On the booming film industry from Central America

Here´s the link to a feature article in Yale Global e-zine about the recent boost of the film industry in Central America:
 
https://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/globalization-and-technology-boost-central-americas-film-industry

Honduras and The Big Thrill

In the September edition of the e-zine published by the International Thriller Writers I was honored to participate in three feature articles.

The first one, a guided tour of my beloved country. This time I refer to the capital city of Tegucigalpa and its predecessor Comayagua.
bit.ly/2ccEF20

I first read the work of Brenda Novak a few years ago, with the first entry in her romance series Whiskey Creek, now I was privileged to read an ARC of her newest novel HER DARKEST NIGHTMARE with a new set of characters. Now, this time a full time thriller.
bit.ly/2bCjR7j

Clive Cussler and his Dirk Pitt adventures inspired my love for the thriller and adventure genre, it was probably him that I learned to always put a prologue. Also through his spin-off series I met the work of Paul Kemprekos, and now I read his solo work. THE MINOAN CIPHER is an excellent adventure thriller. 
bit.ly/2bBZ5G6

Douglas Preston and Lincold Child discuss about Crimson Shore

This month The Big Thrill released my interview of the authors Preston and Child. We had a nice chat about their newest book with protagonist Agent Pendergast.
We also discussed about their method of writing and if it had changed over the years, and of course, as a Honduran myself, I had to ask about the recent descovery that Mr. Preston participated with National Geographic.

Here it is:

http://www.thebigthrill.org/2015/11/crimson-shore-by-douglas-preston-lincoln-child/

Firefall´s Official Press Release

Media Release

FIREFALL

JH Bográn

A missing child. An international ring of ruthless thieves. A devastated man.

New York City firefighter, Sebastian Martin, seeks sanctuary in spiralling alcoholic oblivion following the loss of his wife and child in an air crash. Consumed by rage and resentment, directed against his brother and uncle, he takes a last-ditch job in Dallas, Texas, investigating insurance fraud.

Probing a fraudulent claim for a dead child, and another for a missing husband, takes Sebastian to the heart of crime, where he attracts the deadly attention of ruthless international car thieves, uncovers interlinked murders, and is tortured at the hands of a former KGB agent. In uncovering the facts, Sebastian learns his own truth.

Honduras and three other countries provide the exotic backdrop to this edge of the seat thriller.

About the Author

J. H. Bográn, born and raised in Honduras, is the son of a journalist. Ironically, he prefers to write fiction rather than fact. His genre of choice is thrillers, but he likes to throw a twist of romance into the mix. His works include novels and short stories in both English and Spanish. He’s a member of the Short Fiction Writers Guild and the International Thriller Writers where he also serves as the Thriller Roundtable Coordinator and contributing editor of their official e-zine The Big Thrill.

You can learn more on his website: www.jhbogran.com or follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jhbogran and Twitter at @JHBogran.

E-Book 5.99   Paperback  15.99 USD

Paperback: ISBN-13: 978-0-6158831-5-1, 
ISBN-10: 0-615-88315-X

Epub ePub ISBN: 9781301456161

Fiction/Crime/Thriller

Available from Rebel e Bookstore (on website), Amazon, Smashwords, iTunes, Kobo, Waterstones, Pulp Books, Barnes & Noble, Exclusive Books and to order from most other book stores.

DIRECT LINKS:

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 More to come...

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Take a tour to Honduras

The vestiges of a Mayan settlement, towns reminiscent of the Spanish Colony, beaches with fine white sand and swaying palm trees, a diver’s paradise amidst the second largest coral reef in the world. You can find all that in the little five-star country where I live. Let me give you a short guided tour of Honduras, Central America.

Let’s take care of the basics first: Christopher Columbus discovered Honduras on his fourth trip America in 1502. The name Honduras means an old Spanish form of saying “deep” or “The deeps.” It comes from an expression of the great explorer himself. The ship sailed out of troubled waters near our coast and he mused: “Thank God for freeing us of these deep waters.” Or in proper Spanish: “Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de estas honduras.” 

The country is by tradition an agricultural heaven that exports coffee, bananas, tobacco, and more recently watermelons and other non-traditional products such as fish, shrimp. In recent years we’ve become a major player in the textile industry that blossomed during the mid 90’s. Why do I bring up the textile? I owe the plug. It is my day job after all.

For the official, government-sanctioned (read boring, official) details, you can follow this link.

For the real deal, stick with me. : - ) 

San Pedro Sula is the Honduran version of New York City. It is not without reason that that the city is dubbed: “The Honduran Industrial Capital.” Yep, all major businesses, factories, commerce are gathered in the edge of the Sula Valley.

By the way, the whole country is one big mountain range, so don’t expect to see anything flat here.

For night life, we have plenty of bars, discos. Heck, there is even a drive through can where you can get your beer. Sports are big here, too. There are two official-size soccer stadiums with games almost every week. By the way, when a Honduran says “sport”, he 99% of the time we mean “soccer.” There are other sports, we know, but they don’t take a large piece of our heart as football does. 

Now, when we talk beach, we have some paradise landscapes that could redefine the postcard business. Really, I mean it.

Take the city of Tela, for instance, just an hour by land from San Pedro Sula. There is a hotel complex with houses dating from the banana plantation right by the beach. It’s the perfect place for a weekend getaway. On your way from your cabaña, you can pay a Garifuna to braid your hair in the Bo Derek-famous style. Just don’t become a cliché by running down the beach when they’re done. Speaking of Garifunas, they make the best coconut based bread in the world (or maybe it’s the only, not sure.).

A few years ago, I took my Korean boss on a day trip to Copan Ruins. We walked about the archaeological park, looked at the stelaes, you know, we completed the tour. Afterwards I asked him what he thought, he said the place was nice but he could not see pass the polished rocks. I guess he didn’t grasp the historical significance of it. Anyway, Mayans and their calendar are popular due to the over-exposed 2012 calendar. Last year I had the opportunity to consult with a real Mayan expert named Ricardo Agurcia. He told me the “end of the world” stuff was nonsense. Basically, and I’m paraphrasing here, is the end of a cycle. Pretty similar to what happens on the day after December 31^st, you throw away the last year calendar a hang a new one on its place.  Tip of advice: when you get to Copan, get a tour guide to tell you what the rocks actually mean.

  

Well, regardless of the part of the country that you decide to visit, you will always find a couple of things to be truth: kind and gentle people willing to bend over backwards to please the visitor. The other thing is that even though we have a currency named after a national hero “Lempira,” most places will be glad to take your dollars

Oh, before I forget, there’s something interesting about Lempira. He was a native rebel leader opposing the Spanish invasion. He gained such popularity that the Spanish ordered him eliminated. Two guards waving a white flag enticed Lempira out while a sniper hid behind a horse. The sniper promptly took the native out. 

**Honduras celebrates it independence from Spain on September 15. This is my small contribution to show country's pride.

My Boy Scout adventures

The Boy Scout movement in Honduras during the 80’s was a good experience for me. The moral values combined with the hands-on learning activities were a milestone in my education.

The motto of “be prepared” is ingrained so much that to this day I still carry a pocket knife, a pen, a lighter (ok, used to be matches). I dispensed the comb because, well, a comb won’t do anything to my hair; it was a waste of space.

Nowadays, I must leave my trusted Victorinox at home when I travel. But I take comfort thinking that I do it to “be prepared” for easy pass-through airport security. J

My first camping experience was in the mountains near Siguatepeque (central area of

Honduras). We arrived mid-morning, set camp within an hour and enjoyed the afternoon with horse-playing typical of an alfa-male group.

Along with the sunset, came the first rain drops. An hour later, the hard rain flooded the camp and we had to flee to higher ground while the noisy thunders scared a few of the younger members. We found an abandoned shed, apparently it had belonged to a saw mill, but the shed had no roof.

We spent the night sitting with our backs against a fallen tree trunk and covered our heads with the tent’s nylon.

It was an adventure.

It was the only time we had to set up camp twice during the same trip.

Honestly, I can’t remember another time when I had so much fun!

So here’s to the Boy Scout movement!

Trivia: I took the following text from the fact page of Boy Scouts of America. I read the story in the official manual years ago. The story is a fascinating example of faith, or destiny or whatever you want to call life-changing events. The link is here:

In 1909, Chicago publisher William D. Boyce lost his way in a dense London fog. A boy came to his aid and, after guiding the man, refused a tip, explaining that as a Scout he would not take a tip for doing a Good Turn. This gesture by an unknown Scout inspired a meeting with Robert Baden-Powell, the British founder of the Boy Scouts. As a result, William Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910.

Here is the link to the Scouts in Honduras.