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Category: News and Writing

News about Adam’s writing and other creative projects.

My Dystopian Bookshelf at ALA 2023

Libraries are an important place for book discovery. As an indie author, it’s even more important that I find ways to reach a critical audience of curators: the librarians!

This year I was excited to have an entire shelf to myself featuring my four dystopian novels at the American Library Association’s 2023 conference in Chicago. The event ran from June 22-27. My books appeared in a booth managed by the Independent Book Publishers Association. I’m a proud IBPA member.

Novels by Adam Bender on a shelf at the ALA 2023 conference on a stand for independent publishers. Also displayed are bookmarks for Utopia PR and postcards for The Wanderer and the New West.
Utopia PR bookmark with a quote: "Maybe you see a vicious killing machine that got loose and went on a rampage, but I sure don't ... Why, that there is a hero pup!"
Utopia PR bookmark

I made some really fun Utopia PR bookmarks specifically for the event! I’ve got extras and will try to find a way to make these available in the future. Let me know if you’re interested by tagging me on social media.

I had previously displayed and signed copies of The Wanderer and the New West at a pre-pandemic ALA conference in Washington, DC. I was unable to attend this year’s show in person, but I hope to get out to this excellent conference again in the future.

I love finding out that my books are available in libraries, whatever the format. All four eBook editions of my novels, plus the audiobook editions of my last two books, were accepted into the Indie Author Project and available to participating libraries. Books in physical and digital formats can also be acquired separately through distributors including Ingram and Smashwords. Please contact me if you need help finding my books.

Here are few more photos from ALA 2023. Here’s a fun idea: Try to find my novels in each picture like it’s a Where’s Waldo book!

Thanks to IBPA for taking all of the photos in this post!

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Six Straight Roads, a new short story by Adam Bender

I have a new short story out! It’s called “Six Straight Roads,” and here’s the short description:

Matt tries to be the hero at his friend’s annual Capture the Flag birthday tournament in this coming-of-age short story set in the Philly suburbs. Sweating and covered with sap, Matt learns who his true friends are beneath the shade of a 20-foot-tall pine tree. In the tradition of fellow sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, Adam Bender reflects on his childhood experiences and the innocence of youth.

You can read it for free through Smashwords!

It’s fair to say that “Six Straight Roads” has been a long time coming. I began writing the short story back in 2016. I was trying to come up with ideas, and my wife suggested I should write a short story based on a random title.

“Okay, so what’s the title?” I asked nervously.

She thought for a moment and said, “Six Straight Roads.”

I was stupefied more than inspired. What story could I possibly write with such a mundane yet cryptic title?

But then, as I kept running the title through my mind, I started thinking about the games of Capture the Flag my friends and I used to play in our suburban neighborhood in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The various pleasantly named streets formed a kind of grid that we used to set the boundaries and midpoint of the game’s map. It occurred to me that “six straight roads” could form just such a grid.

So, yeah, even though I’m allegedly a sci-fi author (and a dystopian one at that), I began writing a short story inspired by my childhood adventures in suburbia. But hey, if Ray Bradbury could do it, then so could I!

I quickly wrote the first draft of “Six Straight Roads.” However, I guess it never quite felt finished, because I didn’t release it in 2016. Then I guess I forgot about it for a few years, had a child in 2019 (Happy Father’s Day!), and got caught up in writing Utopia PR. It wasn’t until summer of (gasp) 2021 that I gave it another look.

I had just joined a Philly writers’ meetup group and was looking for something to submit for the group to read. I realized this would be a great opportunity to polish up my rough draft of “Six Straight Roads.” I ended up getting a really encouraging critique from a bunch of great writers. They liked the story and had a bunch of great ideas to make it even better. I took many notes, excited to finally finish the damn thing.

And then I put it off for another year. Okay, but in December 2022, I stopped clicking snooze on my to-do list, sat down, and got to work implementing my fellow writers’ suggestions. I finally whipped the thing into shape!

But then of course I dilly dallied on releasing it … until today! I really hope you enjoy it. It’s been on my mind for forever. Please leave a review on Smashwords or let me know what you think in the comments below.

By the way, there’s something pretty cool about the cover. Can you guess what it is? (The answer is below!)

Cover of “Six Straight Roads” by Adam Bender

Yes, I created the drawing with AI! Like probably all of you, I’ve been pretty flummoxed and frightened by the whole AI craze, but I thought one good use might be to help design a quick cover for a free short story. I’ll still hire real people to design my novels but I can’t afford to do that for every little piece I write.

I used DALL-E through the Microsoft Bing AI chatbot. At first I was thinking more literally about the title and tried to get an image of suburban streets from above, but it was kind of boring.

An AI generated suburban neighborhood. Credit: DALL-E/Bing

My other idea was to focus on the story’s main characters hiding out beneath a pine tree. At first I got some really f-ed up looking children, but specifying a cartoon style helped fix that. I still got a weird one with blank eyes….

Not bad but what’s with that kid’s eyes? Credit: DALL-E/Bing

But then I got the one I ended up using. I was intrigued by how the one kid looked kind of melancholy. It looks like there’s a story there!

Ah, that’s better. Credit: DALL-E/Bing

Oh yeah, those kids really do have a story! It’s called “Six Straight Roads.” Hope you like it!

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I Still Walk Beneath Dystopian Skies

Walking down Broad St in my mask again. Sky is full of smoke from Canada.

Is it bad that, upon seeing a smoke-filled sky, these were some of my first thoughts?

  1. At least it’s not a pandemic.
  2. The air quality danger is down to “very unhealthy,” so I can probably go for a walk!
  3. I’m still going to a rock concert tonight (Temples — very good!).
  4. Hey, now I can use some of my leftover N95 masks! Or maybe I can really get stylish and break out my old cloth masks!

Are we getting used to the kind of thing we used to read about in dystopian novels and post-apocalyptic films like The Road Warrior?

People often ask me if this kind of thing inspires me to write. Honestly, what it inspires me to do is to retreat into a popcorn video game like Marvel’s Midnight Suns or an optimistic TV show like Ted Lasso. Ah… fictional England, all they care about there is the next soccer football match!

I have been working, slowly, on a new novel. I am not addressing the COVID-19 pandemic or our imminent environmental doom. Those are great topics for other authors, but not much of an escape for me.

Yes, I’m still writing in the dystopian genre, and it’s not another comedy (though writing a political satire was a great escape from a depressing series of years!). I’m having a good time figuring out what makes my characters tick, as well as spending more time on the world building as well. In other words, I’ve been taking a lot of notes. However, I’m feeling optimistic that the end product from all this will be worth the effort.

Assuming the world doesn’t end first.

Stay safe, everyone!

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Bender’s Favorite Dystopian Books Foresee a Frightening Future

Dystopian authors like dystopian books! The fine folks at Shepherd, an up-and-coming competitor to Goodreads, recently asked me to write a list of five favorites from the same genre as my debut novel, We, The Watched.

So, without further ado, click the link to peruse: The best dystopian novels that foresee a frightening future!

KRAKOOM!

Scary lightning bolt strike
Photo by Johannes Plenio

For some reason, a lightning strike seemed appropriate after that title.

And no, I didn’t just list all my novels. It’s a mix of classics and some newer books. When you finish, also check out Shepherd’s dystopia bookshelf for more great reads recommended by other authors.

"The best dystopian novels that foresee a frightening future," with cover images for "The Last Policeman" by Ben H. Winters, "Wool" by Hugh Howey, "1984" by George Orwell, "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood, and "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury.

Please sound off in the comments if you’ve read any of my picks, or if you’d like to make some recommendations of your own. I’m always looking for my next read… After all, dystopian authors like dystopian books!

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Audiobook Sale: More Than 50% Off Bender’s Novels

Celebrate the New Year by grabbing the headphone editions of my dystopian novels at a more than 50% discount in my audiobook sale!

I’m running an audiobook sale for the first three months of 2023 on my political satire UTOPIA PR (Now $3.99) and near-future western THE WANDERER AND THE NEW WEST (Now $5.99) audiobooks at Apple, Google, Chirp, B&N, and Spotify! Click the store links below to access the audiobook sale!

Audiobook cover for The Wanderer and the New West by Adam Bender
The Wanderer and the New West for just $5.99!

The Wanderer and the New West was one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2018. A rogue vigilante known only as the Wanderer seeks redemption in a lawless, near-future America that fully protects the rights of armed citizens to stand their ground against mass shooters and motorcycle gangs. $5.99 ($12.50) for a limited time only!

Utopia PR audiobook cover
Adam’s latest novel Utopia PR for just $3.99!

Utopia PR is a sci-fi satire about seeking work-life balance while doing public relations for an authoritarian president. PR extraordinaire Blake Hamner (the n is silent) put off his honeymoon for his big break: joining a major political campaign for president. Now, the “Hammer” struggles to make time for his marriage as Crisis Communications Manager for Our Leader, who since taking power has become increasingly mad and totalitarian. $3.99 ($8.99) for a limited time only!

This deal ends March 31, 2023, so makes sure to act fast!

Happy New Year! May 2023 be ever less dystopian.

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