AUTHORS, BEWARE OF PODCAST INVITATIONS
Yes, my Facebook author page was hacked.
So here's what happened. I was invited to take part in a FB live event by a well known interviewer. They did not offer to pay me, nor did they ask me for any money. The invite was well-written, and described the session as a free-wheeling conversation about what it’s like to be a writer. This is the sort of interview I often do, and because it involved no exchange of money, it did not ring any alarm bells for me. I Googled the interviewer and he was legit, with a large following. After a few weeks of trying to agree on dates, I finally said yes. The contact said that because it was going to be on FB live, they’d need to do a technical support check a few days ahead of time. The tech check was done via Zoom. The technician didn’t activate his camera, but he sounded friendly and had a British accent. He said that after all was arranged, I would receive a link to connect. He requested that I give him temporary admin access to my FB author page to make things easier.
A day later I realized my page hijacked. Inane videos began appearing on my Author page, some of them in really bad taste. The reason, I’m told, is that the scammers make money whenever those videos are watched. Readers tried to contact me, asking what was going on — and received replies from the scammers thanking them for writing!
The name of the podcast interviewer was real, but he was being impersonated by scammers. The whole operation ( > 10 emails, the Zoom session) was simply to get control of my FB author page. (Luckily I still had my FB profile page under my control and the scammers got no financial access.)
Since this fiasco, I’ve received other invitations to be on podcasts. I believe many of these interview requests are from scammers..
So if any of you authors get invited to be a guest on a podcast or FB live event, be careful. The invitation may come from someone impersonating real podcasters. (The email that hooked me was from an address with the actual interviewer's name, but using a gmail account.)
Was I naive? Absolutely. I'm pissed at myself. But after so many years in the business, and after so many legit interviews, and since I've given administrative access to publicists without any issue in the past, I got careless.
It was a struggle to get back control of my FB page because it’s almost impossible to contact any live person on FB. In the meantime, I received multiple posts on Facebook and Twitter offering to help me fix my page. Almost all of these were from NEW scammers, moving in like sharks attracted to a distressed victim. But thank god I have genuine friends who reached out to help. It took a few weeks, and after trying multiple avenues without success, publicist Erin Mitchell finally managed to help me recover my page. She has gone through this before, for other clients, so she knew how to navigate “the maze” at Meta. In truth, it’s almost impossible for the average FB user to do this on their own. I tried, my son tried, and multiple others tried. Only Erin was successful.
I need to thank so many people for their help and their moral support, and I’ve named them on my Facebook page. I’m also trying to warn other authors about the scam, which has trapped others. Yes, it’s definitely an ongoing thing, and if you want to know more, read this:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/beware-fake-podcast-invite-scam-193000453.html
Be safe out there, folks. It’s a dangerous world.
Q&A
Tess Gerritsen
Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D.
While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction. In 1987, her first novel was published. Call After Midnight, a romantic thriller, was followed by eight more romantic suspense novels. She also wrote a screenplay, “Adrift”, which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson.
Interview by Elise Cooper
Q: Can you share the inspiration behind your novel “The Spy Coast”?
Tess: I moved here thirty-three years ago and found out that the town has many retired spies. My husband, who is a medical doctor, had patients who used to work for the government but could not talk about what they did. We found out they were retired CIA including two who lived on my street.
Q: While crafting this story, did the film “Red” influence any aspects of your characters or plot?
Tess: I thought a lot of the Helen Mirren character. I did not want to deal with assassinations. What I wanted to write about is the tragedy of the last operation that has haunted the main character, a spy, Maggie Bird. Maggie is made up. Yet, all the spies in the Martini Club are like those retired spies who live in Maine. They are smart and very educated.
Q: What motivated your choice of Maine as the setting for your novel?
Tess: It is a beautiful setting. This location has many safe houses. We have an International Conference in this little town of 5,000 people. They bring in every year leaders, politicians, and foreign policy experts from around the world. They come and speak here every winter. The town has residents with a lot of international experience.
Q: Could you delve into the contrasting personalities of the two spies, Diana Ward and Maggie Bird, in your story?
Tess: Diana is a bit of a sociopath. She does what needs to be done and does not care about the consequences or morality. She is the equivalent of the assassins in so many spy novels. She is very efficient. Diana is not someone who could be trusted, not loyal, and self-centered. Everything is all about her. She might be a good spy but is a bad person. On the other hand, Maggie is a spy with a conscience. She is in it to help her country. She was forced to cross a line she did not want to cross. It moved into her personal life, which had everything fall apart for her. Maggie is loyal, calm, friendly, accomplished with a strong sense of morality.
Q: In your book, there are two teenage girls, Callie and Bella. How do their characters evolve throughout the story?
Tess: Callie is the ultimate innocent. She is a farm girl who is hungry for a mother. She likes to lean on Maggie. Callie is a very vulnerable character. Bella starts off as a vulnerable character but ends up as a nightmare in training. She is being groomed for a bad role because her father is a powerful Russian oligarch, Phillip Hardwicke. Her father sees her as a tool. Her mother is much more of a traditional mom who cares about her daughter. Yet, her mother is disappointed Bella is not more like her. Bella is disrespected by both parents.
Q: Why did you decide to make Danny, Maggie’s husband, a doctor in your novel?
Tess: I started off making him a professional chef. But I needed someone who had close contact with the bad guy. It did not feel right so I made him a doctor who would know Phillip’s most intimate secrets. He traveled with him. I gave Hardwicke a lifelong history of seizures.
Q: How would you describe Phillip Hardwicke, a key character in your book?
Tess: He wants power, money, and prestige. He likes to get his way and does not care who gets hurt. He is a control freak, obsessive, intense, cruel, and very smart.
Q: What dynamics do the spies from The Martini Club have with the police chief Jo Thibodeau in the story?
Tess: They simultaneously are cooperative but also antagonistic. At the beginning Jo does not know who these people are, but later realize they are retired spooks. As time goes on in this book and the next, she realizes they are a big help to her.
Q: Have there been any discussions about adapting your book into a film or television series?
Tess: It has been optioned by Amazon for a television series. This is one of the reasons I went with this publisher. They attached a TV deal. There is already a screenwriter, and they are talking about who will play Maggie Bird.
Q: Can you tell us about your upcoming projects or the next book you are working on?
Tess: I am working on the sequel now. The second book will take place entirely in the town of Purity Maine. It will be titled The Summer Guests and is scheduled for the spring of 2025. It will still have the five retirees and the police chief. The plot has a family visiting in the summer whose teenage girl disappears, plus there is a cold case mystery. The sequel will be more of a classic mystery. If I do a third book that is when I will probably go back to the international setting again
Review by Elise Cooper
The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen sees her venturing out from traditional mystery to a spy thriller. In this novel, she expertly mixes spy drama with romance while adding a touch of humor. Not only is this a riveting tale, but the main character is also very engaging as she tackles the ghosts of her past.
Former spy Maggie Bird arrived in the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put a tragic mission gone wrong behind her. Now living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement, Maggie’s last assignment left her deeply disillusioned. Unexpectedly, a young woman calling herself Bianca arrives at her home, seeking Diana Ward, another old CIA colleague of Maggie’s. Diana, known for making enemies, is blamed by Maggie for the debacle in Malta that tore her life apart.
The plot thickens when Bianca’s body is dumped in Maggie’s driveway and someone takes shots at her from across a field. Maggie connects these events to the tragic case that led to her retirement from the CIA. She enlists the help of her baby boomer drinking buddies, four ex-agents collectively known as the Martini Club, each possessing a full assortment of tradecraft skills. They realize someone is seeking revenge on Maggie and work together to identify and locate these individuals. This forces them to revisit Maggie’s role in Operation Cyrano, the mission that changed her life and preceded her resignation. The story weaves through different timelines, 18 and 16 years ago, and the present, spanning locations across the globe.
The Martini Club also encounters Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau, who is investigating the murder and shooting. Puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information and her ability to consistently outmaneuver the police, Jo realizes there’s more to this group than meets the eye.
Readers will be hooked, searching for answers alongside Maggie and her retired CIA colleagues. Refreshing and entertaining, this departure from typical spy thrillers features senior citizens as protagonists. The story is amusing, suspenseful, and at times, intense.
THE SPY COAST
Book Group Discussion Questions
Maggie’s flashbacks to her prior career reveal the challenges of working as an undercover agent. Would you make a good spy? Why or why not?
Spies often appear in popular fiction (e.g. James Bond and Jason Bourne) . How does Maggie Bird differ from the spies in other books you’ve read?
The five members of The Martini Club each have their own special talents. What is YOUR secret superpower?
Maggie observes that “gray hair is the best disguise,” because older people are often unseen. If you too are older, do you have any personal experiences where you felt unseen? Or underestimated?
Did you believe the romance between Danny and Maggie was real? And when Danny’s fate was revealed, how did you react?
Maggie has chosen to run away from the past and create a new life for herself. If you could create a new life, unencumbered, where would you go and what would you do instead?
The Martini Club has a monthly book group, which instead serves as an excuse to dine, drink, and gossip. How does that compare with your own book group?
Do you foresee Jo Thibodeau eventually becoming a trusted ally to Maggie’s group? Or do you think there’ll always be tension between them?
Do YOU have any friends/family who worked in the intelligence field? Do they talk about it? (Or do you just suspect they had such jobs?)
UK Cover Reveal! (Release date in UK: Jan 18, 2024)
THE SPY COAST: read all about it!
from: PUBLISHERS WEEKLY:
“No matter how old we are, there are always adventures ahead for us.” —Tess Gerritsen
Rizzoli & Isles creator Tess Gerritsen has been gripping readers with her medical mysteries, police procedurals, and romantic thrillers since 1987, when she published Call After Midnight, written while she was a physician on maternity leave. Almost four decades, some 40 million sales, and a raft of awards, bestsellers, and TV and film adaptations later, readers can rest assured that the author PW has called “the queen of medical suspense” isn’t thinking about retirement—at least in real life.
But 60-year-old Maggie Bird, the hero of Gerritsen’s new thriller The Spy Coast (Thomas & Mercer, Oct.), is giving the quiet post-work life a go, raising chickens in small-town Maine. Since this is a Gerritsen book, and since Maggie was once a covert operative for the CIA, readers know they won’t have long to wait before the idyll ends and Maggie’s caught up in the kind of tense, twisting mystery that has long been Gerritsen’s hallmark. When murder comes right to her driveway, Maggie must face blowback from her agency past—and an assassin in the present eager to destroy the life Maggie has built. Fortunately, she has unexpected assistance in the form of the Martini Club, a vibrant cohort of ex-spies and operatives who have retired on Maine’s coast and are eager for a little action.
A series kickoff, The Spy Coast was inspired by “a quirky secret” Gerritsen discovered about her own rural Maine village, she says. “A surprising number of CIA retirees live here. Just on the short street where I lived, two different neighbors were former intelligence officers.”
That sparked an irresistible idea. “When I’d see them at the grocery store or the post office, going about their seemingly ordinary lives, I couldn’t help wondering about their past careers and the tales they could tell,” Gerritsen says.
Besides the opportunity to write about Maine, for Gerritsen one of the most enticing aspects of the Martini Club is the chance to build thrillers around a mature cast. “I hope readers look at retirees with new curiosity and appreciate that some heroes have silver hair,” she says. “And I hope it inspires us all to believe that, no matter how old we are, there are always adventures ahead for us.”
Introducing Maggie Bird, heroine of my new series!
Coming this fall in the US, and in January in the UK
From THE BOOKSELLER
“Transworld has snapped up two new novels about a retired spy called Maggie Bird, from the bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.
Sarah Adams, fiction publisher, bought UK and Commonwealth rights in two books from Meg Ruley and Rebecca Scherer at Jane Rotrosen Agency. The first novel, titled The Spy Coast, will publish in January 2024.
The synopsis reads: “Maggie Bird has lived many lives and many lies, right across the globe. Finally, she gets to hunker down in the bucolic town of Purity, with nothing but her chickens and her ‘Martini Club’ friends to keep her company. But her past is about to come back to haunt her when someone delivers a dead body to her door.
“Maggie and her ‘book club’ swiftly revert to espionage mode, burning a trail from London to Bangkok to Milan to stay one step ahead of those who want former agent Bird dead. Maggie knows that some parts of the past refuse to stay buried. And that sometimes an old spy must give up her ghosts.”
Adams said: “I couldn’t be more excited to be publishing The Spy Coast. It’s fun, it’s exhilarating, and it left me desperate for more. Tess has created a captivating new character in Maggie Bird, who spent her career navigating a world where no one can be trusted, and who now craves a quiet retirement. But whilst Maggie may be determined to hide away under her alias, readers are going to want to talk about her, and she is going to have to get used to that! Get ready to read this with a martini in hand, and one eye on the door.”
Gerritsen added: “When I moved to Maine 30 years ago, I discovered a startling secret: my quiet village harbours a number of retired spies. The silver-haired friends and neighbours I chat with in the grocery store or the post office have complex past lives, lives they can’t talk about. What might these unassuming retirees be hiding? What if their old skills are still there, ready to be put to use? That’s what inspired The Spy Coast, and its circle of old spies known as ’The Martini Club’. I’m delighted to be telling their stories, and so happy to once again join the wonderful team at Transworld to bring this new series to readers.”
Review: 5 out of 5 stars for “Island Zero”
As a novelist, I’ve dealt with great reviews and awful reviews for my books, but I’ve never been as delighted by a review as this one. Two nights ago, our first feature horror film “Island Zero” (written by me, directed by my son Josh) screened at the Boston International Film Festival. It was open to the public, so we had no idea who might show up. It turns out a reviewer for a Los Angeles-based movie review website was in the audience, and this morning we woke up to this:
As the film starts, a marine biologist named Sam (Adam Wade McLaughlin) suspects that something suspicious is happening on the island. He made a case study four years prior following evidence that marine life was disappearing at an alarming rate in coastal regions of the northern portion of the United States. His girlfriend, Lucy (Terri Reeves) is ready to leave Maine to return to her home in Boston, while Sam’s daughter Ellie (Elaine Landry, making her screen debut) is more focused on her Christmas presents.
Rounding out the ensemble, we also have a novelist named Titus (Matthew Wilkas), who has been staying on the island for a while gathering inspiration and local waitress Jessie (Joanna Clarke). We also have an elderly couple (Anabel Graetz and Richard Sewell) who continually quarrel on how hot it is in their home and a local restaurant worker named Val (Stephanie Atkinson), who is trying to understand why the local ferry has not returned as scheduled.
Soon enough, people are attacked and then mysteriously start to vanish from the island. The evidence found is either a great deal of blood, or body parts found on the beach. Sam enlists the help in a local doctor Maggie (Laila Robins) for help in examining the found body parts and homes that shows definite signs of a struggle. People are killed near the water and even in their homes while their bodies are never found. Without getting into spoiler terrain, worth mentioning is the gripping tension clear and present on behalf of Gerristen, marking an impressive first show. Equally, tender moments of reflections as the characters begin to piece together just what is happening mark a tremendous sense of grounding to Island Zero. Tense, emotional, and at times quite funny, Island Zero is a good mix of everything.
Verdict: 5 out of 5
Island Zero, without a doubt makes use of horror and suspense without pushing too hard in order to force anything too quickly or cheaply. What we are given is something unique, nearly reminiscent in pace and mood to a strong Stephen King novel. With plenty of intense situations, a blood inducing action, Island Zero stands out and rises above mere genre convention. As a plus, the strong cast, grounded writing and a piercing score contribute mightily in boosting the thrills and chills.
Come see “Island Zero” at Boston International Film Festival!
If you’d like to get an early look at our horror film “Island Zero,” it will be screened at the Boston International Film Festival at 9:30 PM April 15 at the historic Paramount Theater in downtown Boston. Based on my original screenplay, it’s the story of an isolated island off the coast of Maine where the local fishing community is suddenly cut off from the outside world when the ferry stops coming. The phones are dead, the power’s out, and every fishing boat they send to the mainland fails to return.
When mutilated bodies start turning up on the island, the survivors must find out who — or what — is killing them.
Filmed entirely on mid-coast Maine during a cold, dark March, “Island Zero” is an homage to the old monster films I loved as a child, combined with stark Scandinavian overtones of drama and isolation.
Our production team will be there to give a talk afterwards. Come hear how we managed to make a feature film on a low budget — complete with a burning house!
“Life” the movie - yes, it sounds like my novel “Gravity.”
Feels like deja vu all over again. My readers have been emailing me that the plot of the new movie “Life” sounds awfully similar to my novel “Gravity.” While I haven’t seen the film yet, here’s the IMDB description of “Life”:
A team of scientists aboard the International Space Station discover a rapidly evolving life form (single-celled organisms), that caused extinction on Mars, and now threatens the crew and all life on Earth.
– Written by Sony Pictures
And here’s a description of my 1999 novel GRAVITY:
A mission aboard the International Space Station turns into a nightmare beyond imagining when a culture of single-celled organisms begins to evolve and infects the space station crew with agonizing and deadly results. The contagion now threatens Earth’s population, and the astronauts are stranded in orbit, quarantined aboard the station — where they are dying one by one…
The major difference seems to be the source of the single-celled organisms. In both stories, the cells are extraterrestrial. In “Life,” they’re harvested from Mars where they have been dormant because of a lack of oxygen. In “Gravity,” they’re harvested from an asteroid that landed at the bottom of the ocean, where they have been dormant because of the pressure of deep water. But in both cases, the organisms are brought aboard ISS, where they become multicellular and begin to evolve into something dangerous that kills the astronauts in gruesome ways and threatens all of earth’s population. (In my book, the alien cells infect a mouse, integrate mammalian DNA into their genome, and rapidly evolve.)
In my novel GRAVITY, the ISS crew of six is made up of two women and four men. They include a Russian, a Japanese man, an Englishwoman, and a Black astronaut.
In “Life,” the ISS crew of six is made up of two women and four men. They include a Russian, a Japanese man, an Englishwoman, and a Black astronaut.
It’s mathematically improbable that the near-identical national make-up of these two crews is merely coincidental. Really, Hollywood? You didn’t bother to change one of my characters into someone different, say an astronaut who’s Indian or Chinese or Hispanic or French? With so many nationalities of astronauts to choose from, you just happened to go with the exact ethnic and national mix of my fictional crew?
Does this feel like a giant rip-off of my novel? Yes.
Am I going to do something about it? No.
The film rights to my novel “Gravity” are still held by New Line Cinema/Warner Bros., so they are the only ones who can sue for copyright infringement. After my breach-of-contract lawsuit about “Gravity” the movie, I know that no lone writer can win a lawsuit against a Hollywood studio. Fifty writers over twenty years have tried to sue– and failed in the Ninth Circuit. (Although there’s one plucky screenwriter who’s trying to find justice, and I hope you all give him your support as his lawsuit progresses.) There’s nothing I can do about this, even though it certainly feels like my novel was the inspiration for two films, now. The movie “Life” has the same plot as the first 3/4 of my book, with an alien organism evolving into something deadly aboard ISS, resulting in the gruesome deaths of astronauts. The plot of the movie “Gravity” comes from the last 1/4 of my book, after all but one astronaut is dead and that lone surviving woman, now stranded on ISS, fights to survive. My book had a lot of plot — enough to be scavenged for two films.
A pity no one thought to give my novel at least a little credit.
It’s more than a little grating to hear the filmmakers tout their story as the first to be about real science aboard ISS, the first to look at true microbiological horrors that could threaten earth itself.
My novel was published in 1999. They’re eighteen years too late.
First look at the new horror film I wrote: “Island Zero”
Our film trailer is now up over at the terrific horror film site FunSizeHorror.com. They have an exclusive on our film trailer for “Island Zero” as well as some production comments by our director and producer. Have a look!
http://www.funsizehorror.com/community/island-zero-exclusive-trailer-filmmaker-commentary
And visit the Island Zero website:
https://www.islandzeromovie.com
“Incendio” sheet music for solo piano now available
A number of musicians have written me, asking if the sheet music for my composition “Incendio” is available. I’ve just written a solo piano arrangement, and a digital version is now available on Amazon.com. “Incendio” is the theme music to my novel PLAYING WITH FIRE, about a Jewish violinist in WWII Venice who composes a haunting waltz that changes the life of a violinist seventy years later.
A printed version will soon be available as well.
Our performance of “Incendio” in Hannover, Germany
We played the piece in a gorgeous church — beautiful acoustics! With violinist Joerg Widmoser, who played his own cadenza for the event.
On making our indie horror film “Island Zero”
Recently I was interviewed by radio host Bill Knapik about writing books — and making indie horror films. For more info on our upcoming film “Island Zero,” visit the IMDB page. “Island Zero” is now in post-production.
“PLAYING WITH FIRE” Book Club questions
Things to think about as you read PLAYING WITH FIRE:
–The pediatric neurologist believes that Lily may be suffering from “Complex Partial Seizures.” What are the symptoms? What does the patient experience?(for more information, visit: http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/types-seizures/complex-partial-seizures)
— What seems to be the trigger for Lily’s apparently violent acts?
–Listen to the music “Incendio.” Can you hear the “Devil’s chords”?
For more information on this dissonant interval, also known as a tritone, visit: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2011/07/the-devils-interval/
To hear the music, performed by concert violinist Yi-Jia Susanne Hou, you can find it here:
US readers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016DVN3JO?ie=UTF8&keywords=incendio%20hou&qid=1445346407&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=8-1
UK readers: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Incendio-Theme-Music-Playing-Fire/dp/B016ECNCMA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1469798174&sr=8-2&keywords=incendio+playing+with+fire
— Imagine yourself living as a Catholic in Nazi-occupied Italy. If a Jewish friend or neighbor turned to you for help, would you shelter them, knowing that you might be executed for your actions?
— Why did so many Jews remain in Italy until it was too late to flee? What kept them from leaving, despite the ever more onerous laws against them?
— In the Todescos’ place, knowing no more than they knew, would your family have uprooted itself and fled the country? Or would you have tried to “ride out” the war?
— Why did such a large percentage of Jews survive in Italy, unlike other parts of Nazi-occupied Europe? What made Italy different?
****QUESTIONS WITH POTENTIAL SPOILERS. ONLY FOR THOSE WHO’VE FINISHED THE BOOK:
— When did you realize that Julia’s narration might be unreliable?
— Early in the story, did you spot the neurological clues pointing to the final revelation about Julia?
— Do you think this story has supernatural elements or is everything explained by science?
My interview on BBC Radio
Just got home from the UK. Thought readers might like to hear my short interview on BBC Radio:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07kld79#play
“Incendio” as I first dreamed it
I was going through my iPhone today, discarding old photo and voice memo files, and I came across a voice memo that I recorded almost two years ago. It is, as far as I know, the very first recording of the “Incendio” melody, which I made while sitting at the piano. I had dreamed of the melody, and when I woke up, the first thing I did that morning was sit down at my piano to play what I could remember. I recorded it on my phone so I wouldn’t lose it. It’s only the initial motif of the piece, which becomes far more complex in the following measures, but this is the fragment that started it all. Weird to think how powerful dreams can be. I’d been working on PLAYING WITH FIRE, and the descriptions of the music in the story must have inspired my brain to compose “Incendio” while I was sleeping.