10Q's with Author, Kenyon Kane - Plain Talk Book Marketing

What did you do before you became an author?

I worked for two US Cabinet Secretaries. I worked in black op financial transactions in the Soviet Union, Grenada and Northern Ireland.

Tell us about your main characters, what makes them tick?

A Useful Idiot is about Richard Hart, a self-centered materialist living in New York City married to a woman half his age dining out every night at fancy restaurants and spending his weekends shopping with his wife at expensive stores, e. g. Bergdorf-Goodman, Henri Bendel, Gucci.

Forced to take an assignment to Moscow, he winds up in an environment where money is worthless because there is nothing to buy, food is scarce and for the most part terrible and even drinking water is impossible to find at times.

As he adjusts to his new environment, he comes to find that his materialistic viewpoint is selfish, and in fact unnecessary to his happiness and as he finds joy in the new friends and relationships he makes, he transforms into a communism. But is it all a set-up by his partner in crime V. Putin.

Is he just another Useful Idiot? As a counterpoint, while Hart is evolving in his social views towards the collective, his Soviet counterparts evolve towards capitalism because the free markets are coming to the Soviet Union and they all are going to need western currency to survive.

What inspired you to write this book?

Everyone involved in the assignment to Moscow is dead.

How did you come up with the concept and characters for the book?

Based on real life people.

How did you come up with title of this book?

It is a quote attributed to Lenin commenting on the assistance he was receiving from John Reed an American journalist – “Ten days that Shook the World”

What did you edit out of this book?

About 30k words of real-life experiences in Moscow that were interesting and environment building, but were not related to plot progression or character development.

Tell us about a favorite character from a book.

Putin because he was so different in 1984 than he is today. In 1984 he was struggling to survive in a dangerous environment.

Describe your writing style.

First person present tense with a goal to put the reader in the Novel.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

Two years.

Is there a writer whose brain you would love to pick for advice?

James Jones – From Here to Eternity and the Thin Red Line because he wrote about his real-life experiences during World War 2 with a thematic slant toward the disparity in justice between the officers and the “joes” who actually did the fighting and dying.

About the Book

Putin’s Useful Idiot by Kenyon Kane
Genre: Historical Espionage, Romance

Synopsis

November 1984, Richard Hart lands at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport carrying a dossier he doesn’t have security clearance to open, a map of Moscow missing most of the street names, five ten-dollar bills (probably dyed with invisible ink) and an American Express card.

Acting as a CIA “financial” agent, Hart must close a deal with the KGB, rig the transaction to produce enough “black money” to bribe KGB hard-liners to retire, and get out alive. And he only has Colonel Putin there to help him.

Putin’s Useful Idiot is about Richard Hart, a self-centered materialist living in New York City married to a woman half his age, dining out every night at fancy restaurants and spending his weekends shopping with his wife at expensive stores like Bergdorf-Goodman, Henri Bendel, and Gucci.

As he adjusts to his new environment, he comes to find that his materialistic viewpoint is selfish, and in fact unnecessary to his happiness, and as he finds joy in the new friends and relationships he makes, he transforms toward the collective.

But is it all a set-up by his partner in crime V. Putin? Is he just another Useful Idiot? As a counterpoint, while Hart is evolving in his social views toward the collective, his Soviet counterparts evolve toward capitalism because the free markets are coming to the Soviet Union and everyone is going to need western currency to survive.

Inspired by true events, Putin’s Useful Idiot is a ride-along first person, present tense adventure jam-packed with danger, passion and humor

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About Kenyon Kane

Kenyon Kane grew up in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles before there were freeways. He worked for two US Cabinet Secretaries. His job was to complete financial transactions in the Soviet Union, Grenada and Northern Ireland.

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