Who doesn't remember the infamous "spy verses spy" series in the old "Mad" Magazine? My special guest this afternoon (Thursday) at 4:35 is bestselling thriller writer Ted Bell. The title of Ted Bell's hardback (which went on sale Tuesday of this week) is "Phantom". Bell is a Writer-in-Residence at Cambridge University and "Phantom" is a rollicking tale of international espionage. The book is an action packed technothriller, climaxing in a naval battle in the Strait of Hormuz and as usual, Bell keeps the tone light and the level of daring-do high. "Fine escapist fare" according to Library Journal. Bell himself appears, to me, just as exciting or perhaps even more exciting than the book itself. Ted Bell was one of the leading talents in advertising, having won every award the industry offers. He began his advertising career in New York as a junior copywriter in the early 70's. By age 25, he'd sold his first screenplay and become the youngest vice president in the storied history of the creative powerhouse, DDB. He joined Young & Rubicam in London in 1991 and after 10 years, he retired in 2001 to write full time. He's the New York Times bestselling author of "Hawke, Assassin, Pirate, Spy, Tsar and Warlord". Bell is currently Writer-in-Residence at Cambridge University and Visiting Scholar at the Department of Politics & International Relations (UK). I intend to spend the first 18 or 20 seconds of the interview discussing his book and then I plan on asking him a million questions about the greatest television program ever, "Mad Men", which returns for the 5th season this Sunday evening. Hopefully he's a "Mad Men" fan and can tell us some "stories-behind-the-stories" about the wild and swinging world of advertising agencies in the "Big City" back in the 50's and 60's. I'm the Puffman and I remind a lot of women of Don Draper. I'll be giving away a hardback copy of this thriller right after my interview this afternoon. The publisher of "Phantom" is William Morrow, An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers. Clearly, no other thriller writer is now more deeply connected to the world of international intelligence than Ted Bell. See you this afternoon at 4:35 on KSEN AM 1150.

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