Teaser from BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

November 1, 2015Mystery, Novel, WritingBJ Bourg

Here’s a short teaser from my upcoming novel, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN:

I continued down the street, and Susan pointed ahead to a small trailer on the right.

“That should be it,” she said.

I pulled to the side of the road in front of the trailer and parked parallel to it. After throwing the gearshift in park, I stepped out and walked around the front of the Tahoe and met Susan near a small ditch. We paused to scan the area. An older model Caprice sat in the muddy driveway. The yard was clean, with the exception of an old dog kennel that lay on its side. “I need one of those for—”

A gunshot suddenly erupted from the area of the trailer and the taillight on my passenger’s side exploded into tiny shards.

“Holy shit!” Susan dropped to her face beside the Tahoe and scrambled on all fours around the back of the SUV until she reached the other side and it was between her and the trailer.

Another shot rang out and the headlight on the passenger’s side blew out.

BUT NOT FORGOTTEN, the first in my Clint Wolf Mystery Series, will be available in e-book form through the publisher, Amber Quill Press, on December 6, 2015, and the print version will be out soon after. Please help me spread the word.

Whatever you do in life, make sure to leave a mark!

bjb

Cover Reveal for BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

October 25, 2015Mystery, Novels, WritingBJ Bourg

I’m really excited about my next novel, which is titled BUT NOT FORGOTTEN and is due out December 6, 2015 through Amber Quill Press. This will be the first in a series of books featuring Clint Wolf. Clint’s a tortured soul who works as chief of police for a small swampy town in southeast Louisiana called Mechant Loup. He mans a four-person department that includes Sergeant Susan Wilson, a strong female officer who moonlights as a cage fighter.

When a severed arm is found in the jowls of an alligator, Clint and his team must work to figure out to whom it belongs and how it got there. I hope everyone will check it out when it’s available.

Here’s the cover art:

My German Shepherd climbs a fence…just to get to me.

October 25, 2015Dog, Funny, German ShepherdBJ Bourg

I was sitting on the swing in the backyard yesterday researching reasons why chickens lose their feathers. I’d been there for about ten minutes when, all of a sudden, I felt something sniffing my leg. I looked down and saw that it was Kristof, who was supposed to be confined to the fenced-in area. Befuddled, I turned to see if anyone had let him out, but both gates were secure.

I put him back in the fenced enclosure and returned to the swing to see how he escaped, but he just sat there smiling at me. I figured he wouldn’t do anything while I was watching, so I aimed my phone in his direction and turned my head to face the chicken coops. Satisfied I couldn’t see him, he quickly made his escape and ended up right beside me again.

Here’s how he did it:

Back from “Cops and Authors” Mystery Writers Conference

September 29, 2015Sniper, Writers ConferenceBJ Bourg

Amanda and I recently returned from the “Cops and Authors” Mystery Writers Conference that took place at the East Bank Regional Library in Metairie, LA. I presented “Inside the Mind of a Police Sniper” and Amanda presented “Trauma and PTSD Symptoms”, both designed to assist writers in developing realistic and believable characters in their fiction.

Chris Smith, adult programming manager at the Jefferson Parish Library, invited us to speak at the event. We first met Chris at the Jambalaya Writers’ Conference in Houma, LA back in April, and we were honored to accept his invitation. Chris is a gracious host, and we appreciate him giving us the opportunity to be a part of his conference.

As for Amanda and me, it was our first time presenting together and we both had tons of fun. We met some great people (most of them writers) and had a wonderful time visiting with them. I’m eternally grateful to everyone who purchased copies of my books. I’m a writer at heart, not a salesperson, and I’m humbled each time someone decides to purchase something I created.

As we often do with writing events for me or running events for Amanda, we made a “staycation” out of the conference. We ordered take-out from P.F. Chang’s and had a picnic in our hotel room. It was nice to have some alone time and get some rest from our grueling home workouts. We even got to sleep in the next morning, waking up at about 7:30 AM.

Thanks to Chris’ invitation, we had a rewarding and fun weekend, and I even got to finally meet O’Neil De Noux, a writer I e-met a hundred years ago (or so it seems) on Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Now, it’s back to work editing BUT NOT FORGOTTEN, which will be published through Amber Quill Press within the next several months. This is the first in a new mystery series for me, where I will introduce tortured lawman Clint Wolf, who has gone from big city homicide detective to small-town police chief after enduring some personal tragedies. I had fun writing this book and I look forward to some feedback. If anyone would like a complimentary copy in exchange for their honest review, please send me a personal message at bjbourg[@]bjbourg.com.

Thanks for visiting and reading!

“Cops and Authors” Mystery Writer’s Conference in Metairie, LA

September 26, 2015Sniper, Writers ConferenceBJ Bourg

Cops and Authors!

East Bank Regional Library Hosts Its First Ever Mystery Writing Conference

METAIRIE, LA – “Cops and Authors,” a small mystery writer’s conference featuring three police officers/authors, will occur at 10 a.m., on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

The meeting is free of charge and is open to the public. Books will be available for sale to those who would like to purchase them.

“Cops and Authors” is designed to provide hands-on, practical information to local mystery and crime writers, but it is also open to anyone who wants to understand more fully the concepts of police procedure.

10 a.m. – “New Orleans as a Partner in Crime”

O’Neil De Noux, Southeastern Louisiana University Police Department Detective, Hammond

Crime writer and crime fighter O’Neil De Noux will open the conference with a presentation titled “New Orleans as a Partner in Crime” that focuses on the mysteries that have occurred in the city, but also explores the city as a character in its own right.

Much of De Noux’s writing is character-driven crime fiction, although he has written in many disciplines including historical fiction, children’s fiction, mainstream fiction, science-fiction, suspense, fantasy, horror, western, literary, religious, romance, humor and erotica.

At the World Mystery Convention in 2007, the Private Eye Writers of America awarded its Shamus Award to De Noux for Best Short Story to “The Heart Has Reasons.” The story features De Noux’s private eye Lucien Caye. De Noux was also the 2009 Derringer Award winner for Best Novella for “Too Wise” – another Lucien Caye private eye mystery. Another De Noux story, “The Bonnie and Clyde Caper” featuring New Orleans Police Homicide Detective John Raven Beau was runner up in the Derringer Award Best Long Story category.

In March 2011, the novel John Raven Beau was published by Big Kiss Productions, which was named 2011 Police Book of the Year by Police-Writers.com, a group of more than 1100 state and local law enforcement officials from state and local law enforcement agencies who have written more than 2500 police books. In January 2012, after six months of intensive research and 18 months of non-stop writing, De Noux published Battle Kiss, a 320,000 word epic of love and war set against the panorama of the Battle of New Orleans.

In 2012, O’Neil De Noux was elected Vice-President of the Private Eye Writers of America.

11:15 a.m., “Cop Culture”

Robert S. Hecker, Police Chief, Harbor Police Department, Deputy Director of Operations, Port of New Orleans

Chief Robert Hecker is on the verge of submitting his debut crime novel to agents. Titled The Accidental Vigilante, the mystery focuses on a young cop who secretly takes the law into his own hands in the hopes of helping keep New Orleans safe. But when his good intentions result in several homicides, he becomes a person of interest to NOPD and a vicious crime ring that wants him and his family dead.

Chief Hecker began his police career in law enforcement with the New Orleans Police Department. During his 28-year career with NOPD, Chief Hecker was awarded three Keys to the City, three Medals of Merit, 14 Letters of Commendation and Supervisor of the Year Award. Chief Hecker rose to the rank of Captain and served as District Commander before retiring in 1995.

Chief Hecker was appointed Police Chief for the Harbor Police Department-Port of New Orleans in October 1995. Under his command is a Uniformed Patrol Force, Marine Division, Police Academy, Detective Division with representatives on the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the BEST Task Force. All police officers with the department are fully trained and POST-certified. Chief Hecker also manages the Port’s Emergency Response Firetug Vessel, “The Gen. Roy S. Kelley,” and the team of firefighters who staff the vessel.

12:30 p.m. – “Inside the Mind of a Police Sniper” and “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”

B.J. Bourg, patrol cop, detective and SWAT officer
Amanda Bourg, PhD, psychologist

B.J. Bourg will discuss the facts and myths surrounding sniper work, focusing on the type of training necessary to enable a sniper to take a life. Bourg and his wife Amanda, will talk about post-traumatic stress disorder and how to develop believable characters with P.T.S.D.

Bourg is a 25-year veteran of law enforcement and has worked as a patrol cop, detective, police academy instructor, SWAT officer, sniper leader, and chief investigator for a district attorney’s office. He is a former professional boxer and a lifelong martial artist.

More than 185 of his short stories and articles have appeared in magazines such as Woman’s World, Boys’ Life, Tactical Response, and LAW and ORDER. He is also the author of three mystery novels: Hollow Crib, (2016), The Seventh Taking (2015), and James 516 (2014).

Amanda Bourg, PhD, is a psychologist at a rural outpatient clinic for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Louisiana. She received her doctorate degree in counseling psychology from Oklahoma State University and a post-doctorate master’s degree in clinical psychopharmacology from Alliant International University. Dr. Bourg has extensive experience treating people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression, and one of her research articles was published in the 2006 Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma.

For more information regarding this presentation, contact Chris Smith, manager of adult programming for the library, at (504) 889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.

In accordance with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Jefferson Parish shall not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities on the basis of disability in its services, programs or activities. Library patrons that require auxiliary aids or devices or other reasonable accommodation under the ADA should submit requests to the ADA Coordinator at least 48 hours in advance or as soon as possible. A 72-hour notice is needed to request Certified ASL interpreters. ADA Coordinator / Office of Citizens with Disabilities, 1221 Elmwood Park Blvd., Suite 210 Jefferson, LA 70123; (504) 736-6086; ADA@jeffparish.net

The Jefferson Parish Library system consists of 16 locations that stretch from the Lakeshore Branch on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the Grand Isle Branch just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. The library system consists of two large regional libraries and seven branches on each side of the Mississippi River. The East Bank Regional Library (4747 W. Napoleon Avenue, Metairie) serves as library headquarters. For more information, contact the library at (504) 838-1100.

American Canine Sniper

September 9, 2015Dog, SniperBJ Bourg

While the rest of the world’s population is training their dogs to sit and fetch, I’m teaching mine to be a sniper like his daddy. In order to be effective as a sniper and to stay safe, you have to remain unseen. Thus, the first thing I’m teaching my American Canine Sniper is to be invisible. See for yourself:

Next, I’ll teach him how to shoot my sniper rifle…

Thanks for reading!

BJ Bourg is the author of JAMES 516 (Amber Quill Press, 2014), THE SEVENTH TAKING (Amber Quill Press, 2015), and HOLLOW CRIB (Five Star-Gale-Cengage, 2016).

© 2015 BJ Bourg

BUT NOT FORGOTTEN to be published by Amber Quill Press!

September 3, 2015WritingBJ Bourg

My latest mystery novel, which is titled BUT NOT FORGOTTEN, will be published by Amber Quill Press late this year or early next year. This will be my third novel through Amber Quill Press, with my first two being JAMES 516 (2014) and THE SEVENTH TAKING (2015), and I’m proud to say I’m one of their authors.

BUT NOT FORGOTTEN is the first in a planned series under the subtitle, “A Clint Wolf Mystery”, and it features Police Chief Clint Wolf as the main protagonist, along with his sidekick Susan Wilson, a no-nonsense police sergeant who moonlights as a cage fighter. This was a fun book to write and I can’t wait to introduce these characters and this story to the world.

If you’ve read my other books and liked them, I hope you will check this one out, too. If you’ve never read anything I’ve written, I invite you to check out one or more of my books or short stories and let me know what you think.

I will post more information and updates as they become available.

Thanks for visiting and reading!

bjb

Dry Falls near Highlands, North Carolina

August 29, 2015Travel, WaterfallBJ Bourg

During our recent North Carolina vacation, we visited over a dozen waterfalls, including Dry Falls. If you’re looking for a waterfall that’s easily accessible from the highway and one you can walk behind, this is it.

Dry Falls is located along US 64/NC 28 between Franklin and Highlands (about 14 miles southeast of Franklin), which is a nice and scenic drive. There’s a “Dry Falls” sign marking your approach and the sizable parking lot is easy to spot from the road, so it’s hard to miss–unlike some of the other falls in the area.

Once you make it to the parking lot, you simply have to descend a stone staircase and take a very short stroll along a paved sidewalk to the falls. The walkway crosses behind the falls and to either side, so you can photograph it from varying angles.

If you’re in the area and you want to visit waterfalls, this one is definitely a “must see”.

BJ Bourg is the author of JAMES 516 (Amber Quill Press, 2014), THE SEVENTH TAKING (Amber Quill Press, 2015), and HOLLOW CRIB (Five Star-Gale-Cengage, 2016).

Flat Tires and Websites

August 17, 2015TravelBJ Bourg

Ever got a flat? If so, did you stand there kicking the tire and cursing, or did you simply roll up your sleeves and get to work? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the longer you stand there throwing a fit, the longer you’ll be stuck on the side of the road. After all, the tire won’t change itself. As for me, I’ve gotten a number of flats and I prefer to immediately jump out the truck and change it. I don’t waste time complaining or wishing it hadn’t happened. I recognize that, in this life, we’re going to get a flat every now and then . . . how bad it ruins our day depends on us.

Well, after having spent a great family vacation in the mountains of North Carolina, I came home to a bunch of “flats”. Not flat tires, but two crashed websites, a broken Jeep GC, and a dead lawnmower battery (in southeastern Louisiana, if you skip a week of cutting your grass you wouldn’t be able to see your house). I “jumped” the lawnmower and cut the grass, then went right to work on trying to fix the websites.

Long story short, after staying up all night for a couple of nights and spending hours on the phone with my hosting people, I conceded that my two websites, BJ Bourg and Righting Crime Fiction, had been somehow rendered inoperable and I’d have to rebuild them. I rolled up my sleeves and went to work. After I got them up and running, I was advised to switch to a different hosting plan to avoid having those same problems recur. Instead of “kicking my tire” and asking why they didn’t tell me that in July when I’d extended my hosting plan for another year, I simply bought the new hosting plan and went back to work. After staying up all night again, and with the help of a hosting employee named Seth Johnston, I got everything switched over to the new hosting plan.

While it might seem hard to imagine that something good could come out of a week of wasted nights, it actually happened. I had decided to start publishing an online magazine called Flash Bang Mysteries and I was going to run it through Righting Crime Fiction, which never did set well with me. While I was rebuilding stuff, I decided to buy the domain name flashbangmysteries.com and build a site dedicated to the magazine. So, in addition to a healthy sense of accomplishment, something good definitely came out of all of this mess after all.

As for the Jeep, I checked all of the local auto shops, but no one had the part. They had to special-order it and it doesn’t come in until Tuesday. Not the best news, but kicking the tire and complaining about it won’t solve the problem.

The Joys and Pain of Running

July 26, 2015RunningBJ Bourg

For those of you who know us, it’s no secret Amanda loves to run and I hate it. My lifelong creed has been, “I don’t need to practice running away . . . I plan to stand and fight,” while one of Amanda’s lifelong dreams has been to run a marathon. No big deal, right? I could simply meet her at the finish line. However, there’s a catch . . . she doesn’t want to run it alone. Can ya see how that might cause a conflict?

Well, when you love someone, you make sacrifices. This is never truer than when you become a parent. In my mind, parents should put the needs and wants of their children before their own. Similarly, I think individuals in relationships should put the needs and wants of their partner before their own. At least it’s what I try to do, and, since Amanda loves to run and I love her, guess who’ll be running a marathon in February???

Back around the time we first met, Amanda was already signed up for a half marathon and I decided to run it with her. A bold move for someone who’d never run more than about five miles at a time in his life and who refused to run unless he was chasing a fugitive, but I figured, “How hard could it be?” Sure, I tried to supplement my fight workouts with running over the years, but after running a mile or two here and there, I’d get bored and stick to fighting. In any event, we ran the half marathon with no training (Amanda was too busy falling in love with me to train and I hadn’t had time to do any fight training since becoming a single dad) and we finished at 2:57:26.

Neither of us cared about our time, but when Amanda recently started talking about the marathon coming up in February, she explained that we had to complete it in under seven hours or we wouldn’t “finish”. Knowing how important it was to her, I decided to start running with her to prepare for it. It didn’t take me long to realize some things had changed since the last time I’d run.

I began experiencing pain in the front of my ankles that grew increasingly worse as I ran and there was pain in the front of my knee throughout the run. I ran with Amanda a few different times and started experiencing the ankle pain earlier in the run, which seemed to indicate it was getting worse. Certainly not wanting to cause permanent damage over “running”, I slowed my pace to a fast walk, which was equivalent to Amanda’s slow jog, and would jog intermittently. The pain returned when I jogged, but subsided when I walked.

Knowing I had to move faster than I was, I did some research online to try and fix the problems. The knee problem was fixed with a simple Patellar tendon strap. The ankle problem, not so simple.

I went to a popular medical site and learned what I was experiencing was possibly anterior ankle impingement. According to this website, I would have to have surgery or die. (Not really, but when you research your symptoms on the internet, doesn’t it always seem like you end up dead?) Other than surgery, the site suggested a long resting period and slow rehabilitation with a physical therapist. It also said something about the tibia rubbing against the bones of my ankle due to the angle of flexion . . . or something like that. I quit paying attention when they mentioned a physical therapist. I’m a do-it-myselfer and was looking for options I could do at home to solve the problem.

Unconvinced, I turned to one of Amanda’s books, THE EVERYTHING RUNNING BOOK and looked up “anterior ankle pain”. They suggested skipping the top lace on my running shoes, because it put pressure on the tendon at the front of the ankle (I forget the name of the tendon, so I’ll just call it the tendon at the front of the ankle:-). I skipped the top lace and went out jogging one day last week, but still experienced pain in my ankles.

That brings us to this morning. Amanda woke up bright and early to go running. She was trying really hard to be quiet as she slipped out of bed and returned to the room with a cup of coffee, but I’m a ninja and woke up when she thought about getting out of bed. I decided I would go “fast-walking” again and see if I could keep up with her quicker jogging pace. It took her about twenty minutes to get ready and I popped out of bed as she was walking out the door and still beat her outside.

We hadn’t gone half a mile when my “fast-walk” pace brought on the pain in my ankles. I told Amanda to just go ahead and get her workout in. As I walked, I began thinking about everything I’d read and considered what I was doing. I remembered reading that my tibia could be rubbing the bones of my ankles because of flexion. During my “fast-walk”, I had extended my stride and caused a deep flexing of my ankles. Although I’d been told all of my life to land on my heels and roll toward my toes when I ran, I decided to discard that philosophy. I began utilizing a shuffling motion to jog, landing flat-footed and taking smaller, quicker steps. This greatly decreased the amount of flexing in my ankles.

I ran with no pain until I caught up to Amanda. When I told her what I’d discovered, she told me she’d read somewhere that a runner with anterior ankle problems should land on the balls of their feet. (I know what you’re thinking . . . why didn’t she tell me that earlier? I thought the same thing until I realized how distracting it must be for her to watch my hot mess running around the neighborhood. And when I say “hot mess”, I mean covered in sweat from my ball cap to my socks–not a pretty sight.)

In any event, we ran 5.5 miles in just over an hour and I didn’t feel any more pain. It was a big relief to finally figure out the cause of the pain and solve the problem, because I really want to give Amanda what she wants . . . and she wants to finish the marathon in under six hours.

“So, then,” you might ask, “Wherein lies the “joys” of running for a person who hates to run?” The truth? The act of running brings me absolutely no joy. I hate it now as much as I ever did. However, the joy comes from spending quality time with the person I love, doing what she loves to do.

BJ Bourg is the author of JAMES 516 (Amber Quill Press, 2014), THE SEVENTH TAKING (Amber Quill Press, 2015), and HOLLOW CRIB (Five Star-Gale-Cengage, 2016).