J. G. Sandom ~ Author

Reader Reviews -- THE WAVE

Here's what readers like you are saying about THE WAVE:

Malina Arevalo-cruz @ amazon.com
"The Wave is a thrilling tale of several lives converging under a terrorist plot. I found the book to be highly entertaining, I could not put it down. The characters are relatable and complex and I found myself thinking of them even after I had finished the book. The plot drives the reader through the novel at a fast pace. There is tons of scientific detail woven into the plot which creates an eerie sense of reality. I often times found myself thinking, 'This sounds like what I just read in the paper.' It's a great read and I recommend it to those who enjoy thrillers."

Rob Ferreri @ amazon.com
"Having read other novels by Sandom, which I quite enjoyed, I was very eager to jump into The Wave. The Wave is an intense action adventure that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Sandom creates a tale of intrigue on par with Bond. The adventure manages to include current topics of debate, such as eco-terrorism and the recent tsunami hits. If you are looking for a book to spend your day off with then look no further and catch The Wave."

Dorian E. @ amazon.com

"Truth be told, The Wave by J.G. Sandom confused me at first. There were too many characters popping up way to fast. But once all the characters were introduced, I started to get into it. The pace was quick and had me thinking I was watching an action movie at times. The idea one I hadn't seen before. Eco-terrorism, yes. Eco-terrorism with a nuke? A new one for me. Overall,I enjoyed The Wave enough to put my feet back into the shallow end of the pool and try one of his young adult novels.

cpogue @ amazon.com

"This non-stop thriller centers on terrorism, a real life concern in today's world. But the story is told unlike any other I have ever read. It is strange, creative, and definitely entertaining. The author demonstrates his knowledge and experience in many facets throughout the book. While it is fiction, I learned a few things. There are some scientific details which makes The Wave a combination of plausible events and fantastic surrealism. I like that the characters did not get loss in this amazing plot. Readers will see that these characters are not robots but flawed relatable human beings. If you like thrillers, you will not be disappointed."

Jacquelyn Kunda @ amazon.com

"Whew!! After finishing this book, I felt as though I'd run a race! Once again, JG Sandom has taken us on a thrilling ride across the globe. Filled with suspense - and character that you can really believe in - this one will keep you on the edge of your seat from the very first page. Download, sit back and enjoy!"

cray @ amazon.com

"The Wave is the kind of thriller you'd get if Michener and Ludlum wrote together. Like Jack Ryan, John Decker is a desk-bound code breaker thrown into an international potboiler. As part of the Joint Terroist Task Force for the FBI, Decker, along with Emily Swenson and Israeli agent Ben Seiden, try and stop an act of eco-terrorism by El Agrab. The result of which will be an earth-destroying mega tsunami. Like Ryan, John Decker is vulnerable but up to the task. This is a fast, good read, with a romance-on-the-run. But like Michener, bone up on a wealth of information and keep track of your characters."

Nitequill @ amazon.com
"From the moment I joined this exciting adventure I was swept away by the fast moving power of the tsunami."

Complete.Diana @ amazon.com
"Wow! What an intense book...there is so much information and yet the characters are so developed they almost seem like real people. The author did a great job researching and incorporating events into the story while keeping it alive and fast paced. I especially liked the main characters. John Decker was exceptional (as a good lead character should be) and yet the author didn't shy away from showing his weaknesses and human nature which was what I found most refreshing. Ben Seiden was also a great character casting a real, human light on the kind of agent that tends to get an almost superhuman reputation. Overall, I absolutely enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it as a thrilling read."

Max G. Bernard @ amazon.com
"This fast-paced thriller is extremely topical, with its backdrop of eco-terrorism and tsunamis (potentially caused by a nuclear explosion). I agree with some of the other reviews saying that this story seems to be very cinematic, and would make one heck of a movie, a great adventure that would keep any audience poised on the edge of their seats, waiting to see what happens next. At the same time, the author does not make the mistake of neglecting character development for mere plot development. If you don't grow to love or at least care for some of the characters in a story, then who cares if they succeed in their quests or get blown to bits. The author takes some initially improbable premises and then makes them believable. I thoroughly enjoyed this one."

S. Bbo @ amazon.com
"Like another review the word for this book is WOW . . . With love, loss and of course impending doom this book makes a great and very realistic adventure/thriller. Great read!"

Jeff Block @ amazon.com
"I bought The Wave because I am a huge fan of action-packed spy thrillers. This is the first time that I have read Sandom's work, and I was impressed. The plot is exciting, intriguing, mysterious and dangerous. I loved this book, it is a real page turner."

S. Frazer "avid reader" @ amazon.com
"The Wave is an action-packed thriller that will have your attention from the first page. I typically wouldn't buy this type of book and I finished it in two days!! The plot is great. It it takes you on a journey of crime, romance and murder. It's an easy read that anyone will enjoy. Get it now!"

sandi @ amazon.com
"Worth reading. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down. It moves pretty fast. Now I'm reading other books by this Author. Enjoy!"

Squirrel @ amazon.com
"The Wave by J.G. Sandom is a relentless and breathless thriller about FBI code breaker John Decker trying to prevent a Jihadist eco-terrorist named El Aqrab from setting off a mega-tsunami aimed at destroying the Eastern Seaboard. Couldn't be more timely given what's been happening in Japan. Except this book deals with a mega-tsunami, more than ten times taller and more powerful than the tsunamis we've been watching on the news from T'hoku, Japan. Incredible. Great characters and relentless action. I don't understand some of these other reviewers. What's with the two stars? Maybe they just didn't get it. I loved this book."

DT @ amazon.com
"I loved this book! It had action and suspense and more action. I'll admit at first I didn't think I'd like it. What the heck is a cryptanalyst anyway! I was wrong. Decker's a great character and the environmental terrorism angle was exciting and right on the money given the news and current events. I loved Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Wave was a lot like that book. Fast read, great characters and really exciting. I can't wait for a sequel."

Melissa P. Gray @ amazon.com
"The Wave is fantastic; a roller coaster of a book. John Decker and emily Swensen deal with terrorists both religious and environmental and a slew of governmental obstacles trying to avert a major disaster. If you want a great thriller with well written characters and a disturbingly plausible plot, then this is the book for you. Move over Crichton, Sandom is here."

Michael Weis @ amazon.com
"You always learn a lot from Sandom's books. I had to do some fact checking on mega tsunamis before I bought the premise, but Sandom checks his facts and then "arranges" them to create a truly scary threat. And, he knows how to keep the action moving, and usually on several fronts. I also learned a fair amount about Islam which is in stark contrast to the mindless, oversimplified shouting going on in the media and much of the public. I'm looking forward to other John Decker thrillers."

John T. Richardson @ amazon.com
"I first read this book around the time it was originally published. I greatly enjoy fast-paced thrillers and The Wave certainly delivers for me. John Decker is a very strong, likeable character, more than capable of sustaining a detailed and suspenseful book like this. Decker and Emily Swenson bring to mind Dirk Pitt and Eva Rojas as well as Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu. But author JG Sandom is able to bring life to his characters with the added benefit of a current topic - terrorism (eco and/or otherwise) . . . After a recent re-read, I find that the book certainly still holds up! It is even more relevant today. The author's experiences gathered while living and traveling around the world, are quite apparent and beneficial to both the story line and color of The Wave. Weave in Mossad, Al'qaeda and . . . hell, I just love this book. It is a lot of fun. Do yourself a favor - read it."

Harvey @ amazon.com
"A riveting look at the shadowy war on terrorism . . . An action-packed, non-stop thriller. John Decker, a Cryptanalyst working with the FBI assigned to the Joint Terrorist Task Force in New York, finds himself working on a deadly plot of eco-terrorism. The plot is masterminded by Jihadist El Aqrab, who has recently been arrested for slaughtering a family in Tel Aviv. John Decker is determined to discover why. This gripping book takes you along on John Decker's assigment involving the theft of 8 kilos of Highly Enriched Uranium, murder and romance. This book would be an incredible movie!"

Jeffrey Einstein @ amazon.com
"J.G. Sandom breathes real heart and soul into this utterly plausible cast of flawed but irresistable characters.  John Decker is a wonderfully reluctant hero, and even the villains in this story are unmistakably human in the depths of their pain, vengeance and sheer calculation.  This book is the real McCoy, right up there with the best modern thrillers. Sandom's eye for intrigue, suspense and drama is apparent in his attention to detail and nuance.  Can't wait to get my hands on 'Gospel Truths,' one of Sandom's earlier novels.  It it's only half as good as 'The Wave,' I'll expect two or three sleepless nights - and chalk them up once again as time well spent."

Gracie412 @ amazon.com
"I LOVED this book . . . This is a great thrill ride of a read, and if you liked The Bourne Series or any of Tom Clancy's stuff, you'll love The Wave.  I read on a blog that it's being optioned by Hollywould.  Can't wait to see the movie."

What's New In May, 2012

You've probably heard about KickStarter, the website where folks who want to launch a new project (from creating new software games to new books) can seek funding from ordinary folks vs. "angels" and VC firms.

Well, what you may not know is that one of my projects is now live @ KickStarter — a children's book series about a young vegetable detective named Jacques Couteau, written under pen name Holland Dayze with my partner Sylvana Joseph. We're experimenting with KickStarter to see if we can raise money (without going through a traditional publisher) to help illustrate the first of the series called A is for Asparagus.  It's already available on Amazon, but it doesn't currently feature illustrations, which we would love to have.

For more on this project, click on the video below.  And, please, give generously!  If you do, you could receive a bunch of great stuff like: autographed copies of books; original illustrations from forthcoming titles; we might name a character after you or someone you love; or, if you dig really deep, we'll even dedicate the book to you or your child! (And yeah, it sure does sound like Christopher Walken, doesn't it?)

For a longer and darker version of this video, click here.

Also, for those of you who didn't notice, I've launched a new section on this website/blog called, On My Desk, which features posts and links about my current projects: The Plague, sequel to The Wave — A John Decker Thriller; and an ultra-secret new cookbook I'm co-writing with . . . but that would be telling.

This way you can get an unprecedented, inside look into my writing process, and see what I'm reading/looking at online and elsewhere as I work on these titles.

This follows the paradigm I've noticed at sites such as Cornucopia-Press.com, where the editors there are constantly adding new stories about the self-publishing phenomenom in the "What's New!" BLOG.

So, check it out.  See what I'm looking at, perusing, reading, studying et al . . . before it ends up, premasticated, in one of my novels.

LOOKING FOR SOME SPINE-TINGLING NEW THRILLERS?

  ON SALE FOR JUST 99¢

 TWO AWARD-WINNING NOVELS OF HORROR!

 

KISS ME, I'M DEAD.

 

 BEFORE THERE WAS 9/11 . . . THERE WAS 6/15

On June 15, 1904, the General Slocum steamship burned and sank in the East River, killing over a thousand innocent New Yorkers.  It was the greatest disaster and loss of life in New York City history . . . until 9/11.  In KISS ME, I'M DEAD, this forgotten piece of history serves as the backdrop of an extraordinary story of loss, redemption, justice, and a love that not even death could extinguish.

Mallory Meer is like any teenage girl. She likes to have fun. She thinks her sister is ridiculous. Her parents drive her crazy. She has a crush on Dustin and follows him everywhere.

Mallory even has a summer job — figuring out the truth about the fire on the General Slocum steamship, the disaster that killed her sister. Mallory is determined to find out the truth, and to bring the guilty parties to justice.

Sometimes Mallory gets angry, very angry, and strange things happen when Mallory gets angry. Yes, Mallory is like any other teenage girl . . . except Mallory is dead.

Twilight meets Titanic
Ranked one of the Top Ten Children's Books of the year by the Washington Post, Kiss me, I'm Dead was named a Notable Book for Teens by the Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, a Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Teen's Top Ten, and nominated for a Cybils literary award, a Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) by the American Library Association (ALA), and recently added to Horn Book’s list of Recommended American Historical Fiction.

The Washington Post said, "(J.G. Sandom) writes with a precision and delicacy unusual for YA fiction," and called the book, "A subtle gem." School Library Journal said, "Kiss Me, I’m Dead tells a remarkable story in a remarkable way." Horn Book Magazine called the work, "A decidedly unconventional ghost story . . . (and) a tightly wound novel." Kirkus Reviews termed it, "A remarkable account." Romantic Times said, "Kiss Me, I’m Dead is a book you shouldn't pass up." Midwest Book Review termed it, "a wonderfully different kind of ghost story." And Bookslut.com said, "Kiss Me, I’m Dead scores on several levels, most notably as a drama that blows apart all preconceived notions of how history can be retold."

Click here to purchase your copy of Kiss me, I'm Dead!

CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER.

 

Here's the thing about body snatching. You just can't think about what you're doing. You can't feel sorry for the person, or think they look like your mother, your brother or your sister. You can't feel bad. In fact, you can't feel anything. That's the key. Because the minute you start feeling something, it's over. You're dead — pennies on the eyes, dirt on the face dead. It's no way to live, but for some, it's the only way.

Until they come for you . . .

Previously named a Junior Library Guild selection, Publishers Weekly called Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher, “A haunting tour of London's underclass during the 1830s . . . Teens will likely be both captivated by Victor's harrowing story as well as his ability to prevail in the face of harsh injustices." VOYA said, "Teen readers will thoroughly enjoy the hair-raising suspense in this historical thriller." Kirkus Reviews called Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher perfect for, “audiences that relish historical fiction."KLIATT said, "Like M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, this look at sinister events in history makes the era come alive and lingers in the memory." And School Library Journal said, “Part historical fiction and part adventure story, the novel brings excitement to Victorian England . . . Readers will be on the edge of their seats.”

Click here to purchase your copy of Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher. 

 

And if that isn't enough, BOTH titles are also available in
Two Teen Terrors — A Cornucopia Press Collection FOR JUST $1.49!

 

Click here to purchase your copy of Two Teen Terrors!

 

And for FREE!

 

Check out this short story, After the Great Muskie Hunt, dedicated to my father, Zane, who always found time to take me fishing, and whose memory it honors. Please take a moment to download and read it and — if you like it — tell your friends. It's only around 4,000 words, or 15 manuscript pages. We live the lives of locusts, gone in a summer's day. Zane, I miss you!
 

 

"After the Great Muskie Hunt"

When his father loses his job, a young painter from New York offers to take him fishing for muskie — a barracuda-like freshwater fish — at Big Eagle Lake, in Ontario, Canada.

 

"Haunting and beautiful."

MainSail Reviews

 

STILL LOOKING FOR THAT PERFECT TITLE?

 

Meantime, THE WAVE, my indie title from Cornucopia Press, continues to outsell all of my Big Six books.  Go figure!

 

AND IT'S BEEN REDUCED FROM $7.99 TO ONLY $2.99!  SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  PICK UP A COPY TODAY.

Kirkus said, "Sandom’s strength lies in the verve of his story, with writing that has both muscle . . . (and) brains . . . Races from improbable to crazywild, all in good fun, with Sandom always one step ahead . . . A story with enough manic energy to be worthy of a nuclear explosion."

When Cryptanalyst John Decker of the FBI is assigned to the Joint Terrorist Task Force in New York, he has no idea he is about to be thrust into a deadly plot of eco-terrorism masterminded by El Aqrab, a diabolical killer recently arrested in Tel Aviv whose calling card is to wrap his victims up with incendiary devices designed to produce flames in the shape of Koranic verses.  Some call it aesthetic destruction.

Following the theft of 8 kilos of Highly Enriched Uranium, an ultimatum is issued to the West:  Release El Aqrab or a nuclear bomb will be detonated. But, at the last moment, El Aqrab escapes . . . and the authorities never get the bomb.

While Homeland Security is convinced it's headed for New York, only Agent Decker — assisted by brilliant and beautiful oceanographer Emily Swenson — believes the bomb’s true destination is La Palma, in the remote Canary Island chain.

Now, Decker and Swenson have less than six hours to prove their theory, defuse the bomb, and prevent a mega-tsunami from annihilating the Eastern Seaboard.

For an excerpt from The Wave, click here.

To purchase your copy of The Wave, click here.

I'd like to take this moment to thank all my fans for your fabulous support of The Wave these last few months.  As you know, I've been setting aside 10% of all profits from the sale of this book to Japanese tsunami relief efforts. Your generosity has helped thousands of victims, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

While The Wave may be a work of fiction, I know from my extensie research how devastating tsunamis and — as seen in my book — mega-tsunamis can be. The recent events of March and December in Japan remind us just how fragile and fickle our environment is, and how we must do whatever we can to protect it.

 

Meanwhile, The God Machine, from Random House (Bantam) continues to reach new theo-thriller fanatics. . . especially as an eBook.

Caroline Thompson (author of Edward Scissorhands) said, "Move over, Dan Brown . . . All hail J.G. Sandom . . . (The God Machine) is a thrilling and breathless, rapturously-written and mind-blowing read. It’ll keep you up all night, turning pages as fast as your little fingers can manage."  BookPage said, "Sandom has a knack for combining legendary gospels, ancient secrets, star-crossed lovers and Masonic puzzles to create a simmering stew of conspiracy, intrigue and danger that keeps the plot pot boiling until the very end." And the Historical Novels Review said, "History galore, violence, and intrigue fill the pages of this tightly plotted, twisting and turning adventure story . . . Those who love numbers, physics, and a truly unpredictable, suspenseful mystery will relish the facts and ponderings replete in this well-written, mysterious spin-off of The Da Vinci Code. The God Machine is a very impressive historical thriller!"

The Church insisted it didn't exist.

They lied.

They said it was just a Masonic legend.

It wasn't.

A two thousand year old secret.

Revealed.

The coded journal of Benjamin Franklin. A hidden map. A legendary gospel. These are the first pieces to an ancient puzzle so powerful it could destroy the very foundation of Christianity.

 

Once before, Joseph Koster unearthed one of the Church's most deeply buried secrets . . . and it almost cost him his life. But some treasures are too hard to resist. And as Koster puts the pieces of Franklin's puzzle together, he discovers something even more startling . . . and infinitely more deadly.

  

Now, along with beautiful Indian high-tech mogul Savita Sajan, Koster must race to decode Franklin's journal before it falls into the hands of those who would do anything, kill anyone to suppress it. But in a world of secret societies, ancient conspiracies and Masonic puzzles, locating the prize is one thing . . . staying alive, another.

 

For as Koster and Sajan are about the learn, the same key that unlocks the doorway to Heaven . . . could open the portals of Hell.

For an excerpt from The God Machine, click here.

To purchase your copy of The God Machine, click here.

The novel will also soon appear in a variety of foreign languages (and markets), from Spanish (for distribution in Spain and all of Latin America) to Turkish.  So — Gracias, and Çok Sagolun!

Spread the good news.  If you liked The God Machine, please pen a review at Amazon, BarnesAndNoble.com or Goodreads.

What's New In April, 2012

For those of you who didn't notice, I've launched a brand new section on this website/blog called, On My Desk, which features posts and links about my current projects: The Plague, sequel to The Wave - A John Decker Thriller; and an ultra-secret new cookbook I'm co-writing with . . . but that would be telling.

This way you can get an unprecedented, inside look into my writing process, and see what I'm reading/looking at online and elsewhere as I work on these titles.

This follows the paradigm I've noticed at sites such as Cornucopia-Press.com, where the editors there are constantly adding new stories about the self-publishing phenomenom in the "What's New!" BLOG.

So, check it out.  See what I'm looking at, perusing, reading, studying et al . . . before it ends up, premasticated, in one of my novels.

LOOKING FOR SOME SPINE-TINGLING NEW THRILLERS?

  ON SALE FOR JUST 99¢

 TWO AWARD-WINNING NOVELS OF HORROR!

 

KISS ME, I'M DEAD.

 

 BEFORE THERE WAS 9/11 . . . THERE WAS 6/15

On June 15, 1904, the General Slocum steamship burned and sank in the East River, killing over a thousand innocent New Yorkers.  It was the greatest disaster and loss of life in New York City history . . . until 9/11.  In KISS ME, I'M DEAD, this forgotten piece of history serves as the backdrop of an extraordinary story of loss, redemption, justice, and a love that not even death could extinguish.

Mallory Meer is like any teenage girl. She likes to have fun. She thinks her sister is ridiculous. Her parents drive her crazy. She has a crush on Dustin and follows him everywhere.

Mallory even has a summer job — figuring out the truth about the fire on the General Slocum steamship, the disaster that killed her sister. Mallory is determined to find out the truth, and to bring the guilty parties to justice.

Sometimes Mallory gets angry, very angry, and strange things happen when Mallory gets angry. Yes, Mallory is like any other teenage girl . . . except Mallory is dead.

Twilight meets Titanic
Ranked one of the Top Ten Children's Books of the year by the Washington Post, Kiss me, I'm Dead was named a Notable Book for Teens by the Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, a Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Teen's Top Ten, and nominated for a Cybils literary award, a Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) by the American Library Association (ALA), and recently added to Horn Book’s list of Recommended American Historical Fiction.

The Washington Post said, "(J.G. Sandom) writes with a precision and delicacy unusual for YA fiction," and called the book, "A subtle gem." School Library Journal said, "Kiss Me, I’m Dead tells a remarkable story in a remarkable way." Horn Book Magazine called the work, "A decidedly unconventional ghost story . . . (and) a tightly wound novel." Kirkus Reviews termed it, "A remarkable account." Romantic Times said, "Kiss Me, I’m Dead is a book you shouldn't pass up." Midwest Book Review termed it, "a wonderfully different kind of ghost story." And Bookslut.com said, "Kiss Me, I’m Dead scores on several levels, most notably as a drama that blows apart all preconceived notions of how history can be retold."

Click here to purchase your copy of Kiss me, I'm Dead!

CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER.

 

Here's the thing about body snatching. You just can't think about what you're doing. You can't feel sorry for the person, or think they look like your mother, your brother or your sister. You can't feel bad. In fact, you can't feel anything. That's the key. Because the minute you start feeling something, it's over. You're dead — pennies on the eyes, dirt on the face dead. It's no way to live, but for some, it's the only way.

Until they come for you . . .

Previously named a Junior Library Guild selection, Publishers Weekly called Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher, “A haunting tour of London's underclass during the 1830s . . . Teens will likely be both captivated by Victor's harrowing story as well as his ability to prevail in the face of harsh injustices." VOYA said, "Teen readers will thoroughly enjoy the hair-raising suspense in this historical thriller." Kirkus Reviews called Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher perfect for, “audiences that relish historical fiction."KLIATT said, "Like M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, this look at sinister events in history makes the era come alive and lingers in the memory." And School Library Journal said, “Part historical fiction and part adventure story, the novel brings excitement to Victorian England . . . Readers will be on the edge of their seats.”

Click here to purchase your copy of Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher. 

 

And if that isn't enough, BOTH titles are also available in
Two Teen Terrors — A Cornucopia Press Collection FOR JUST $1.49!

 

Click here to purchase your copy of Two Teen Terrors!

 

And for FREE!

 

Check out this short story, After the Great Muskie Hunt, dedicated to my father, Zane, who always found time to take me fishing, and whose memory it honors. Please take a moment to download and read it and — if you like it — tell your friends. It's only around 4,000 words, or 15 manuscript pages. We live the lives of locusts, gone in a summer's day. Zane, I miss you!
 

 

"After the Great Muskie Hunt"

When his father loses his job, a young painter from New York offers to take him fishing for muskie — a barracuda-like freshwater fish — at Big Eagle Lake, in Ontario, Canada.

 

"Haunting and beautiful."

MainSail Reviews

 

STILL LOOKING FOR THAT PERFECT TITLE?

 

Meantime, THE WAVE, my indie title from Cornucopia Press, continues to outsell all of my Big Six books.  Go figure!

 

AND IT'S BEEN REDUCED FROM $7.99 TO ONLY $2.99!  SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  PICK UP A COPY TODAY.

Kirkus said, "Sandom’s strength lies in the verve of his story, with writing that has both muscle . . . (and) brains . . . Races from improbable to crazywild, all in good fun, with Sandom always one step ahead . . . A story with enough manic energy to be worthy of a nuclear explosion."

When Cryptanalyst John Decker of the FBI is assigned to the Joint Terrorist Task Force in New York, he has no idea he is about to be thrust into a deadly plot of eco-terrorism masterminded by El Aqrab, a diabolical killer recently arrested in Tel Aviv whose calling card is to wrap his victims up with incendiary devices designed to produce flames in the shape of Koranic verses.  Some call it aesthetic destruction.

Following the theft of 8 kilos of Highly Enriched Uranium, an ultimatum is issued to the West:  Release El Aqrab or a nuclear bomb will be detonated. But, at the last moment, El Aqrab escapes . . . and the authorities never get the bomb.

While Homeland Security is convinced it's headed for New York, only Agent Decker — assisted by brilliant and beautiful oceanographer Emily Swenson — believes the bomb’s true destination is La Palma, in the remote Canary Island chain.

Now, Decker and Swenson have less than six hours to prove their theory, defuse the bomb, and prevent a mega-tsunami from annihilating the Eastern Seaboard.

For an excerpt from The Wave, click here.

To purchase your copy of The Wave, click here.

I'd like to take this moment to thank all my fans for your fabulous support of The Wave these last few months.  As you know, I've been setting aside 10% of all profits from the sale of this book to Japanese tsunami relief efforts. Your generosity has helped thousands of victims, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

While The Wave may be a work of fiction, I know from my extensie research how devastating tsunamis and — as seen in my book — mega-tsunamis can be. The recent events of March and December in Japan remind us just how fragile and fickle our environment is, and how we must do whatever we can to protect it.

 

Meanwhile, The God Machine, from Random House (Bantam) continues to reach new theo-thriller fanatics. . . especially as an eBook.

Caroline Thompson (author of Edward Scissorhands) said, "Move over, Dan Brown . . . All hail J.G. Sandom . . . (The God Machine) is a thrilling and breathless, rapturously-written and mind-blowing read. It’ll keep you up all night, turning pages as fast as your little fingers can manage." BookPage said, "Sandom has a knack for combining legendary gospels, ancient secrets, star-crossed lovers and Masonic puzzles to create a simmering stew of conspiracy, intrigue and danger that keeps the plot pot boiling until the very end." And the Historical Novels Review said, "History galore, violence, and intrigue fill the pages of this tightly plotted, twisting and turning adventure story . . . Those who love numbers, physics, and a truly unpredictable, suspenseful mystery will relish the facts and ponderings replete in this well-written, mysterious spin-off of The Da Vinci Code. The God Machine is a very impressive historical thriller!"

The Church insisted it didn't exist.

They lied.

They said it was just a Masonic legend.

It wasn't.

A two thousand year old secret.

Revealed.

The coded journal of Benjamin Franklin. A hidden map. A legendary gospel. These are the first pieces to an ancient puzzle so powerful it could destroy the very foundation of Christianity.

 

Once before, Joseph Koster unearthed one of the Church's most deeply buried secrets . . . and it almost cost him his life. But some treasures are too hard to resist. And as Koster puts the pieces of Franklin's puzzle together, he discovers something even more startling . . . and infinitely more deadly.

  

Now, along with beautiful Indian high-tech mogul Savita Sajan, Koster must race to decode Franklin's journal before it falls into the hands of those who would do anything, kill anyone to suppress it. But in a world of secret societies, ancient conspiracies and Masonic puzzles, locating the prize is one thing . . . staying alive, another.

 

For as Koster and Sajan are about the learn, the same key that unlocks the doorway to Heaven . . . could open the portals of Hell.

For an excerpt from The God Machine, click here.

To purchase your copy of The God Machine, click here.

The novel will also soon appear in a variety of foreign languages (and markets), from Spanish (for distribution in Spain and all of Latin America) to Turkish.  So — Gracias, and Çok Sagolun!

Spread the good news.  If you liked The God Machine, please pen a review at Amazon, BarnesAndNoble.com or Goodreads.

THE PLAGUE - Lanier on Digital Maoism

Here is one of my favorite thinkers about the Net, whose book - You Are Not A Gadget - is must reading for all those interested in where the Web is going (i.e. Web 3.0).  [Plus, I dig his dreads!]  Jaron Lanier: You rule!

Web 2.0's 'digital mobs' attacked

The latest phase of internet - web 2.0 - has been attacked by a leading author and digital pioneer for its "mob" mentality, describing it as "digital Maoism".

Jaron Lanier, who popularised the virtual reality concept in the early 1980s, said that in rush to forge a new age of collectivism, we risk losing individual identities and dumbing down our understanding of the world.

He told BBC World Service's Culture Shock that his main problem is that in places like the blogosphere or the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, people no longer treat or respect each other as individuals.

"We have these designs on the internet where a whole bunch of people work together anonymously - a mob, in my opinion - in order to do something," he said.

"They actually take on the emotional quality of a mob - they become mean, they tend to insult each other a lot more than they would if they knew who each other were. In my opinion, this is an example of a design that isn't so great."

Mass opinions

Lanier is among a small group leading a backlash against web 2.0 - the term coined to describe the latest internet era, in which collective ideas and participation take over from individual authorship.

Lanier singled out Wikipedia for particular criticism, saying that because those who participate do so anonymously, " you have no idea what knowledge any of them have".

"Essentially they lose themselves; they become a mob," he added.

He coined the term "digital Maoism" in a recent article, and explained that it was not meant entirely as an insult, but a reference to the notion that individual variations between people are negative and that "somehow, the masses of people will always be right".

And he said that there is currently an "avalanche" of new companies being funded by investors in Silicon Valley that are designed to harvest the wisdom of the collective.

He criticised in particular news aggregator sites, in which millions anonymously review a newspaper article, and a newspaper is created on the basis of the mass opinions of these people.

"The problem with that is that if you look at the result, you end up with trivial but amusing news stories as the headlines," he said.

"For instance, a college student winning an ice cream-eating contest and getting a horrible headache and having to go to the hospital.

"But some of the more important headlines, about politics or science, are either missing or obscure. This is a natural reaction, because of course people want to be amused, but I think the more valuable source of news brings them news that isn't always the best."

Web 3.0

But trend expert Lauren Parijs, director of the Flanders District of Creativity in Brussels, said that while Lanier's view an "anti-movement gaining momentum," it remains very small.

"It's natural - every new medium has its opposition," he added.

And he countered that while there is a sense of individuality being lost in some areas, other sites are attempting to counter this.

"You also see a lot of initiatives springing up on the web that actually combine the two things, letting people contribute but also meet up," he said.

"There is a networking initiative called E-Academy, and what they do is let people connect projects on the net that do the same thing, but also arrange for people to meet face to face within their community.

"So you see this blend taking place - and I think that's where web 3.0 will head towards."

 

THE PLAGUE - Blackouts!

Here's a great piece from The New Yorker which talks about the psychology of power grid failures and blackouts.  Perfect, considering there's one hell of a blackout in THE PLAGUE.

Ask an Academic: Blackouts

Posted by Ian Crouch

 

Everyone, it seems, has a blackout story, a tale of what happened when the power was cut and suddenly everything had changed. Though more than forty years have passed, David E. Nye still remembers sitting in the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College in 1965, at the outset of the Great Northeastern Blackout: “I suspected it was a misguided fraternity prank, and I was a bit peeved because I was preparing for a midterm exam,” he writes in his new book, “When the Lights Went Out: A History of Blackouts in America,” which will be published by M.I.T. on March 31st. Nye—a professor of history and the chair of the Center for American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark—has long studied how technological innovation shapes culture. This week, we spoke about the blackout’s place in popular consciousness.

Why blackouts?

I lived through the 1965 and the 1977 blackouts, plus many smaller ones caused by storms, and I also used to talk to my father and others about what it was like before electrification. He grew up in rural New Hampshire. Roughly half of all Americans still lived without it until the end of the nineteen-twenties. And so, after writing books about how the United States was electrified and about Thomas Edison, it seemed logical to write about how people respond to blackouts, and about what it means when the electrical system goes down or is turned off. Every time we invent a technology, we also invent the possibility of its failure. The Wright brothers, it might be said, also invented the plane crash. It's just that we usually focus on how things work, not how they fail.

Why are blackouts so memorable?

Most of the time people are living inside their heads and pursuing some multiple agendas. When the lights fail, unexpectedly we are forced to live entirely in the present, to improvise, to deal with the people right around us instead of ideas in our heads or friends at e-mail remove. Moreover, the present we confront in a blackout is transformed; the world has the same shapes but different shadows and a new soundscape. In New York, the din of subways, stereos, TVs, and several million motors and appliances has suddenly disappeared. This de-familiarized world grabs our attention, it forces us into the now, and the scene is unforgettable later.

You write that blackouts can reveal in people “a spontaneous capacity for kindness and civic solidarity.” Why is that?

I have been told countless stories of neighbors who hardly ever spoke, suddenly reaching out and helping each other or just having a good, long conversation for the first time. One woman told me that she lived in a building near Washington Square and hardly knew anyone else there until the 1965 blackout. That evening everyone gathered in the one apartment that had a gas stove in the kitchen, and they had an impromptu banquet. The friendships forged that evening lasted for many years. In other words, a blackout is not merely an interruption, it pushes people into a new situation, and whether caused by an ice storm in Maine or an overloaded urban system during a heat wave, it can end up making the community stronger.

Some blackouts have led to unrest, though.

Blackouts do not cause certain effects. It is more like people are suddenly thrust into a darkened room where they cannot continue with what they were doing a moment before. They can “read” this darkened space in an infinite number of ways, but a good deal of what they see and sense there is projected from their own minds. If people fear impoverishment and sense that the community is breaking down, as was the case in some parts of New York City in 1977, they may see the blackout as an opportunity for looting. In such cases, the blackout reveals that the bonds of community have frayed to the breaking point.

You write about how the development of the power grid has changed the way we think about night and darkness. Why are we afraid of, or indifferent to, the dark?

This is a very large question, actually, and a detailed answer goes back to pre-modern times. Human beings are not adapted to see as well in the dark as some other species. Before there was much artificial illumination, people did not like to venture out in the dark if they could avoid it, and the night was “peopled” with witches, ghosts, and the like. Indifference is a modern response to the night, made possible by artificial illumination, as people can live in a cocoon of conveniences and quite possibly never even properly see the night. Light pollution is so widespread in the United States that few places now are really dark.

Are blackouts a useful tool for terrorists?

In films and novels, terrorists take out electrical installations far more often than they have in reality. Partly, this is because nature is far more comprehensive in destroying the system than any terrorist could be. A major ice storm will tear down lines everywhere, while bombs will only take out one transmission tower at a time. Utility companies have terrific repair crews who are able to get the juice up and running again. A terrorist who looks hard at this situation will see that attacking the electrical infrastructure may not give much “bang for the buck” compared to other alternatives. Remember, too, that electrical systems have some redundancy built into them, i.e. there are multiple power sources and usually multiple routes to move electricity over the wires, so even before repairs are made, many customers will start getting service again.

What are the biggest challenges facing the American power grid in the coming decades?

Historically, U.S. demand for electricity almost doubled every decade from 1900 until the nineteen-seventies. This has meant, for example, that the nation needed twice as much generating capacity in 1970 as it did in 1960. This explosive growth was unsustainable, and slowed down somewhat after 1970, but not nearly enough. The challenge of the future is to “de-market” electricity, to show people how to live well, even better, while using less of it. In the meantime, the grid needs to be upgraded. At first, it was built a bit haphazardly. Each local utility sought to be largely self-sufficient, buying and selling small surpluses. The problem now is to build a system that allows every consumer to also potentially become a producer. The grid of the future also must find a way to incorporate solar and wind power. This has already been done on a small scale in Germany. However, even with the present grid, Americans would be O.K. if they learned to curb demand.

What can people do?

“Earth Hour,” which comes the last Saturday of March every year, is so important. On that night, people in ninety-two countries will signal to their politicians and corporations that they want to find ways to use less energy, generate less CO₂, and live in a sustainable way. The U.S. has been slow to get involved in this “greenout” movement, which is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund. It is really strong in Australia, Canada, and some parts of Europe. So consider turning down the power for one hour that night and send a message!