Agent Bigglesby: Not Dead Yet follows an 84-year-old former super spy who has been officially declared dead but who refuses to walk quietly into a life of retirement. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

One inspiration was simply wondering what happens to an iconic screen hero when in an advanced age? The original thought was an affectionate nickname of 0070 but age 84 seemed more appropriate. The more I thought about it, the more I also wanted to explore consequences from all the casual relationships. In addition, my father was a kind of inspiration in that I experienced him having a stroke and losing some faculties, and becoming even more inappropriate, and I still laugh at the things he and other immigrants say very casually that have become officially offensive. There was just a lot of material to mine. He even used the word exploit in its original sense, talking about mines, but it sounded so funny in recent years to discuss relatives that moved to Chile and decided to exploit the mines. He is no longer with us but I picture him having encouraged me to keep going with this project many times. 

Were there particular spy novels or films that influenced the book?

Sure, mostly films: various James Bond films, Johnny English, Get Smart, and Austin Powers on the cinema side, and I grew up watching Get Smart, The Saint, and Mission Impossible, and made parodies of the latter 2 in high school. I also appreciate Spy Kids and others I’m not recalling just now. For novels I would have to say various manuals from Human Resources at various places I’ve worked. They were quite inspiring to take on the humor of organizational dysfunction and inhumanity, and caving to lawyers over common sense. 

The novel embraces absurdity with remarkable confidence. How did you decide just how far to push the humor?

I appreciate that reception of the humor. I didn’t have any kind of meter other than my own experience in various organizations and in my work as a therapist. I have seen a great deal of silent suffering and it’s usually over the myriad of little absurdities we are asked to tolerate. Comedy is a way of relieving some pain. I hope readers will get a lot of relief from seeing their own experiences reflected in these characters and interactions. 

What does the novel suggest about the difference between being cared for and being sidelined? 

In my experience you can have two realities side by side, having to do with perception and where one stands. In retiring Herbert, no one is trying to hurt him, they gave him many chances to continue contributing. But at some point a person needs to bow out gracefully and focus on other things. It only seems uncaring because he refuses to accept his limitations as significant. I also often dwell on the theme of well-intentioned people still causing damage, and this applies to Herbert as well as to the agency he formerly worked for. In my experience as a therapist and human being, some people want an inordinate amount of empathy and sympathy and can be quite mistaken that people have not cared. Yet hopefully people take time to reflect and enjoy the positive things they still have access to rather than dwell excessively on what they have lost. 

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