One of the things I’m mulling is fiction: spy, thriller style novels. Really, just to see if I can. 60k words, stick it up on Amazon, see what happens.
Yes, this follows on from something I was talking about before, the Killmaster stuff, something I decided not to directly copy.
But this story would be a lovely lead in to a plot:
The tale of a legendary Nazi ghost train carrying gold which allegedly disappeared without trace in the dying days of the Second World War has taken a new twist.
Two men have filed a “finder’s claim” with a district council in Poland for an “armoured train” carrying precious metals, fuelling speculation the mysterious train has been located.
The claim was filed in the south-west Polish town of Walbrzych and could put an end to 70 years of rumour, myth and fruitless treasure hunts for the ghost train.
So, lots of lovely killing and plotting as various people try to get ahold of the treasure, our hero wins. And it turns out that what’s really there is the 500 million gold reichsmarks which were extorted out of Greece. Which everyone announces are to be returned to Greece. Mass celebrations….then Athens burns to the ground as they find out that it’s actually 500 million paper gold reichsmarks which have been delivered…..
No?
I’ve always had an itch to open an independent local radio station called Nazi Gold. Just for the lolz
I’d buy it – as long as it had a suitably lurid cover of course.
But if its Nazis we’re talking about, then I’d want to see a period piece myself. There’s just so much juicy stuff from the era for this type of thing. Sneaking in and out of a Schloss, shagging the tasty Mme from La Maquis, cameo appearance from *INSERT HISTORICAL FIGURE’, etc.
All that plus it has the Ark of the Covenant which Putin is trying to get his hands on.
Don’t encourage them. It’ll be a remake of Von Ryan’s Express, starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser.
I think that was an Alastair Maclean book, wasn’t it?
Tim, I think you’ll find Ludlum beat you to it (The Gemini Contenders – or some such)
Oh, sure, finding Nazi treasure has been done before. It’s the twist on it though….
Bernie G. Aww, to late. Chuck Norris and some foreign bint we have never heard of, used to be the order of the day for these movies. The James Bond franchise seem to be the only producers still clinging to this strategy. (Bar, Chuck Norris, RIP)
Neal Stephensons ‘Cryptonomican’ was a very nifty take on this type of thing. Part of it was modern day characters running around trying to find the Yamashita gold, then it would flash back to their grandpappies in the War and all the shenanigans they were up to.
Jolly good book that. Considerably more than 60k words though.
Is it safe?
It’s all down to the cover on the airport bookshelves.
Don’t think the economics texts are going to quite move you into having the author’s name five times as large as the title, though…
…suitable Dr Evil voice…500 MILLION MARKS!
Should cover Greek Govt spending for about two days?
Tim,
Yes, nice idea, but haven’t you just told us who the murderer is…
(Bar, Chuck Norris, RIP)
I didn’t know Chuck Norris died.
I do hope there’s room in the book for a Nazi economist/tax ‘expert’ who comes to a grisly end.
“I didn’t know Chuck Norris died.”
Only his film career.
I think it’s fairly safe to assume the Soviets would have found any Nazi gold in Poland over the last 70 years.
I’ve often thought the remoter regions of Russia would be a great setting to throw up some really weird stuff. There are huge swathes of the country which even the authorities barely know anything about. This is a good story.
Bear Island has negotiable securities as part of its Nazi treasure.
I would have bought it. It has almost all the right things in it but you can easily add a token bimbo.
But I know the whole story now so it defeats the object.
So I’ll stick to my usual writers until you make a new one.
‘I’ve often thought the remoter regions of Russia would be a great setting to throw up some really weird stuff’.
Lionel Davidson’s got there with ‘Kolymsky Heights’.
Tim,
Sounds like a very dodgy batch of home-made vodka?
There’s a short story by Ian Fleming about a man who illegally finds two ingots of Nazi gold. Lots of interesting stuff about how he turns them into a comfortable lifestyle.
It’s called Octopussy, and I’d say it’s 20-30 pages long.
It’s a good question how one would convert shonky bullion into something that wouldn’t get you banged up. I wouldn’t have the first idea, so if I stumbled on a stash of gold bars I’d either have to hand then in or end up as a dreadful cautionary tale in the Daily Mail.
No? Just a let-down if that’s il gran finale, not a starting plot line because all the finders find is paper,
Unless they have reason to start a murderous wild goose chase,,,
Melt it. It’s what Kenneth Noye was doing with the Brinks Mat stuff. Don’t have to cast it into anything very much. Thousands of buyers of “lumps of gold” for refining properly, just have to obscure that Swastika etc.
From the Telegraph today:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/11815181/Nazi-gold-train-found-in-Polish-mountains-could-be-boobytrapped-with-mines-officials-warn.html