TopShelf Magazine Holiday Edition

The Holiday Edition of TopShelf Magazine is live now.

The magazine also features a column of mine where I write about a Caballo de Troya, a novel by Spanish author J. J. Benitez.
You can read it here:  http://joom.ag/p2hL/p8

December edition of The Big Thrill

For the December edition of The Big Thrill I had the opportunity to write about Con Lehane's new mystery Murder in the Manuscript Room.



http://www.thebigthrill.org/2017/11/murder-in-the-manuscript-room-by-con-lehane/

October's column in TopShelf Magazine

The October edition of TopShelf Magazine features an article of mine about Mary Shelley´s Frankenstein.

Read it here:

http://joom.ag/tcyL/p8 

Which comes first, the reader or the story?

This week I´m participating along with authors Neil Placky and Steven Cooper discussing the subject of which comes first, the story or the reader.

Join us at the following link:

http://www.thebigthrill.org/2017/10/october-23-29-which-comes-first-the-reader-or-the-story/#comment-37732

007 and The Beatles, a love-hate relationship

Today I had the opportunity to write for The Spy Command about one of my favorite topics: James Bond.

 007's love-hate relationship with The Beatles

Although it’s hard to imagine now, there was a time when some people didn’t like the music from The Beatles. Back in 1964, the group was still a relatively new band that the teenagers went crazy over. In contrast, adults thought of The Beatles as a fad, as ephemeral as a lightening. Oh, and they also thought The Beatles made nothing but noise.

Continue reading at:
https://hmssweblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/09/007s-love-hate-relationship-with-the-beatles/

Writing about public speaking

They say the fear of speaking in public is only rivaled by the fear of death. I'm not sure if that´s true, but will admit that if feels true. I had a hard time overcoming my fear of public speaking and learned a few lessons on the way.

Today I was a guest at Julie Lomoe´s blog where I discuss that very topic.

http://creativecrone.net/2017/09/25/guest-blogger-j-h-bogran-fear-public-speaking/

Feel free to visit and leave comments.

New Forgotten Tomes column in TopShelf Magazine

Literally meeting Bond by J. H. Bográn

It’s dark times for fans of the most enduring movie franchise of all time. Much like 2016 was the “Year without the Doctor” for fans of Doctor Who, the James Bond fans have seen nothing since 2015´s Spectre, and plans for a new movie are in the pre-production limbo, a most fearsome place to be, once that has claimed Bond for up to six years—from License to Kill (1987) to Goldeneye (1995). This has left fans with not much choice but dusting off the old DVD or newer Blue-Ray copies of the previous 24 movies. I’m here to offer another lifeline, one that perhaps has already occurred to some, but not to all fans: Get to meet James Bond, literally, by reading the books. You can start with Ian Flemming’s, then carry on to recent authors like Raymond Benson and Jeffery Deaver.

Continue reading here: http://joom.ag/l5zL/p6

About The Spy Across the Table

My work with the Big Thrill has some great perks and allows me to read awesome books before their publishing date, but sometimes there are novels I really want to read and can’t get the assignment. That is the case with The Spy Across the Table by Barry Lancet. So, obviously, I went out and got the book.

The Spy Across the Table is the fourth book in the Jim Brodie series. Brodie divides his time between San Francisco and Tokyo, he’s an art dealer who inherited an interest in his father’s security company. While the setup from the previous novels stemmed from Brodie Security, this time is personal. When two of his friends are murdered in a meeting he helped put together, Jim stumbles into more trouble than he anticipated. Yet, he wants to do justice to his dead friends as he plunges along in an spiral of action that takes him to Korea’s DMZ, China, as he fights a battle almost nobody seems to want him involved with, FLOTUS being that exception.

By the way, I really meant Korea in the last paragraph. Yes, North Korea plays such a big role in this novel that one could almost call the book prophetic when you consider recent developments in the news.

One of the best sequences in the book takes place in the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ that separates North from South Korea. Is a border like no other, infested with barbwire, land-mines and even aggressive guards. The author graciously shared these pictures. 

Fans of the series will be treated to scenes with regular characters, but one in particular that made such a splash in Tokyo Kills now returns center stage, so much that he’s referenced in the title.

Luck should have it that I’ve not read all the books in this series, so I can confirm the author does a terrific job of introducing returning characters with enough information for a newcomer, and best of all, his references to the other stories are far from a commercial to buy the other books. Of course it’s better to complete the set.

About the author:

Barry Lancet is the author of the award-winning international suspense series featuring Jim Brodie. The latest entry is THE SPY ACROSS THE TABLE, from Simon & Schuster. The first Brodie book, JAPANTOWN, won a Barry Award for "Best Debut Novel” and the second, TOKYO KILL, was a Shamus Award Finalist. The third, PACIFIC BURN, was released in paperback earlier this year. An American expat raised in California, Lancet has lived in Japan for more than twenty years. His editorial position at one of the Japan’s largest publishing houses allowed him access behind many closed doors, and lend his novels a true insider’s authenticity.

Get your copy HERE.

Interviews and my first Rafflecopter

During the past couple of week, I've participated with guest blogs. Interesting and various topics, all having at the center something to do with my latest novel Poisoned Tears.

Here are the links:

Don't you dare write that!
https://bookbrowsing.wordpress.com/2017/03/26/dont-you-dare-write-that-by-j-h-bogran/

I also happened to be interviewed by a cat!
http://catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com/2017/03/rocco-interviews-jh-bogran.html

And last, I discussed the scariest part of Poisoned Tears:
http://www.nicholaskaufmann.com/2017/03/28/the-scariest-part-j-h-bogran-talks-about-poisoned-tears/

As promised in the title, I'm running a Rafflecopter for a chance to win a copy of POISONED TEARS, be sure to register before 4/30:

http://gvwy.io/xtlkkcf

 

The Big Thrill featured Poisoned Tears

The Big Thrill featured an article for POISONED TEARS in their March edition.

http://www.thebigthrill.org/2017/02/poisoned-tears-by-j-h-bogran/

Enjoyable interview, and they even asked me to share some pictures from the time I visited New Orleans for the research.

Author Spotlight shining on JH Bográn

Thanks to author Lisa Towles, there is a new interview where I discuss about my new release, Poisoned Tears, but also about my writing choices, and why I write in two languages.

Here's the link. Don't forget to leave a comment.

https://digitalraconteur.wordpress.com/2017/02/24/author-spotlight-j-h-bogran/


Also, here's a direct link to the book available for pre-order.

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Poisoned-Tears-J-H-Bogr%C3%A1n-ebook/dp/B01MTDV2D5

Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/poisoned-tears-jh-bogran/1125784661?ean=2940154010204

Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/703341

About The Lost City of the Monkey God

I was familiar with Douglas Preston’s work in thrillers, but when I found out he’d write a non-fiction book about Ciudad Blanca, I added the title to my reading list. 

As a Honduran I’ve heard legends of a white city in the region of La Mosquitia, located in the eastern tip of Honduras, so when a story broke out back in 2012 about a discovery I became curious and excited because the possibilities for this discover were endless. Would it turn out to be our Pyramids of Cairo, or our Machu Pichu? In 2015 Nat Geo released a documentary; I must have watched it over 10 times, partly because I played it for my advanced-English students in the university.

I’m sharing here a few thoughts on The Lost City of the Monkey God. It’s a fascinating tale that deals with an ancient mystery in Honduras.

The opening chapter where the author recalls the warnings, and the dangers of what they would be encountering during their excursion into the jungle, made me realize my own jungle adventures as a boy scout were a walk in the park by comparison.

The book covers the several years of effort, frustration, trial and error, and finally, the exploration of a civilization what established and flourished over five centuries ago in La Mosquitia. It has a loose format structure that comprises several sections; among them, Preston’s meeting with Steve Elkins—the driving force behind the quest—, a summary of the several tales surrounding the White City and previous searches for the city, then it goes into a detailed explanation of Honduras’ current status as the most dangerous country in the world. But Preston digs deeper and brings the situation into perspective of the tumultuous history, the stint as a banana republic, and the recent use of the territory as pit stop for the drug trade.

But the clincher was the use of space-age technology to map the area from the air that happened in 2012 and where after analyzing the data they could share their information with the world. It would take another three years before they could organize an in-site dig that finally occurred in January 2015. I particularly enjoyed the semi-diary Preston used for that section as I felt I was in the jungle with them.

The team went into unfamiliar territory for their love of solving a mystery; however, a few weeks after their return, they realized that although they had not removed any relic from the site, they did bring something back with them. This information would later become an important part to solve the puzzle, and to my inexpert opinion, they nailed it.

Get your copy of this new Best-Seller here:
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-City-Monkey-God-Story/dp/1455540005