Month: April 2012

Writing the National Security Thriller: Verisimilitude by James Bruno

Bestselling Author James Bruno
Bestselling Author James Bruno

Two ingredients are essential for writing a successful novel: good writing and knowledge of the subject matter. Just as a murder mystery reads better when the detective work and forensics reflect true life, so is it with national security thrillers. These include spy, political and military thrillers.

Verisimilitude: Separating the Plausible from the B.S.

What separates the outstanding national security thrillers from the rest of the pack is verisimilitude: creating characters, situations and plots that closely resemble the real thing. The worst thrillers are the ones where the author simply fabricates how a spy/political actor/soldier operates. That is not to say that the latter don’t become bestsellers. They often do. The authors of thrillers lacking in verisimilitude succeed by spinning a good yarn for which readers are willing to suspend big-time disbelief. Ian Fleming’s James Bond is a case in point. Wonderful entertainment. Totally divorced from the real world. Continue reading “Writing the National Security Thriller: Verisimilitude by James Bruno”

Gender Bender Again…

Our L.A. Lewandowski is taking the week off to finish her new manuscript. So here is an audience favorite to satisfy your L.A.L. jonesing for this week:  Gender Bender.

And now for something completely different.

Will the real L.A. Lewandowski please stand up?

Am I really who I say I am? None of you have ever met me. Am I a creation of my own making, a project of my inner Pygmalion? Is the face that smiles back at you me, or am I actually an eighty year old Polish woman wearing a babushka smelling invitingly of stuffed cabbage and pierogi? Admit it, you can’t really be sure.

Or can you? There is one thing for certain, my friends, I write like a girl. The color of my cocktail seeps through the pages, pooling into a pretty, pink puddle. It’s delicious, I must admit. I am not able to feel like a man, and I have never wanted to be one. There is only one exception – a cameo as a big, burly hockey player, smashing opponents into the boards and scoring the winning goal. But I digress. Continue reading “Gender Bender Again…”

Featured Title: Dragon Gem by Brian Beam

The Dragon Gem is the first installment of a new epic fantasy series, Korin’s Journal, by Brian Beam:

With nothing to go on but a vague dream which may or may not be memory, Korinalis Karell has traveled Amirand for three years in search of his birth parents. With a magical Contract to fund his journey and a magic talking wizard cat named Max to keep him out of trouble, Korin has made his way through the world with no success in finding them.

However, what starts out as a seemingly simple Contract job to find a stolen gem for a count quickly turns into a fight for survival that brings about revelations about Korin’s life that turn his world inside-out and upside-down.

With the aid of a mediocre wizard who happens to be the daughter of the most powerful wizard in Amirand, a chatterbox Kolarin, and Max, Korin sets out to discover the secrets of his past so that he may live to see his future.

This is a firsthand account of Korin’s journey as he chases down thieves, is chased down by a dragon and gods-forsaken creatures of death, and finds out that life just never seems to get easier.

The Dragon Gem is available from Amazon.

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How I Choose to Write Does NOT Make Me a Lemming

Who are you calling a lemming?In this world of myriad people, personalities and tastes, it is anyone’s right to be offended by anything they read or see at any time.

Therefore, it is my choice to write in such a way that I am able to express myself without offending anyone. I’m told that means I’m dead as a writer. I think that just makes me smart. There is a time and a place for everything. Why does that make me dead? Frankly, that remark offends ME. What gives someone else the right to tell me how I write is wrong? Continue reading “How I Choose to Write Does NOT Make Me a Lemming”