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At the same time, it has enjoyed great popular success. Readership waned only in the lull following the end of the Cold War (the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989 ). But the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States have reignited interest and reversed that trend. Some pundits are referring to the current era as the Decade of the Spy, and pointing to the renaissance in spy fiction and film as two of the indicators of this. BEFORE WORLD WAR II Early spy novels include Rudyard Kipling 's '' Kim '' ( 1901 ), which was based on The Great Game (espionage and politics) between Europe and Asia and centered on Afghanistan ; and Baroness Orczy 's '' The Scarlet Pimpernel '' ( 1905 ), recounting the undercover exploits of an English Aristocrat 's attempts to rescue French aristocrats during the French Revolution . Robert Erskine Childers 's novel '' The Riddle Of The Sands '' ( 1903 ) defined the spy novel for the pre- First World War era. The most widely read spy-fiction writer was William Le Queux , whose ordinary prose has since relegated his works to used-book stores but who was Britain's highest-selling author during the pre–World War I years. The second biggest seller was E. Phillip Openheim . Together they produced hundreds of books between 1900 and 1914 , but the stories were formulaic and have been judged to be of little Literary Merit . During the First World War , the pre-eminent author was John Buchan , a skilled propagandist; his books were well-written portrayals of the war as a conflict between Civilization and Barbarism . His best-known works are the Richard Hannay novels '' Greenmantle '' and '' The Thirty-Nine Steps '' (the title of which, but not the plot, was used for an Alfred Hitchcock Film .) Buchan's novels are still published. The inter-war period's pulp spy fiction mostly concerned battling Bolsheviks . WORLD WAR II The strength and versatility of the form became evident in the period between the two wars and flowered during World War II. For the first time, novels written by retired intelligence officers such as W. Somerset Maugham , who accurately portrayed spying in the First World War in '' Ashenden '', appeared. Compton Mackenzie , another former British intelligence agent, wrote the first successful spy satire. Eric Ambler wrote of ordinary people caught in espionage in his novels '' Epitaph For A Spy '' ( 1938 ), ''The Mask of Dimitrios'' (''A Coffin for Dimitrios'' in the United States) ( 1939 ), and ''Journey into Fear'' ( 1940 ). Ambler was notable (and shocking to some) for bringing a left-wing perspective to a genre previously featuring right-wing, Establishment attitudes. In 1939 , Glasgow-born author Helen MacInnes 's first espionage novel, '' Above Suspicion '', was published in Britain ( 1941 in the U.S.A.), beginning a 45-year career in which critics praised her for her literate, fast-paced, intricately plotted suspense novels set against contemporary history. ''Above Suspicion'' was made into a popular Movie . Some of her other famous titles include ''Assignment in Britanny'' ( 1942 ), ''Decision at Delphi'' ( 1961 ), and ''Ride a Pale Horse'' ( 1984 ). In 1940 , British writer Manning Coles brought out ''Drink to Yesterday'', the first of his acclaimed Thomas Elphinstone Hambledon novels. It was a grim story set in World War I, while his next books, which occurred in Nazi Germany or in World War II England , had a lighter tone despite the graveness of the events depicted. After the war, Hambledon's books grew formulaic, and critical interest waned. THE COLD WAR The Cold War that followed hard upon World War II was a great impetus to the genre. Graham Greene drew on his experience with British Intelligence to create a number of Left-wing , Anti-imperialist spy novels, including '' The Quiet American '' ( 1952 ), set in Southeast Asia , '' A Burnt-out Case '' ( 1961 ), about the Belgian Congo , '' The Comedians '' ( 1966 ), set in Haiti , '' The Honorary Consul '' ( 1973 ), in the Argentine town of Corrientes, near the Paraguay border, and '' The Human Factor '' ( 1978 ), about spies in London . His most popular novel was '' Our Man In Havana '' ( 1959 ), a seriocomedy about British intelligence bumbling in pre- Castro Cuba . An early Cold War phenomenon was Ian Fleming 's James Bond -- 007 . Bond is arguably the most famous fictional spy. Although the author had served in British Naval Intelligence during the war, his world of intelligence was unrealistic. Despite Fleming's enormous commercial success, other authors quickly developed heroes with anti-Bond traits. Notable examples are John Le Carré and Len Deighton , who modeled their novels on those 1930s authors who were dubious about the morality of espionage. Frederick Forsyth ('' The Day Of The Jackal '') and Ken Follett ('' Eye Of The Needle '') took a more journalistic approach and were praised for their dramatic use of historical events. Adam Hall , one of the pseudonyms of Trevor Dudley-Smith, created a popular series about British spy Quiller , beginning with ''The Berlin Memorandum'' (published in the United States as ''The Quiller Memorandum'') which took a different tack; it was both literary and highly focused on tradecraft. During this era, American authors for the first time rose to sufficient prominance to break British control of the genre. In 1960 , Donald Hamilton , who had served in the OSS in World War II, published the debut novel in his long-running series starring the laconic Counterspy / Assassin Matt Helm . They inspired a series of popular Movies , too, with Dean Martin in the title role. Robert Ludlum 's first book, '' The Scarlatti Inheritance '' ( 1971 ), sold modestly in hardcover but was a Bestseller in Paperback , launching Ludlum. Generally considered the inventor of the modern spy thriller, Ludlum has been criticized, praised, and widely imitated ever since. Tom Clancy 's first novel, '' The Hunt For Red October '' ( 1984 ), was a publishing sensation much like today's DaVinci Code , and also made into a highly successful movie. Clancy is acknowledged as the creator of the spy-techno thriller. The 1960s saw an explosion of Spy Film s, many based on works of Literature . These covered a wide range from the extremely fantastical James Bond films to the grainy realism of '' The Spy Who Came In From The Cold '' (based on the Le Carre book) and the cool commercialism of ''The Quiller Memorandum'' (based on the Adam Hall book). Spies also were depicted on Television , including James Bond in 1954 in an episode of Climax! based on Fleming's '' Casino Royale ''. Several series -- including '' The Man From U.N.C.L.E '', '' Danger Man '', and '' I Spy '' -- aired in the 1960s. Spies were parodied in '' Get Smart ''. Then in the late 1970s and into the 1980s , '' The Sandbaggers '' brought a gritty bureaucratic view of espionage operations to the small screen. AFTER THE COLD WAR As the Cold War closed, literary novelist Norman Mailer 's abiding preoccupation with U.S. espionage inspired him to write ''Harlot's Ghost'', a sprawling 1,300-page work published in 1991 , the year that the Soviet Union dissolved. With the fall of the Iron Curtain , the once- Communist East reeled, desperately in need of financial aid from the West as it struggled to adopt democracy. The Soviet Union was gone, and Russia was not easily believable as the arch Enemy in contemporary spy tales. Adding to the problem, the very existence of the CIA was in question -- the U.S. Congress seriously discussed disbanding it. Interest in espionage fiction plummeted. Deciding the game was over, The New York Times abandoned its long-running column that reviewed spy thrillers. The final blow came in 1998 when both Le Carre and Forsyth declared the field dead and went off to write other books. Still, publishers continued to bring out the new work of those authors who had been highly popular during the Cold War, hoping that most of their readership would remain loyal. That proved to be true. Besides the Cold War writers mentioned earlier, those who published successfully during this low point included Nelson DeMille , W.E.B. Griffin , and David Morrell . At the same time, Editors were naturally leery of gambling on brand-new authors. Only a handful of novelists ultimately were deemed to have written work strong or original enough to be published in Hardcover . Among those were Joseph Finder , ''Moscow Club'' ( 1995 ), Gayle Lynds , ''Masquerade'', ( 1996 ), and Daniel Silva , ''The Unlikely Spy'' (1996). They were rarities, whose best-selling espionage stories about the new Post-Cold War world helped to keep the form alive. THE DECADE OF THE SPY Finally, the political tide turned again. The tragic events of 9/11 and the aftermath of continued Terrorist Attacks reawakened readers' hunger for information about the world at large. Fiction has always been a favored lens through which readers not only entertained but educated themselves. Quickly a demand for spy thrillers arose, a demand that has only grown, reflecting the widespread attention paid by the public to real-life intelligence matters not only in their own country but internationally. Le Carre and Forsyth returned to the field with new books. Editors actively sought out espionage novels and continue to do so. Today a host of new writers across Europe and the United States publish in the field. In the United States, the ''New York Times'' bestseller list is often dominated by thrillers. Finally, in 2004 , the first international organization for professional thriller authors was formed -- International Thriller Writers . In 2007 , the first spy theme park -- Spyland -- is scheduled to open near Lyon s, France. There have been so many spy movies recently that they seem to be taking over theaters while producing steady streams of profit and popular interest -- '' Match Point '', '' Syriana '', '' The Constant Gardener '' (based on a recent Le Carre novel), '' Mr. And Mrs. Smith '', and '' Munich '', to name a few. There have been many new TV espionage series. Some, like '' Alias '' and '' 24 '', have become almost iconic. Spy fiction has also taken off in a brand-new direction with the arrival of digital gaming. Players can become a spy and infiltrate enemy territory without being detected. The '' Metal Gear '' and '' Splinter Cell '' series pioneered the concept of infiltration and secrecy in computer gaming (as opposed to the standard First-person Shooter genre). The games feature complex conspiracy/espionage storylines and cinematic presentation that rival most espionage-based motion pictures. For the video game for the PlayStation 2, see Spy Fiction (video Game) . At fan gatherings, writers' conferences, publishers' meetings, and in the Intelligence Community itself -- analysts, spymasters, and covert operators read the genre for entertainment and to pick up ideas -- memories of the field's near death after the Cold War are painfully fresh. But since Terrorism and world unrest are not expected to end soon, the need for intelligence gathering, Counterespionage , and Counter-terrorism are not expected to end soon either. The future of the spy thriller is bright. REFERENCES
PROMINENT WRITERS OF SPY FICTION
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