What happens when your parents are spies but your teacher insists they come to career day? The second story in Blood Vengeance is "Career Day," and Natalia Bukharin has a lot of questions for Mai and Alexei about what they really do. The answers, however, are not forthcoming.

Blood Vengeance is FREE January 19 and 20 then after that 99¢ for the remainder of January. You can download it at amazon.com/dp/B007WWBX14.

Time to give some love to P. A. Duncan's first collection of espionage short stories, Blood Vengeance. Published in 2012, these stories are the earliest ones featuring U.N. spies Mai Fisher and Alexei Bukharin, and they delve, of course, into history.

Blood Vengeance is on sale for 99¢ for all this month. Go to amazon.com/dp/B007WWBX14.

It's Season 4, Episode 1 of the podcast where we talk about writing, spies, and writing about spies.

Today, though, we're talking more about writing and the writing life, especially when a spy writer decides to try writing a mystery.

While you're waiting for Supreme Madness of the Carnival Season -- the mystery -- to be ready for preorder, check out P. A. Duncan's spy writing. All reasonably priced whether eBook, paperback, or hard cover. Go to amazon.com/author/phyllisduncan and see for yourself.

It's going to be a busy couple of weeks to the end of the year for P. A. Duncan, what with family holiday "stuff" and a book launch on 12/24/22, so the podcast is on hiatus until 1/5/2023.

In the meantime, you can still preorder MEETING THE ENEMY: REVENGE (book 2) and find MEETING THE ENEMY: TERROR (book 1) on sale at amazon.com/dp/B09ZHZXXF8.

Happy Holidays and a safe New Year to all!

When you're a writer focused on historical accuracy and you can't verify something through research, where can you turn when all else fails? A subject matter expert.

The link for the Meeting the Enemy: REVENGE preorder, the sale for Meeting the Enemy: TERROR, and the print editions of REVENGE is amazon.com/dp/B09ZHZXXF8. There for your holiday shopping.

How does a writer deal with making a secondary character the main character? What happens if there's not much action? A NaNoWriMo update and a free excerpt from the upcoming novel, REVENGE.

To preorder REVENGE and to find book 1, TERROR, on sale, go to amazon.com/dp/B09ZHZXXF8.

Duncan is still building up to the launch on December 24 of Meeting the Enemy Book 2: REVENGE. She explains how an incident in her work life found its way into her fiction (happens all the time) and discusses how National Novel Writing Month has helped create a publishing backlog for her.

Finally, you can preorder REVENGE for a special preorder price (eBook only) and find Meeting the Enemy Book 1: TERROR on sale at amazon.com/dp/B09ZHZXXF8.

Also note: There will be NO PODCAST ON NOVEMBER 24 -- HAPPY THANKSGIVING from Unexpected Paths Media and P. A. Duncan.

Duncan apologizes for doing her civic duty as an election officer and missing the recording of a podcast for last week.

This week we learn about the origin of Meeting the Enemy: REVENGE, book 2 in the series, and Duncan reads a free excerpt.

For the REVENGE ebook preorder and the ebook sale of book 1, TERROR, go to amazon.com/dp/B09ZHZXXF8.

If you're in the central Virginia area, specifically near Richmond, VA, on November 12, you'll find P. A. Duncan at the Hanover Book Festival, VFW Post 7808, 7168 Flag Lane, Mechanicsville, VA, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Real Spies, Real Lives Podcast is taking a break this week because P. A. Duncan's time has been taken up with election officer duties.

So, don't forget. Go vote! Democracy depends on it.

See you next week.

Some current Balkan history, or current events, and a final reading from Self-Inflicted Wounds.

All 3 eBooks are FREE today and tomorrow only, so grab 'em while you can from amazon.com/dp/B08L3886FP.