single White Female (the movie had Bridget Fonda in it) and I Know what You Did Last Summer (the one with Jennifer Love-Hewitt) and many other fine writers. Later on my literary journey, I had the pleasure of crossing paths with best-selling author Richard North Patterson who generously provided additional assistance, and I subsequently wrote him in as the bomber pilot in Back to World War II.

My first stories were an experiment in genres. I dabbled in mystery, fantasy, satire, corporate intrigue, science fiction, romance, thriller, and action-adventure. The one thing they all had in common was strong-willed women, so I consolidated them into a collection called Willful Women, followed later by Willful Women II.

The genre experiment revealed that action-adventure was the most fun to create, so I began the Willful Women Assassins Series, later assembling these stories into the novel Assassin Affairs. After finishing that project, the characters made an unplanned reappearance in The Diva Den, so I added that as an encore chapter, calling the revision Assassin Affairs – Encore Edition. All my titles are available on the Kindle.

I had always rewritten my stories to remove segments in which the sex had gotten explicit (though not gross), but with Assassin Affairs – Encore Edition I determined it was time to leave them in. Many of my past coworkers were gay, lesbian or bisexual, so I included such characters in the book, spicing it up with elements of submission and domination. If you find such things offensive, Assassin Affairs – Encore Edition is not for you. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy it. Rock on.

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Reviews

[Michelle Hedley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had not come across this author previously so was interested to see what I thought of this book.

I enjoyed the character and the way she was woven into the overall storyline. I enjoyed the book and it was a nice easy read (not a bad thing in my opinion!).

In some ways I felt that this was a series of short stories, but woven together as the character went from adventure to adventure with time gaps in between.

Nonetheless , a thoroughly enjoyable read and one I would recommend!

[Nicola Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.
Sam is a housewife with a secret. Great storyline, likable main character, action along with romance too! Really enjoyed the book! :-)