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 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.”
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.
It’s always good to know if you’re suspicious to the government. For a quick diagnosis, take this handy quiz based on my novels We, The Watched and Divided We Fall.
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.
Negative reviews are not always a bad thing — it’s possible that reviewer didn’t like a certain element of the story that another person might love. By calling out what you don’t like, others can decide if that’s a deal breaker or a deal maker.
As an incentive for honest reviews, I have just launched my first novel We, The Watched on Story Cartel. For the next four weeks, you can download the complete eBook for free. When you write a review, you are entered into a contest at Story Cartel to win Amazon gift cards and other great prizes.
Update: Sorry folks, the Story Cartel deal is now over. However, you can still get We, The Watched for free on NoiseTrade! By downloading the book, you’ll also be added to my newsletter and receive updates on my writing and advance looks at upcoming stories!
Get We, The Watched for free in exchange for an honest review.
If you have already read We, The Watchedand/or 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.
As an indie author trying to expand his audience, I really appreciate all your help!
Now I’m not saying I’m getting old or anything, but I seem to have hit that age when all the songwriters from the bands you like decide to go solo. You know, stretch their wings creatively, as it were.
No, seriously. I think I’ve bought more solo / spin-off albums this year than any other year in my life.
Anyway, where there’s a theme, there’s a blog post, and so I now present to you: “So many solo albums!”
Damon Albarn – Everyday Robots
Let’s be honest. Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) has been a solo act for a while now. I mean that’s why Graham Coxon ditched Blur (the first time) right? Gorillaz is collaborative in the sense that any song with “featuring” in the title is collaborative … which I guess is, sort of collaborative.
But I digress. Albarn brings his best creative juices to his first true solo album. This is classic Damon — happily sad (or is it sadly happy?) tunes with social commentary and intriguing bleeps and bloops. It’s not exactly the kind of music you’d blast out of your convertible in the summer, but cuts like “Mr Tembo” are sure to get your head pleasantly bobbing.
Dan Wilson – Love Without Fear
You know who Dan is. He wrote “Closing Time” for his old band Semisonic.
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end,” so after Semisonic, Dan began scooping up Grammy awards left and right for his writing with acclaimed acts like the Dixie Chicks and Adele (He wrote “Someone Like You”).
On his second solo album, Dan once again shows his songwriting chops. There are a bunch of a really solid songs on this one, including “Your Brighter Days” and “I Can Never Stay Mad at You.”
I must admit there’s nothing on the album quite as shout-along-fun as the best Semisonic tunes, but Dan Wilson is a guy who doesn’t write bad songs. Hell, even “Get a Grip” was catchy, and that was about masturbation.
Owl John (eponymous)
Okay, so that was two guys from the ’90s in a row. But here’s a more modern example — Singer Scott Hutchison from Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit released an album this year under the name Owl John.
I’ve got to say, while I’ve always liked Frightened Rabbit a bit, Owl John has fookin’ swooped out of the fookin’ sky and made that fookin’ bunny its fookin’ supper. (Sorry for all the cursing but that’s how they roll in Scotland. Just sayin’.)
Whereas Frightened Rabbit songs can sometimes get a bit rambly, the songs on Owl John are always tight and melodic. My only complaint is that the album ends too soon. Here’s hoping Owl John isn’t a one-off.
Grant Nicholas – Yorktown Heights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdkVXRvoD2s
Right, so technically with the guy from Feeder we’re back to the ’90s, but the band’s best album Comfort in Sound came out in the mid 2000s, all right?
Feeder has lately seemed to be undergoing a sort of identity crisis, at one point even pretending to be a new punk-ish band called Renegades, before releasing that album under the name Feeder anyway. I think the problem is that they have three types of fans — the ones that like that hard and fast songs, the ones that like the more mid-tempo, orchestral epics, and the ones like me who like a balanced mix of each.
With his first solo endeavor, Welsh singer/guitarist Grant Nicholas has indulged in his more thoughtful acoustic side. For the most part, it works. These songs are full of hope, and on catchy single “Time Stands Still,” Grant sounds happier than he has in years.
My only worry is that Grant is going to start putting all his quiet songs on solo releases and all his more rocking songs on Feeder albums. Comfort in Sound struck the right balance of both and I’m hoping we’ll see another album like it in the future.
Tweedy – Sukierae
That’s Jeff Tweedy, from Wilco, and his son Spencer. And on his debut solo album, the Tweedys (Tweedies?) sounds pretty much like Wilco.
As he admits on Sukierae: “I’ve always been low key / Well, you know me.”
Now, I don’t like all of Wilco’s albums, but I was a big fan of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and their last album, The Whole Love. This solo album is much in the vein of those two releases — bluesy rock with a sprinkling of distortion, robotic blips and a little county twang for good measure.
With 20 songs and a runtime of over an hour, it’s not exactly the most focused release. But it’s all very listenable, perfect both for concentrated headphone sessions and those other times when you just want some nice background music.
I’m not exactly sure why Jeff Tweedy decided this couldn’t just be a Wilco release. Politics? Wanting to sound like a brand new act? But I can’t complain about the results.
Julian Casablancas + The Voidz – Tyranny
They can’t all be winners. Spinoff albums often are about indulging a band member’s more out-there ideas, and on Tyranny the singer from the Strokes indulges.
For me, the worst Strokes songs are the ones where Julian screams a lot and — conversely — the ones where he’s awkwardly quiet. This unfortunately is a good summary of Tyranny.
There are a couple of songs with catchy riffs (“Crunch Punch”) and there are moments I would deem intriguingly ambitious (“Nintendo Blood”) — but mostly this is a weird and overlong album. It’s not anywhere near as “bad weird” as MGMT’s infinitely disappointing self-titled release last year, but I got nightmarish flashbacks all the same.
I mean, whatever happened to just sounding cool for three minutes?
Let’s hope Julian’s gotten the strangeness out of his system for the next Strokes LP.
That’s it for now, though a couple of weeks ago I learned that Tim Wheeler from Ash is preparing a solo album, too. Something tells me I’ve got to go find out what the kids are listening to these days.
By the way, if you agree or disagree on any of my reviews above, I’d love to hear it. Please leave a comment below!
Ever wonder what it would be like to be the NSA or another government surveillance agency?
In Watched Sweeper, a new HTML5 game about surveillance, players must observe a crowd and arrest people who don’t look like true Patriots.
As that old saying goes: “Patriots are the true. Heretics are the damned.”
Once you’ve given it your all to separate the Heretics from the Patriots, you’ll want to check out my novels WE, THE WATCHED and DIVIDED WE FALL (where the above quote appears). If you submit a high score, you’ll be treated to a discount on the price of the eBook version of WE, THE WATCHED.
Screenshot from Watched Sweeper
You’ll need a recent browser capable of rendering HTML5 to play. I programmed Watched Sweeper in Clickteam Fusion 2.5 and used the HTML5 exporter.
Please leave any feedback on the game in the comments below.
