Title: Of Our Own Device

Author: M.K. South

Publisher: BookBaby

Release Date: March 2017

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 874 pages

Genre: Thriller/Suspense, Historical spy thriller

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Synopsis

What do you do when you realize that the American Dream you’ve been working for so hard is not enough if it will be yours and yours alone? And that what you’re told to do will destroy the only true friend you’ve ever had?

Summer of 1985. Jack Smith is a rookie CIA case officer posted at the American Embassy in Moscow. Despite his gregarious nature, Jack is a lonely man: not only is he a reluctant spy, he is also gay. When he meets Eton Volkonsky, a talented nuclear physics student, Jack’s bosses instruct him to develop the Russian as a future agent. Their friendship deepens, and Jack is torn between his suspicion that Eton and friends are with the KGB and his attraction to the man. But he continues telling himself and his bosses that he is just doing his job, developing his agent. Only when he leaves Russia does Jack admit that he has been fooling himself all the while. He takes on assignments in various countries, with a hope that eventually they will get him back to Moscow.

As introspection and growing doubts about what he does for living torment Jack, the world is buffeted by a whirlwind of dramatic events – diplomatic and spy wars, the rise of AIDS, the Chernobyl catastrophe, the war in Afghanistan and the disintegration of the communist bloc.

They meet again and Jack is given a second chance. Will he make the right decision this time round?

Hello! It’s me, MK South, again. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to stop by and share another excerpt from my novel Of Our Own Device. As you’ve probably heard, the book is written across several genres, straddling historical fiction, espionage and thriller genres, as well as gay fiction. (Mind you, this is NOT a romance, as romance aficionados will tell you -- albeit love is all that matters in it, too!)

Hope you’ll enjoy meeting the 3 main characters of the book, Jack, Eton and Lara, and will decide that you want to read the rest of the story 😊.

Enjoy!

The Russians.

Contrary to his expectations, the student concert wasn’t half bad. The program had obviously been prepared with a foreign audience in mind because a third of it was comprised of mostly old American and British hits. Lara sang two Russian songs Jack had heard before and two of Liza Minnelli’s numbers— Cabaret and New York New York. She was good, even though her voice was nowhere near Liza’s.

However, what arrested Jack’s attention halfway through the concert and never let go was a student band called Krylia, Wings. When its five members came out on the stage, Jack’s eyes zeroed in on the guitarist in the center who later turned out to be the band’s lead singer.

It was the tall guy from the men’s room in the Bolshoi.

Except today, he looked like a rocker: uncombed blond curls hiding half of his face, leather bands on the wrists, black t-shirt and stonewashed jeans, frayed at the edges, snug on the hips and thighs. Jack couldn’t tear his gaze away from him for the entire performance.

The band’s repertoire consisted of vaguely familiar Russian and French songs and covers of English ones he knew well. When he wasn’t singing, only playing his guitar, the front man kept his lips pressed tightly together, his mouth a straight line. But when he sang… Hell, the guy had some voice, there was no two ways about it. What struck Jack most was his perfect English, with virtually no trace of an accent.

Jack’s first thought was it was too much of a coincidence to run into someone twice in four days in a city as large as Moscow—someone he didn’t know, someone like this. But the boy looked even younger than at the theater and there was this air about him… Defiance maybe?

Nah, not KGB.

Lara joined him in the audience during the intermission. She waved and exchanged a few words with young people sitting on the row behind them, said thanks and smiled politely to the compliments of their neighbors, before settling down next to Jack.

“So, did you like it?”

“Oh yes, Lara. You were great! And I love the Liza Minnelli’s numbers. Excellent choice!”

She waved a dismissive hand. “I wish my English was better. I should be able to learn to speak it well. I’m an actress after all. Have you noticed how good Eton’s English is?”

“Ethan?” Most Russians struggled to pronounce the diphthong “th”.

“Ee-tohn. Krylia’s lead singer. He’s so good, da? He could be a professional singer, you know. Instead, he’s a physicist. You see, our physicists are multi- talented. They are geniuses! Eton definitely is,” she said dreamily, like a smitten fan girl.

“Eton? What an interesting name… Is he Russian?” Jack asked casually.

“Of course he’s Russian. Alright, half Russian. His father was American. That’s why he has this name: a cross between your Ethan and our Anton. His full name is Eton May Volkonsky. But everybody calls him Eton Volkonsky.”

Jack’s radar pinged at the familiar surname.

Volkonsky? A physicist? He can’t be Professor Volkonsky’s son, can he? A little too young—what, twenty maybe? Twenty-one max. Unless Mikhail Alexandrovich Volkonsky married late. But hasn’t Lara just said that his father’s American. Was American? He would ask William to get him the Volkonsky file A-S-A-P.

“Volkonsky? Isn’t that an old, aristocratic family name, as in Prince Volkonsky? One of the Decembrists?”

“Jack, you really know our history well, don’t you?” Lara was smitten. “Yes, he is indeed from the house of the Princes Volkonsky. Not that it matters much nowadays… But his grandfather is a prominent scientist. An academician. Eton has taken after him. And his mother is a well-known translator of English language literature.”

“What about his father? You said he was an American.”

“Oh yes, but he died when Eton was little. Eton doesn’t talk about his father, so I don’t know much about him. Except that he was a scientist. Maybe a physicist, too.”

“So, is Eton one of your suitors, too?” Jack asked tersely, overplaying it a little to get her going on the topic.

“Jack! I didn’t know you were a jealous type.” She giggled. “He’s a good friend of mine, not a suitor. And he has tons of admirers himself. Did you see the reaction of the audience? He’s popular, our Eton.”

The lights dimmed at that point and the band took the stage again, Eton in the center, barely looking at the audience.

Lara leaned in and whispered, “Do you want me to introduce you to him?”

Yes!!

“Why not? You’re going to introduce me to all your friends anyway, aren’t you?”

“Kharasho, Jack. I will. After the concert.” She turned back to the stage, obviously pleased.

Jack didn’t remember much of the rest of the concert. Except for the songs performed by Krylia. Well, by that boy, Eton, if he was to be completely honest: most of the songs were poignant, haunting and every time the guy sang, his delivery was so raw that it would leave Jack’s insides tied in knots. He stole a glance at Lara, then at his neighbors on the other side. Their eyes were transfixed on the stage, faces emotional.

The concert was drawing to a close when Lara asked, out of the blue, “Do you like the Eagles?”

“Excuse me?”

“The Eagles, the American band. Do you like them?”

What is this, for God’s sake? How could she know what he usually listened to at home?

“Yes, I like Eagles. Why?” he asked cautiously.

Lara smiled at him mysteriously. When the song ended, she stood up and breezed towards the side of the tall stage. Eton stepped out to kneel at the edge of the stage, leaning his long-limbed body forward. As she talked to him animatedly, he threw a quick glance in Jack’s direction and nodded, his expression inscrutable.

He probably didn’t recognize Jack. But then why should he? Jack was just someone he had run into in the gents at a theater a few days ago and briefly exchanged glances with. Today, Jack was someone in the audience, could easily have been one of the admirers, couldn’t he?

Of that body? Yeah. And the voice… And overall, he doesn’t look that bad: blond with dark eyes. In fact, he looks—

Lara sat down next to him, looking triumphant.

“What is it?” The effort it took him to keep his tone light surprised Jack.

“You’ll see. You will hear shortly.”

On the stage, after a short exchange with the other band members, Eton stepped up to the microphone. “Our last song for tonight is at the request of lovely Lara Novikova, our future movie star.” The young man’s voice was unexpectedly deeper than when he sang, and throaty. “For her American guest, Jack. An Eagles’ song… Hotel California.”

Jack shivered.

The audience erupted in a wave of happy cheers and applause. It was obviously a song they had heard before from this band and loved. Eton threw another quick glance in their general direction, poker-faced, and turned back to his band.

Arrogant bastard!

Oh, c’mon, the kid is just playing cool. Give him a break! Fine.

But why had they chosen this song? There was absolutely no way they could know about his California, right? Nobody knew. Only his Ma, with whom he had shared his secret dream once, when he was ten. Only once. Because it only brought more sadness into her tired eyes. More than Jack could bear. So he never mentioned it again, not to her and not to anyone else. Nobody cared about Jack Smith’s foolish dreams anyway, and his father even tried to beat them out of him. But Jack had stubbornly nurtured his dream, like a delicate potted flower hidden in a dark, cluttered attic, away from people’s eyes. His own ranch. In California…

The three guitarists had started the intro when Lara turned to him again. “This is one of their best songs. Eton’s best. You will like it,” she said in a loud whisper, beaming.

“Thank you, Lara. It’s very sweet of you,” Jack said, dutifully tearing his eyes from the singer on the stage to smile at her.

He had already figured that the band was good, but this—this was almost as good as the Eagles themselves. When Eton started his solo, Jack’s breath caught in his throat. The Russian singer’s rendition was so intense that it left Jack motionless for its entire duration, gaping at the stage, letting out a shuddering breath only after the last guitar chords had died.

Christ, how in hell does he do that?

CHECK OUT THE BOOK TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baRHxF7SjBE&t=2s

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Meet the Author

M.K. South has worked in international finance and development for over 25 years, living in or traveling to many countries including the ones featured in this debut novel. Currently, M.K. works in Ukraine and continues globetrotting, for work and to experience the world.

"I was born a vagabond," says M.K., "in a snow-clad little place thousands miles way from the sun-drenched city on the Black Sea my mother called home. I then lived, studied and worked in other countries, poor, aspiring and rich. I've experienced poverty and war, as well as peace and prosperity, and I've learned that you don't fully appreciate the latter, unless you've known the former. Today, I'm still living in a foreign country, working in several others in the region, and traveling yet to others because... I just can't get wanderlust out of my DNA."