Some of the authors here at Not Your Usual Suspects write spy
novels. And I am not one of them, but I still find the world of spy technology
fascinating. It's scary-cool that a pen can carry a poison dart and that a
working flashlight can actually be a gun. Check out this story about the
weapons found on a captured
North Korean assassin.
I think my love affair with spy tech began when I was a kid
watching old episodes of Get Smart, Mission
Impossible and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
In fact, I was so affected by these that had a recurring dream about a
shoe that doubled not as a phone, but as a vehicle.
My sisters and I played a game in which we were the “Girls from
U.N.C.L.E.” If you’ve never heard of that spinoff, it’s because The Girl From
Uncle, starring a very young Stephanie Powers, only aired a single season in the US, in 1966. In our game, we
were the younger sisters of the show’s beautiful main character, April (named May, June
and January). We used all sorts of weapons and communication devices hidden in
everyday objects like hairbrushes that doubled as tape recorders and cameras and
clothespins that were in fact poison dart guns!
So now that I’ve thoroughly humiliated myself by outing my geeky
inner child, it’s your turn. How did you acquire your love of your favorite
genre?
