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Adam Bender Posts

Divided We Fall Gets Some Library Love

Divided We Fall Gets Some Library Love

Published by Adam on May 8, 2018

Big news for library lovers! SELF-e by Library Journal selected my dystopian sci-fi novel Divided We Fall for a select pilot program with library eBook distributor OverDrive.

The addition to SELF-e Select on OverDrive means that Divided We Fall will be available free to 40,000 libraries and schools in 70 countries for one year. Also, Library Journal will promote my book in its magazine.

Divided We Fall reveals insurrection against a dystopian government that keeps a Watched list of its own citizens. Agent Eve Parker must arrest her fiancé after he loses his memory and becomes a revolutionary named Seven in a fight against the government. However, when she learns more about the President’s plan to broaden citizen surveillance, she begins to question just who is right.

Here’s more information about the pilot program from the email I received this week:

We have some exciting news! As you already know Divided We Fall was chosen by Library Journal as a SELF-e Select book, digitally placing it in every library participating in the SELF-e program on BiblioBoard, supporting nationwide discovery by new readers.

We are reaching out because Divided We Fall has now been selected for an even more refined collection, the best of the best, SELF-e Select on OverDrive.

SELF-e Select on OverDrive is a new one-year pilot project in partnership with industry leader OverDrive, who support a network of 40,000 libraries and schools in 70 countries. Beginning June 1, 2018 OverDrive partner libraries can enroll in the program at no charge. Following their enrollment libraries will offer the full SELF-e Select on OverDrive collection to their users for 12-months. After the conclusion of the program in July 2019, participating authors will receive usage data from BiblioBoard. As part of this collection, we will also be doing special advertising and promotion for your book with Library Journal, bringing more exposure to your book.

Pretty cool! Please look out for all my books in your local library. If you can’t find them, please request them from your favorite librarian!

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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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Three classic Western novels that inspired The New West

Published by Adam on March 3, 2018

Call it Western redemption. With my critically acclaimed novel, The Wanderer and the New West, I wanted to modernize a classic genre that’s high on action and adventure, but which has largely been stuck in the Old West.

It occurred to me that the Wild West is all about lawlessness and the absence of government — the very opposite of the kind of dystopian fiction I’d written before about totalitarian governments. And yet, couldn’t that be a kind of dystopia, too? With American gun violence increasing and continued calls for reduced government, this seemed like a startlingly current subject.

But while my novel aims to reinvent the Western, it owes a lot to the classics. If you’re interested in exploring the genre, here are a few books that influenced mine.

The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout

A short but very sweet tale of an expert gunslinger who learns he has cancer and decides he wants to end things on his own terms. The vultures fly in to take advantage of him, but J.B. Books stays strong.

Gripping from start to finish — I read it in about a week! Great characterizations and exciting action. Look out for the rather surgical descriptions of what a bullet can do to the body!

This book really gave me confidence that the Western genre can be much more than Cowboys vs. Indians.

Valdez is Coming by Elmore Leonard

A gang of bandits beats up Roberto Valdez and leaves the constable for dead. But Valdez survives…and seeks bloody revenge!

I loved how compact and straightforward this Western was. It’s got everything you want from the genre — a character seeking justice, a power-mad cowboy, gun fights and chases through the desert.

My only complaint is that the love story is a bit thin and not so compelling. Overall, this is a blast and a good choice if you’re just getting into the genre.

Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey

Riders, rustlers, gun fights and runaway cattle — it’s all here. A legendary gunslinger must save a fetching rancher from having to marry a Mormon elder against her will.

The duels are riveting and I love the awe with which characters revere the dangerous gunslinger, Lassiter (who happens to be the inspiration for the name of the gun that the Wanderer carries in my novel).

The book does drag a bit in the middle, but there’s no denying its status as a classic.

And now, a Dystopian Western!

The Wanderer and the New West reinvents the Western novel with a dystopian outlook on a possible America that fully protects the rights of armed citizens to stand their ground. Click the cover below to read a free sample!

In the near future, the government leaves it to the American people to protect their own communities from the threat of mass shooters and motorcycle gangs. When a marksman known as the Wanderer opens war against injustice in the state of Arizona, his violent actions attract the attention of journalist Rosa Veras, writer of a subversive blog about America’s return to the Wild West.

As Rosa tracks the movements of the Wanderer, she exposes the new American folk hero’s past sins and quest for redemption. But after making waves with a blog post connecting the nation’s top gun manufacturer with its most violent gang, the reporter finds her life in danger and the Wanderer at her door. Rosa realizes she must join forces with the vigilante gunman if she is to live long enough to tell his story.

Available now in paperback and eBook!

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Making the New West (and other updates)

Making the New West (and other updates)

Published by Adam on February 19, 2018

Thanks to everyone who’s picked up The Wanderer and the New West, my dystopian western novel about a possible America that fully protects the rights of armed citizens to stand their ground. Here are a few updates on the novel since launch.

I wrote a guest blog post for Reedsy about creating the cover and interior layout with my collaborators Ben Mcleod and Mark Thomas. I worked hard to write my new novel, so when it came time to publish, I wanted to create a beautiful book that did the words justice.

Credit: Reedsy

Last month, I told you about the great review I received from Kirkus Reviews. Since then, Kirkus featured the starred review in their Feb. 15 issue! If you’re a subscriber, you can read the review on page 169 of Volume LXXXVI, No 4.

Look for my book listing in an upcoming issue of the New York Review of Books due out next month!

Want to try The Wanderer before you buy it? I’ve created a handy preview page for just this purpose!

All of my novels are now available to buy on Google Play and Google Books. Click here to see for yourself, though that Compendium Theory one isn’t me…

I joined Instagram! Follow me at @WatchAdam.

The author with bacon beverage.

A post shared by Adam Bender (@watchadam) on

Finally, if you have read my new novel (or any of my other stories), please write a customer review. I’m an indie author and this will help me immensely in spreading the word. Please submit the review to Amazon, Goodreads or your favorite online retailer.

Thanks again for all your support!

Top image credit: Reedsy

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Kirkus Lauds ‘First-Rate Action Narrative’ in Adam Bender’s The Wanderer and the New West

Published by Adam on January 17, 2018

The venerable Kirkus Reviews acclaimed The Wanderer and the New West as a “tight, thoughtful work” with “first-rate action narrative” in a starred review of my new novel (paperback available here).

The Kirkus Star is reserved for “books of exceptional merit,” so this is a big honor! The star also means my book will be considered for the Kirkus 2018 prize.

Here’s an excerpt from Kirkus Reviews:

The author’s new novel might be summed up by a line from Rosa’s editorial: “Sometimes it feels like America is spinning in an opposite direction from the planet Earth.” As real-life America spins out of alignment with other nations’ gun-control laws, he critiques its obsession with the Second Amendment and shows how it could threaten to shred the nation’s true founding principles. For example, a mayor replies to a sheriff’s complaints of lawlessness with “the government hasn’t made laws for years!” Ironically, Bender packages his message in a first-rate action narrative, filled with the sort of violence that has attracted gun lovers to pop-culture icons like Rambo and Dirty Harry for decades. In one cinematic scene, for instance, a gang member meets his end when “thunder cracked, and blood burst out the back of his skull.” Such indulgent moments of machismo are balanced by superior characterization, particularly of the Wanderer’s sidekick, Kid Hunter, and 12-year-old bandit Lindsay. The fact that the Wanderer still wears his wedding band and is haunted by the ghost of a woman named Helen connects to a complex, satisfying origin story that includes Breck Ammunition itself. Throughout, Bender proves to be an instructive novelist, challenging American readers with basic scenarios that could very well come to pass: “when you leave the house, you’re checking for your wallet, your keys, your phone, and your gun. Like these are equally essential things for the day ahead.”

A tight, thoughtful work that has much to offer readers on both sides of the gun control debate.

Kirkus previously raved about my first two novels, We, The Watched and Divided We Fall. However, The Wanderer is my first book to earn the coveted Kirkus Star.

But I really want to know what you think! So, to celebrate the Kirkus review and five-star reviews from Readers’ Favorite critics, I’ve decided to let loose the Wanderer a little early!

You can order the paperback right now on Amazon. You can also get the eBook edition (EPUB) from Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo, Scribd and Smashwords. A Kindle version will be available in a few days.

When you’re finished, please leave your own review at the store where you purchased the book and on Goodreads. Thanks for your support!

 

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Adam Bender | adambenderwrites.com | watchadam.blog