Australian Author To Accept Third Gold Medal In New York City For His Award-Winning Novel

James Houston Turner, speaking to students on his 2011 USA Book TourPRLog (Press Release) - May 15, 2012 -
After winning the USA Book News "Best Thriller of 2011" award and a gold medal in the thriller/suspense category of the 2012 Independent Publisher ("IPPY") Book Awards, Adelaide novelist JAMES HOUSTON TURNER has been honored with a third gold medal in the 2012 Indie Book Awards (action/adventure category). His book, Department Thirteen, is the debut thriller in his Aleksandr Talanov thriller series, which was inspired by the actual KGB agent who leaked word out of Moscow back in the 1980s that Turner was on a KGB watchlist for his smuggling activities behind the old Iron Curtain.

"That guy -- whoever he was -- gave me the idea of a good-guy Russian agent who worked for America during the Cold War. In Department Thirteen, he is wealthy and retired, and living in Australia, where his past comes back to kill him in the form of a mysterious group of assassins from Department Thirteen, the actual assassination and sabotage unit of the KGB from their Balashikha complex near Moscow. Department Thirteen was so dark and secret, they were never officially acknowledged to exist."

Turner says his book's success has been especially rewarding because of how long and difficult the road has been. Originally finished in 1999, Department Thirteen has been worked and reworked numerous times, with Turner being told by countless agents and editors that readers today simply do not not want to read about a protagonist who is not American, or one who has links with the old KGB, or someone living abroad. But his moment came when Comfort Publishing president, Pam Tolen, read his manuscript and ended up signing him for a three-book publishing deal. The gamble paid off, with Turner taking to the open road late last year with a 4500 mile tour across America to promote the book and speak in schools about his personal journey of editorial rejection and surviving cancer. He continues to credit Qantas Airways, G'day USA, and Jacobs Creek wine for helping him reach this point in his career.

With the book winning awards and achieving best-seller status on his 2011 tour, Turner says he is sometimes asked what he thinks the book's appeal with readers is. "It's Talanov, pure and simple," he says. "And his appeal, interestingly, is precisely for the reasons the so-called "experts" rejected it. Reviewer Daniel Cann said it best, when he wrote: 'I find the idea of a hero in his fifties far more interesting and compelling than a superhuman, indestructible, twenty-something, programmed agent. Clearly Talanov is not your typical fifty-something, as he has the conditioning of someone much younger, but it is his brainpower and experience as much as his physical ruggedness that makes him so effective.' "

Turner's writing colleague, national bestselling author Jordan Dane, calls Talanov "a dark sexy hero for the new millennium," echoing another of Cann's comments that Talanov is ". . .one of us. Sherlock Holmes had 'deductive reasoning' and Talanov has 'inverse logic,' and any scene that illustrates his brain power is every bit as thrilling as the ones packed with action" (Cann's comments and reverse interview by Turner, with links to his original review and interview with Turner, can be read in their entirety here: http://jameshoustonturner.blogspot.com.au/).

Jordan Dane agrees, describing Talanov as a "smart, savvy, timeless hero."

"This is why this awards ceremony means so much," explains Turner. "To have Department Thirteen win the USA Book News 'Best Thriller of 2011' had me doing cartwheels. But to actually win two more gold medals -- an IPPY and now and Indie-- and be invited to the lavish Indie Book Awards gala at the Plaza Hotel to collect my gold medal, is an adrenalin rush like nothing I've ever experienced. This is the first time I've won a gold medal in anything."

Greco's Game, the anticipated sequel to Department Thirteen, will be released by Comfort Publishing on September 1st, 2012. The book has its own Facebook page and Turner has created a unique set of "teaser" posters to illustrate scenes from the book. The first poster can be viewed here: http://www.jameshoustonturner.com/greco's_game_poster_the....

ABOUT DEPARTMENT THIRTEEN

Department Thirteen -- the assassination and sabotage unit of the KGB -- never officially existed. But retired KGB colonel Aleksandr Talanov knows that it did, and it's but one of the many secrets he's worked hard to forget.

Now living in Australia, Talanov and dozens of dinner guests are suddenly the target of assassins. On a stroll to the beach with his wife, Talanov and Andrea are mistakenly spared, but soon find themselves running for their lives: hunted by the killers, blamed by the police, increasingly pivotal to an invisible network of death about which they know nothing. But someone thinks they know.

For in 1983, a second Department Thirteen was created and Talanov discovers they have but one purpose: to kill him, whatever the cost.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A native of Kansas, JAMES HOUSTON TURNER turned to writing fiction as a result of his years as a smuggler behind the old Iron Curtain. He has been on a KGB watchlist, organized secret midnight meetings with informants, located hidden mountain bunkers, and investigated legends of forgotten tunnels beneath the cobblestones and bricks of some of Central Europe's most venerated cathedrals. A former journalist in Los Angeles, he holds a Bachelor's Degree from Baker University and a Master's Degree from the University of Houston - Clear Lake. He and his wife, Wendy, a former triathlon winner, live in Adelaide, South Australia.

You may visit him at http://www.jameshoustonturner.com.

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/11874150/1

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India's GVK buys Australian mines

19 September 2011 Last updated at 02:23 GMT Indian companies have been buying coal mines to feed plants at home and fuel India's growth Indian infrastructure giant GVK said it will pay $1.26bn (£802m) to buy a majority stake in coal assets owned by Australia's Hancock Group.

GVK will take a 79% stake in two mines and own a third, as well as a port and rail project, the company said in a statement.

The deal comes after months of negotiations that began in February.

Indian energy firms have been snapping up coal assets in other countries to supply their power plants.

'In-house supply'

Hyderabad-based GVK, controlled by Indian billionaire GV Krishna Reddy, owns airports, power plants and other infrastructure projects in India.

It said it will take a 79% stake in the Alpha and Alpha West coal mines in the Galilee Basin in Queensland, Australia.

The company will also have full ownership of Kevin's Corner coal mine and the rail and port project connecting the three mines.

Production is due to start in 2014 and is expected to bring in more than 30 million tons per year of thermal coal, according to GVK.

"This acquisition builds strong resource business for GVK," said Mr Reddy in a statement emailed to AFP news agency.

"We will now be able to increase the capacity of our coal power business with an assured in-house supply of raw material."

The company said that at full production the mines are expected to produce about 84 million tons per year.

India depends on coal for its power generation needs. Insufficient supplies at home have lead many companies to look to Africa, Indonesia and Australia for the necessary fuel.

Last year, Adani Enterprise bought coal assets from Australia's Linc Energy for $2.7bn.

India's high-profile conglomerates such as Tata and Reliance have also made purchases to supply coal to their power plants in recent years.

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Police probe Australian political sex scandal (AP)

CANBERRA, Australia – Australian police were investigating allegations Tuesday that a lawmaker misused a credit card to pay prostitutes, a political scandal that could bring down the country's fragile government.

New South Wales state police said they are looking into new evidence that government lawmaker Craig Thomson misused a trade union credit card when he was a senior union official in 2005 and 2007.

A conviction for theft or fraud would force Thomson to quit Parliament and cost Prime Minister Julia Gillard's year-old government its single-seat majority.

With opinion polls showing the government has become deeply unpopular, observers agree that the ruling Labor Party would have little hope of retaining Thomson's seat in an ensuing by-election.

Thomson has denied any wrongdoing and Gillard has publicly supported the lawmaker, who was first elected when Labor swept to power in 2007.

The allegation, first raised by a Sydney newspaper in 2009, dates back to when Thomson was national secretary of the Health Services Union. He allegedly used his union credit card to pay a Sydney brothel thousands of dollars of union money in two transactions.

Thomson has denied the allegation and claimed that an unnamed man had taken his credit card and forged his signature. Thomson also said that that man had repaid the money.

Thomson sued the newspaper's owner, Fairfax Media Publications, but dropped that court action in May.

Police have never investigated the allegations because the Health Services Union, which is aligned with Labor, has never made a complaint.

But an opposition senator, George Brandis, wrote to Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione on Monday with new evidence he said showed Thomson had committed a range of crimes, including fraud, which is punishable by 10 years in prison.

The new evidence included a statement from a forensic handwriting expert who said Thomson had probably signed one of the brothel credit card dockets in question. It also included a bundle of recently released court documents that Fairfax would have used in the defamation trial as proof of many more instances in which Thomson allegedly paid prostitutes with the same credit card.

Gillard told Parliament on Tuesday "it would be inappropriate for me to comment further" on the scandal because of the police investigation.

She denied any involvement in a decision by a Labor state branch to pay more than 90,000 Australian dollars ($94,000) toward Thomson's legal bills for settling his defamation case.

"Decisions about finances related to the New South Wales Labor Party are for the New South Wales Labor Party to make," she told Parliament.

The party won't explain the generous gift, but the opposition is convinced it was to prevent Thomson being bankrupted by his legal bills.

Under Australia's Constitution, a lawmaker must quit Parliament if he or she is bankrupt or convicted of a crime that carries a potential prison sentence of at least 12 months.

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Australian man arrested in Ky. in fake bomb case (AP)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A 50-year-old man was captured Monday at his ex-wife's Kentucky home and charged with breaking into an Australian home and chaining a fake bomb to a teenager's neck, the FBI said.

Paul "Doug" Peters was staying at an apartment complex in La Grange, Ky., when he was arrested by a FBI SWAT team, said Elizabeth A. Fries, special agent in charge of the FBI's Kentucky office. La Grange is about 30 miles northeast of Louisville.

He faces charges in Australia that include kidnapping and breaking and entering, said Luke Moore of the New South Wales Police who are located in Sydney. Moore flew to Louisville for the arrest, but would not go into detail about what led police to Peters.

"There was a range of pieces of evidence that led us to identify this suspect," he said at a news conference at FBI offices in Louisville.

Peters is an Australian citizen but has lived in the U.S., including Kentucky.

His ex-wife was not at home at the time of the arrest, and there is no indication she is involved in the case, Moore said.

Peters' initial court appearance was set for Tuesday in Louisville and the extradition process will take about two months, Fries said.

The arrest comes nearly two weeks after 18-year-old Madeleine Pulver was attacked in her home in the wealthy Sydney suburb of Mosman as part of an alleged extortion attempt. Peters had been involved in various businesses but would not elaborate.

She was alone when police say a masked man broke into the house in the middle of the day, chained a device that looked like a bomb to her and left a note with demands before leaving.

Bomb technicians, negotiators and detectives rushed to the scene. Neighboring homes were evacuated, streets were closed and medical and fire crews waited nearby. Pulver spent 10 terrifying hours chained to the device before the bomb squad was able to free her. She was not hurt, and the device was later found to contain no explosives. Australia's prime minister said the event resembled "a Hollywood script."

Police say a note had been attached to the device, but they haven't released details of what it said. Peters had been involved in various businesses but authorities would not elaborate what they involved.

Moore praised the family and said Pulver is "getting on with her life."

The family had been told of the arrest, Moore said.

"Of course, they are relieved that a suspect has been arrested," he said.

Authorities are still investigating why the suspect targeted the young woman, he said.

Police have said they're treating the case as an extortion attempt. The family lives in one of Sydney's ritziest areas and her father, William Pulver, is CEO of an information technology company.

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Associated Press writer Janet Cappiello contributed to this report.

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