SPECTRE

Despite the bad reviews that have surfaced lately, I still took the family to see the new James Bond movie. How could I not? I’ve been a fan for the most part of my 43 years. When I was in my teens during the 80s, I was able to see all of the James Bond films from the 60s and 70s. For some reason I can’t recall, the producers saw fit to issue a theater release of them. At a pace of one per month, it took me over a year to catch up. But I consider myself privileged to have experienced all of them in a movie theater, as they were meant to be seen.

I believe every fan grows fond of the first Bond they meet. For me, it was Roger Moore, whom I even met personally when he visited Honduras as a Unicef ambassador. My kids have a soft spot for Pierce Brosnan. However, we all agree that Daniel Craig did a good job of shedding 40 years of patterns and customs with the new beginning that was Casino Royale. That was until now.

So it is safe to say we enjoy the films—all of them, even the maligned Quantum of Solace. Spectre has garnered some bad rep, and yet it is the first movie from Craig that has all the classic elements of a Bond film: the walk down the barrel, the pre-credits sequence, the gadgets, the women, the cars, the unique henchman, and the megalomaniac antagonist with contrived ways of killing 007. Don’t fool yourself, Spectre has it all. In fact, the movie has so many references to previous ones that this should have been the anniversary feature instead of Skyfall.

I think people are put off because we have grown accustomed to a different kind of Bond movie. Daniel Craig’s previous entries have set us up to expect a sober, gadget-free agent, one that is almost too real. So now that we get this throwback action flick which evokes its predecessors it is bad-mouthed. Spectre may not a perfect movie, but I consider it's a good Bond movie if you judge it by the average of 20+ films standards and not just the last three.

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/

2015 Thriller Award Winners.

I share this news basically for two reasons: one that I really really wanted to be present but couldn't make the trip to NYC. And the second, or perhaps the first one if I wanted so damn self-centered (:-) ), is that I coordinated a group of terrific authors/ITW members as a panel for the Best Paperback Original novel. It was an honor and quite a privilege to read so many wonderful novels.

They winners are:

BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL

Megan Abbott – THE FEVER (Little, Brown and Company)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Laura McHugh – THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD (Spiegel & Grau)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL

Vincent Zandri – MOONLIGHT WEEPS (Down & Out Books)

BEST SHORT STORY

Tim L. Williams – “The Last Wrestling Bear in West Kentucky” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Elle Cosimano – NEARLY GONE (Kathy Dawson Books)

BEST E-BOOK ORIGINAL NOVEL

C.J. Lyons – HARD FALL (Legacy Books)

The ITW's Thriller Roundtable

As you know, I coordinate the Thriller Roundtables for the ITW. It is a nice gig that allows me to interact with many wonderful authors from around the globe.

For the month of July, and as part of the Tenth Anniversary of Thriller Fest, we organized the topics around one of the main events of the fest: meeting the agents.

We have four wonderful topics that will be discussed by top-notch agents. Here is the list:

Jul 6 - 12	What is the most common mistake writers make in approaching an agent?
Jul 13 -  19	What is the added-value of agents in the self-publishing model?
Jul 20 - 26	Do agents have regrets about the story that got away?
Jul 27 - Aug 2	When should a writer change agents? Are agents wary of writers with low sales seeking such a change?

The first topic is already open and the agents participating are: Janet Reid, Jennifer Weltz, Albert Longden, Kimberly Cameron, Helen Heller, Michelle Wolfson, Alec Shane, Beth Phelan and John Raab.
The direct link is HERE!

Guest speaker at a local college.

Many thanks to the class of World Lit at Unitec San Pedro Sula for reading FIREFALL, and for asking so many questions during my guest speaker day in their class room this week.

Glad to see young ones reading for the benefit of future generations.

Firefall has a new 5-star review.

A 5 star review for Firefall. This time the reviewers calls me a "rare talent" and something about Mickey Spillane that is not quite a comparison. Loved it! 

I'm telling you, hearing from strangers loving ones work is GOLD.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1102783697?book_show_action=true&page=1

Happy to see Once Cipotes is getting noticed.

In this article, Indiewire lists Once Cipotes as eligible for the 2015 Oscars.

I'm proud to say I wrote the screenplay for that movie, so I'm happy it is getting some traction.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylev...ypes=og.shares