‘Hacking’ is a relatively new concept in fiction. It’s leapt from the realms of pure science fiction into everyday reality. This means understanding ‘hacking’ can be helpful in any number of genres from suspense/thriller to YA to general fiction.

Today is the final guest post from Piper Bayard of the dynamic writing duo, Bayard & Holmes. I really hope y’all pick up copies of their books. I’ve read all of them, even wrote the foreword in one.

I’ve added their books as staples in my reference library and strongly recommend y’all do the same (especially since one is on SALE).

Hackers! Take It Away, Piper!

Most people think of computer invasions when they think of hacking, but any electronic item that transmits a signal can be intercepted and/or hacked.

That means cybersecurity is an issue for every one of us; therefore, unless we are writing historical fiction or some other genre that predates electronics, cybersecurity can a potential issue for any of our characters.

Volumes can be written regarding cybersecurity issues. Rather than offer a comprehensive treatise on the subject—which would no doubt be obsolete before dinner time—today, we’ll focus on common objects in the modern world that can be hacked to spice up our story lines.

Thriller is the genre most likely to involve ‘hackers.’

So we’ll cut to the chase, so to speak, and look at the big picture first. If our character is using electronics to find someone, that character’s capabilities will depend on their nationality and the power of their government or underworld contacts to assist them.

Every allies from folks at the NSA to Anonymous to private security companies could be at their disposal. There are far too many variations to address in a single article, or even a treatise. Suffice to say more than one government has the capability of scooping up every electronic transmission in a given area.

More than one hacker can access everything from a home router to the Pentagon.

As Much or as Little as Necessary

With the vast array of capabilities, this means when, in a crunch, allies can either assist OR should you need a complication, be UNABLE to come to the character’s aid.

Bad guys can apply countermeasures.

Say we flip the coin and our character wants to try to HIDE from government surveillance on the part of any country in the West, Russia, or China.

A character’s best bet is to hide in plain site with a new identity. If that isn’t possible, they must go to an all-cash existence, never carry any electronics of any kind on their person, and avoid all cameras in businesses and on streets.

Since this is pretty close to impossible in First World countries at this point, it’s also best if the character stays on the move in Third World countries. However, human intelligence will still be a threat, and odds are better than good they will be found eventually.

What about a smaller/more intimate picture?

Most of us can look around our workspace and find items that can be hacked. Computers and phones are the most obvious.

We recommend that everyone put a sticky note over their computer camera, because entities from corporations to any number of governments to hackers can and will observe you without it being obvious to you. . . .

We’ll pause a minute for you to cover that camera . . .

Thank you. We feel better talking to you now that strangers can’t see you in your pajamas. If you want to be particularly cautious, cover camera on your phone, as well.

Speaking of cameras . . . Nanny cams, doorbell cameras, security cameras of all kinds, and children’s toys are also regularly hacked by unscrupulous individuals and used by governments foreign and domestic to record information on private citizens.

Why Would Hackers Care About ME?

Most people think, “Why on earth would foreign governments want to digitally molest my nanny cam? I’m just not that interesting.”

Not to promote paranoia, but you actually are that interesting. These are only a few reasons foreign governments want to spy on you:

• To spy on expatriates
• To monitor trends in society
• To improve training of deep-cover operatives
• To better design propaganda efforts in foreign countries
• To gather information on possible targets for covert action
• To identify blackmail targets
• To build files on important foreigners

Yes, foreign governments use Internet devices to collect information on regular citizens to tailor their enormous propaganda efforts, and those data collections on have helped hostile nations level up substantially in their subversion tactics targeted at the West…but that is an article for another day.

Some Folks Just Wanna See the World BURN

We are aware that our computers are open books for governments, both domestic and foreign, as well as hackers.

A hacker can get into a computer and do anything that the computer’s owner can do. They can destroy everything on the device, pilfer through everything on the device, or plant spyware that will record every keystroke.

Computers are most vulnerable when connected to unsecured Internet networks, such as at coffee shops or in hotels, and hackers know this.

Great material for plot lines, right?

There are numerous companies that sell cybersecurity programs to help detect and protect from such attacks. Also, if a computer is turned off, it is safe from hacking.

Hackers and CELL PHONES

Phones are also common targets of governments, local police departments, and hackers.

For example, everyone in the DC area can assume that all of their phone calls are being intercepted by the Russians and the Chinese. That’s true of several large cities in the US and Europe.

In addition to stationary devices, foreign agents, DHS (Department of Homeland Security), and local police departments literally drive around the city with “cell site simulators,” or “Stingrays” in their vehicles that simulate cell phone towers and intercept phone signals.

What’s a Character to Do?

There are two easy ways a character can protect the information on their phone. First, they can put their phone in a faraday bag, which is a bag made of a shielding material that blocks transmissions.

Another way is cheaper and faster than shopping—tin foil. Yes. There is something to the tin foil hat, or in this case, tin foil envelope.

To protect a phone, a character needs three layers of tin foil.

The first layer is smooth. They must be careful to wrap the phone thoroughly, leaving no open seams.

The second layer is crumpled. They crunch up the tin foil, unfold it enough to make it useful, and wrap it around the phone. Again, the character needs to pay attention to seams.

‘The third layer is another smooth layer over the crunched layer. Once the phone is wrapped, anything a hacker could get off of it would be so distorted that it would render the information useless.

This tin foil trick works for computers and key fobs, as well.

Yes, key fobs.

Vehicles with keyless ignition systems, such as pretty much all rental cars these days, can be hacked from outside a building. This is called a “relay attack,” and it can be accomplished with cheap equipment found online or at an electronics store.

One character holds a key fob relay box close to the outside of a building. The box picks up the signal from an unprotected key fob inside and relays it to a second device that a second character holds near the car.

This fools the car, and the vehicle can be unlocked and/or started. Great for car theft, planting surveillance devices, or hiding in a back seat or trunk.

Deliciously creepy, right?

If written well, though, this hack could be used in a romance, and a lover could leave a gift on their beloved’s dashboard. Or perhaps a comedic situation could arise where a character stashed something in a rental car, and they need to get it back on the sly.

Alexa is Listening

Another source for plots comes from voice-controlled speakers such as Alexa or a Smart TV.

Yes. Numerous governments and corporations really are collecting everything said within range of these devices.

Hackers can do the same.

Everything said within range of these devices is collected and transmitted to servers to be analyzed for “search words.” Sorry. This article is too short to discuss what can happen to all of the conversations collected that do not include “search words.”

However, such devices sometimes make mistakes. Voice-controlled speakers have been known to transmit conversations to random individuals on a contact list. For example, a couple can be having a conversation in range of their Alexa or Alexa-equivalent, and it can accidentally be transmitted to some random individual on their contact list.

Cross my heart and hope to die, this has actually happened in real life. The possibilities in fiction are endless!

A more personal digital violation is becoming more common all the time. We’ll be as delicate as possible when describing this . . .

Adults ONLY

Talk about violating privacy For REAL. There is a method of surveillance is called “screwdriving.”

When couples fall in love and become intimate, or they just want a hook up or whatever, sometimes they like to involve certain electronic implements . . . Oh, never mind. Sex toys. We’re talking about sex toys.

Sex toys often now connect to the Internet. The Internet connection allows couples to express their passions, even when they are at a distance, whether across town or across the planet.

Screwdriving is when hackers drive around and seek out these devices in the buildings around them. Hackers then hack the devices in the hopes of delivering a tingly surprise—a digital threesome of sorts.

The romantic and comedic possibilities are endless! Of course so are future episodes of Dateline.

These are only a few of the devices hackers target in real life and in fiction. Others are pacemakers, cars, fitbits, and any other electronic device that connects to the Internet or emits an electronic signal.

Apply imagination, and any of these can be a source of comedy, romance, crime, thrills..or plain terror.

Kind of like this blog.

Apologies.

Thanks for having me!

Wow…Um, Thanks Piper

So thank you, Piper, for this informative and utterly terrifying post.

In all transparency, Piper and I have been friends for almost 12 years. We bond over our healthy dose of paranoia and the NSA LOVES when we chat on the phone.

When the Alexas first came out, my brother bought everyone in the family Alexas for Christmas. It was an incredibly thoughtful gift…

…that I left in its box (buried in another box).

Then, my mom got Ringr and I had a FIT for a BIT…but can only preach so much.

I have a TON I could add to this post, but we’ll save that for another day since many of you might already be hiding in a three-layered tent made from emergency shock blankets (foil) eating cookie dough.

For now, The Edge: How to Write Mystery, Suspense & Thriller is available ON DEMAND (sign up HERE and use Thrill10 for $10 off). The recording turned out FANTASTIC, so check it out. This class pairs really well with everything Piper has talked about the past four posts.

I will be uploading more classes this week, and Piper will soon be teaching as well for Bad Lamb Academy. YAY!

We LOVE hearing From You!

Have you used hacking in one of your plots? What genre was it?

If y’all have any questions for Piper, this is the time. She’s here and available from her underground silo .

SALE!

FINAL DAYS ONLY $2.99 — Click Here

What do the main intelligence agencies do and where do they operate? How do they recruit personnel? What are real life honey pots and sleeper agents? What about truth serums and enhanced interrogations? And what are the most common foibles of popular spy fiction?

With the voice of over forty years of experience in the Intelligence Community, Bayard & Holmes answer these questions and share information on espionage history, firearms of spycraft, tradecraft techniques, and the personalities and personal challenges of the men and women behind the myths.

Though crafted with advice and specific tips for writers, SPYCRAFT: Essentials is for anyone who wants to learn more about the inner workings of the Shadow World.

“For any author, this is the new bible for crafting stories of espionage.”

~ James Rollins, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Demon Crown

Piper Bayard and Jay Holmes of Bayard & Holmes are the authors of espionage tomes and international spy thrillers. Please visit Piper and Jay at their site, BayardandHolmes.com. For notices of their upcoming releases, subscribe to the Bayard & Holmes Covert Briefing. You can also contact Bayard & Holmes at their Contact page, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Piper Bayard, or at their email, BayardandHolmes@protonmail.com.

The post Hacking: The Secret Spice of Modern Storytelling appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Silencers. Yes, today our visiting expert, Piper Bayard from the writing duo Bayard & Holmes is here to do some myth-busting. The movie industry seems to believe one can use a silencer on everything.

***Yet another peeve for many who are even remotely knowledgable about the gun world and how things actually work.

I get that fiction is supposed to be over the top, especially with spies and thrillers. It doesn’t matter that most spies actually do boring office work and are usually as ‘sexy’ as our 6th grade librarian. Hollywood doesn’t care that most intelligence operatives and assassins are more likely to drive a Mazda than a Maserati.

In reality, drawing a lot of attention and being SUPER memorable is a BAD thing.

This said, we don’t care when it comes to fantasy. Spies and assassins are sexy in fiction. And it is TOTALLY possible to hold onto a bullet train traveling at up to 200 miles an hour….in fiction.

So how can we keep our fiction imaginative, over-the-top and sexy AND gain at least a modicum of respect from those who are savvy about this topic? *drum roll* Well this THURSDAY y’all can take my class The Edge: How to Write Mystery, Suspense & Thriller (sigh up HERE). This is a TWO-HOUR class and obviously we can go into a lot of detail. You also get a free recording, which is super handy.

For the moment though? Here’s a quick fix to help you maintain the magic without blowing your cover credibility.

Take it away, Piper!

Silencer Movie Magic

Movies and books do absolute magic with firearms and their targets! Sniper rifles fire with a whisper, bodies silently crumple to the ground, assassins shoot successive shots from silenced pistols without a hiccup, and all other manner of . . . fictions.

In our last post, Firearms: The Writer’s Guide to “Knowing Your Weapon! we looked at the various types of firearms espionage and crime characters might use and took a bit of the fiction out of fiction. Now let’s turn our attention to silencers and what cannot be silenced. For simplicity’s sake, we will use the terms “suppressor” and “silencer” interchangeably.

The purpose of silencers in the field is to keep anyone from recognizing the sound of a gunshot and screaming, calling 911, or returning fire.

In most cases, the shooter doesn’t care if someone hears the shot as long as they don’t recognize it as a shot. People will normally ignore noises that they hear but don’t associate with gunshots or other dangers. Because of this human tendency, the level of “silencing” our characters need with their firearms depends on their situations.

For example, if a character intends to walk into a functioning steel mill and shoot someone, they don’t need much in the way of silencing. On the other hand, if they want to shoot someone in a library without being noticed, they will want the best silencing available.

So how do we attain maximum silencing?

We’ve all seen characters with cylindrical silencers screwed onto the barrels of pistols which, in fiction, range in size from a Saturday night special to Dirty Harry’s .44 Magnum. Then they fire with a pftzzz so quiet that it wouldn’t wake a drowsy guard dog. But a silencer on the barrel is only the first step. For maximum silencing, one must also consider the things that cannot be silenced.

A Silencer Can’t Quiet a Slide

Suppressors can be used on revolvers, but with much less effect than can be achieved with a semiautomatic pistol; therefore, a shooter would most usually use a semiautomatic handgun. (See Firearms: Know Your Weapon!) Semiautomatic pistols have a slide along the top.

This pictured .40 Smith & Wesson has the slide locked open. Note the round in the chamber. The slide comes back when a shot is fired. The spent brass is ejected, another round is fed in, and the slide comes forward, readying the pistol for the next shot.

This motion of the slide can’t be silenced.

So what is a shooter to do?

When it comes to dealing with slides, size matters, so let’s talk about size for a moment.

Ever wonder why Bond always uses the Walther PPK .380 in the field? It’s not just because it’s cute and German. It’s because the .380 semiautomatic provides enough energy for close-up assassination while still being capable of effective and inexpensive silencing.

In fact, the only more powerful mass-produced auto-loading weapon that can be efficiently and cheaply silenced is the Russian knockoff of the Walther PPK, the Makarov .380, which is like a regular .380 on steroids.

With a bullet slightly wider and heavier than that of the standard .380, the Makarov has the maximum energy of any subsonic cartridge that the Soviet firearms specialists could put into a straight blowback semiautomatic design.

***We’ll get back to that “subsonic” part in a moment.

The other benefit of the .380 is that it has a straight blowback design, unlike larger handguns. With the straight blowback design, the pistol can be modified to manually lock the slide in a closed position so the weapon can fire without causing the rounds to jam. The locked slide prevents the noise of the slide operation along with the sound that escapes the ejection port when the pistol cycles.

The slide of a semiautomatic cannot be silenced except by locking it in place.

So you might be wondering at this point how anyone gets to fire a second shot if the slide is locked in place.

To fire successive shots in real life, a shooter of a silenced pistol must manually unlock the slide, cycle out the cartridge, and then re-lock the slide. Locking and unlocking is accomplished with a small lever that would resemble the safety lever on a slide. With a bit of practice, a pro can operate it in approximately one second without much effort.

While a pistol with a manual slide lock does not allow for the quickest successive shots, it can be quite discreet, making it ideal for some situations.

For example:

if the shooter intends to assassinate an individual who is walking home on his usual route after work, the shooter could get a close-up head shot on a side street, and someone walking twenty yards ahead of the target would not notice it.

Another example is if the shooter catches the target alone in their hotel room, home, or office. In such circumstances, a trained assassin could easily take the time to deliver a second “insurance” shot on a high-value target without a hotel maid in the hallway or people in the next room hearing anything.

Writing Tip Regarding Silencers:

One danger to silencing properly with a handgun is that the shooter will forget to lock the slide after cycling in the second round. The weapon will still be suppressed, but it will still make more noise than it would if the slide were locked. If you need a character to make a mistake while firing with a silencer, this is a logical one to make.

The Sonic Boom

Note the emphasis on the word “subsonic” in the section above. That’s because the crack of a bullet breaking the sound barrier is impossible to silence. That is true no matter what firearm or suppression equipment is used. As a result, for the maximum silencing, it is important to use subsonic cartridges.

The Falling Brass

The sound of falling brass is also impossible to silence. Only shooters in movies don’t have to worry about that ping of flying brass hitting objects or the floor. To prevent the brass from falling, shooters can carry specially designed brass catchers that they can attach to the pistols.

However, the act of attaching them can slow down a shooter. Also, the catcher, itself, is one more piece of evidence that can be found on a shooter, and less evidence is always better.

A more down-and-dirty trick, so to speak, is to use a sock as a brass catcher. However, there are three problems with this method. First, it blows out the end of the sock, which could lead to the brass falling anyway. Second, the sock could catch in the slide and jam it. And third, the sock covered in gunpowder and residue is one more piece of evidence. So as a general rule, most professionals risk the sound of falling brass.

But isn’t the brass evidence?

Not so much as one might think. That’s because an intelligent professional uses “clean brass.” Clean brass is brass that would not be identified to the country of origin, and it would have no fingerprints, so the shooter doesn’t have to worry about leaving it behind.

The Falling Body

The third thing that cannot be silenced is the sound of a falling body. Dead bodies drop, and they aren’t always conveniently located in an open space with a thick carpet. They can smash into furniture and knock things over. They can break glass and thump into floors and walls. If in a bathroom and the body falls against a cast-iron tub, it makes a loud, heavy ringing sound.

Catching a body to prevent the noise of the fall poses the equally risky problem of the shooter being covered in blood. Bloody people tend to have trouble blending in when walking out of a building or down a street. It’s just an inconvenient truth that bodies fall where they die.

Writing Tip:

An assassin’s inconvenient truth is an author’s plot line. While you could have dead bodies collapse in neat little heaps on a shag rug, you could also use them to punch up your plot. Get creative. Let them break things, tip out of windows, fall onto hot stoves, or even create a domino effect that leads to widespread disaster on the set. You’re not likely to go too far with it.

Bottom Line about Silencers:

Three things cannot be silenced—the shells being ejected, the crack of the sound barrier, and the drop of a falling body. Which brings us to the fourth thing that cannot be silenced—the savvy reader who sends angry e-mails if an author gets this wrong.

Thank you, Piper!

Piper has one more post in this series later this week. Make sure to ask any questions you might have about your work in progress or even about something you might be pondering for NaNoWriMo while she’s here. Now is the time to be bold. Also make sure to check out the new classes below. The podcasting bundle is still available. We had a FABULOUS first class so the ON Demand of that will come with the bundle is the only difference.

Another NOTE: I also moved my Log-Line workshop to THIS WEDNESDAY because I was losing my voice last week. So if you want to get your book/series boiled down into ONE sentence to act as a prototype or to pitch to an agent? Sign up and you get two hours working with ME!

Back to spies, assassins and other people who like to wear a lot of black…

Do your characters use silencers?

What sort of problems do your shooters have with sounds?

SALE!

LIMITED TIME ONLY $2.99 — Click Here

What do the main intelligence agencies do and where do they operate? How do they recruit personnel? What are real life honey pots and sleeper agents? What about truth serums and enhanced interrogations? And what are the most common foibles of popular spy fiction?

With the voice of over forty years of experience in the Intelligence Community, Bayard & Holmes answer these questions and share information on espionage history, firearms of spycraft, tradecraft techniques, and the personalities and personal challenges of the men and women behind the myths.

Though crafted with advice and specific tips for writers, SPYCRAFT: Essentials is for anyone who wants to learn more about the inner workings of the Shadow World.

“For any author, this is the new bible for crafting stories of espionage.”

~ James Rollins, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Demon Crown

Piper Bayard and Jay Holmes of Bayard & Holmes are the authors of espionage tomes and international spy thrillers. Please visit Piper and Jay at their site, BayardandHolmes.com. For notices of their upcoming releases, subscribe to the Bayard & Holmes Covert Briefing. You can also contact Bayard & Holmes at their Contact page, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Piper Bayard, or at their email, BayardandHolmes@protonmail.com.

Classes!

Writing for Podcasting 10/22/21

Register HERE and use New20 for $20 off before October 15th

How to Make MONEY & The Business of Podcasting 10/26/12

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The Pod People Podcasting Bundle: ALL THREE Classes ONE Low Price

Register HERE to get all three classes and save BIG! The ON DEMAND version of “Introduction to Pod Casting” is included since we passed the LIVE class date.

Practice Your Pitch: Master the Log-Line 10/20/21

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The Edge: How to Write Mystery, Suspense & Thriller 10/21/21

The post Silencers: Outside Hollywood Movies, Not Everything Can Be ‘Silenced’ appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Firearms are a staple in many different genres of fiction. Choosing a genre is critical because it makes it far easier to define your audience, connect with them and ultimately, sell more books. Here is a post that explains all the different genres, as well as the nuanced differences.

Firearms are obviously most commonly used in thrillers, but they can be used in mystery, suspense and all the varied kissing cousin genres. For those who want to learn more, I have a class next week The Edge: How to Write Mystery, Suspense & Thriller where I will also cover more on this topic (register HERE).

Today, however, we’ll defer to the serious experts. Piper is here on behalf of the fabulous Bayard & Holmes to download some critical information.

Take it away, Piper!

Know Your Firearm

Whether you love firearms, hate them, or can take them or leave them, they are a staple of crime and thriller fiction. Unfortunately, fiction is often laden with firearms fictions. Bayard & Holmes are dedicated to helping authors avoid those firearms fictions, so we’ll take a look at the firearms that turn up most often in espionage and crime fiction—the revolver, the semi-automatic, and the automatic.

Before we get to the differences in those types of handguns, though, we need to address the most common firearm misnomer of all time — the “clip” vs. the “magazine.” Time and again in fiction, shooters are reloading their “clips” into their “automatic” pistols, when they should be loading their “magazines” into their “semiautomatics.” Let’s take a look at the distinctions so that you savvy folks will never make those mistakes.

Clip Vs. Magazine

A magazine has a spring that force-feeds the ammunition as the shooter fires. A clip does not have a spring or a feed mechanism. It simply holds the ammo and attaches to a magazine or inserts directly into a firearm. These are examples of “clips.”

On the left half of the picture, we have an empty M1 Garand clip, an M1 Garand clip loaded with eight rounds of 30-06 ammunition, and the brass from a 30-06 spent cartridge. On the right half of the picture, we have nine rounds of 7.62×39 ammunition loaded onto a “stripper clip” and an empty stripper clip. This stripper clip holds ten rounds. The tenth 7.26×39 cartridge is just above the loaded clip.

The clips are plain metal with no springs or gadgets of any kind that assist in feeding the ammunition through the firearm. Once the cartridges have been fired, the clips can be reloaded. However, in combat that is highly unlikely. A clip would normally be discarded and a new clip loaded into the magazine or the magazine well, depending on the firearm.

The vast majority of firearms made after WWII do not use clips.

Extremely few modern weapons that use clips are being manufactured today unless they are replicas of old weapons, with the rare exception of a few Smith & Wesson revolvers that use moon clips. So unless your character is using a historical weapon or one of the rare modern firearms that take actual “clips,” the terminology is a fiction.

Next we have “magazines.” Magazines are widely used in both handguns and rifles. They can be detachable or not. They hold cartridges and can be quickly and easily reloaded. There are springs in the magazines that assist in feeding the ammunition through the firearms.

The larger magazine in the picture is an “extended grip” 9mm SIG Sauer magazine, and the smaller magazine is from a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .380. These magazines fit into the handles of the pistols shown. Magazines are made of metal or plastic and can be reused countless times. They don’t get “used up” just because all of the rounds are fired.

Writing Tip:

If you’re writing historical fiction, you might, indeed, have a weapon that uses a clip. If you are writing anything post-WWII, your weapon, unless it is a revolver, will likely have a magazine. We recommend you do a bit of research on the specific model of weapon in your manuscript, including the year it was made.

Revolvers

A revolver is so called because the cartridges reside in a revolving cylinder.

Almost no revolver ever made has an actual manual safety mechanism. Like the semiautomatic, one trigger pull equals one shot. However, the brass shells are not ejected automatically. A shooter must open the cylinder and eject all of the shells simultaneously and reload. A shooter can hasten this process by using a “speed loader” to insert all of the cartridges with one motion. The legalities of revolver ownership vary from state to state, but revolvers are generally the most legally accepted of handguns.

Things to remember about revolvers:

1. Ammunition is loaded into a cylinder.
2. Revolvers virtually never have manual safety mechanisms.
3. One trigger pull results in one shot.
4. No brass is ejected.
5. Legal in varying degrees according to state law.

Semiautomatics

With a semiautomatic, ammunition loads into a removable magazine that usually fits into the pistol grip, like the ones pictured above.

To reload, a shooter drops the empty magazine out of the grip and snaps in a full magazine. Most people are able to drop a magazine and snap a new one into a semiautomatic faster than they can reload a revolver; however, a skilled shooter is just as quick with a speed loader. Like the revolver, one trigger pull always equals one shot. Unlike the revolver, the brass is ejected with each shot. Also unlike the revolver, a semiautomatic often has a manual safety device.

Semiautomatics are legal in all states, but only to varying degrees in different places. In a few states, they practically come as prizes in the bottom of Cracker Jack boxes, while in others, they are more difficult to obtain than a straight answer from a politician.

It is extremely common for a semiautomatic to be inaccurately referred to throughout media, movies, and TV as an “automatic” weapon. No matter how hot the journalist, movie star, or soap opera star might be, it simply isn’t so. If you make that mistake in your own writing, you are sure to get a bursting inbox full of corrections.

Things to remember about semiautomatics:

1. Ammunition is loaded in a magazine.
2. One trigger pull equals one shot.
3. Often has manual safety mechanism.
4. Brass is ejected, usually to the right of the weapon, every time a shot goes off.
5. Legality varies according to state. Some states make semiautomatics difficult to obtain, or they restrict the size of the magazine. Other states have the Cracker Jack Box standard.

Automatics

With an automatic weapon, the cartridges load into a removable magazine. The weapon is called automatic because when a shooter pulls the trigger, it automatically fires repeated bullets until the shooter takes their finger off the trigger. When the shooter fires, the brass shells of the cartridges are ejected from the weapon at high speed.

Modern automatic weapons are generally illegal for private ownership without special government procedures—emphasis on “generally.” There are three ways an individual in America can obtain an automatic weapon. . . .

The Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 made it illegal for private individuals to acquire fully automatic weapons without special permission from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Private gun owners can still obtain one of the pre-1986 fully automatic firearms if they fill out a form, wait several months, secure a tax stamp, and purchase the firearm for an exorbitant amount of money—exorbitant because, according to the National Rifle Association, there are only around 150,000 pre-1986 fully automatic weapons in private ownership.

The second way private individuals can obtain an automatic weapon is by going through the intense process of obtaining a license to manufacture Class III/NFA firearms. Once the individual has this license, they can secure a conversion kit to modify a semiautomatic rifle to make it fully automatic. With the hassle and expense, though, we recommend using the money for a nice beach vacation rather than pursuing one of these weapons.

The third way to obtain an automatic weapon in America is the timeless and ever-popular method known as theft. If your characters try this method, especially with anyone who owns an automatic weapon, that owner might remember to use it on your character.

Things to remember about automatics:

1. Ammunition is loaded in a magazine.
2. One trigger pull equals multiple shots.
3. Likely has a safety mechanism.
4. Brass is ejected as the shooter is firing.
5. Illegal for private owners everywhere in the United States except with a very detailed, expensive process.

Other Factors

It’s worth noting that different types of ammunition and barrels impact accuracy and are used for different purposes.

For example, Bayard & Holmes use hollow point cartridges for self-defense because the bullets are less likely to pass through the target and harm someone behind them. Different barrels with different types of rifling are also used depending on the purpose at hand.

Firearms experts have written treatises about the many subtleties of ammunition and barrels. If you discuss types of ammunition and barrels in your fiction, we recommend you read one of these treatises before you commit your writing to stone or Kindle. If you make a mistake, firearms experts will call you on it, and they can be pretty rough about it.

Writing Tip:

Be aware that no matter how much you research, there are firearms aficionados who will write to you about the rarest and most obscure exception to whatever you say and tell you that you’re stupid. Don’t let that bother you. It’s what they live for. Be reasonably diligent in your vocabulary, hit the big things like “revolver,” “semiautomatic,” “automatic,” “clip,” and “magazine,” and you can be pretty sure the vast majority of your readers will be satisfied. As for the rest, don’t feed the trolls.

Thank You, Piper!

I love these action-packed genres and I’ve lost count how many times I’ve encountered otherwise great books that botched their gun research. One time, I tossed a book across the room when the character put the safety on her revolver *silent screams*.

If we are going to put anything in our books, firearms included, then we need to do at least the basic research…which is why I have posts like this to help!

We LOVE Hearing From You!

Any thoughts or questions? Piper is here to help y’all out so ask away.

Do your characters carry or use firearms? Which firearms do they use?

What are your firearms pet peeves in fiction? Do you have any questions for us?

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What do the main intelligence agencies do and where do they operate? How do they recruit personnel? What are real life honey pots and sleeper agents? What about truth serums and enhanced interrogations? And what are the most common foibles of popular spy fiction?

With the voice of over forty years of experience in the Intelligence Community, Bayard & Holmes answer these questions and share information on espionage history, firearms of spycraft, tradecraft techniques, and the personalities and personal challenges of the men and women behind the myths.

Though crafted with advice and specific tips for writers, SPYCRAFT: Essentials is for anyone who wants to learn more about the inner workings of the Shadow World.

“For any author, this is the new bible for crafting stories of espionage.”

~ James Rollins, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Demon Crown

Piper Bayard and Jay Holmes of Bayard & Holmes are the authors of espionage tomes and international spy thrillers. Please visit Piper and Jay at their site, BayardandHolmes.com. For notices of their upcoming releases, subscribe to the Bayard & Holmes Covert Briefing. You can also contact Bayard & Holmes at their Contact page, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Piper Bayard, or at their email, BayardandHolmes@protonmail.com.

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The post Firearms: The Writer’s Guide to “Knowing Your Weapon!” appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Piper is back to guest post once more. I’m scrambling to catch up after being flattened from travel/work. Le sigh. Also have to get my NaNo tools together. Coffee, candy, energy drinks, stun gun, duct tape. So enjoy your Halloween. It’s kind of like New Year’s Eve of the Writing World. Party hard and have your fun because tomorrow….

Anyway, if you happen to be working on an action or thriller or some book involving those of the intelligence community, this post will help tremendously. Great writers ALWAYS do their homework. No one cares about our glorious prose if we goof something that five minutes on Google would have answered. But for the stuff maybe Google CAN’T answer? We have Bayard and Holmes…

By Piper Bayard

Spy thrillers are a staple of genre fiction, and a good “Bond” never goes out of style. However, a bad “Bond” can have those in the know throwing your book out the window of an Aston Martin faster than you can shake your martini. My name is Bayard. Piper Bayard. And my best friend and writing partner, Jay Holmes, is a 40-year veteran covert operative. I’m here today to help you write books that stay inside the sports cars.

Sean Connery and his Aston Martin
Image from Goldfinger
Many books have been thrown from this car.

 1. DON’T let your covert operative announce her identity, or that she is a covert operative.

Cover operatives are . . . wait for it . . . covert. Unlike James Bond, covert operatives don’t reveal their identities, and especially not while on missions. Even decades after they are out of deep cover, they keep their work to themselves. That’s because when they are revealed, former assets and current loved ones alike can become targets.

That also means that, when a celebrity author shows up in an “I’m a Spook” T-shirt flaunting a “covert” career, it’s a dead giveaway that though she may have done some great and necessary work with an intelligence agency, she has never been a covert operative in the field. Covert operatives must forever keep a Chinese wall around their true identities.

2. DON’T call your spooks “spies.”

Yeah, I know. Then what’s with the title of this article? I hadn’t gotten to tell you that “spies” are actually “spooks” yet. I didn’t want to confuse you on that point before you got this far.

Holmes and his ilk are “spooks,” not spies. As Holmes says, “Spying is seamy. It’s what the Russians do.”

Spooks refer to each other lightheartedly as “spooks.” That’s also what military personnel call them when military and intelligence operations overlap. For example, if an intelligence team is working in a secured area of a ship, the crew refers to them as “the spooks.”

There is no official Dictionary of Spook Terminology, but the proper terms for spooks are “intelligence operatives” and “intelligence agents.” By habit, “operative” is used by CIA personnel when they are talking among themselves or reviewing an operation, and “agent” refers to someone – usually a foreigner – who is collecting information in a foreign country. Intelligence personnel are the “operatives” who are managing the foreign “agents.”

Note the spook putting on his seatbelt
Not Holmes
Image from CanstockPhoto

3. DO put on your spook’s seatbelt.

Car chases happen, but they don’t happen without seat belts. Every now and then, a spook might have to drive the wrong way up a one-way street or wheel down the Spanish Steps. *cough, cough, Holmes, cough, cough* But when he does, he wears his seatbelt. Religiously. “Because you can’t finish the mission if you’re dead.”

4. DON’T let your spook duck into a doorway to spy on her target.

That’s a good way for a real spook to get dead.

One of the first things spooks must learn about following people is to not be followed themselves. It’s common for bad guys to have their own people tailing them to pick up any newcomers, so spooks can’t only focus on who’s in front of them. They have to be acutely aware of who is behind them, too. If they duck into doorways and peek around the edges, they are making it obvious to anyone behind them that they are watching someone.

That means that if a spook wants to watch someone from a doorway, she has to take her eyes off the target, go all the way inside a building, and only turn around once she’s out of sight of the street. Then she can come back out and stop in the doorway under some other pretense than watching someone. It also gives her the chance to handle the bad guy’s trailing entourage.

Rosa Klebb — Room service gone bad.
Image from From Russia with Love

5. DON’T let your spook order room service.

How many times has Bond ordered room service? And how has that worked out for him? You’d think he would have learned after Rosa Klebb’s stunt in From Russia with Love that this is a seriously bad idea. Even the spooks in the otherwise realistic movie Act of Valor ordered take out and paid the price.

This isn’t only because of the opportunity for an enemy to poison them, it’s also because it’s generally bad juju for spooks to invite strangers into their space when they are on missions. In fact, Holmes won’t even have a pizza delivered to his house. The only food he actually enjoys is his own, his wife’s, or mine if it includes chocolate, and only then if he is eating at home or at the home of a trusted friend.

These are only a few of the most common blunders that Holmes and I see in movies and books. If you’d like to learn more about writing spooks, keep an eye out for Truth & Fiction posts at Bayard & Holmes.

Do you have any questions? I will answer some here in the Comments section and some on posts over at Bayard & Holmes.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Don’t miss The Spy Bride Blogger Challenge and Giveaway!

Click HERE for details.

Bayard & Holmes Newsletter Link–Click Here to Enter

RISKY BRIDES . . . 8 genres. 8 novels and novellas. 8 takes on what makes a RISKY BRIDE. Now on sale for a limited time at only $.99 and available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBookstore, and Kobo.

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Piper Bayard is a bestselling author and a recovering attorney. Her spy thriller writing partner, Jay Holmes, is an anonymous senior member of the intelligence community and a field veteran from the Cold War through the current Global War on Terror.

You can contact Bayard & Holmes in comments below, at their site, Bayard & Holmes, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Bayard & Holmes, or at their email, BH@BayardandHolmes.com.

The post Writing Spies: Five Dos and Don’ts appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

I’m once again letting Piper hijack my blog to talk about a subject near and dear to me—GUNS. Chances are, many of you are writing thrillers or suspense or knitting books that involve FIREARMS. Piper and I are NOT the people you take with you to an action film unless you believe—like we do—most of these movies should be classified under “Comedy.”

We count rounds. Ooooh, I want THAT GUN. The one that NEVER runs out of ammo EVER! We also cringed in the Sherlock—A Game of Shadows movie. Remember? In the Arms Factory Scene, Col. Moran whips out the c96 Mauser pistol and loads it from the bottom, perhaps because this looked “cooler.” Historical Note: Good luck loading that gun from the BOTTOM. It loaded from the top.

I also love how movies have these LOOOONG shoot-out scenes with thousands and thousands of rounds fired. Afterward? No one is yelling like my 90 year-old Aunt Peggy when her hearing aid lost battery.

WHERE DID THEY FLEE?

YOU HAVE TO PEE?

NO! WHERE DID THEY GO?

NO! I DON’T HAVE TO GO! BATHROOM LATER! FIND BAD GUYS NOW!

Okay, I’ll stop and let Piper take it from here. The point of this blog is that, IF you are going to use firearms in your books? Please let the reader see you did your research. They will love you for it. And, if you (the author) put a safety on your revolver (actually had this happen) we will HURL your book across the room.

Take it away Piper and Holmes!

By Piper Bayard & Jay Holmes

NaNoWriMo is almost here. Whether it’s your first draft or your tenth, the last thing you want to look like on the page is an amateur. Yesterday, we got rid of your backstory. (See Backstory: The More You Know, The Less I Need To.) Now we’re going to take a look at your terminology.

Whether your story is literary fiction, a romance, or a thriller, it might well have a firearm in it. Firearms should always be used properly, whether in person or on a page. So let’s make sure you have your vocabulary straight so that people like us and Kristen don’t throw your book against the wall.

Let’s start by clearing up the most common gun misnomer of all time— the “clip” vs. the “magazine.”

If your story has “clips” in it, you most likely need to be writing historical fiction. There are extremely few modern weapons being manufactured today that use clips unless they are replicas of old weapons. One rare example of a modern weapon using a clip is the Smith & Wesson 9mm revolver, which uses a moon clip. So if your character is using a weapon with an actual “clip,” you need to make it quite clear in your writing that it is either a historical weapon or one of the extremely rare exceptions.

This is one example of a “clip.”

K31 Stripper Clips for Swiss Karabiner
Standard issue for Swiss Armed Forces 1933-1958
Image by GaryArgh, wikimedia commons

K31 Stripper Clip in Swiss Karabiner
Image by GaryArgh, wikimedia commons

These are “magazines” (BELOW). Magazines are widely used in both handguns and rifles.

They hold cartridges and can be quickly and easily reloaded.

Magazines for SigSauer P239 and Smith & Wesson .380
Image by Piper Bayard

These magazines fit into the handles of the pistols. Contrary to popular belief among certain circles of politicians who I shall not name, they can be reused countless times. They don’t magically get used up just because all of the cartridges are fired.

SigSauer P239 and Smith & Wesson .380
with accompanying magazines.
Image by Piper Bayard.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s move on to the different types of firearms—automatics, semi-automatics, and revolvers.

Gunner’s Mate 1st Class Montrell Dorsey with
M240B automatic weapon
Image by US Navy, public domain

With an automatic weapon, the cartridges load into a removable magazine. The weapon is called automatic because when you pull the trigger, it automatically fires repeated bullets until you take your finger off of the trigger. When the shooter fires, the brass shells of the cartridges are ejected from the weapon. Modern automatic weapons are generally illegal for private ownership without special licenses, a ton of paperwork, and a background check so thorough that it would make your personal physician cringe. These licenses are also so expensive that you’d be better off opening a small business instead of pursuing this type of weapon license.

Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .380 semi-automatic
Image by Avicennasis, wikimedia commons.

A semi-automatic also has cartridges that load into a removable magazine, which, in a pistol such as this one, fits into the handle of the gun. However, one trigger pull equals one shot, and the brass shell from each cartridge is automatically ejected. The weapon does not automatically keep firing.

Semi-automatics are legal in all states, but only to varying degrees in different places. In a few Western states, they practically come as prizes in the bottom of cereal boxes, while in others, only bodyguards of celebrities and politicians who advocate gun control get to carry them. In fact, if the celebrities and politicians are vocal enough in their opposition to private firearms, their bodyguards are approved to operate drones, drive tanks, and launch thermonuclear devices and other weapons of mass destruction .

If you live in one of these latter states, such as California, check your laws before you put a pistol in your California character’s hand. California requires certain design modifications. Your readers will know this, and they likely could call you on it.

It’s extremely common for a semi-automatic to be inaccurately referred to throughout media, movies, and TV as an “automatic” weapon. No matter how hot the journalist, movie star, or soap opera star might be, don’t believe it just because they say it.

Piper in the remake of Dirty Harry

A revolver is so called because the cartridges reside in a revolving cylinder. Like the semi-automatic, one trigger pull equals one shot. However, the brass shells are not ejected automatically. A shooter must open the cylinder and eject all of the shells simultaneously. Again, the legalities of ownership vary from state to state.

Not to knock one of Piper’s favorites, The Walking Dead, but if you listen closely when Rick fires his Colt Python .357 revolver, you will sometimes hear the sound of ejected brass hitting the floor with each shot—something only semi-automatics and automatics do. Total audio fiction.

Speaking of weapons, Holmes and I are calling all bloggers for a contest in which the winner will be determined with a shot.

The Spy Bride Blogger Challenge

To celebrate our debut spy thriller release, THE SPY BRIDE in the RISKY BRIDES Bestsellers’ Collection, we are inviting all bloggers to write a post about absolutely anything espionage or wedding related. Link back to this post at out site to be entered in a contest for a $25 Amazon card and a copy of RISKY BRIDES.

Write about your favorite Bond movie, your favorite historical spook, or how you used to spy on your siblings. Tell us about your wildest bachelor party, you favorite wedding, or your worst bridesmaid’s dress. If you manage to write about both spooks and weddings in the same post, you’ll have your name entered twice.

Be sure to link back to the Spy Bride Challenge post at our site so we see your entry!

Click here to get to the post at our site.

The winner will be chosen on Thanksgiving Day. We will attach the names of all entries to a shooting target. Then we will blindfold Piper’s lovely daughter, DD, and she will shoot the target. The name that she shoots will be the winner of the coveted Amazon gift card.

DD ready to determine the winner.

And for our awesome readers . . .

We have some wonderful prizes for you, as well. Sign up for the Bayard & Holmes Newsletter and be automatically entered to win a Secret Decoder Ring, a stash of Ghirardelli chocolate, or a bottle of sparkling wine from Mumm Napa vineyard.

Bayard & Holmes Newsletter Link–Click Here to Enter

Feel free to enter both contests!

Best of luck to all of you. Can’t wait to see your entries!

RISKY BRIDES

RISKY BRIDES is on sale for a limited time at only $.99 and is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBookstore, and Kobo.

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• iBookstore
• Kobo

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Piper Bayard & Jay Holmes

Piper Bayard is an author, bellydancer, shooter, SCUBA diver, and a recovering attorney with a college degree or two. She writes spy thrillers with Jay Holmes, a forty-year veteran covert operative and a current senior member of the intelligence community. Piper is the public face of their partnership.

You can contact Bayard & Holmes in comments below, at their site, Bayard & Holmes, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Bayard & Holmes, or at their email, BH@BayardandHolmes.com.

The post NaNoWriMo: Know Your Weapons! appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Braaaaiiiiinssss….with some salsa, please. And a refill on my merlot?

Just made it in from a whirlwind week in NYC at Thrillerfest. I am so tired I want to DIE, yet my stupid biological clock still has me up at dawn despite how exhausted I am. Of all places, though, NYC seems to be the favorite place for moviemakers to destroy or infect. That and LA. Though I will mention the aliens never land in Texas.

Probably because the movie would be 15 minutes long :D.

One of my close friends, Piper Bayard, wrote a fabulous book, Firelands which deals with a post-apocalyptic world where religious fanatics now rule a world in ruin and use food to control the masses. In the spirit of her book, I wanted to discuss the apocalypse. That and I just spent a week in NYC walking through “mystery puddles”…which makes me wonder….

Why is the zombie apocalypse so fascinating to us?

Never Underestimate Zombies

One of the wonderful parts about being a writer is we are really well educated…too well educated. Any writer worth his or her salt reads…a lot. I recall (back in college) reading The Hot Zone, which is an absolutely terrifying book. Terrifying in its premise, sure. But also terrifying because it is based off real events.

For those who don’t know, Ebola actually made it to the United States in a shipment of infected monkeys back in the early 90s.

String-like Ebola virus particles are shedding from an infected cell in this electron micrograph. Credit: NIAID

Ebola happens to be one of the most frightening diseases I’ve ever read about. Ebola Zaire, the most virulent of all the strains, essentially liquifies a victim within less than 12 days. The mass destruction it does to the body is the stuff of nightmares.

The virus does a number of nasty deeds to the body, but namely it attacks all the connective tissue from the inside out causing catastrophic internal hemmorhaging. This means the organs (including the brain) essentially turn to pudding because there is nothing left to hold everything together.

As a response, the body throws out all its clotting agents trying to keep the infected person alive…until it runs out of clotting agent and then the person just begins to bleed…from EVERYWHERE. Blood teeming with active virus begins to pour from the nose and mouth and eyes until the victim is rendered a puddle of infected blood, bone and tissue.

Um, cleanup on Aisle Five?

This is how the virus spreads—via blood contamination. The victim is literally dead before they die, their face sliding off the bones because nothing is left to maintain/support the facial architecture.

*shivers*

What makes Ebola especially horrific is that it’s only a few peptides and mutations from being something airborne. If something like Ebola spread like the flu? We’re toast. This is what The Hot Zone addresses. A version of Ebola (similar to Zaire in burn rate) really made it to the US…and it spread through the air like a cold.

I won’t say any more because this is a really fabulous book, but part of why it was so scary is IT FREAKING HAPPENED.

Ebola happens all the time in Africa and how do they deal with it? I call it the Three B’s—bleach, bury and burn. When a village has an outbreak, the authorities will cut down trees to block any roads leading to the village…and wait for everyone to die. Ebola Zaire has roughly a 99% kill rate. Almost no one ever survives. Authorities wait for everyone to be dead then torch the place.

Happy Monday!

The Scary Part About Viruses

Viruses are a lot like politicians and Kardashians. They are parasitic and they will adapt as much as needed to survive. If they burn through a species, they’ll change to be able to burn through another. If contamination via blood isn’t working? A virus is fully capable of changing tactics, like marrying Kanye West and naming it’s kid something seriously stupid like North West.

Sorry, forgot we were discussing Ebola.

As populations get larger in countries like Africa, China and South America (ideal virus petri dishes because of climate and population density) we are invading areas of rain forest no human has ever set foot in. A virus might be inert or less virulent because local wildlife has developed immunity over time, and then? Virus spots the equivalent of a Twinkie on two legs (people). NEW JUNK FOOD!

Viruses have no long-term planning capabilities. They suck at having an IRA or even going to college. They just want to consume no matter the expense to the host, much like deadbeat in-laws.

Yes, this is me.

But Isn’t This Why the Zombie Fascination is So Strong?

I love vampires, wizards, werewolves and the like, but zombies hold a unique fascination. Why? Because I think deep in our collective subconscious, we realize this is something that could happen…which is why you need a plan (but that is totally another blog).

I was one of the fortunate first people to get Swine Flu. Hey, I’m an early adopter. What can I say? I contracted Swine Flu a year before we had a pseudo-pandemic. I had 105 fever for almost 12 days, and not only did I want to die? I wanted to die, be cremated, then have someone shoot my ashes it was so bad.

We live in a scary world. Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Ebola, and the Kardashians.

Come on! The Kardashians already have a reality show and have invaded QVC. If they manage to marry and breed faster? We could be looking at a world filled with mindless people wearing too much lip gloss and trashy shoes and being permitted to name their own children *shivers*. If a Kardashian meets up with Ebola? They could spread through sneezes and unwashed hands. Next thing we know, we are filled with botox, unable to move our foreheads or articulate an intelligent thought.

Sounds like zombies to me.

What are your thoughts? Most of us aren’t afraid of a vampire invasion, but zombies? A lot of us still get that niggling, “What if?” Why do you think we do that? Is it because we think it might happen? Is it because we’ve spent too much time watching The Bachelor or Toddlers and Tiaras?

I know you guys are geeks and have thought this through, so I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!

To prove it and show my love, for the month of July, everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly. I will pick a winner once a month and it will be a critique of the first 20 pages of your novel, or your query letter, or your synopsis (5 pages or less).