MEET THE AUTHOR: JAMES BRUNO

Author James Bruno

James Bruno is the author of three bestselling political thrillers. He has been featured on NBC’s Today Show, in the Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Huffington Post, regional NPR and other national and international media. His spy-mob thriller PERMANENT INTERESTS and CHASM, a thriller about war criminals, have landed simultaneously on Amazon Kindle Bestseller lists, including #1 in Political Fiction and Spy Tales. TRIBE, his latest political thriller, centered on Afghanistan, has also been an Amazon bestseller.

Mr. Bruno served as a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State for 23 years. Prior to that, he worked as a military intelligence analyst and as a journalist. His diplomatic assignments have included Cuba, Guantanamo (as liaison with the Cuban military), Pakistan/Afghanistan, Vietnam, Cambodia and Washington, DC. He has spent ample time at the White House and has worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the Secret Service in a presidential protection detail. He also knows the Pentagon, CIA and other foreign affairs agencies well. Based on his experiences, James Bruno’s stories possess an authenticity rarely matched in the political thriller genre.

It is this background as a diplomat, military intelligence officer and journalist that lend an air of verisimilitude to James’ books that the vast majority of his competition lacks. “You are getting a dose of the real thing with James Bruno’s books, not contrived fantasies. I believe this has been a factor in all three of my thrillers becoming Kindle bestsellers and my getting national media exposure on NBC’s Today Show, in the Washington Post and other news outlets – also my landing Stieg Larsson’s agent.” Continue reading “MEET THE AUTHOR: JAMES BRUNO”

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”