Catch this vibe ....

Jason Whiton, author of the excellent SpyVibe blog, has kindly included the Deighton Dossier website in his series 'For Your Shelf Only'.

In this blog series, Jason is in conversation with writers and collectors around the Internet who are contributing to the growing shared knowledge and enjoyment of all things 'espionage' in culture. In our interview, we chatted online about how my collection of Deighton books started, how the site developed, and what Len's works give me as a reader.

I'm pleased we could contribute to this excellent website, which is one of the members of the C.O.B.R.A.S. online grouping of bloggers and definitely a site to bookmark. Watch out for other interviews covering all aspects of spy fiction and culture.

Where's the blu-tack again?.....

.... is the frequent call in houses around the world when someone has a new poster. And, invariably, it's right at the back of the kitchen draw along with balls of string, dead batteries, scissors, pegs (singular), and other detritus.

Why might you need blu-tack? Well, to put up this handsome poster of Jane Fonda as sixties space starlet Barbarella, before the whole Viet-Cong thing and the inevitable slide into actually very lucrative fitness video and a marriage to the equally lucrative Ted Turner.

This is the gift on offer in a competition by Jason Whiton of the ever-excellent Spy Vibe website, which is part of the COBRAS collective. This sounds like an anarchist theatre group but is in fact the online grouping of a great bunch of websites devoted to all themes spy, and related cultural themes and memes.

What's the task? Send an email. Simple as that. The (very, very short) instructions are on the website, so do check it out. If the prospect of winning a cool sixties poster isn't enough, you can read about all manner of things: the Man from U.N.C.L.E., the Persuaders, Mrs Peel in Underwear, Mission Impossible.

So, get on over to ..... WHAAAT? Mrs Peel in Underwear? [click]

Another Cobra in the nest*

Armstrong Sabian over at Mister 8 has advised that we have another new member of the CO.B.R.A.S. stable (Coalition of Bloggers wRiting About Spies). The Illustrated OO7 is Peter Lorenz' blog looking at all thing Fleming and Bond-related from a design and book history perspective - he's clearly an avid collector. I'd encourage readers of this blog to take a trip over to Peter's and check out some of the great images that are up there.

* ...that's assuming Cobras live in nests!