Home | Black Ice
...'Take my advice, Craven. Have a couple of large ones and get yourself to bed. Don't dwell on it. It doesn't do. And don't sit around by yourself, if you can avoid it. Are you going to see friends?'...
Reluctant spy Sam Craven is back in England after chilly Cold War adventures in Iceland.
Colin Dunne brings his classic spy novel to a conclusion.
Black Ice is available chapter by chapter in Open Writing. Please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...Bellowing oaths, Oscar staggered to his feet and came rocking towards us, firing the gun. Some shots went into the ground, some into the sky. His limbs were all over the place...
Colin Dunne's brilliant Cold War spy thriller nears its conclusion with a crscendo of gunshots.
The Russians have arranged a wedding for the beautiful Solrun in Iceland's most dramatic setting. And journalist/spy Sam Craven is about to receive the shock of his life.
The drama becomes ever more intense in Colin Dunne's Cold War thriller.
To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...He was fast, I'll give him that. The gorilla next to me had my hands before they had Ivan's neck, but not by much. He slammed me back in the seat, smacked me once on the side of the jaw, then held me there. I didn't mind.,,
Journalist/spy Sam Craven is taken on a car ride into danger.
Colin Dunne continues his dramatic Cold War spy thriller.
To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Reluctant journalist/spy Sam Craven is warned that the Russians are coming for him.
Colin Dunne's thrilling Cold War spy novel set in Iceland moves towards a dramatic conclusion.
To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...It was only about a seven-foot drop and when I got to the bottom I turned and swung the torch beam round. I've never seen so many damned eyes in all my life, and they were all looking at me...
Journalist and reluctant spy Sam Craven goes aboard the suspicious Russian trawlar in Reykjavic harbour.
Colin Dunne continues his thrilling Cold War spy story. To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
A body has been dragged from a lake. And a local reporter informs Sam Craven a journalist engaged on a spying mission in Iceland 'Everyone knows him around town. He was a bit of a hoodlum, as the Americans say. In a small way. They recognised him as soon as they saw the tattoos on his arms.'
Colin Dunne's exciting Cold War novel moves towards a relentless climax.
To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...On the bed, his head raised on a pillow, his arms folded across his stomach, was the man I'd interviewed as Oscar Murphy. You might've thought he was resting there if it hadn't been for the hole where his right eye should've been. That's the way the pro's do it. It would look quite neat if you didn't have to dislodge the eyeball...
Colin Dunne continues his high-voltage Cold War spy thriller.
To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...The first I knew was the ice-hard touch of her cheek against my burning flesh, the cold marble of her hands against mine. I dragged my eyes half-open...
At last the elusive Icelandic beauty Solrun puts in an appearance.
Colin Dunne's Cold War spy thriller is an exciting read and a literary treat. To catch up with earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...'But these guys are going to pull a big stroke. It's all building up for one. There was the business of Kirillina and the girl, there's the trawler down in the harbour with those two ghouls on board, and now we've got a Soviet destroyer parked outside the front door with a couple of helicopters warmed up and ready to go. And all we know for sure is that Oscar Murphy's out there on the rampage and we don't know where.'...
Sam Craven, a journalist who has been enrolled as a spy, tries to reassemble his memory after being tortured.
Colin Dunne's high-tension Cold War novel moves torwards a dramatic conclusion.
...'Don't be scared, cutie, you won't feel a thing.'
He pulled the big Colt out and snapped back the slide, and it slipped contentedly into his pink palm...
Journalist spy Sam Craven looks death in the eye.
The excitement increases in Colin Dunne's brilliant Cold War novel.
To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...Nature woke me just in time to be principal witness at my own death-bed scene. Or so it seemed to me.
It was the cold that snapped me into consciousness. The stiff mountain wind had almost dried my trousers, shirt andjacket, and driven the aching cold of the waterfall deep into my bones. I could feel my whole body shaking. My teeth weren't chattering - they were taking burger-sized bites out of the air...
Journalist and reluctant spy Sam Craven enlists four-legged help as he attempts to renew contacts with civilisation.
Colin Dunne continues his superb Cold War story.
...Like a leaf in a hurricane, I was tossed and tugged as the force of the water threatened to yank my arms from their sockets. I'd run out of rope. For the moment, I was at the end of my fall. Then the force of the falling water doubled and doubled again as I failed to move with it...
Colin Dunne continues his Cold War thriller. To read earlier chapters please click on
http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...Panic rocked my mind and shook my soul. I was being buried alive in a black coffin which was pitching from side to side as it swung down into the earth. Fear ran like flames through veins shaking sanity out of my finger-ends and putting reason to flight. It was true. I was locked up in my own body and my soundless screams rang only in my own head. I was the last man on earth. Me and Johnny Cash...
Journalist-spy Sam Craven is in for a terrifying time.
Coline Dunne continues his thrilling Cold-War tale. To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...The lime-green Ford was in the square outside the Hotel Borg and Palli was at the wheel.
'Where do we meet him?' I said, as I pulled the door shut.
He didn't answer. He didn't need to. My answer was a forearm like warm steel that slid across my throat and then thumbs searching for the carotid arteries...
Colin Dunne continues his classical spy tale of a Cold War great powers confrontation in Iceland. To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...Dempsie began to protest, then abandoned it and turned to a straightforward account of what had happened. He and his colleague - he didn't name him - were driving an open jeep back from town when he saw the motor-bike in the rear-view mirror. From the stance of the rider, he thought it was the desert-bike, but he couldn't be certain. The next few seconds were confusing. There were shots. The windscreen went and
one of the rear tyres. In the mirror he fancied he saw the rider holding a big handgun. Then there was the crash....
A cold-war battle between Russia and the USA is being fought undercover in Iceland, and reluctant journalist/spy Sam Craven finds himself at the centre of it.
Colin Dunne continues his top-drawer tale. To read earlier chapters please click on
http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Journalist/spy Sam Craven has a heart-to-heart talk with policeman Petursson.
Colin Dunne continues his brilliant Cold War novel. To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
The search is on for the dangerous Oscar Murphy, who has returned to Iceland from the USA.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne’s brilliant Cold War novel please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Kids are the urban vultures. Wherever they cluster, you'll find the action — even if it's only a comical drunk or a domestic punch-up. This time they were gathering for a kill.
...He was half-mad, stoked up with jealousy and anger, and he was out there running around with a Colt .45....
Oscar Murphy is back in Iceland – and he’s deadly dangerous!
Colin Dunne continues his exciting Cold War spy novel. To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Journalist and reluctant spy Sam Craven meets another of Icelandic beauty Solrun's boy friends - and the mystery deepens.
Colin Dunne continues his brilliant Cold War spy tale.
To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
‘It was an Englishman who wrote that no man is an island.'
‘Just because someone wrote it and everyone keeps saying it doesn't make it true.' He really had hit on one of my favourites this time. So I presented him with my slightly more pragmatic version: 'Send not to inquire for whom the bell tolls, because it's only someone else.
Journalist/spy Sam Craven philosophises with and receives information from Icelandic policeman Peter Perersson.
Colin Dunne continues his Cold War spy novel for grownups. To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Journalist and reluctant spy Sam Craven, who is looking for a former girlfriend, Icelandic beauty Solrun, makes a surprise discovery: there are two “versions’’ of the same man – one in New York and one in Iceland.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne’s outstanding Cold War novel please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...There was no way of pushing through the crowd, so I did a few nifty turns around the town centre and pulled round the corner into Gardastraeti when I saw the mob advancing down the road.
In front of them was Palli with a roped prisoner.,,,
The prisoner is a Russian, thought to be a spy, and he has been badly beaten up. But is Palli the culprit?
Novelist Colin Dunne continues his brilliant Cold War spy thriller which is set in Iceland. To read earlier chapters please click on
http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Journalist Sam Craven, enrolled as a reluctant spy, goes to the biggest America military base in Iceland seeking information and help.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne's classic Cold War tale please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...It is a game of blind man's bluff. Both are blind. Both, we hope, are bluffing...
Colin Dunne continues his brilliant Cold War spy story.
To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...The map of Iceland might have unfolded itself if he hadn't been careful to pin it down with a good solid weight. But that's the thing about a Colt .45 automatic...
Reluctant spy Sam Craven does a spot of univited flat inspection.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne's brilliant Cold War thriller, set appropriately in Iceland, please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Reluctant spy Sam Craven, after tucking into breakfast, is given a not unexpected gift: a stuffed puffin.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne's Cold War spy novel please click on
http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Reluctant spy Sam Craven has a long, drunken and fruitful conversation with Palli, the violent one-time husband of Icelandic beauty Solrun.
Colin Dunne continues his thrilling and chilling Cold War spy tale. To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...'Now!' Petursson suddenly snapped. To my amazement, Magnus spun me by the shoulder and — with a merry smile on his face — swung a useful left hook at my jaw. As I went reeling back, he did his level best to stick his right arm up to the elbow in my stomach...
Things begin to get really unpleasant for reluctant spy Sam Craven.
Colin Dunne continues his brilliant Cold War spy novel which is set in Iceland. To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Reluctant spy Sam Craven and the Russian Ivanov make a shocking discovery when the go to the home of the mother of beautiful Solrun.
Tension increases in Colin Dunne's brilliant Cold War novel. To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Reluctant spy Sam Craven finally meets up with the husband of his ex-girlfriend, the beautiful Solrun, and encounters pain.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne's stylish Cold War thriller please click on
http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Spymen meet over a game of table cricket in a Reykjavik bar...
Colin Dunne continues his exhiliratingly well-written Cold War tale. To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...As we walked over I heard the international sound of male cursing and spanners clinking. It sounded quite friendly. It didn't look friendly. Behind the Ford, lying alongside an old Triumph motor-bike, was one of the most frightening men I've ever seen. He was on his back, muttering through a cigarette which bobbed on his lip. When he saw me, both the cigarette and the ring spanner in his hand stopped moving...
Reluctant spy Sam Craven sees the seemier side of Iceland.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne's brilliant Cold War novel please click on
http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Reluctant spy Sam Craven has a frustrating coversation with Hulda, his landlady.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne's brilliant novel please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
After being bashed on the head with a pan, journalist and reluctant spy Sam Craven is subjected to further questioning while treating himself to lobster tails fried on the spit.
Colin Dunne's brilliant cold war novel becomes ever more intriguing.
To read earlier chapters - and if you fail to do so you are missing a treat - please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Sam Craven goes to the Hagstofa, Iceland's official records office, there to find out something suprising about his beautiful ex-girlfriend Solrun.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne's brilliant spy novel please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Sam Craven sees yellow after being knocked unconscious while searching Icelandic beauty Solrun’s flat.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne’s brilliant spy novel please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...Overall, it tended to suggest that Solrun had cancelled her application to the nunnery. It started with boys who didn't look as if they'd ever raised razor to cheek and it ended with the Italian-looking smoothie and the rip-mark where the badge had been. In between were young blokes bulging their biceps beside swimming-pools, students trying to look tubercular and poetic, and sharpies poised with languid cigarettes and bored eyes. Men with moustaches, men with beards, men with shaggy sweaters, men with hand-stitched suits, men with bikes and motor-bikes and cars. And me, out of focus as usual, ringed in red, by a waterfall.
I sat and thought about it for a moment. I wasn't jealous. You couldn't be jealous of Solrun any more than you could hate the sun for shining on other people too...
Reluctan spy Sam Craven searches the flat of his former girlfriend Solrun.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne’s spy thriller please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Reluctant spy Sam Craven goes for a stroll around Reykjavik and bumps into some old friends.
Colin Dunne continues his superb spy story. To read earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...'Delicious,' I lied, gagging on the last bite. I don't know what it was. I would've said it had been kicked out of a badly frightened penguin, but I could be wrong....
Reluctant “spy’’ Sam Craven tells of his solicitous landlady Hulda.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne’s witty novel please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
Journalist Sam Craven, reluctantly enlisted for a secret mission in Iceland, finds himself being questioned by the top spy catcher.
Colin Dunne’s brilliant novel is a reading treat. For earlier chapters please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
After the disappearance of the Icelandic beauty Solrun reluctant spy Sam Craven is arrested and subjected to some hard questioning.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne’s brilliant novel please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...I heard the ping of the lift. I wasn't ready to do any entertaining. I nipped to the window and when I saw what was standing outside I experienced a small but unpleasant heart-leap.
One white Volvo. One Harley Davidson motor-bike. Even when they choose vehicles for their police force, the Icelanders try to show no favouritism between their American and their Scandinavian friends...
Journalist Sam Craven, a reluctant spy, wakes up in the flat of his former Icelandic girl to discover that Solrun has fled the nest. And now he has visitors of the official kind.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne’s witty novel please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...'Two,' she whispered, sinking deeper into the silk. 'Two men who say they love me. Two men who want to take me away.'
'That's what free enterprise is all about — choice. And your choice not to go if you don't want to.'
Then, in a voice no louder than the soft brush of my ringers on her skin, she said: 'I think perhaps they will kill me.'...
Journalist Sam Craven, sent on a spying mission to Iceland to make contact with his beautiful former girl friend Solrun, is shocked into silence.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne’s brilliant thriller please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...She was slim, the handy, tuck-under-your-arm size, and she was composed entirely of lovely round pieces which were joined up with lovely slim pieces. What she meant to me personally was friendship and sex. It's a much-neglected combination. Without absurd hopes and false promises, like love for instance, you can keep a clear head to enjoy what's going on. It can lead to all sorts of unfashionable abstractions, like trust and respect, and they don't weather too well when love's around...
Sam Craven, a journalist who has relunctantly become a spy, recalls his first meeting with the Icelandic beauty, Solrun.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne’s exuberant novel please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...They fly north in matching pairs, white-haired, ruddy-faced, retired teachers, husbands and wives who have grown alike over the years.
The flight was full of them. All wearing shirts made from that stuff Scotsmen use for kilts. If you'd asked a question about Jurassic rock formation, every hand in the place would have been raised...
But journalist Sam Craven, on his way to Iceland to do a spot of spying for his country, meets a couple of characters on the flight who are far from the norm.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne’s hilarious novel please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
...The editor didn't bother to introduce himself because he assumed everyone knew him. He was right. Throughout the newspaper business, he was known as Grimm, on account of the fact that his paper consisted almost entirely of fairy tales. He was a frenzied young northerner who'd found that the streets of London were paved with gold, so long as you didn't mind wading through the sewers first...
Sam Craven, a freelance journalist who has agreed to go on a spying mission to Iceland, gets the perfect cover to account for his visit.
To read earlier chapters of Colin Dunne’s sparkling novel please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/black_ice/
'Excellent point.' He looked at me as, with one stiffened finger, he stroked his sad moustache as though he expected it to bolt for cover down his throat. 'Yes, excellent question. You see, we rather assume that you have the usual sort of loyalty to your country.'
Freelance journalist Sam Craven grudgingly allows himself to be talked into a spying mission in Iceland.
Journalist and author Colin Dunne continues his tale - with wit sparkling from every line - of cold war espionage.
...'What we're asking is for you to pop up to Reykjavik as an old friend, see what's going on, and do what you can to steer her away from any foolishness. I'm sure it will all become clear once you're there.'
'It certainly isn't clear now.'
He shrugged and dabbed at his face with the hankie.
'We're offering you rather a splendid opportunity...
Journalist Sam Craven is recruited for unspecified mission to fly to Iceland to discover what kind of trouble his former lover, the glamorous Solrun, has landed herself in.
Master wordsman Colin Dunne continues his high-tension cold war thriller.
...Then it struck me. If this was my debut in international espionage, I wasn't doing too well. I mean, how would it look on my c.v.? 'On his first operation, Craven actually lost the subject of his surveillance while she was in bed with him.' Roger Moore never seemed to have these problems...
Journalist Sam Craven makes the worst of all stumbling starts in his new career as a spy.
This is the first episode of Colin Dunne’s brilliant cold war novel which, appropriately, is set in Iceland.
Colin, a master wordsmith, wrote features for Britain’s leading newspapers and magazines. An irrepressible sense of humour elevates his taut and exciting novels to the top of the premier writers’ league.
Look out for further episodes of Black Ice on forthcoming Tuesdays.
