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Tag: science fiction

Library Journal tags We, The Watched in SELF-e

SELF-e logoI’m excited to say that my dystopian novel We, The Watched will join SELF-e, a select list of self-published eBooks curated by Library Journal and Biblioboard!

This means my novel will soon be available to libraries all over the US through BiblioBoard Library. The first Library Journal SELF-e curated collection is expected to be available to libraries in mid-2015.

We, The Watched will also soon be available to readers throughout my home state of Pennsylvania in the Indie PENNSYLVANIA module as a highlighted selection.

The idea behind SELF-e is to expose notable self-published eBooks to readers around the country who are looking to discover new authors. Libraries can make ebooks available for free with no requirement to return the book and no multi-user restrictions.

Hugh Howey, author of the sci-fi series Wool and a major advocate for self-published work, has had some great things to say about SELF-e.

“The number one challenge any author has is building an audience,” he says on the BiblioBoard website.

“Once they have an audience, they have an opportunity to grow their work We, The Watched by Adam Benderprofessionally. Librarians can be a powerful marketing force for emerging authors, especially if they can promote the books without fear of success. The SELF-e approach to curation combined with simultaneous user-access will encourage books to be discovered and even go viral.”

In We, The Watched, an amnesiac struggles to conform in a surveillance society he doesn’t remember. Resistance is heresy and punishable by death. But some seek to ignite a revolution.

You can buy the novel in print and eBook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple and other major online bookstores.

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World building in dystopian novels We, The Watched and Divided We Fall

We, The Watched and Divided We Fall are set in an unnamed nation that is not unlike the US, UK, Australia or other “western” countries, but is much further along in its use of government surveillance.

While technically science fiction, I purposely avoided any out-there, overly futuristic elements in order to keep these books as grounded in reality as possible. The surveillance technologies discussed in the book mix what’s available today with what there is potential for in the future. I wanted to create a place that, while fictional, didn’t seem like much of a stretch given the current debate over government surveillance.

My novels have two interlinked, overarching conflicts, with three sides.

Within the country, you have the government and the Church together in a fight against revolutionaries who call themselves the Underground. Essentially, I took America’s First Amendment promise of separation of Church and State and turned it on its head. By uniting, they exercise totalitarian control over the people. The government provides physical enforcement while the Church spreads the psychological propaganda that keeps the people in line.

Illustrating the merger of Church and State is the motto of the Guard, the nation’s army:

PATRIOTS ARE THE TRUE. HERETICS ARE THE DAMNED.

Holding to that policy, the Guard keeps a Watched list of suspicious citizens. Those who are found out as Heretics face public execution.

Are you being watched? Take the quiz!

Naturally, not everyone’s going to agree with that, and the strongest opponents have formed a revolutionary group called the Underground. Funded by a mysterious benefactor, the Underground collects evidence of the government’s wrongdoing in an effort to gather followers and spur an uprising.

The symbol of the Underground.
The fire-eyed graffiti symbol of the Underground.

Meanwhile, there is a second conflict–an international war between the nation and an unnamed Enemy. The division between the government and the Underground makes the nation weak against the Enemy. The more internal division, the worse things seem to get in the war against the Enemy.

The hero of my novels, Seven, enters this nation without memory. Like the reader, Seven finds it all very strange and forms an opinion of who is in the right and who is in the wrong. But what can one man do, especially when the punishment for treason is execution?

Find out this answer and more in We, The Watched and the sequel, Divided We Fall, available now from Amazon and other major online booksellers!

You can also get the first book free by signing up for my newsletter via NoiseTrade below! If you sign up in the next month, I’ll throw in the sequel! (eBooks only)

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Black Friday deal: free dystopian novel Divided We Fall by Adam Bender

Sorry folks, this deal is over! However, you can still get a free copy of Divided We Fall by joining my newsletterThe Underground.

Propaganda by the author

Black Friday is all about great deals, so in that spirit I’m giving away my dystopian novel Divided We Fall on Story Cartel!

That’s right, you can get the eBook version of this dystopian love story about surveillance right here without spending a single [insert your favorite unit of currency here]! And Divided We Fall will continue to be free for the next three weeks!

All I ask in return is that you write an honest review of the novel on Amazon, Goodreads, your blog or any other place you see fit. You can submit the review to Story Cartel for Amazon gift cards and other great prizes.

As an indie author, I have a smaller marketing budget and word of mouth is very important. One of the best ways to convince readers to give my books a try is to show them reviews by other readers like them. I’m not just talking about super-glowing reviews (though these are nice). I’m talking about honest, objective customer reviews that clearly lay out the good and bad elements of a given novel.

Divided We Fall by Adam Bender
What are you waiting for? Get this book for free on Story Cartel!

If you have already read Divided We Fall, I’d of course still love to hear what you think. Please leave a review on the website of the store you bought it, as well as Goodreads if you are a member. Please also spread the word about this giveaway to your friends.

As an indie author trying to expand his audience, I really appreciate all your help!

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!

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Writing update

It’s been a big year with the release of my second novel, Divided We Fall. But as they say in journalism, you’re only as good as your next story! So here’s a quick update on my current projects.

Short story

"Fire Eyes" is an upcoming short story by Adam Bender. Art by Belinda Pepper.
“Fire Eyes” is an upcoming short story by Adam Bender. Art by Belinda Pepper.

I’ve just finished a new short story called “Fire Eyes,” set in the same world as my novels We, The Watched and Divided We Fall.

Taking place before the events of either of those stories, “Fire Eyes” follows an underground street artist called Ignatius who for years has dodged surveillance cameras to spray paint a dissident symbol: a dark visage with fiery eyes. Dissatisfied with the impact of his work, Iggy sets his sights on tagging the most important government building in the nation.

I have just submitted this story to a sci-fi short story magazine. I’m hoping to show it to you one way or the other by early next year.

Screenplay

I began work a while back on a screenplay of We, The Watched. It’s about two-thirds finished and looking pretty solid, but I have to admit it’s taken the back burner to my other projects. I hope to get back to work on this in the near future with a view to finishing it next year.

New novel

This is where I’ve been spending the bulk of my time. My next novel is a completely new and original story, unrelated to any of my past work. It mixes elements of several genres, including western, adventure and speculative fiction. Like my previous novels, there is a political twist. Whereas the We, The Watched stories focus on government surveillance, my new novel takes on gun issues in America.

The working title is: The Wanderer and the New West

I hope to have more updates for you soon!

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Divided We Fall leaves you ‘not only wanting, but needing more’: Readers’ Favorite review

Dystopian love story DIVIDED WE FALL has just received a four-star review from Readers’ Favorite. Reviewer Nichole Moser writes about the new novel:

In Adam Bender’s Divided We Fall, we follow the story of Eve Parker and Jon Wyle. They are members of the Elite Guard: a special task force dedicated to finding and arresting those who resist the Church. After meeting during a stake-out, Eve and Jon quickly form a relationship, a relationship which is tested when Jon accepts a special mission. He is to infiltrate the rebel heretic group known as the Underground, and bring them down from the inside. But it means forgetting who he is, and who he loves. It is up to Eve to bring him back, but she finds that not is all as it seems. She questions who the true Enemy is, and the teachings she followed her entire life. She must make the decision to follow God and country, or the love of her life at the risk of losing her own.

There are few novels I can read in one sitting, but Adam Bender’s Divided We Fall was one of them. It is fast-paced, intriguing, and had me wondering what was coming just around the corner. It had me not only wanting, but needing more. Eve and Jon are both relatable characters, as relatable as possible in a dystopian setting. But is it? The idea of government surveillance has been in the news for years, and Divided We Fall goes into detail about a very real and very current issue. Eve’s revelation of the world as a mix of colours rather than black and white was beautifully written and a lesson for all. Jon’s transformation into Seven was well-written and shows us the true potential of humanity – if we strip away the bias and focus solely on the good of all, we see what Seven knew all along: united, we are stronger. But divided, we fall.

Divided We Fall by Adam Bender
Divided We Fall by Adam Bender

DIVIDED WE FALL has also been acclaimed by a Publishers Weekly reviewer who said “the novel raises interesting questions about the influence of propaganda on the construction of the self, the idea of true tabula rasa and the power of memory.”

You can learn more about DIVIDED WE FALL at www.wethedivided.com.

Find out whether the government is watching you with this handy quiz. Then see if you can separate the Patriots from Heretics in the online game Watched Sweeper.

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