The Onion Files, a new spy thriller by Major General Val Pattee

Feb. 27, 2008 — The prologue and first four chapters from The Onion Files are now available as podcast episodes through Podiobooks.com. You are able to listen for free to these episodes.

These audio recordings are narrated by the author, Major General Val Pattee, and were recorded at Agio Publishing House’s home studio. General Pattee is at the forefront of a wave of authors creating their own indie audio books to meet the growing demand for content as MP3 listening devices such as iPods, cel phones and eBook readers become ever more ubiquitous throughout the world.

“Releasing chapters as podcoast episodes through Podiobooks.com can provide excellent publicity for the printed book, and for the complete audio book on CD or DVD,” notes Bruce Batchelor, publisher at Agio Publishing House. “This is part of the new vision of marketing stories as CONTENT through a wide range of editions and channels, rather than the old publishing model of selling only the printed BOOK and only through book stores.”

As soon as General Pattee has recorded all the chapter episodes, Agio will release the full audio book as an MP3 CD, manufactured on demand and available through Amazon.com and Lulu.com.

Val Pattee’s THE ONION FILES is catching on with READERS.

“It kept me up all night”- Al S, retired Col RCAF.

“Didn’t know I was having drinks with Jim Buchan all those years ago”- Bruce F.

“Sure made for a short flight across the country”- Don M, retired General.

“The cultural divide in the Covered Bazaar was fascinating”- Rich, 16 years old.

“I enjoyed the book and am impressed … a compelling and moving story … a bit of Tom Clancy and a bit of Arthur Hailey. The movie should pack them in! Well done”- Jack M, CEO.

“I rationed myself not to finish the book in one gulp…scary stuff..” Ursula H, UK.

SALES of THE ONION FILES are doing well. The paperback is being sold (and has been re-ordered by one store when it sold out) at Munro’s and Chapters Downtown in Victoria and at Tanner’s Bookstore in Sidney. Most of the promotional push has been directing potential readers to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca. At the Canadian site (www.amazon.ca), THE ONION FILES was showing in 6th place among bestselling espionage thrillers last week!  That was AHEAD of fellows like Follett and Ludlum. Pretty amazing for a first-time author in the first month after his book’s launch. Well done, Val!

Greetings! Welcome to the website for Major General Val Pattee, author of The Onion Files [ISBN 978-1-897435-05-2], published by Agio Publishing House of Victoria, BC.

Val Pattee is a retired Canadian major general who became Chief of Intelligence for NATO [the North Atlantic Treaty Organization] in Europe and for Canada. In that role, Pattee had unprecedented access to the most secret intelligence of sixteen nations as the Cold War drew to a close. He also met with the GRU [Russian Military Intelligence] in Moscow and with the People’s Liberation Army in Beijing. Pattee worked in Paris at the height of the Action Direct terrorism and in the bunker near Bonn while the Red Army Faction was creating havoc across Europe.

On retirement from the military, Pattee became the senior official for policing for a Canadian province.

The author and his wife Joan reside in Victoria, BC, and winter in Mexico where Pattee is writing other novels in this series of spy thrillers.

Major General Pattee is available to comment on current and past intelligence issues and events. Journalist may contact him directly at vpattee [at] shaw [dot] ca, or through his publisher at info@agiopublishing.com.

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