Adam Bender is an award-winning journalist and author of speculative fiction that explores modern-day societal fears with a mix of action, romance and humor.
Bender's latest novel is Utopia PR, a speculative satire about a public-relations specialist who struggles to find work-life balance while managing crisis after crisis for a dystopian American president. It won the 2021 IndieReader Discovery Award for Humor.
Previously, Bender wrote The Wanderer and the New West, a near-future western about a rogue vigilante who seeks redemption in a lawless America that fully protects the rights of armed citizens to stand their ground. Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2018, the novel also won gold for Dystopia in the 2018 Readers’ Favorite Awards and best Western Fiction in the 2018 National Indie Excellence Awards.
Bender authored We, The Watched and Divided We Fall in a dystopian series about an amnesiac who struggles to conform in a surveillance society where the government keeps a Watched list of its own citizens. Also, Bender has published several short stories.
In his day job as a journalist, Bender covers telecom and internet regulation for Communications Daily. He has won awards for his reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Specialized Information Publishers Association, and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
Bender lives in Philadelphia with his wife Mallika and son Rishi. He’s usually a rather modest and amiable fellow.
Learn more about the author at WatchAdam.blog and join The Underground email newsletter for news and info on Adam Bender's latest projects. Follow him on Facebook (wethewatched) and @WatchAdam on Instagram.
I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but I think the protagonist of my next novel is tweeting. According to his Twitter profile, Blake “The Hammer” Hamner also has a business website.
I thought I was writing a novel — a dystopian satire called Utopia PR — but Blake seems to think I’m the co-writer of a very serious non-fiction memoir on his days managing crisis communications for the president.
So yeah, that’s kind of worrying. But hey, 2020 has been pretty weird.
Anyway, he seems to be sharing some savvy public relations tips under his handle, @Utopia_PR, as you can see below. I followed him. Maybe you should follow him, too.
Oy, I think I need a drink.
Utopia PR is coming soon. For updates on my new novel, or Blake’s memoir, or whatever the heck it is, please join the Hammer’s email list. Or mine. Whichever you prefer.
¡Buenas noticias para los lectores en español! David, de Artifacs Libros, me escribió recientemente y me preguntó si podía traducir seis de mis relatos al español. Por supuesto, dije que sí. Estoy muy emocionado de poder llegar a una nueva audiencia de lectores con mi ficción.
El eBook incluye los relatos:
Intercambio de Vida (Life Trade)
Rincón de Fumadores (Smokers Corner)
Día de la Invasión (Invasion Day)
Ojos de Fuego (Fire Eyes),
Una Boda de IntercambioDeVida (A Lifetrade Wedding)
Great news for Spanish-language readers! David from Artifacs Libros reached out recently asking if he could translate six of my short stories intoSpanish. Of course, I said yes. I’m so excited to be able to reach a new audience of readers with my fiction.
This July 4 weekend, I’ve been thinking a lot about America — the good, the bad and the ugly.
It’s a strange time to be an American. We are seeing a lot of ugly fighting between fellow citizens — all in the midst of a deadly virus that doesn’t differentiate between races or parties.
At the same time, I feel an undercurrent of hope. Because more people are recognizing our nation’s problems, maybe we are just at the beginning of a movement toward progress and a better America.
I have been trying to widen my own eyes through reading and discussion. A few friends and I are diving deep into the issue of white privilege through Layla Saad’s workbook, Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor. It is by no means easy to confront the internal prejudices we all carry — no matter how progressive we think we are. However, I recommend giving it a try.
Here are a few other books I’ve been reading lately that have made me consider what it means to be an American.
There There reveals the very real problems of an overlooked Cheyenne population that has never recovered from America’s colonization. There are many stories about the killing of this land’s Indigenous people set in the past as it happened, but I can’t remember one that so well shows the continuing consequences today.
The subject matter can be heavy, covering poverty, alcoholism and violence. However, Tommy Orange writes with an urgency that keeps the pages moving. I enjoyed how the author mixed in pop culture references to keep the story feeling current and now.
The cast of characters is large, making the list of names at the front of the book a valuable feature, but this does offer the reader a fuller range of perspectives. The approach might work even better as a two-hour film where seeing actors might make it easier to remember who everyone is and how they are related.
This book had me from the title! What better way to make Superman relevant than to write a story about the prejudices faced by immigrants? Superman is, after all, an alien.
What’s really cool about this book is that it’s targeted at a younger audience. With art by the guys who do Avatar comics, this is a fully accessible way to start teaching your kids about America’s history with racism and hate groups like the Klan. It also provides an under-told perspective of the struggles faced by Chinese American families in the late ’40s.
This was a fun introduction to a family that fights demons that fuel racism in America. Bitter Root is like the social justice version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Creators Walker and Brown keep the pages turning with a lot of movement on each page. The characters each have their own personalities, keeping things light even in the face of true horror. I haven’t seen monsters this gruesome since Animal Man, Volume 1: The Hunt.
I’m hoping subsequent volumes go a little deeper into each Sangeyre family member’s backstory. For a cold open, volume one really gets the reader’s attention. Excited to see where the story goes from here…
A great follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale that should please fans of that book and the TV show alike. Overall, this is a more optimistic book that’s far less brutal than what we’re used to in this world. Not that bad stuff doesn’t happen, but hope permeates throughout. Probably, that is the very kind of dystopian novel we need in these unusual times.
Atwood has a fluid way of communicating that makes reading this novel a breeze, even though she never dumbs things down or writes sensationally like typical mainstream fare. This could have been a lazy money grab after the success of the TV show, but Atwood has written a worthy sequel that should stand the test of time just like its forebearer.
Great collection of fantasy and sci-fi short stories by an author with a unique, refreshing voice. Enjoyed how Jemisin brings in New Orleans and other elements unusual to the genre. Some stories are stronger than others, but there are quite a few collected here with no real clunkers in the set. If you’ve been looking for something new in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, this is for you.
This is my first as a dad myself. My son Rishi will be turning one next month and I couldn’t be prouder! At this time last year, I don’t think I knew quite what to expect. Would I be a good dad? Would he think so? Well, 11 months later, I wouldn’t say I’m an expert at this, but I think I might be at least starting to get the hang of it! He’s a great kid and I’m looking forward to many more Father’s Days ahead!
It all makes me appreciate my own dad even more! There’s a lot of great things to say about that guy, but for brevity’s sake, let’s just highlight one — he’s one heck of a musician! The elder Bender plays guitar, banjo, harmonica, mandolin and more, and he’s always recording when he’s home. I think you’ll dig it if you like folk music, or artists like Bert Jansch, Mark Knopfler and Richard Thompson.
Earlier this month, he released a new digital single called “If You Could Convince Me.” It’s available now on Apple, Spotify, Google/YouTube Music and all the other usual suspects! Here it is below on YouTube and Spotify.
You should also check out the album he released a few years ago, Terrain!
Hope you enjoy! Happy Father’s Day, Dad! And to all the other pops out there, have a super-fantastic day!
In my last blog post, I told you the manuscript for my next novel was ready for a professional edit. Today, I’m happy to announce that Jim Spivey will be returning to edit Utopia PR.
Jim did a bang-up job proofreading my last novel, The Wanderer and the New West. Without getting too in-the-weeds on the nuances of editing, he will be doing a more intensive copy edit this time around (another editor did this for The Wanderer). Jim brings 20+ years of experience in the publishing industry, including at Hachette, DC Comics and Kirkus. Check out his website for more.
While I wait for Jim’s edits, I will be taking a much-needed break to catch up on video games (Life is Strange 2, Super Mega Baseball 3, Pokemon Shield and others…), TV shows (Devs, Afterlife, Space Force…) and books (There There, The Dark Forest and several comics). Even creators gotta consume, sometimes.
