Inspired by Actual Events: CIA FALL GUY
Driving around Los Angeles I have spotted a billboard for a movie “inspired by actual events.” I like this expression because it can be applied to my romantic suspense spy story CIA FALL GUY.
My husband and I were stationed with the U.S. Army in Munich, Germany, from September 1970 to May 1972. Mitch was an intelligence officer for the 18th Military Intelligence Battalion, and I eventually got got a security clearance and worked as a civilian for the 66th Military Intelligence Group.
(Click here to read about Mitch’s and my experience in an attempted spy recruitment.)
After I wrote the blog post about the attempted spy recruitment, an online friend emailed me to ask whether I had considered a nonfiction book. And indeed I have.
The Cold War in 1970 was very real, and Mitch and I had a number of interesting experiences because of this.
One such experience is that we all knew it was the Russian spy who stood in the cold outside the Officers Club in Munich on New Year’s Day. He stood alone watching all the officers and their spouses attend the mandatory New Year’s Day reception.
Mitch and I had to abide by numerous travel restrictions to prevent the Russians from capturing us. Mind you, we really knew nothing, but we were still considered in danger. Thus, for example, we had to fly to West Berlin instead of taking the duty train from Frankfurt. (The train could have been stopped during its transit of East Germany and we removed from the train.)
Once in Berlin we could not visit East Berlin as other U.S. military personnel could. We could only stand at Checkpoint Charlie and peer into East Berlin. (At least in Munich we did not have to burn our personal mail the way another officer and his wife we knew who were stationed in Berlin had to do.)
What most importantly formed the “inspired by actual events” for CIA FALL GUY is the bombing of the Frankfurt Officers Club on the day we passed through Frankfurt en route back to the U.S.
Click here for an earlier blog post that describes how, through Facebook, I “met” the woman whose husband was the first on the scene after that bombing in May of 1972.
P.S. On Wednesday there will be good news from an official announcement concerning the cover design of CIA FALL GUY, which was submitted to a book cover design contest.
© 2013 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks, including TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK and the romantic suspense spy story CIA FALL GUY.
Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller
She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com
When I took that train, a guy sitting several rows in front of me was pulled off the train by the East Germans for getting into an argument with the offiers who came aboard to play their “you need to buy another visa scam.” Scary stuff. Sometimes actual events are a good place to start a story.
Malcolm
Malcolm — Thanks so much for sharing this story — so interesting. What year was this?