Tag: dystopian

Utopia PR is a Sci-Fi Finalist in Indie Author Project 2024 Contest

Utopia PR is a Sci-Fi Finalist in Indie Author Project 2024 Contest

Published by Adam on November 4, 2024

Talk about an October surprise: Indie Author Project (IAP) selected my dystopian satire novel Utopia PR as a runner-up in the sci-fi/fantasy category of its annual contest!

IAP connects indie authors with public libraries and their patrons across the U.S. I’ve personally used their service, formerly known as SELF-e, to submit eBooks and audiobooks of my novels to join a growing collection of high-quality, self-published books at libraries. IAP ensures the quality of the books by vetting submissions through industry editors and librarian editorial boards.

Sci-Fi finalists in the Indie Author Project 2024 Annual Contest, including Utopia PR by Adam Bender — IAP announced the awards via WebEx on Friday, Nov. 1. I quickly snapped a screenshot of this slide revealing *Utopia PR* as a runner-up.

This was my first year entering IAP’s annual contest. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I submitted Utopia PR back in April. It was long enough ago that I had almost forgot I even entered, so it was wonderful to hear the news on Nov. 1 that my book made it to the top 3 of all sci-fi/fantasy novels. (It just occurred to me that this technically means it’s a November surprise, but I don’t care! I’m not changing the lede!)

In addition, while I have won awards for my novels in the past (including a humor award for Utopia PR), this was the first one that came with a a cash prize! Not in this for the money, obviously… Did I mention I’m an indie author? Still, it sure is nice. I’m also hoping that I will get a promotional boost from this honor that will lead more readers to find my book.

In case you’re one of those fine people who haven’t picked up a copy, Utopia PR is a sci-fi satire about seeking work-life balance while doing public relations for a dystopian president. It’s available now in eBook, print and audiobook formats from all your favorite retailers and streaming services. Here’s the synopsis:

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.

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.

I guess it’s kind of funny to win an award days before the 2024 election for a book about how “weird” our presidential politics have gotten. Let’s hope that’s a good omen.

Social media that doesn’t make you feel bad?

Published by Adam on May 17, 2024

Sometimes it feels like we’re living in a dystopian world–and social media doesn’t help. Like any communications channel, it can be used to spread good messages or bad. In my day job as a journalist, I’ve been writing quite a bit about attempts by government policymakers to try to make social media a safer space. However, there doesn’t seem to be much consensus on how to get this done.

In the meantime, we can try to control how social media affects our own mental health simply by choosing what platforms we use ourselves.

You’ll see from the social icons under my name at the top-left of this website that I’m on a bunch of them. As an indie author, I’ve often felt that I have to be in many places in order to (hopefully) find potential readers and communicate with current fans. But let me tell you, it’s exhausting to be everywhere at once, and I can’t say for sure I have accomplished my goals.

I told you a while back how I decided to get off Twitter (I did it before the name change!) and move to Mastodon. Well, Mastodon is a fine Twitter clone, and people do seem nicer there, but honestly I don’t feel passionate about tooting (ew gross). Lately, I’ve been spending more time on Bluesky (follow me: @adambenderwrites.com), another Twitter clone. It’s got some cool features, too, like using your web address as your username.

However, one thing I’ve never liked about Twitter–and it’s the same on Bluesky and Mastodon–is that certain users tweet/toot/post extremely frequently. Much more so than others. As a result, my feed ends up being dominated by one or two users. It’s not that I don’t want to hear from these people–I did follow them, after all. It’s just that I don’t want to hear from them this much and I don’t want them to always be drowning out the other, less chatty folks I’ve followed. In addition, the people that talk the most–at least in my feed– seem to be the ones who most make our world feel like a complete dystopia! So much bad news and cynical humor! I tend to leave the site in a bad mood as a result.

I think that’s why a Wired article caught my attention yesterday. The headline was “Maven Is a New Social Network That Eliminates Followers—and Hopefully Stress.”

Yes, please!

The platform eschews likes and follows in favor of letting pure chance play more of a role in what appears in users’ feeds … On Maven, you don’t have followers, so you don’t have to worry about what your followers want to hear from you, or how to gain more of them.
Wired.com

This idea of getting rid of likes and follows struck a chord with me. What if I didn’t have to choose people to follow? What if I didn’t have to worry so much about likes and retweets? That sounds like some sort of utopia!

I signed up yesterday. Uh, I’m not actually sure how to link to my own profile or if that’s even possible. But that’s OK! Maybe that’s even the whole point! I hope we connect serendipitously!

So far, I’ve had a couple friendly chats with folks that weren’t stressful at all. Will I stay on Maven? Who knows! It’s early days and I may lose interest like I have on other networks. That said, it’s exciting to see a new approach to this idea of social media — one that seems to consider users’ mental health as a core value. That’s why I’m rooting for Maven — or other platforms with a similar mantra — to disrupt what has become such a negative space.

My Dystopian Bookshelf at ALA 2023

Published by Adam on July 10, 2023

Libraries are an important place for book discovery. As an indie author, it’s even more important that I find ways to reach a critical audience of curators: the librarians!

This year I was excited to have an entire shelf to myself featuring my four dystopian novels at the American Library Association’s 2023 conference in Chicago. The event ran from June 22-27. My books appeared in a booth managed by the Independent Book Publishers Association. I’m a proud IBPA member.

Novels by Adam Bender on a shelf at the ALA 2023 conference on a stand for independent publishers. Also displayed are bookmarks for Utopia PR and postcards for The Wanderer and the New West.

Utopia PR bookmark with a quote: "Maybe you see a vicious killing machine that got loose and went on a rampage, but I sure don't ... Why, that there is a hero pup!" — Utopia PR bookmark

I made some really fun Utopia PR bookmarks specifically for the event! I’ve got extras and will try to find a way to make these available in the future. Let me know if you’re interested by tagging me on social media.

I had previously displayed and signed copies of The Wanderer and the New West at a pre-pandemic ALA conference in Washington, DC. I was unable to attend this year’s show in person, but I hope to get out to this excellent conference again in the future.

I love finding out that my books are available in libraries, whatever the format. All four eBook editions of my novels, plus the audiobook editions of my last two books, were accepted into the Indie Author Project and available to participating libraries. Books in physical and digital formats can also be acquired separately through distributors including Ingram and Smashwords. Please contact me if you need help finding my books.

Here are few more photos from ALA 2023. Here’s a fun idea: Try to find my novels in each picture like it’s a Where’s Waldo book!

People waiting in line at ALA 2023 in Chicago.

An author signing books at ALA 2023 in Chicago.

Thanks to IBPA for taking all of the photos in this post!

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I Still Walk Beneath Dystopian Skies

Published by Adam on June 9, 2023

Walking down Broad St in my mask again. Sky is full of smoke from Canada.

Is it bad that, upon seeing a smoke-filled sky, these were some of my first thoughts?

At least it’s not a pandemic.
The air quality danger is down to “very unhealthy,” so I can probably go for a walk!
I’m still going to a rock concert tonight (Temples — very good!).
Hey, now I can use some of my leftover N95 masks! Or maybe I can really get stylish and break out my old cloth masks!

Are we getting used to the kind of thing we used to read about in dystopian novels and post-apocalyptic films like The Road Warrior?

People often ask me if this kind of thing inspires me to write. Honestly, what it inspires me to do is to retreat into a popcorn video game like Marvel’s Midnight Suns or an optimistic TV show like Ted Lasso. Ah… fictional England, all they care about there is the next ~~soccer~~ football match!

I have been working, slowly, on a new novel. I am not addressing the COVID-19 pandemic or our imminent environmental doom. Those are great topics for other authors, but not much of an escape for me.

Yes, I’m still writing in the dystopian genre, and it’s not another comedy (though writing a political satire was a great escape from a depressing series of years!). I’m having a good time figuring out what makes my characters tick, as well as spending more time on the world building as well. In other words, I’ve been taking a lot of notes. However, I’m feeling optimistic that the end product from all this will be worth the effort.

Assuming the world doesn’t end first.

Stay safe, everyone!

I Was a Cat in this Great Dystopian Game

Published by Adam on April 2, 2023

Recently, a great dystopian game took me by surprise.

But before I get to that, I want to give you a geeky origin story about the PC upgrade that enabled me to play it and some other awesome games! See, I’ve always enjoyed games but had started to get a little behind on the hardware. Sure, I have a Nintendo Switch and that’s always fun, but there were an increasing number of PC games I wanted to give a try.

A couple of months ago, I finally went ahead and upgraded my graphics card to an AMD Radeon 6700 XT. Not the best you can get, but definitely a good mid-range card to help me get my gaming fix, and more than enough to play some of the indie titles I was eager to try. To complement the card, I also upgraded my monitor to a 32″ screen with 1440p resolution and a silky smooth 165Hz refresh rate.

Upgrade complete, one of the first games I enjoyed on the new system was…

Stray

I write dystopian fiction, so obviously I had to try this dystopian game. Stray was a short but sweet game with engaging storytelling throughout. The game begins with a cat slipping into an underground city where humans went to hide when the planet became inhospitable. However, the only life left down there is artificial. Well, that and radioactive rat things. As the cat, you help a little robot remember its past and try to help a group of sentient robots escape to the surface.

It’s cute! And scary! What really makes it unique is you explore the Blade Runner-esque world from the perspective of the cat. Messing around in the feline way (scratching doors, leaping from the floor, to a table, to a shelf, to a…) keeps the gameplay feeling fresh. And the neon-lit world looks absolutely beautiful.

Definitely worth a play if you’re looking for a sci-fi game that’s not about a beefy soldier shooting up aliens.

Oh, and by the way, I probably didn’t need a big PC upgrade to play Stray, but it sure does look good with the graphics settings turned up to 11. I definitely did need the upgrade, however, to play…

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

This one isn’t a dystopian game, but I did have a dystopian experience when I bought it not long after launch. After a couple really fun introductory battles, Midnight Suns started crashing … and crashing … every 15 minutes. I learned on Steam that some other players were having the same problem. But when I checked with 2K support, they basically gaslit me, forcing me to do all kinds of tests of my system rather than entertaining the idea that it might be their software that was the problem.

Then one day, 2K released a patch and the crashing stopped! Guess it wasn’t my system’s fault. Hopefully, my countless crash reports helped some other players out as well.

But I digress. While I could have let all that irritation stop me from playing Midnight Sun at all, the truth was those 15-minute play sessions were blissful while they lasted.

Midnight Suns is by the creators of XCOM and similarly has turn-based tactical fights. As a somewhat older gamer with a young child in the house, that kind of thing is really more my speed these days than a faster-paced action game. Anyway, Midnight Suns is like chess with superheroes and explosions! What’s not to like?

While this isn’t a dystopian game like Stray, it does focus on the darker, magical side of the Marvel Universe. While you still get to have heavy hitters like Iron Man and Spider-Man on your team, it’s cool to see a game feature this less frequently adapted side of the comics.

My only complaint (now that it’s stopped crashing) is that there is a whole lot of time between battles spent talking with heroes and wandering aimlessly around a mansion. It’s not unenjoyable, but the battles are so much more fun, and sometimes I just want to play a few of these in the row. I often only have an hour to play, and I feel like I end up spending 45 minutes of each of these periods outside of battle. The game could just use a little balance.

Speaking of balance, I feel like I’ve spent more time complaining about this game than praising it. Honestly, though, I do recommend it! If you’re a Marvel fan or like turn-based fighting with big production values, give this game a try.

Update (4/3/23): I jinxed it! After running fine for a couple of months, Midnight Suns tonight began crashing again for no apparent reason. Be warned.

More to Come!

When I started writing this blog post, I planned to feature a couple more games, but this is starting to feel a bit long! How about instead, I do a part two in not too long? In the meantime, let me know in the comments your thoughts on the above games or any recommendations you have about what I should play next on my upgraded PC!

Did you know?

I created two games based on my first novel, We, The Watched.

Find the Heretics in Watched Sweeper!
A text adventure based on Chapter One!

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Tag: dystopian

Utopia PR is a Sci-Fi Finalist in Indie Author Project 2024 Contest

Social media that doesn’t make you feel bad?

My Dystopian Bookshelf at ALA 2023

I Still Walk Beneath Dystopian Skies

I Was a Cat in this Great Dystopian Game

Stray

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

More to Come!

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