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”

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Getting It Right: Throwing a Right Part 1

The Principles of Unarmed CombatHaving previously written about what makes a good literary fight scene, I thought an appropriate follow up might be to examine some mistakes that can potentially ruin the action in a novel.

Now, if you’re like me, nothing can grab your attention in a book like a nicely portrayed bit of violence. Indeed, the climax to many an action/adventure novel is often some sort of life and death brawl between hero and villain. A fight scene can be a graphic example of a hero’s innate superiority or a chance to put him or her into a bit of peril. It can offer the reward of giving an annoying antagonist his comeuppance or just be used to keep the reader engaged during an otherwise slow section of the story. Unfortunately, when it comes to portraying these scenes, most writers are not fighters and don’t know the difference between throwing a right and throwing some write.

Of course, the average reader also may not be all that well versed in the intricacies of combat and, therefore, any mistakes or inaccuracies found in a literary fight scene may simply pass by them unnoticed. But for someone who does know a little about how violence goes down in the real world, poorly written or inaccurate action scenes can leave you shaking your head saying “That could never happen.” In extreme cases, such as a novel purported to be gritty and realistic, it can ruin the whole tenor of the story. Continue reading “Getting It Right: Throwing a Right Part 1”