Elmore author Sandy Lee Manning will present her new spy thriller, Nerve Attack, at an outdoor program in the backyard tent of the Greensboro Free Library on Thursday, September 23 at 4:00 p.m.

Sandy wrote short stories for many years during her career as a lawyer, and debuted her first spy thriller, Trojan Horse, in October 2020 at the age of 68. She took a class at the Vermont Comedy Club in 2019 and began another career writing and performing stand-up comedy.

"It's a little confusing at times," Manning admits. "Doing comedy takes a different mindset from writing thrillers. Every morning, I get up and have to decide whether to be funny or whether to torture people."

Manning's first novel, Trojan Horse, won awards for best new voice among action/thriller and political novel writers. Nerve Attack is the sequel, and again features Russian-Jewish immigrant and former intelligence operative Kolya Petrov. Kolya is drawn back into the spy game when Dmitri, his childhood best friend whom he'd put in prison, holds the key to stopping an attack by terrorists armed with a deadly nerve agent. Multiple scenes, including the climax of the novel, are set in Vermont.

Manning will debut her new novel at an event called When Comedy Kills on September 22 in Burlington, featuring routines from a group of her stand-up comedy friends as well as a reading from the book. She will visit Greensboro the following day, September 23rd, to talk about her writing and her unique combination of interests in espionage and humor. Copies of the book will be available for purchase. This author talk is free and open to the public. For more information, please call the library at 802-533-2531.