The photo above was taken in the Dolomites of northern Italy. My grim smile reflects the fact we were a good two-hour hike away from the shuttle back to town that was due to leave in an hour. We ended up bushwhacking off the mountain and through the forest and made it back to our hotel by dark. A four-hour hike that turned into a ten-hour slog trek.
My thirteenth novel, INTO WRONGDOING, was just awarded First Place in the New Mexico Writers Annual Awards in the Crore Fiction category. It was released in January 206, and is available on Amazon and also directly from publish BookBaby from their online store. This is the fourth installment in the Lily DeFranco series. It has received several five star reviews at the Goodreads site. The first chapter may be in the SAMPLER section of this website A synopsis and an essay on its origins may be found in the BOOKS section. The same informational may be found for the previous novels of this series, THE UNEVEN SURFACE OF THE SOUL, A LIGHTER SHADE OF GRAY, and A CARD NOT PLAYED. I recommend rereading these first three stories to gain an appreciation for the arc of Lilly’ story.
I just completed perhaps the fourth draft of my fourteenth novel, THE CROSSING. I am sure it won’t be the final draft, but I am pleased with the latest version. I have no idea of a possible publication date. It will most likely be after the first of the year. For this story, I strayed into the world of geopolitics and espionage. The setting is Ukraine, and I resurrected the character oft he renowned foreign correspondent Harper Harris for her fifth appearance. I have also brought back Adele Marchand, the German intelligence analyst and Harper’s fellow traveler from the novel STATES OF EXILE. The story involves a Russian defector and former member of Putin’s inner circle who is attempting to cross over into Ukraine and avoid both the Russians but also the Western intelligence agencies. You may find a synopsis and notes in the BOOKS section of this website. The first chapter may be y be found in the SAMPLER section. Stay tuned. ion.
As a note, one of latest novels THE SIREN’S REFRAIN, was selected as a finalist in the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. It continues to draw positive feedback. This story explores themes of aging, mortality, and regret. At its heart, it is a story of a twenty-five-year-on-and-off-again love affair between two complicated individuals who survive not only the passage of time but also the emotional minefields of their own making. The backdrops for their journey include Colorado, Tahiti, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, the Big Island of Hawaii, Nicaragua, Honolulu, the Texas Hill Country, Austin, and the Yucatan.
One of my previous novels, STATES OF EXILE, was receiving some interest for a screenplay adaption but that project is currently dormant. It was selected as a finalist in the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards as was THE ANGEL’S CHAIR. These two books are available through the online book store at www.store.BookBaby.com and from Amazon.
STILL LIFE IN A RED DRESS was selected as a finalist in the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award in the Adventure/Drama category. This novel also won First Place in the Mystery/Suspense category in the 2011 Southwest Writers Workshop Annual Awards. There was a nice mention of this novel on my publisher’s blog site that I have included in my blog.
JACK OF ALL TRADES, the second in the series garnered 2nd place in Southwest Writer’s Workshop annual awards. LANGUAGE OF THE DEAD, the third installment of the series, was selected as a finalist in the 2016 New Mexico-Arizona Book annual awards.
I have included short essays about my books under the BOOKS Header. The first chapters may be found in the SAMPLER Section. As always, I welcome comments and reviews on my blog or the Amazon site.
I became interested in writing novels after receiving encouragement from friends who read my letters relating my travels in Asia and the Pacific. My use of visual imagery and my sense of place are what make my novels as much an escape to a geographical location as the mental landscape of my characters. Tapping into my background in anthropology, I weave into my stories a sense of the mythical and the universal in the human experience – the drama and the conflicts that consume us all, regardless of culture.
For some additional insight into my take on writing fiction, I encourage you to go to my blog page and read my short essay THE ART OF THE LIE. My novels appeal to readers who enjoy an escape to a world outside their experience. My characters, many of them loosely based on actual people, are often complicated and flawed, and for that reason, they don’t fit neatly into one’s expectations of their motives, actions, or the outcomes of my stories. I also like to weave into my stories threads of history, a certain philosophical viewpoint, and my own personal viewpoint of the human condition. What I hope to accomplish is to tell a good story. I hope you enjoy them.
My email is: djung1947@gmail.com cell:505-699-2905