Raelynn Hillhouse

Raelynn Hillhouse is an American spy novelist and former smuggler.

Hillhouse studied in Central and Eastern Europe for over six years at various institutions including Moscow State University, Moscow Finance Institute, Humboldt University of Berlin, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen (Germany) and Babes-Bolyai University (Cluj, Romania). She earned her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her MA in Russian and East European Studies as well as her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan.

When living as a student in Europe, she claims to have engaged in the black market between East and West, running Cuban rum, smuggling jewels from the Soviet Union and laundering East Bloc currencies. She claims to have been recruited by the East German secret police, the Stasi, and by the Libyan Intelligence Service. Some sources assert that she was an American intelligence operative (McGuire, 2004; Adler, 2004), but Hillhouse denies this (Nolan, 2004).

Hillhouse's debut novel, "Rift Zone" (2004), is a spy thriller about a female smuggler who becomes entangled in an East German plot to stop the fall of the Berlin Wall. The American Booksellers Association Book Sense program selected it as one of the best books of 2004 and Library Journal named it one of the year's most promising debuts. Her second novel, "Outsourced" (2007) is a political thriller about the outsourcing of the CIA and Pentagon and the turf wars between the two agencies.

Hillhouse taught at the University of Michigan and was a professor of political science at the University of Hawaii. She is a founding member of the International Thriller Writers.

Hillhouse writes a national security blog, [http://www.TheSpyWhoBilledMe.com The Spy Who Billed Me] . The Spy Who Billed Me was featured in the "New York Times" Week in Review after the head of the private military corporation Blackwater USA granted her an exclusive interview. In June 2007, Hillhouse discovered the US national Intelligence Community budget [http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA011400341033.aspx metadata] in a declassified PowerPoint presentation released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Hillhouse was born in the Ozarks and currently lives in Hawaii.

Works

Fiction

* "Outsourced". New York: Tor/Forge Books, 2007.
* "I knew Julius No. Julius No was a friend of mine. Osama, you are no Dr. No. An open letter to bin Laden from Bond's greatest villains." In "James Bond in the 21st Century." Edited by Glenn Yeffeth with Leah Wilson. Dallas: BenBella Books, 2006.
* "Secret Agent Chick." In "This is Chick-Lit". Edited by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. Dallas: BenBella Books, 2006.
* "Diplomatic Constraints," in "Thriller". Edited by James Patterson. New York: Mira, 2006.
* "Rift Zone". New York: Tor/Forge Books, 2004.

Non-fiction

* "Spy Games." "Spirit of Aloha Magazine. Magazine of Aloha Airlines". Nov-Dec. 2004.
* "The Writing Life. Rift Zone." "Mystery Scene Magazine". Fall 2004.
* "A Giant Step Toward Equality: Domestic Partner Benefits." Co-authored with Jayne Thorson. "In Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender College Students. A Handbook for Faculty and Administrators." Edited by Ronni Sanlo. London: Greenwood Press, 1998.
* "The East German Dissidents and the Revolution of 1989." "American Journal of Sociology". 1996.
* "Communist Politics and Sexual Dissidents. Social Movements in Eastern Europe." "Sexual Minorities and Society: The Changing Attitudes toward Sexuality in 20th Century Europe." Tallinn: Estonian Academy of Sciences, 1991.
* "Out of the Closet behind the Wall: Sexual Politics and Social Change in the GDR." "Slavic Review", 49:4 (Winter 1990), 585-96.
* "East Germany--Lothar DeMaizière," Leaders of Nations. Lansdale [Penn.] : Current Leaders Publishing Co., 1990.
* "A Reevaluation of Soviet Policy in Central Europe: The Soviet Union and the Occupation of Austria." "Eastern European Politics and Societies", 3:1 (1989), 83-104.

References

* Nolan, Tom (May 18, 2004). "Women Writers Infiltrate the Realm of Spy Novels." "The Wall Street Journal", p. D10.
* (Sept. 6, 2004). "Last Gasp!" "People", p. 60.
* John McGuire (Sept. 8, 2004). "The Spy who Loved it." "St. Louis Post-Dispatch", p. E1.
* Dick Adler (August 22, 2004). "Smugglers, Spies, Killers and More." "Chicago Tribune".
* Eugene Weber (Oct. 17, 2004). "Freedom, Fire and Ire." "Los Angeles Times", part R, p. 9.

External links

* [http://www.rjhillhouse.com Official website]
* [http://www.TheSpyWhoBilledMe.com The Spy Who Billed Me] , National Security blog
* [http://a1110.g.akamai.net/7/1110/5507/v001/bookstream.download.akamai.com/5507/bw/bs/0765310139/default.htm?null An online video interview with Hillhouse] about her smuggling background