A woman with a mission

Tana Standish, a child-survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, was adopted by a British naval lieutenant and in 1965 joined the British Secret Intelligence Service. She is a psychic with a photographic memory. Each adventure begins with the passing of a collection of papers and manuscripts to the author (Nik Morton) by one of her secret service associates. He then writes down her experiences.

The Tana Standish psychic spy series

The first is The Prague Papers (Czechoslovakia, 1975), followed by The Tehran Text (Iran, 1978), [both of which were previously published (2008 & 2009 respectively), though the latter received minimal exposure as the collapse of the publisher occurred almost at the same time as its release. Both available as Crooked Cat e-books.

At least two more adventures are planned: The Khyber Chronicle – (Afghanistan, 1979/80), a work-in-progress, and The Caldera Cryptogram (Argentina, Falklands, 1982).  

Snippets from 12 reviews of The Prague Papers follow, with sections excised to avoid too much repetition.

Reviews of The Prague Papers

By means of a first person Foreword and Afterword, author Nik Morton employs a nifty ruse to create the impression that his fast-paced spy novel is his rewritten version of a factual story passed to him in the bar of a hotel in Portsmouth, Hampshire, by British ex-agent Alan Swann. The ploy certainly gets matters off to a good start and sets the scene for this novel and a major spy mission into the Soviet controlled Czechoslovakia of 1975.

Enter Tana Standish, a wiry, attractive, all-action female version of James Bond. Once a five-year-old orphaned Polish Jewess adopted by a Royal Navy Lieutenant and his wife, she is not only very fit and lightning fast with her feet and hands—not to mention guns and the other tools of her trade—but she has psychic powers which enable her to see into the minds of her enemies (and friends), virtually regardless of where they are. This has to be the most useful tool a spy could have in her armoury and Tana puts hers to very good use.

… she is invited by her former lover and comrade, Laco Valchik, to return to Czechoslovakia to ‘repair and rebuild’ a spy cell they created in 1968. She’s also about to face some old enemies... Unbeknown to Tana, somewhere in Kazakhstan there are other ‘Psychics’ at work. Indeed, there is a secret psychic listening station there and one of the psychic operatives is inconveniently picking up some of the thoughts and emotions passing through Tana’s mind hundreds of miles away...

Reading this excellent novel is a bit like an extreme sport. The pages fly by at a pace… becoming engrossed in this relentless flow of exciting action and carefully researched information which lasts right up to the climactic denouement—in itself, both satisfying and rewarding—because Morton’s writing is very smooth and totally believable. All-in-all, The Prague Papers gave me that feeling of ‘being there myself’, rubbing shoulders with his characters, and for quite a while after finishing it, I found myself thinking about them and all they had been through. – William Daysh, author of Over by Christmas

… As well as creating memorable characters (Tana Standish will stay with me for a long time), Morton captures the essence of Prague and the Czech soul, educates us into the world of Eastern Bloc politics, and tells an intricate tale of espionage. As if this weren’t enough, he explores the fields of psychics and telepathy, adding intriguing depth to his story.

Far more than a ‘spy thriller’, this book will astound both lovers of that genre and those looking for a truly satisfying read. – Maureen Moss, editor and travel writer

I found myself in a world of double-dealing and intrigue at a level which made James Bond and Modesty Blaise look like rank amateurs... This Cold War espionage tale was fast moving and had more than one sting in it… This tale is a lively, well written espionage adventure with plenty of twists. – The New Coastal Press

… that’s the plot in a nutshell, but the skilful Mr. Morton does some entrancing work within that results in a gripping read that will enthral the reader to the last page. Interestingly, Morton sells it as a true story passed to him by an agent and published as fiction, a literary ploy often used by master thriller writer Jack Higgins. Let’s just say that it works better than Higgins…. – Costa Blanca News, Danny Collins, author of The Bloodiest Battles

Welcome back to the Cold War…. Snatches of John le Carré, Len Deighton and Adam Hall are in effect sewn into the secret weave that runs like a latent thread through the pages of Nik Morton's spy adventure set in Eastern Europe… Morton's heroine, Tana is made of stern stuff and possesses a savant like ability to move out of her consciousness and into an ethereal plane... – Michael Parker, author of The Devil’s Trinity

… an exciting and well-constructed espionage thriller. I do not usually like these sort of books (I prefer horror stories) but I thought that this was an intelligent and nicely-paced story. Morton pays great attention to detail and he has created a memorable heroine with Tana Standish… The year is 1975 and Tana is sent on a special mission to Czechoslovakia … and this sets off an intriguing chain of events and some nail-biting set-pieces as Tana encounters Russian soldiers, ruthless assassins and sadistic torturers… There is plenty of (literally) thought-provoking material thrown in along the way making this an extremely entertaining read. Even if you do not normally like spy thrillers, The Prague Papers is well worth checking out. - Amazon UK, 2010

…Tana Standish… is a brilliant character, being a spy with amazing ability and deadly expertise to easily rival any top spy from previous literary works… the book is spell-binding with great depth and wonderful characters which is on par with any top spy novel, (or any thriller novel for that matter). Nik Morton (has) the ability to make you believe that you are in the story yourself, which is a rare thing. I can honestly say only a handful of novelists have that kind of skill…. – Amazon UK, 2011

… Tana Standish, a female ‘Bond’ is a wonderful, stylish character who carries the story through a roller coaster of chases, shootouts, and devious undercover operations. Highly trained and fearless, she also possesses a psychic ability that gives her an advantage but also places her in the crosshairs of enemies who track her from a secret base in Kazakhstan. The locations are detailed, as are the workings of the intelligence agencies, evidence surely of an in-depth knowledge and extensive research. The pace is full speed ahead and often the subject matter is brutal but I couldn’t look away and I certainly didn’t want to stop reading. If you enjoy Bond or Bourne then you will enjoy this, it just begs to be a movie.
            Well plotted and executed this is a story that held me enthralled and intrigued from the first page to the last...and then I read the epilogue, and I realised just how eye-opening this novel is... – Amazon UK, January 2015

… You are immediately immersed into the action. Ingenious switches of time and place present the back-story without disturbing the flow, and an exciting thriller with psychic undertones takes off. I could not put it down. – Amazon UK, March 2015

Thoroughly enjoyed this. The very opening chapter is a promise of intrigue and suspense. I wasn't disappointed. Good fast pace. Characters that are so vividly and craft-fully developed that I very much felt a part of their lives. I am now in the second of the series for another rollercoaster ride. – Amazon UK, August 2015

… Tana Standish has one more thing going for her: psychic talents. There’s nothing outlandish in the psi-spy’s capabilities – they’re neatly underplayed, a talent which isn’t understood or entirely controllable but which frequently tips the odds in her favour.
            This mild shift into the land of ‘maybe’ is carefully contrasted with the grim, grey reality of life in Czechoslovakia in the Seventies, brought to heel seven years earlier by Soviet tanks, its citizens stifled by the relentless brutal mechanisms of an efficient totalitarian regime. An underground resistance cell has been compromised. Tana is assigned to put the network back together and use her special talents to ascertain if communications have been compromised, or worse.
            The result is a running chase through the back streets and sewers of Prague, where the protagonists barely taste their black bread and spicy sausage between violent and amorous encounters. This isn’t a slow-burn spy story a la Alan Furst where the tension builds over quiet encounters and long railway rides. Instead it’s more of a headlong hurtle through rapid liaisons and botched ops; there’s every opportunity for Tana to show off not just her psi skills but also her street savvy and close-quarters combat.
            For me, the best scenes are the one-on-one confrontations, claustrophobic closed room battles of expert second-guessing. There’s a superb fight sequence which takes place in a pitch-dark living room, where weaponless Tana must defend herself against an armed opponent using her memory, wits, senses and what falls to hand. It’s beautifully choreographed and delivered.
            The finale (is) preceded by a simply chilling chapter, the best in the book, where Tana must marshal all of her mental strength to resist the worst that her opponents employ against her. I also thoroughly enjoyed the scenes in the Soviet psychic investigations unit. Likewise, the author’s attention to detail in his descriptions of Prague, and Tana’s cracking back-story, were superb… In the main, The Prague Papers made for a rollicking read, an intriguing mix of action-adventure, actual events and augmented espionage. There are further Tana Standish novels in the pipeline, which takes place at other pivotal points in political history. I very much enjoyed the overlap in this one between ‘real’ and ‘fiction’... – Amazon UK, October 2015

This was a brilliant read from the exciting beginning right through to the end, the pace constant and the story of the young Tana Standish engrossing…. The story has many dark moments but the writing is sharp and crisp making the more gory bits not too awful for the reader who isn’t into serious pain and bloodshed. The locations are very well described – something I’ve noted with other novels that I’ve read by Nik Morton. His research seems faultless to me as an occasional reader of politically based spy thrillers. Tana is a woman with a mission; in part her drive having been moulded by her background which we glean just sufficiently to make it all believable... – Amazon UK, November 2015

My sincere thanks to all of the above reviewers!

Amazon UK here

Amazon Com here 

The Blurb:

Czechoslovakia, 1975. Tana is a spy - and she’s psychic. Orphaned in the Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War, she was adopted by a naval officer and his wife. Now she works for the British Secret Intelligence Service. Czechoslovakia’s people are still kicking against the Soviet invasion. Tana is called in to restore morale and repair the underground network. But there’s a traitor at work.

And she learns about a secret Soviet complex in the Sumava Mountains. Unknown to her there’s a top secret establishment in Kazakhstan, where Yakunin, one of their gifted psychics, has detected her presence in Czechoslovakia.

When Tana infiltrates the Sumava complex, she’s captured! A desperate mission is mounted to either get her out or to silence her - before she breaks under interrogation.

Launch!

Today, 15 December we see the launch into space of the Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship, destined to rendezvous with the International Space Station that has been in operation fifteen years.

Onboard are veteran cosmonaut (six spaceflights) Yuri Malenchenko, NASA’s astronaut Tim Kopra and British Major Tim Peake. [What are the odds on two Tims being crammed into the space module!]

The blast off was perfect from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. [Of interest to me, at least, Kazakhstan is where the psychic facility is situated, as featured in my 1970s spy e-books The Prague Papers and The Tehran Text, published by Crooked Cat!]

Soyuz rocket blast-off - Wikipedia commons

Coincidentally, and of much less moment, today sees the launch of the third ‘Avenging Cat’ adventure, Cataclysm.

The e-book can be ordered through this single link (that covers all countries’ sites):

http://authl.it/B01953NVY4

The first two novels in the series are:

#1 – Catalyst

#2 – Catacomb

Interesting, that the first Briton in space was Helen Sharman, who trained as a chemist. That was way back in 1991, and she spent about eight days in the Mir space-station. Why interesting? Well, Cat Vibrissae, the heroine of the ‘Avenging Cat’ series also trained as a chemist – but then went into modelling, as it paid better, thereby funding her vendetta against Cerberus and its owner, Loup Malefice. She also happens to be pretty good at free climbing and taekwondo.

 

Strong female protagonists-01

Do you like reading novels with strong female protagonists? Then try the Tana Standish psychic spy e-book series.

There couldn’t be a better time than now, as the first in the series, The Prague Papers is available at a special reduced price (for a limited period only!)

THE PRAGUE PAPERS

#1 in the Tana Standish psychic spy series

Reading this excellent novel is a bit like an extreme sport. The pages fly by at a pace… in this relentless flow of exciting action and carefully researched information which lasts right up to the climactic denouement—in itself, both satisfying and rewarding—because Nik Morton’s writing is very smooth and totally believable. The Prague Papers gave me that feeling of “being there myself”, rubbing shoulders with his characters, and for quite a while after finishing it, I found myself thinking about them and all they had been through.

– William Daysh, author of Over by Christmas

As well as creating memorable characters (Tana Standish will stay with me for a long time), Morton captures the essence of Prague and the Czech soul, educates us into the world of Eastern Bloc politics, and tells an intricate tale of espionage. As if this weren’t enough, he explores the fields of psychics and telepathy, adding intriguing depth to his story.

– Maureen Moss, editor and travel writer

Interestingly, Morton sells it as a true story passed to him by an agent and published as fiction, a literary ploy often used by master thriller writer Jack Higgins. Let’s just say that it works better than Higgins.

–Danny Collins, author of The Bloodiest Battles
 
THE TEHRAN TEXT
#2 in the Tana Standish psychic spy series

… Male readers may find themselves enchanted by the lovely Tana… not only can Tana kick arse very well indeed, she's also psychic. Do you really want a relationship with an older woman who can not only read your thoughts but can also throw you around the room for having them? In addition to the nasty males running the Middle East terrorist groups, the book has scary women in droves… But masterful Morton handles them all very nicely and serves up a ripping read with a plot clever enough to stand up with the best of them.

– Danny Collins, author of The Bloodiest Battles

Nik Morton has the ability to use a factual background whilst infiltrating dynamic, larger-than-life characters that deal with seemingly real situations with a devil-may-care attitude that makes the reader wonder what is fact and what is fiction. In the spy thriller genre, Morton is certainly emerging as a very convincing spine-chilling storyteller.
– Malcolm Smith, Costa Blanca News
 
There are not too many books that stay with you long after you finish reading them, not too many characters who are so alive it seems like you recently met them. And so it is with Tana Standish, the psychic spy in this page-turning thriller. We travel to Iran, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and England and meet a variety of brilliantly portrayed characters – some of them torturers, others who control a team of remote viewers, others traditional British MI6 agents. The locations are so finely drawn we can almost reach and touch them, the atmosphere so vivid that we can shut our eyes and sense ourselves there.
– Maureen Moss, travel journalist

For those who like their plots laid out skilfully and with painstaking research, Nik Morton's latest Tana Standish thriller is where you should be… Morton's novel evokes memories of the dangerous period during which the Shah of Persia was removed from power and replaced by the Ayatollah Khomeini. This is evil personified, and in amongst it, battling for her friends and her country, Tana Standish stands out as a heroine worthy of the pages of this compulsive spy novel.

– Michael Parker, author of The Boy from Berlin et al

THE PRAGUE PAPERS

Amazon UK here

Amazon COM here

 

THE TEHRAN TEXT

Amazon UK here

Amazon COM here

Secret file – 02 - Professor Dmitri Bublyk

He was born on 17 October 1919. His father was taken away when he was fourteen, in 1933. He was inducted into the army and during the Second World War, a shell-casing exploded close to him and on recovering he discovered his psychic ability. He was in the Leningrad siege in January 1944. 

At the time of the Prague Papers mission (1975), he was resident in the Kirlian Institute, Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, and ran a special group of psychics.

Tall, powerfully built and big-boned, he was the antithesis of the common image of a scientist. He was a manipulative man, without compassion.

He possessed a sallow complexion, a sickly yellow; he blamed it on not getting the right food, even with all his privileges. He had hooded eyes, coloured pale, yellowish brown and flaring nostrils and a long nose. His hair was the shade and consistency of straw and always untidy.

 

***

In the Kirlian Institute of Alma-Ata, the capital of Kazakhstan, Professor Bublyk paced the control room. Through the glass wall he could observe an adjoining room occupied by six men and four women, all of them sitting at desks. He smiled on them, his best students: The Group. They were all wearing headsets connected to an array of large cumbersome computers and clinical monitors. The men wore drab uniform gray coveralls while the women were dressed in clay-brown skirts and shirts.

            Deep crease-lines in his forehead betrayed his worry about next year’s appropriations.

            It was annoying but every time they sent an inspection team, he had to recount the history of mind control. As if the idiots understood even a fraction of what he told them!

‘The history of mind control began with our experiments carried out by Pavlov in the Thirties to modify behavior,’ he would say. ‘While the salivating dog experiments were the most well-known, they were merely the precursor.’

Indeed. The precursor to more sinister work. Lenin made Pavlov a ‘guest’ at the Kremlin for about three months until the scientist had completed a special report, relating his research to human beings rather than dogs. Pavlov’s manuscript never left the Kremlin and it laid the groundwork for NKVD brainwashing techniques such as sleep deprivation, systematic beatings and verbal indoctrination. Brain damage, Pavlovian conditioning, hypnosis, sensory stimulation, ‘black psychiatry’ and ‘mind cleansing’ were all employed to subvert the will of perceived enemies of the state.

And as Bublyk was at pains to point out, ‘the ultimate brainwashing tool is the actual invasion of another person’s mind with yours.’ That was the motherland’s version of the Holy Grail.

            In the Fifties, when Bublyk first entered para-psychological research, funds were scarce, as most of the work was done without the Stalinists being aware of it. Thankfully for him, the Stalinist taboo was lifted in the early Sixties, and he finally saw funding at last become plentiful because both the KGB and the GRU leaders hoped to harness psychic energy as another weapon in their arsenal.

            Bublyk explained with justified pride, ‘It was Russian sleep research that detected the theta state of consciousness, which is found in dreaming sleep.’ This seemed to be somehow linked to psychic awareness. If this theta state could be augmented, they would have psychic spies – or even mind-assassins. To many of his listeners it seemed far-fetched, but the potential from success, no matter how remote, meant that rubles were diverted to this new branch of research.

            The Sixties were a golden time for him and those years promised much, with experiments in submarines and in space, but deliverables were scarce. It was an inexact science, prey to mood, to environment and doubtless planetary influences for all Bublyk knew.

            Now, halfway through this new decade, all the pressures were building up and cracks were appearing in the structure of the State. Yuri Andropov, the head of the KGB, was asking awkward questions. He wanted results to combat the Americans. Even members of the Politburo were becoming dissatisfied, though not within the hearing of Brezhnev and his informers.

            The party tricks with cards were long gone. Psychical research had come a long way, Bublyk mused, eyeing in particular Karel Yakunin, their star psychic. Yakunin’s good looks and dark wavy hair transcended the drabness of his regulation clothing.

Bublyk smiled, recalling only last night when his mind roamed the dormitories and found Yakunin bedding little Raisa, the flaxen-haired Estonian psychic now sitting at the back of the room. Their coupling was against Bublyk’s regulations, as he believed sexual activity drained the psychic forces – a credo shared by oriental mystics. Yet he had not reported or disciplined them as he had to admit to quite enjoying being a voyeur.

            Now, The Group was capable of distance viewing, of projecting thoughts into minds in other lands or of detecting other people’s thoughts in enemy countries. It was arduous work. Some of them suffered rapid weight-loss and heart-strain due to the exertion. Last year, two adepts died. It was no accident that the theta state was so named after the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, suggesting a sign of doom – thanatos, the ‘death’ sign on the ballots used in voting on a sentence of life or death in ancient Greece.

            And, Bublyk reflected, they still had a lot to learn. The prospects were good, but the funding committee wanted solid repeatable results, quantifiable answers. Damned bean counters! If only the measuring apparatus was up to the task!

            At that moment, a buzzer jerked Bublyk out of his reverie. The light was on over Yakunin’s name – he’d detected someone!

            Bublyk quickly scanned today’s roster and noted Yakunin was covering Czechoslovakia.

***

On November 26, The Prague Papers are released. This book is published by Crooked Cat. It is based on a manuscript handed to me by an MI6 agent, Alan Swann. It needed some knocking into shape, as it had been a collaborative effort by a select group of agents, all intent on telling the story of Tana Standish, psychic spy, whose career spanned 1965 to 1988. They asked that her story be told as fiction.

As a result, the forthcoming novel The Prague Papers is the first adventure to feature Tana Standish and is mainly set in Czechoslovakia in 1975.

Certain information was divulged in order for me to write the book; yet some has been concealed to date. This is the second secret file to be released ahead of the book. Others will follow.

November release - The Prague Papers

Due out in November from Crooked Cat Publishing, the first psychic spy Tana Standish thriller, set in the Cold War, which Mr Putin seems intend on bringing back...

Czechoslovakia, 1975. Tana is a spy - and she’s psychic. Orphaned in the Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War, she was adopted by a British naval officer and his wife. Now she works for the British Secret Intelligence Service. Czechoslovakia’s people are still kicking against the Soviet invasion. Tana was called in to restore morale and repair the underground network. But there’s a traitor at work.

And she learns about a secret Soviet complex, concealed in a colliery in the Sumava Mountains. Unknown to her there’s a top secret psychic establishment in Kazakhstan, where Yakunin, one of their gifted psychics, has detected her presence in Czechoslovakia. As he gets to know her, his loyalties are strained.

With her old flame Laco, Tana infiltrates the Sumava complex. When she’s captured, a desperate mission is mounted to either get her out or to silence her - before she breaks under interrogation.