Booker-Lowe Gallery In Houston To Host Reception for Award-Winning Australian-American Novelist

Aug. 30, 2011 - PRLog -- HOUSTON, TEXAS: Comfort Publishing and The Honorable Nana Booker AM, Australia's Honorary Consul of the State of Texas, are proud to announce that the Booker-Lowe Gallery in Houston will host an exclusive reception on Wednesday, September 14th at 6:00 PM to launch James Houston Turner's North American tour for Department Thirteen.

This prestigious invitation-only event will include media, as well as many prominent Australian-Americans in the community. The gallery features Aboriginal Australian art, which makes it an ideal place for Mr. Turner, a resident of Australia, to begin his tour. Turner once lived in Houston and studied at the University of Houston - Clear Lake.

Thirty minutes before the event, Mr. Turner will make himself available to the media for interviews.

The following day, a public launch will take place at University of Houston-Clear Lake, when the book officially becomes available in the United States.

Department Thirteen is a fast-moving thriller about ex-KGB informant Aleksandr Talanov and his attempts to move on with life after his work with the KGB. Now living in Australia, Talanov and dozens of dinner guests are suddenly the target of assassins. Talanov and his wife escape, 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.

The novel has received critical acclaim and much fanfare, and Mr. Turner has received praise and support for his novels and tour from the likes of 24 master villain, Adoni Maropis (who played Abu Fayed), NCIS: Los Angeles star, LL Cool J, Avatar star, Sam Worthington, the Dallas Morning News, Who magazine, News Ltd, and 2-time Emmy Award nominee, Glenda Shaw.

What really takes this book beyond your typical spy-thriller is the author himself. As a former smuggler and courier in the days of the Iron Curtain, Turner has firsthand experiences that lend credence to the story. Important details and authentic nuances abound, leaving readers unveiled to a longtime-secret world.

Says Turner, “Although Department Thirteen is a work of fiction, Talanov himself is based on an actual KGB informant who leaked word out of Moscow that I was on a KGB watchlist and being followed in San Diego, where I was living at the time. That informant is what gave me the idea of a good-guy KGB agent who helped America during the Cold War, and my "Talanov Thriller Series" is a dedication to him and the incredible work that he did for me and countless others. When people follow Talanov's exploits in my books, they can know the man behind the man really did exist.”

Throughout the book tour, Mr. Turner will also be holding motivational speaking engagements for what he calls his "Too Ugly Tour" into schools, where he discusses his triumph over cancer and his newfound success as an author when so many others wrote him off in life. "It's a dedication," he says, "to being turned down for a customer service job in Australia because I was too ugly -- a reference to the facial scars I carry from my successful 1991 battle against cancer." His speaking topics for students include not letting the hard knocks and shallow judgments of life defeat you.

Sponsors of the tour include Qantas Airways, Jacob's Creek wine, King Island Dairy, and the University of Houston-Clear Lake.

James Houston Turner holds a Bachelor‟s Degree from Baker University and a Master‟s Degree from the University of Houston - Clear Lake. Originally from Kansas, he has worked as a journalist in Los Angeles, and currently divides his time between Australia and California.

Turner also wrote The Identity Factor, which has its roots at the University of Houston - Clear Lake, where he stumbled on the unique literary construction of the biblical book of Genesis, which forms the backbone of his modern-day thriller in the form of an ancient Egyptian tablet that has explosive implications for the Middle East today. The book received outstanding reviews upon its release in Australia, where it scooped finalist awards in four US book competitions, including the National Best Books Awards and the Eric Hoffer Award . It has been released internationally as an e-book, has been adapted for film, and its physical release in the United States is set for this autumn in conjunction with his US tour.

For more information on Mr. Turner, visit http://www.jameshoustonturner.com or http://www.toouglytour.com. For these and other Comfort Publishing titles, visit http://www.comfortpublishing.com.