The IBIC Guide to Books By Linda Davies

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A Letter from Linda Davies

Dear web person,

It's much easier to write than to say why you write. Fiction is the ultimate freedom. You can say anything you like (subject of course to the libel laws, which you should be able to get around with a little imagination). If you feel inhibited about something, you can simply avoid the issue, or make an outlandish character who can get away with almost anything, your mouthpiece. I write because I love it, I feel compelled, and writing helps to keep me sane. I find killing off my enemies on the page very therapeutic. Goodness knows which part of my subconscious drives me. I suppose part of it is wish fulfilment. I love creating heroines who are equally adept toting a pen in the boardroom and a pistol in the jungle. I Love creating men I would like to meet, whether they be heroes or anti-heroes. I love exposing the bad guys and seeking retribution. And I love to escape into my books. But what I write about is real. I explore worlds that exist, but which are usually hidden.

The Intelligence world is secret, because secrecy is supposed to be in the national interest. Better cover up those many situations where the end justifies the means. Perhaps it does, but what cost to the individual? The financial world is secret because it suits the interests of the practitioners. Better not let the outside world know just how much money you make, or how easy it can be, or how you stray so often into the grey areas that you become tainted. I worked in the financial world for seven years, in New York, London, and Eastern Europe. I know the reality behind the secrecy, and what it does to the individual. It's a great game, and its power is awesome.

I have just moved to Peru, and my new book, which I am six months into, is set here and in London. Much of the time I write about what happens to me, or what I see. So, much of the book is so far, a mystery to me, but I'll keep you posted.

--Linda Davies, May 1996
Author of NEST OF VIPERS and WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS (Doubleday)


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Editor's Recommendations, Summer 1996

In this inaugural edition of IBIC's Featured Books, I'd like to draw your attention to several titles which have helped to shape my life and thinking.

  • When I was around fifteen, I came across Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's science fiction novel, INFERNO. This '70s remake of Dante's classic describes science fiction writer Allen Carpentier's descent into Hell. It's still a very fresh, accessible take on the classic. What a great movie it would make!
  • The Niven/Pournelle INFERNO immediately inspired me to read the original Divine Comedy. I've read a number of translations over the years, but my favorite is the one by Dorothy Sayers (INFERNO; PURGATORY; PARADISE). The notes are excellent, and Sayers had such a knowledgeable and witty mind that reading her prose is a pleasure in itself. (For those interested in a more contemporary translation, I should mention that Robert Pinsky received excellent notices for his 1995 THE INFERNO OF DANTE : A NEW VERSE TRANSLATION; it's a very handsome book.)
  • I also want to tell you about the late Henry Fairlie's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS TODAY, which probably did more than any other single book to galvanize me into a lifetime interest in Christianity that led me, eventually, to faith. Ironic, because Fairlie was a self-proclaimed agnostic socialist! But reading between the lines of this insightful and deeply feeling book, one realizes that the love of God cannot have been far from Fairlie's heart.
  • Finally, I should draw to your attention a more recent acquisition, the very handsome NIV STUDY BIBLE (10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) from Zondervan, indexed and bonded in leather in IBIC's theme color, burgundy (black and brown are also available). The notes to this Bible are amazing. They appear to provide you with a very substantial portion of what you need to know to have an intelligent layman's appreciation of the linguistic and historical issues involved in understanding Scripture.

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