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Spies, no condoms by Incy Black

Nil illegitimi carborundum – don’t let the bastards grind you down. The bastards being anyone in authority worshiping the god of ‘red tape’, about whom I personally harbour deep-seated suspicions.

Which probably accounts for my thrill of a good conspiracy—lardy-arsed officialdom, the villain—and my cheering on of the men and woman who thumb their nose at the ‘rules’ but being smart, swallow their resounding ‘fuck off’ behind a grin—smiling crocodiles, if you like.

Hence my love affair with spies, spooks and secrets. The corruption of loyalties, the lies and deceptions, and the down right rude. Evident in one of my favorite quotes from Hard to Protect: “You stick your head any further up Butters’s arse, Berwick, and no one will be able to hear you singing Rule Britannia.” Angel, the heroine, is giving the hero a right gobful, at this point.

Whitehall…

Hard to Protect is the third book in the ‘Hard to’ series by Incy Black and I, for one, have not been able to wait to get my hands on this book.

Will Berwick, leader of the Assassins at The Cube, a plausibly deniable secret team hidden deep within British Intelligence is given the unenviable task of breaking down Angel Treherne, a psychotherapist who The Service believe hold the key to finding her brother, Rhys, a brilliant scientist who has developed a potentially explosive drug that could transform how soldiers fight.

Angel is also tasked with breaking down Will, of getting inside his head to make sure he’s fit for active duty after he was almost fatally shot. Problem is, Will’s for the ‘Sorry, sweetheart, only way you’ll get inside my head is when I’m no longer breathing’.

But that’s not the only problem.

Angel, icy-cold, bitter, desperately trying to keep…

I’m thrilled to welcome Lindsay J. Pryor to Linda’s Book Bag as her penultimate Blackthorn novel, Blood Bound, is released today, 21st September 2016, from Bookouture. Blood Bound is available for purchase in e-book here.

Today, to celebrate Blood Bound, Lindsay is telling us all about romantic heroes.

Blood Bound

Love can be heaven. Or it can hurt like hell.

For exiled angel Jessie, falling for Eden Reece has been her salvation. When she discovers that her angel tears, used to heal Eden, are actually poisoning him the burden of guilt is crushing.

Jessie is determined to make things right and, with Eden by her side, they are a formidable team. But with Blackthorn surrounded by an impenetrable barrier and the army of Sirius Throme closing in, their mission is a desperate one. When Jessie discovers they are up against her own kind too, it looks…

Michael. Writer, editor, consultant.

Before I answer, let me say what a great honor it is to be interviewed by—uhm—hamsters. I can’t say I ever imagined this glorious day would come.

As to your question: Is there such a thing as a petty hamster? I wouldn’t have thought that so grand and magnificent a creature as a hamster might have lesser cousins?

But a petty hedge-king, that’s a king over a very small territory, a mere tribe of some 3000 souls. The “hedge” of such a kingdom might be the shrubberies we know today, or stone walls, or even a hedge of spears.

The word “hedge” is used in the sense of a form of protection (“a hedge against a loss”) and also in the Samuel Johnson sense of “something mean, vile, of the lowest class.” So a hedge king is a king of the lowest class, responsible for the…