What's New

I have two story acceptances that made this past week a great one. The first came from Bo Savino of Koboca Publishing. She accepted my story VICTIM NOTIFICATION for "The EX Factor". I'm looking forward to seeing this book in print. This latest acceptance brings my total to three stories that will be included in the book. All three are murder mysteries and they take place in southeastern Louisiana.

My second acceptance came from Don Webb of Bewildering Stories. I submitted THE AVENGING BULLET for his consideration and he accepted it with a few suggested changes. I made the changes and the story became better for it. It will be appearing in the September 12th issue, or sooner. This is a reprint that originally appeared in the May 2005 issue of FAME.

In addition to my acceptances, this week I'm anxiously awaiting my book signing that will take place at 11:00 AM this Saturday, July 29th, at LA Cajun Stuff in the Southland Mall. I'm hoping this will be a breakout event for me. Admittedly, marketing my own work is not one of my strongest points. I'm working on trying to change that part of me -- it's not easy!

I hope everyone is having a great summer. Things have been a bit wet here. It's good because it cools things down a bit, but it makes the grass grow like Jack's beanstalk. Well, that's all for this week. Take it easy and keep reading and writing.

MONDAY, JULY 17, 2006

I have another story up at Flashing in the Gutters this week. It's called TWELVE GAUGE RESCUE and it was inspired by a real event that happened to me a few years ago. The story can be found here and if anyone is interested in learning the "story behind the story", they can email me at bjbourg@bjbourg.com and I'll gladly pass it on. I can't post it here, because it'll ruin the ending for anyone wishing to read it.

I have a book signing scheduled for 11:00 AM on Saturday, July 29th, at LA Cajun Stuff in the Southland Mall in Houma, LA. If you're in the area, stop by and say hello.

Well, it's back to writing for me. I'm currently in the middle of a few short stories and I hope to finish one in particular tonight. I've finished my novel and I wish to thank Verna Dufrene, Lucille Perkins, and Leslie Richard for reading it and offering their feedback. Of course, I have to also thank my beautiful wife for her patience and input. I have never submitted a story that she didn't read first. I bounce everything off of her and I attribute what little success I have to her support.

That's all for today, folks. Have a great week and keep reading and writing!

MONDAY, JULY 10, 2006

Okay, I’ve had a very busy couple of weeks and I’m not quite sure where to start. My son went to Space Camp in Huntsville, AL and my wife and I took my daughter to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, TN. We all had a great time. It was non-stop fun. Somewhere during that time, I somehow found a minute here and a minute there to write a few stories. Of course, this mostly came after midnight while everyone else was sleeping. Two of the stories I wrote on this vacation are up at Flashing in the Gutters. One is titled SLOW CHILDREN and the other is titled REVOLUTION.

The first story came to me after my good friend Winona Cross, who is a fiction writer, mentioned an incident that took place in her neighborhood where a little girl was hit by a vehicle. The girl died in Winona’s arms as Winona performed CPR on her. My heart goes out to Winona and the family of the little girl and I hope people who read the story will get the message, "Slow, children at play!" To read SLOW CHILDREN, click here.

The second story came to me while I was at Dolly's Splash Country in TN. Two couples in their apparent fifties had just ascended the Big Bear Plunge. The first couple jumped up energetically and were running for the stairs to ride it again. The other female stretched out in the raft and trembled for a while. It appeared she was about to cry. Her husband stood staring in disgust and finally walked away, leaving her to recover on her own. When the worker helped her to her feet, she stumbled out of the water. Her husband shook his head and walked off, not even looking back. From that scene sprung REVOLUTION. When my wife read it, she said she was glad I wrote it after we were already home. To read REVOLUTION, click here.

Additionally, I have a third story up at Flashing in the Gutters. I wrote that story prior to leaving for vacation. It's called BABY COME GET SOME. To read it, click here.

As I mentioned, I had a great time on my vacation. Cathy, Gracie, and I had a chance to spend a couple of days with Brandon in Huntsville before sending him off, so that was nice. He completed the Mach II session of Aviation Challenge. He was very excited about going and had a great time. He met some cool friends and he said the counselors were great.

We took Gracie back to the Smoky Mountains. We visited Dollywood, Splash Country, Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, Ripley's Aquarium, Ripley's Moving Theatre, Ripley's Davy Crockett Putt-Putt Golf Course, Dolly's Dixie Stampede, and Boyd's Bear Factory. We mixed in a couple of trips to the mountains, including a stop over at Clingmans Dome (at 6643 feet, it's the highest point in Tennessee), and walked up and down the streets of Gatlinburg several times. It's a very beautiful place -- and also where I found my new favorite slogan on a bumper sticker; "Marriage is the only war where you sleep with the enemy."

As we drove through Gatlinburg on Monday, we passed a tattoo shop and I jokingly said I should get another tattoo. My wife seemed to love the idea. We found a parking lot and walked to the tattoo shop. I didn't like the feel of the place, so we walked down the street looking for another shop. I saw this Native American Indian standing on a corner, so I stopped and asked which was the best tattoo parlor in Gatlinburg. He pointed to a shop called Mountain Revelations and guaranteed me they were the best in Tennessee. I walked in and immediately liked the atmosphere. The place was clean, professional, and the owner, David English, was very accommodating. I had to wait a while to get in a chair, because there were quite a few people wanting to get stung. It was definitely a popular place. I scheduled a time to return for my body art and we drove through the mountains while waiting.

When we returned to Mountain Revelations, I met Tattoo Artist Mitch Cooper. I wanted a tattoo of boxing gloves (one of my passions) with the names of my children (my ultimate passions) beneath them. Cooper didn't have a sample of that, but it was no problem. He drew up a cool set of boxing gloves and, with perfect penmanship, inserted the names "Brandon" and "Gracie". He went to work on the tattoo and did an excellent job. It was the best souvenir I could've taken out of the mountains. If any of you are ever in Gatlinburg and you feel the itch to get a tattoo, visit Mitch and David over at Mountain Revelations. It's located at 386 Parkway in Gatlinburg and their telephone number is (865)604-9913. You can tell them I sent you. It won't mean anything and they probably won't know who you're talking about, but you can still tell them. :-) Seriously, they'll treat you right and they do good work.

If anyone is interested in viewing some pictures from my Mountain Revelations tattoo experience, click here.

Well folks, that about wraps up another segment of "What's New". I'll be posting new pictures from our vacation soon, so be sure to check out the "Photo Gallery" page. Thanks for stopping by and I wish all of you a great week. Until next time, keep reading and writing!