Baksheesh
by DS Kane
Interview:
Crystal: I'm so excited to host DS Kane today. Welcome DS! I'm so happy to have you here today. Would you share a little bit about yourself with us today?
DS Kane: As a covert operative for the United States government, I was always asking myself, “If I tell my handlers about what I’ve found out, what will they do? Is this material so dangerous that they might kill me? As a result, I sometimes told lies and disguised or withheld the truth. And, that’s the essence of my Spies Lie series of espionage technothrillers.
Crystal: Do you have a favorite scene you would like to share with us?
DS Kane: Every book in my series has at least one scene that holds a key to understanding the story’s protagonist, and another that does the same for my villain. In Baksheesh (Bribes), Book 5 of the Spies Lie series, the scene is the wedding of Cassandra Sashakovich and Lee Ainsley, which turns from something divine into a blood bath. In seconds, someone close to Cassandra is dead, someone who represents Cassie’s past, the drivers that governed her behavior until that scene. In seconds, her behavior is totally transformed.
Crystal: Where did you come up with the idea for Baksheesh (Bribes)?
DS Kane: Many years ago, I investigated a Middle Eastern bank that was suspected of working on behalf of arms smugglers. One of the people I spoke with stated that in this country we stood in, bribes, or baksheesh, made everything happen. I remember that day, and when I wrote this book, the name dropped onto my pages.
Crystal: What are you currently working on?
DS Kane: With Baksheesh (Bribes) now completed, I’ve started work on book 7, about a war between the hacking community and the government. Its working title is CypherGhost.
Crystal: Do you have any special routine that you follow when you are writing?
DS Kane: I start off most days exactly the same. Wake at about 8 am, have coffee and get to my desk in the office at about 8:30. I work until noon. Lunch and a short nap clears my head and I’m back at work by 2 pm. I write until just after 5 pm.
What I do depends on what phase of a book I’m working on. When I first start a title, I research the concept, the theme, the technologies and politics that will be important, locations where the scenes might take place, and the characters I’ll be using. That takes a month. Then I write an outline, and that takes a month. Writing a draft takes about three to four months. Then editing takes about 2 months. Production takes about 2 months, including working with my project manager, Sandra Beris, cover designer, Jeroen Ten Berge, my copy editor Karl Yambert, and my formatters from BookNook.biz. On days when we run a promo, I’m busy with social media, the biggest distraction for any published writer.
Crystal: Did you have to do a lot of research for this book or any other? If so do you have a fascinating fact that you have learned you would like to share with us?
DS Kane: I do an enormous amount of research, into technology, politics including facts and possibilities behind the news stories. Occasionally, a theme I’ve been toying with runs amuck in my mind until I can see how to use it for a series of plot points. Technology includes a host of cyber issues and products, weapons products and those used for counter intelligence. I have friends at the Naval Postgraduate School I can use to vet my research, and I’ve use folks at DARPA to use one of their failed projects for one of my spy toys. And, no, I can’t tell you any fascinating fact. The things I never tell fall under the province of the Espionage Act of 1917.
Crystal: Who are some of your favorite authors that you like to read?
DS Kane: I read Barry Eisler. Barry is a long-time friend and a former CIA operative. His work is both entertaining and useful. It informs my writing. I read Daniel Silva. We both write about the Mossad. I read James Rollins. We both write about DARPA. I read Brad Thor. He’s as twisted as I am. I read Steve Berry. We both write about fictional intelligence services.
Crystal: Is there a genre you haven't written that you would like to try?
DS Kane: Not really. I read Science Fiction, and some of the ideas I find there, particularly from Daniel Suarez, infect my writing. But I won’t be indulging myself. Too much to do in technothriller espionage.
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BLURB:
She spied for her country, blackmailed her president, and ran from more threats than she can remember. But when the love of her life proposes, covert agent Cassandra Sashakovich is finally ready to settle down. Unfortunately her past is not quite ready to let her walk away. Old enemies—including a vengeful president—want her dead, and they’re willing to attack her loved ones, including her adopted teenage daughter, if that’s what it takes.
But Cassandra has other pressing problems—a world leader is assassinated and an arm dealer’s revenge threatens to lead to nuclear war. Now Cassandra and her security firm, Swiftshadow must defuse the threats and find a way to outmaneuver those who threaten not only her family, but her country as well.
GENRE: Thriller
Book Links:
Amazon | Goodreads
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EXCERPT:
Pas Nikita Tobelov sat behind the old steel desk in his office on the top floor of the warehouse at the end of the wharf. He cursed and tossed the nearly empty coffee cup against the corrugated wall.
The picture of Achmed Houmaz stared back at him from his computer screen. The caption read, “Director of OPEC Killed.” According to the story, the body of Houmaz was found on the ruined pier in Boston with one of his arms shot off at the shoulder, a handgun still held by the severed limb.
Tobelov was sure she’d killed Houmaz, the bitch. He got up from his chair and found another cup, into which he poured some coffee. Relax. She is now beyond your ability to execute. But that uncle of hers isn’t. Tobelov tried to remember the uncle’s name. Misha. Misha Kovich. He’d be a soft target.
Tobelov launched a program on his computer and requested the purchase of some very specific weapons, ones bought only by those who had intimate contacts with former KGB agents, now working in Russia’s Federal Security Bureau, or FSB, in Moscow Center.
A former Soviet agent, now an independent arms dealer working mostly for the Russian mafiya, Kovich would be eager to provide these weapons. When he delivered them, Tobelov would have him executed. Tobelov even knew where he could resell the weapons for maximum profit.
He smiled, thinking, maybe I’ll send his head in a box to Sashakovich, just as Houmaz had wanted her own head delivered to him.te second excerpt here
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
DS Kane worked in the field of covert intelligence for over a decade. During that time, his cover was his real name, and he was on the faculty of NYU's Stern Graduate School of Business. He traveled globally for clients including government and military agencies, the largest banks, and Fortune 100 corporations, and while in-country, he did side jobs for the government. One of the banks DS Kane investigated housed the banking assets of many of the world's intelligence agencies and secret police forces, including the CIA and NSA. Much of his work product was pure but believable fiction, lies he told, and truths he concealed. Secrets that--if revealed--might have gotten him killed. When his cover got blown, he fled the field and moved 3,000 miles.Now, DS Kane is a former spy, still writing fiction. Through his novels, he exposes the way intelligence agencies craft fiction for sale to sway their countries and manipulate their national policy, driving countries into dangerous conflicts.
To learn more about DS Kane and his books, visit www.dskane.com or join him on Facebook for book giveaways and details on espionage at https://www.facebook.com/DSKaneAFormerSpyStillTellingLies.
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