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More Acclaim for The Wanderer and the New WestThe Wanderer and the New West (title)

More Acclaim for The Wanderer and the New West

Published by Adam on May 6, 2018
The Wanderer hits another bullseye with a great review from Publishers Weekly, plus Kirkus Reviews features the novel as an Indie Book of the Month!

Thanks to everyone who has picked up a copy (digital or physical) of my new novel, The Wanderer and the New West. I continue to be blown away by the kind words and excitement I’m hearing from critics and new readers about my Dystopian Western.

Recently, the Wanderer tossed his hat into the ring for the BookLife Prize by Publishers Weekly. While winners won’t be announced for several months, all entrants receive a critical assessment from Publishers Weekly, and I’m happy to report that I just received an 8 out of 10!

Here’s my favorite line: “Bender’s prose and ability to weave poignancy and humor throughout the story elevates his novel above others in the genre.”

Meanwhile, Kirkus Reviews featured my novel in their magazine for a second time, this time in a list of the “Indie Books of the Month” for April! if you don’t subscribe, here’s the online list.

Yep, that’s definitely one for the bulletin board.

Oh, this was pretty cool. My book appeared in the Spring Books issue of The New York Review of Books. I swear I didn’t plan this at all, but the cover story was all about American gun culture.

Critics are great, but I really love hearing what readers think. It’s been awesome seeing all of your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. Please keep them coming! I’m an indie author with a limited marketing budget, so this is really the best way to help me spread the word.

Don’t have a copy yet? Check out the official page for more details on where you can buy my novel.

Charity & Events

I’m always excited to support a good cause. I donated a signed copy of The Wanderer and the New West for the annual Writers for Hope auction during Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April. The auction is organized by Kelly Johnson and proceeds went to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN).

Last weekend, I donated autographed copies of my three novels for a silent auction at the Delaware Valley Legacy Fund (DVLF) Heroes awards, started 11 years ago to honor individuals whose work and leadership advance the rights of the LGBT community.

Coming up, look out for the Wanderer at BookExpo 2018 in New York City from May 30 to June 1 as part of the New Title Showcase! Then, my novel will appear June 22-25 at the American Library Association 2018 conference.

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The Wanderer is dead-on for 5 Stars at Readers’ FavoriteThe Wanderer and the New West by Adam Bender

The Wanderer is dead-on for 5 Stars at Readers’ Favorite

Published by Adam on December 30, 2017

Ahead of the 2018 release of The Wanderer and the New West, I’m excited to announce my new novel has scored five-star reviews from five reviewers on the website Readers’ Favorite!

Here are some excerpts about the Dystopian Western:

“A dystopian view of an America that many may well see as a path the country is already headed down … I couldn’t put this book down and read it quickly and easily.” — Grant Leishman for Readers’ Favorite (5 Stars)

“The setting is absorbing, pulling in the reader like a captivating movie, and I couldn’t help getting the same feeling I get when I watch the series ‘Arrow.’ It won’t be surprising if this story ends up on screen.” — Arya Fomonyuy for Readers’ Favorite (5 Stars)

“The action is continuous and horrific … revealing vistas of the future and especially the dangerous paths poor and greed based politics are forcing mankind to follow.” — Deepak Menon for Readers’ Favorite (5 Stars)

“Brutally honest and scarily real, The Wanderer and the New West is a brilliant novel. Raw and gritty, this novel lays down the bare truth without sugar coating anything.” — Rabia Tanveer for Readers’ Favorite (5 Stars)

“Bender creates vivid characters in the plot that will resonate with any reader … The author helped me visualize the impact of lawlessness on the media, technology and any nation as a whole.” — Edith Wairimu for Readers’ Favorite (5 Stars)

The cover for The Wanderer and the New West
The Wanderer and the New West — Words by Adam Bender. Cover by Ben McLeod.

I’m thrilled to see early reviewers connecting with my new novel, and look forward to hearing what you think! Stay tuned to this blog and subscribe to my newsletter for updates on the novel’s release. You can also pre-order the eBook version now at Amazon and other online retailers.

Happy New Year!

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An update on my current projects

Published by Adam on July 29, 2017

Things are moving forward again on releasing my next novel, The Wanderer and the New West.

Jim Spivey
Jim Spivey, editor

I’m very excited to announce that professional editor Jim Spivey has joined the project to proofread the novel! Jim’s job is to seek and destroy typos and grammar and style problems. Like my first editor, Jim previously edited for DC Comics. He later did production for Hachette and directed editorial for Kirkus. Check out Jim’s full profile on Reedsy, but you can bet his more than two decades of professional experience means a super-polished read when the new book reaches your hands!

Meanwhile, I’ve begun work writing my next next novel! It’s a political satire following Blake “The Hammer” Hamner, PR crisis adviser for a dystopian president. Believe me, this past year has provided a wealth of material! The novel’s working title is Utopia PR. It started life as a short story, but that felt too short. I also tried it as a screenplay, and while I think it would still work well as a film someday, I ultimately decided that a prose version provided some advantages.

Can’t wait to share all of this with you. Assuming all goes well, I hope to announce a release date for the Wanderer in the not-too-distant future. Stay tuned!

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What I’m Writing in Spring 2017

Published by Adam on March 19, 2017

It may not feel like it, but spring is here! What are your plans?

Here’s what I’m up to.  I’m writing a comedy screenplay about a spokesman for a dystopian government. I call it Utopia PR. I’ve got the plot outlined and have written about 35 pages. That means I’m about a third of the way through (think of each screenplay page like a minute of a movie). I’m hoping to finish the script over the next couple months and enter it into a contest or two. It’s been a lot of fun to let loose and have a laugh, especially given the current state of the world.

As for my third novel, The Wanderer and the New West, I’m afraid there’s not a lot new to say. The search for a literary agent continues. I’ve received definite interest but I’m waiting to hear more. I really can’t wait to get the book into your hands! I’m hoping to decide in the next few months whether to take matters into my own hands and self-publish, as I did with my previous novels.

Speaking of which, happy to report that sales have been up on We, The Watched and Divided We Fall, especially since the presidential election! Seems that ads about dystopian governments are getting clicks these days. You may have seen that sales of George Orwell’s 1984 are way up, too, so maybe my books are getting some kind of Orwellian bump. Thanks, George!

George Orwell, presumably giving We, The Watch free advertising.
George Orwell, presumably giving We, The Watched free advertising. Photo Credit: BBC
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Democratization Can Be Dark… And Other Lessons from WordCamp USWordCamp Badge

Democratization Can Be Dark… And Other Lessons from WordCamp US

Published by Adam on December 4, 2016

Among other things, I am a blogger. This thing that you’re reading right now is in fact a blog post…on a real-life blog! Mind blown, right?

To create this mind-blowing blog, I use WordPress, free and easy-to-use software that powers about a quarter of the websites online. WordPress has a great community that gets together all over the world. Last year, I attended and wrote about their first annual U.S. conference, WordCamp US, in my hometown of Philadelphia. WordCamp US was back in Philly this year, attracting about 1,800 attendees and a gang of dinosaurs to the party.

#WCUS Party Crasher Rex
#WCUS Party Crasher Rex at the wordcamp after party

WordCamp was a blast, obviously. I only got to attend the second day (Day 1 was Friday and would have interfered with my day job), but I listened to a few great talks.

Dennis Hong did a hilarious and yet scary (hil-scare-ious?) talk on the dark side of democratization. The idea is that while the internet has enabled anyone to publish, this may not always be a good thing. The sheer amount of content now produced promotes skimming over thoughtful reading, he said. Also, thoughtful, well-reasoned analysis often loses out to cat pictures and emotion-based pieces that get us all riled up — and may not even be true.

While there are no easy answers, Dennis had some advice to make the internet a more friendly place. When something online angers you, take a deep breath before you share it to your friends. Be stoic like Yoda, he said, and decide if it’s worth sharing — because all you’re doing is helping the video go viral. If someone is being ridiculous online, don’t engage in a shouting match. It’s better to be patient, empathetic and take the conversation offline. If you’re creating content, it’s okay to grab a reader’s attention with a flashy headline, but make sure the content that follows is thoughtful and accurate. You can read more about all this on Dennis’s website.

I also learned a bunch of interesting facts from Maile Ohye from Google. Did you know that 65% of India — or about 864 million people — are not yet online? That’s a lot of people still to join the internet! Not only that, but 60% of the world’s traffic is still 2G. It’s important to keep these facts in mind when building a website, Maile said. Also, here’s something to look forward to next year — she said Google will be demoting mobile website that display pop-up ads blocking your view of the content! Woo! Those sites are way annoying!

Which brings me to another fun fact from Maile — 53% of visitors abandon mobile sites that take more than three seconds to load. Sounds a little impatient, but thinking about my own behavior I probably do this as well. I guess with all that democratization of content, we just don’t have time to wait around.

For more possible dark directions for society, read my novels We, The Watched and Divided We Fall.

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