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Utopia PR Audiobook Coming July 1! ARC Out Nowheadphones near smartphone and cappuccino on cafe table

Utopia PR Audiobook Coming July 1! ARC Out Now

Published by Adam on April 16, 2022

I am excited to announce that the Utopia PR audiobook will be released July 1, 2022, on most popular retail sites, including Audible and Barnes & Noble (click to pre-order).

Want to read the book early? If you’re happy to write a review, you can listen to the Utopia PR audiobook from now until June 12 on NetGalley! Thank you in advance for your help creating buzz and spreading the word. I’m an indie author so this is really the biggest way you can help me, even more than paying for my books (though that is also appreciated, of course)!

Utopia PR audiobook
Narrated by Tristan Wright

I recently had to approve the audio recordings of each chapter to make sure they were just right. Let me tell you, it was an absoltue blast listening to narrator Tristan Wright bring my book to life. I know I might be biased, but I daresay the book is even funnier read aloud. Wright brings out all the individual wackiness of Blake “The Hammer” Hamner (the n is silent), Our Leader and the rest of the cast. Sitting alone in my home office, I seriously LOLed at his reading of the speech in which Our Leader ticks off every crazy idea in Blake’s Grand List of Distractions.

This was my second time working with Findaway Voices to create an audiobook (The Wanderer and the New West audiobook is also now available and 50% off until April 30 on B&N!). As before, it was a seamless process. Based on my requirements, they provided a list of suggested narrators, and then I asked a few of them to send audition tapes. It was a tough choice, but I’m really happy with what Tristan Wright has done with the book. I can’t wait for you to hear it!

Of course, if you’re not keen on audiobooks, you can get the book in eBook and paperback formats from major online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org (or ask your indie book store to order it!). Check out the official website for Utopia PR for more information on the book and where you can buy it.

Just in case you haven’t heard my elevator pitch before, Utopia PR is a sci-fi satire about a public relations rep seeking work-life balance while managing crisis after crisis for a dystopian 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.

So yeah, mark July 1 on your calendars for the audiobook’s release date. Or better yet, pre-order it. Or better yet, get the free advance review copy (ARC) on NetGalley and write a review! I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of it!

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Utopia PR Audiobook Coming Soon!

Published by Adam on February 20, 2022

Maybe you hate the droning sound of your own voice in your head. Maybe the part of storytelling you like the most is the telling. Maybe you don’t like the look of the printed word on paper (gross). Maybe you want to keep your eyes on the road when you’re driving.

Whatever the reason you love audiobooks, you’ll be excited to know I have started production on an aural version of my dystopian satire Utopia PR.

Audiobook cover for Utopia PR

I for one cannot wait to hear the voices of Blake “The Hammer” Hamner and his presidential PR comrades come to life in glorious stereo sound. I wrote the novel in a style that I think is a great match for the spoken word. Narrator Tristan Wright has signed on for the project through Findaway Voices. Utopia PR designer Bailey McGinn will square-ify the cover per audiobook convention.

I had a great experience with Findaway on The Wanderer and the New West and am looking forward to hearing Utopia PR. I’m not yet ready to announce a release date, but please keep your eye on my blog–and subscribe to my newsletter–for updates on this exciting project.

In the meantime, if you do like printed words (delicious!), you can buy Utopia PR in eBook or paperback today!

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Bender wins National Press Club journalism award for DC 911 reporting

Published by Adam on January 15, 2022

At a virtual ceremony on Jan. 6, 2022, I was delighted to accept the National Press Club’s newsletter journalism award for my reporting with Jonathan Make in Communications Daily on problems with the District of Columbia 911 system.

Our reporting over the last couple of years showed how the D.C. 911 center, the Office of Unified Communications, has struggled to get timely help to people calling with emergencies. The District’s auditor opened an investigation and recently reported that the center failed to meet national standards. The issue also attracted interest from Congress.

Click the links in the paragraph above to read some of my articles, which are free in front of the Comm Daily paywall. And you can check out Jonathan and my full acceptance video below!

Thank you again to the National Press Club for this journalism award. The historic club based in Washington, D.C., is one of the most prestigious conveners of journalists in the country (if not the world), so this is truly an honor! I am also grateful to work for a publication like Comm Daily that encourages investigative and enterprise reporting. I plan to continue to cover 911 issues in Washington, DC, and around the country.

I’ve been lucky to receive many awards over the years for both my reporting and my novels. If you’re curious, you can see a full list right here on my website.

Happy New Year, by the way! Please stay tuned to this blog and subscribe to my newsletter for more news soon on my creative writing. I am hoping to have some pretty cool announcements for you all soon related to my novels.

Photo by Oleg Magni from Pexels

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Maybe the Present is Dystopian Enough

Published by Adam on October 10, 2021

People keep asking me if I’m going to write about the pandemic — I guess because I write dystopian fiction? The short answer is … no.

First and foremost, I don’t think I’m ready to process all that just yet. Things are better than last fall, though it still feels like we’ve got a long way to go. And, like, what is there to add at this point?

It was a huge relief, actually, writing a silly comedy like Utopia PR. Things have been been dark enough the past few years, and I just wanted to have a little fun! I was thrilled to learn recently that my novel was accepted into Wool author Hugh Howey’s sci-fi contest, the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC). Book review blog Fantasy-Faction has Utopia PR in round one. I’m feeling cautiously optimistic, but I also know my little comedy is going up against a bunch of hard sci-fi books and the competition will be stiff. It’s been nice getting a little buzz around the book just from being accepted into the contest. Honestly, I’m just hoping to get a review or two before it’s all over.

I’ve already had some good luck in competitions. Utopia PR recently got an honorable mention from IndieReader for its cool cover design by Bailey McGinn! That’s after the words won a humor award in IndieReader’s annual Discovery Awards. That cover definitely makes the book stand out at Barnes & Noble:

When I said it was nice to write a comedy for a change, I didn’t mean to imply I’m done with drama. In fact, lately my brain has been buzzing with ideas for another book set in the New West. It’s very early days — basically, I’m writing down a bunch of notes, rereading the first novel, and outlining character arcs at this point. But what I have so far does feel promising.

One thing that’s helped get the creative juices flowing (so to speak) again is taking a writing course by Batman writer Scott Snyder. His technical knowledge and obvious enthusiasm for writing and teaching has been inspiring. I’m not writing a comic book (though I certainly would if I could find the right artist!), but a lot of the lessons apply to any type of story. And superhero storytelling has always been a big influence on my non-graphic work. It’s not too late to join the course, by the way! Look for me in the course’s official Discord.

By the way, what do you think of the new design for my website? Don’t forget to visit the homepage for adambenderwrites.com before you say. If you want to skip straight to the blog, you can also use the address watchadam.blog for a nifty shortcut.

Nifty? How old am I?

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Utopia PR declared best humor book in 2021 IndieReader Discovery Awards

Published by Adam on June 3, 2021
Read IndieReader’s verdict

No need to spin this news… My dystopian satire novel Utopia PR just won best humor book in the 2021 IndieReader Discovery Awards!

Watch my extremely humorous acceptance video:

Thank you very much to IndieReader for declaring Utopia PR this year’s best humor book, and for thinking that I’m funny — something that I will be sure to bandy about to all my friends and family. I’m so happy to bring a little laughter into our dark times.

Please check out my IndieReader Q&A about the win and this recent interview on podcast Car Con Carne for more about the writing of the award-winning novel. Utopia PR recently joined Biblioboard’s Indie Pennsylvania library eBook collection. And it just received these glowing words from Foreword Reviews: “Sharp and witty, the novel Utopia PR is a free range political send-up set in a chaotic, perplexing, and familiar future world.”

Read the award-winning Utopia PR today!

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About IndieReader 

IndieReader launched the IRDAs in 2011 to help notable indie authors receive the attention of top publishing professionals, with the goal of reaching more readers. Noted Amy Edelman, author and founder of IR, “The books that won the IRDAs this year are not simply great indie books; they are great books, period. We hope that our efforts via the IRDAs ensure that they receive attention from the people who matter most. Potential readers.” 

Past and present sponsors for the IRDAs include Amazon, Reedsy, Smith Publicity and NY-based literary agents Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. Judges have included publishers (from Penguin Group USA and Simon & Schuster), agents (from ICM, Dystel), publicists (from Smith Publicity), and bloggers (from GoodeReader).

Best Humor Book

Utopia PR, which received a glowing verdict by IndieReader’s reviewers, is a sci-fi satire about a public relations rep seeking work-life balance while managing crisis after crisis for a dystopian president.

Public-relations 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. 

The Hammer starts to reconsider his career choices when one of Our Leader’s savage steel hounds attacks the Comms team at a press conference. He’d love to talk about his erratic job with his wife, Triple-N news anchor Maria Worthington, but they have a rule: the broadcast journalist doesn’t ask Blake for inside information about his work, and the spin doctor doesn’t use their relationship as leverage on what Maria reports. They say you shouldn’t keep things from each other in a marriage, but it’s OK—the only secrets between Blake and Maria are professional.

When a revolutionary levels grave allegations against Our Leader—and accuses Blake of distributing disinformation and propaganda to cover it up—the PR rep who thought he could talk his way out of any crisis finds himself utterly trapped in a dystopian job.

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