The Foreign Service Journal, November 2021

58 NOVEMBER 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FICTION AND POETRY Radioflash Mark J. Hipp, Black Rose Writing, 2020, $21.95/paperback, e-book available, 348 pages. Matt James, the hero of this fast- paced thriller, is a State Department diplomatic security agent who thrives on danger. After Embassy Jerusalem reports an assassination plot against the Secretary of State during sensitive peace negotiations, he volunteers to lead a protective detail on the West Bank. During a terrorist attack, James and his team save the Secretary, but lose a close friend in the process. Risking an international incident, they then conduct a daring raid that uncovers a plot to kill millions of Americans with a “radioflash”— an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that damages or destroys all electrical devices for hundreds of miles around. Defying his director’s orders, James tenaciously hunts Moussa Rahman, the Chechen mastermind behind the conspiracy, with Russian Federal Security Service agent Svetlana Andropov. James and Andropov must battle interagency wrangling, foreign governments, betrayal and internal strife to stop Rahman before he reaches outer space and detonates the nuke that will create the EMP—knocking the superpower back into the Dark Ages and triggering World War III between Russia and America. Mark J. Hipp, a 29-year veteran with the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, served as chief of security in London, Baghdad, Tel Aviv, Lima and Tirana. As a former deputy chief and team leader of the bureau’s Mobile Security Division, the author spent eight years responding to exigent situations in more than 70 countries on five continents. He has written numerous manuals on protective tactics and emergency response, and has been featured in three documentaries, including the Discovery Channel’s “MSD: The Unknown Protectors.” He has also been interviewed on ABC, CBS and CNN. Barren Grace Nikolina Kulidzan, independently published, 2020, $9.99/paperback, e-book available, 245 pages. Even though some estimates say 10 percent of women across the globe will grapple with infertility at some point in their lives, a novel about the phenomenon might seem destined for a niche readership. But Barren Grace has a message for all of us: “We cope and grieve quietly, each alone in the barren desert of our loss, terrified that we will never find a way out. But the trek through the desert will end, and life can still be bountiful.” In her author’s note, Nikolina Kulidzan says this: “While trying to come to terms with the fact that I would never have biological children, I longed to find solace in a novel that would make me feel less alone while giving me hope for a way forward. Unable to find such a book, I decided to write it. But don’t worry; it’s not all sorrow and gloom. Barren Grace is an entertaining story of two strong women—one right at the threshold of adulthood, another of middle age—negotiating passion, family and career, and discovering a few things along the way—most notably, themselves.” Nikolina Kulidzan is a public diplomacy–coned State Department Foreign Service officer who has served in Singapore and Beijing; she is currently a watch officer in the Operations Center. Born in Bosnia, she came to the United States at the age of 18, stating: “‘Bosnian refugee-cum-U.S. diplomat’ is my version of the rags-to-riches tale.” Her writing has appeared in The New York Times , Sun Magazine and other publications, and has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Award. Rossio Square N.°59 Jeannine Johnson Maia, independently published, 2020, $8.99/paperback, e-book available, 238 pages. Novels about World War II tend to take place either in the countries where the fighting occurred, or back on the home front. So it is refreshing to have this compelling story, set in the suspenseful and dangerous world of Portugal in 1941, when that country served as an escape route for Jews and other people fleeing the Nazis.