PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Adam Bender is an award-winning journalist and author of speculative fiction that explores modern-day societal fears with a mix of action, romance and humor. Bender's latest novel is Utopia PR, a speculative satire about a public-relations specialist who struggles to find work-life balance while managing crisis after crisis for a dystopian American president. Previously, Bender wrote The Wanderer and the New West, a near-future western about a rogue vigilante who seeks redemption in a lawless America that fully protects the rights of armed citizens to stand their ground. Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2018, the novel also won gold for Dystopia in the 2018 Readers' Favorite Awards and best Western Fiction in the 2018 National Indie Excellence Awards. Bender authored We, The Watched and Divided We Fall in a dystopian series about an amnesiac who struggles to conform in a surveillance society where the government keeps a Watched list of its own citizens. Also, Bender has published several short stories. In his day job as a journalist, Bender covers telecom and internet regulation for Communications Daily. He has won awards for his reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Specialized Information Publishers Association, and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender lives in Philadelphia with his wife Mallika and son Rishi. He's usually a rather modest and amiable fellow. Learn more about the author at WatchAdam.blog. Follow him on Facebook (wethewatched) and @WatchAdam on Twitter and Instagram.
In a tale that's reminiscent of political farces such as the HBO TV series Veep, Bender employs a smooth, amusing, and straightforward prose style that's briskly paced ... Its tone is irreverent, and readers looking for a quick chuckle will likely enjoy Bender's winking comedy, which is punctuated with genuinely sweet, sincere moments. -- Kirkus Reviews It is a fun and efficient book, but also scary: like all good fiction, it uses sarcasm to make readers think about the world outside. -- IndieReader Philadelphia writer Adam Bender's new novel Utopia PR, a political satire set in a dystopian Washington, DC, offers a brisk and entertaining sendup of politics and the media, two machines driven by capitalism and ambition. -- Broad Street Review Utopia PR is extremely well-written with humor, wit and imagination, and it's a lighthearted, uplifting vision into the dark times we're facing. -- IndieMuse A dystopian novel laced with intrigue, science fiction, romance and humor ... I recommend this book to fans of dystopia who would appreciate a comedic writing style and the underlying themes of marital challenges, finding your purpose, diversity and manipulation through social media. -- Reedsy Discovery
