Goodreads asked Donald Firesmith:

What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Donald Firesmith That's a very interesting question, but the best answer is unfortunately classified and will have to remain a secret. My second best answer involves a week-long trip I took to Moscow and Leningrad via East Berlin during the spring of 1974 while the Cold War was still raging. I was in college on Spring break and met a very interesting "engineering student" on the train to Leningrad. Given where we ended up one night, it's a wonder I wasn't arrested as a spy. I have always suspected that Valery was KGB; too much money for a student.

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