There is no better place to start -- when working on a book about identity and the Internet, especially when the conceit of the novel centers around cyber-attacks -- than with the grandaddy of thought leaders, William Gibson. One of my favorite novelists, a contemporary Philip K. Dick, Gibson writes books that define the classical oevre. This piece about Stuxnet appeared in the New York Times in January, 2011.
January 26, 2011
25 Years of Digital Vandalism
By WILLIAM GIBSON
VANCOUVER, British Columbia
IN January 1986, Basit and Amjad Alvi, sibling programmers living near the main train station in Lahore, Pakistan, wrote a piece of code to safeguard the latest version of their heart-monitoring software from piracy. They called it Brain, and it was basically a wheel-clamp for PCs. Computers that ran their program, plus this new bit of code, would stop working after a year, though they cheerfully provided three telephone numbers, against the day. If you were a legitimate user, and could prove it, they’d unlock you.
But in the way of all emergent technologies, something entirely unintended happened. The Alvis’ wheel-clamp was soon copied by a certain stripe of computer hobbyist, who began to distribute it, concealed within various digital documents that people might be expected to want to open. Because almost all these booby-trapped files went out on floppy disks, the virus spread at a pre-Internet snail’s pace.
Still, it did wreak a certain amount of low-grade havoc, freezing computers across the world. The hobbyists did it because they could, or to proudly demonstrate that they could, or to see what would happen, or simply because they thought it was neat.
This proved hellishly embarrassing for the Alvi brothers, whose three telephone numbers were often inadvertently included in the files, and eventually they had to cut all three lines. There were far too many angry callers, mainly from the United States and Britain. In short, the road to our present universe teeming with viruses, worms and Trojan horses was paved, a quarter-century ago this month, with the Alvi brothers’ good intentions of securing their intellectual property.
At the time, I found it surprising that these virus-writers were apparently amateurs, civilians. I had imagined computer viruses as strategic military weapons, the business of governments, not practical jokers. Viruses might be sometimes purloined by specialist criminals looking for a big score but were never something one could cobble together at home.
But precisely the opposite happened. Virus-writers seemed, at least at first, to be in it for anything but money. The outcome was simply vandalism, as dull as someone smashing out the light fixtures in a bus shelter. Random bits of software or pieces of equipment would temporarily quit functioning. Random strangers were anonymously discommoded. Somewhere, I assumed, someone had a rather abstract giggle.
I wasn’t impressed, however arcane the know-how that was required. But I was embarrassed at how thoroughly I’d missed this in my fiction: the pettiness of most virus-writing, the banality of the result. I had never depicted, much less imagined, anyone doing anything as pointlessly ill-intentioned. (I began to try, on the margins of my work, to remedy that oversight, if only for the sake of naturalism.)
Last fall, when I learned of the Stuxnet attack on the computers running Iran’s nuclear program, I briefly thought that here, finally, was the real thing: a cyberweapon purpose-built by one state actor to strategically interfere with the business of another.
But as more details emerged, it began to look less like something new and more like a piece of hobbyist “street” technology, albeit one expensively optimized for a specific attack. The state actor — said to be Israel, perhaps working with the United States, though no one is sure — had simply built on the unpaid labor of generations of hobbyist vandals.
Stuxnet isn’t spectacularly original, as computer worms go, and those Iranian systems aren’t terribly exotic. They’re like ours. As a result, I expect we’ll see a wave of unpleasant backwash, with military money and technology beefing up the code, the digital DNA, of the descendants of Brain.
Any hobbyist worth his or her salt will, in turn, be admiring the Stuxnet code that shut down the Iranian centrifuges, looking to imitate and improve on it. And non-state players, from digital vandals to terrorists, will be casting an appraising eye, if they haven’t already, at the computers that monitor and control more ordinary but nonetheless critical systems: water treatment and distribution, sewage, oil and gas pipelines, electrical transmission lines, wind farms and nuclear power plants.
Should the lights go out in our online bus shelters one day, or some critical control system go spectacularly awry, it may in a sense, however distantly, be because Israel found a way to shut down Iran’s centrifuges. But in another way it will be the result of a bright idea two brothers once had, in the vicinity of Lahore Railway Station, to innocently clamp a digital pirate’s wheel.
This is an interesting piece from the New York Times about how National Security Letters can be issued to just about anyone — without a court order! "The privacy rights at stake are not those of the companies who hold the information, Mr. Jaffer said, but 'about people whose records are held.' And those people should be told, he said. 'People used to be the custodians of their own records, their own diaries. Now third parties are custodians of all that,' he said. 'Everything you do online is entrusted to someone else — unless you want to go completely off the grid, and I’m not even sure that is possible.'"
A portion of the redacted letter that the F.B.I. sent to Calyx Internet Access Corporation.
Twitter Shines a Spotlight on Secret F.B.I. Subpoenas
THE news that federal prosecutors have demanded that the microblogging site Twitter provide the account details of people connected to the WikiLeaks case, including its founder, Julian Assange, isn’t noteworthy because the government’s request was unusual or intrusive. It is noteworthy because it became public.
Even as Web sites, social networking services and telephone companies amass more and more information about their users, the government — in the course of conducting inquiries — has been able to look through much of the information without the knowledge of the people being investigated.
For the Twitter request, the government obtained a secret subpoena from a federal court. Twitter challenged the secrecy, not the subpoena itself, and won the right to inform the people whose records the government was seeking. WikiLeaks says it suspects that other large sites like Google and Facebook have received similar requests and simply went along with the government.
This kind of order is far more common than one may think, and in the case of terrorism and espionage investigations the government can issue them without a court order. The government says more than 50,000 of these requests, known as national security letters, are sent each year, but they come with gag orders that prevent those contacted from revealing what the agency has been seeking or even the existence of the gag orders.
“It’s a perfect example of how the government can use its broad powers to silence people,” said Nicholas Merrill, who was the first person to file a constitutional challenge against the use of national security letters, authorized by the USA Patriot Act. Until August, he was forbidden to acknowledge the existence of a 2004 letter that the company he founded, the Calyx Internet Access Corporation, received from the F.B.I.
Mr. Merrill is now free to speak about the request, but part of the gag order remains in place, and he is still barred from discussing what information he had been asked to provide. As a result, he said, before he gives a talk he consults a six-page guide prepared by his lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union to be sure that he complies with the order to avoid risking a punishment of five years in prison.
The government cites national security as the reason the contents of the letters — even their existence — are kept secret. The F.B.I. is trying to prevent plots as they are being hatched, according to Valerie Caproni, the general counsel of the agency, and thus needs stealth.
In the case of a small Internet service provider like Calyx, which was located in downtown Manhattan and had hundreds of customers, even mentioning that the F.B.I. had been sniffing around could harm an investigation, she said, especially if “the target is antsy anyway.”
Mr. Merrill, a 38-year-old from Brooklyn who studied computer science and philosophy, said he created Calyx in 1994 when it was “really pretty easy, there wasn’t really any competition.” His clients included “dozens of nonprofit organizations and alternative media outlets.”
Mr. Merrill challenged the constitutionality of the letter he received in 2004, saying the request raised “red flags” of being politically motivated. As a result of his suit and two later ones, the law governing the letters has been overturned and then revised by Congress.
In 2007, the F.B.I.’s inspector general found that the agency had abused its own guidelines by including too many peripheral people in its searches. The letters now receive the “individualized scrutiny” of the agents who are filing them, Ms. Caponi said.
All sides agree that it has become significantly easier to challenge the letters’ requests as well as their secrecy. At the moment, there are no new challenges in the court system, the government and the A.C.L.U. say.
The program, whose use has “ticked up” a bit in recent years, Ms. Caproni said, is humming along. She added, however, that the government had become more selective about the types of companies to which it sent letters. “All other things being the same, one of the things investigators think about is, ‘Who are we serving this? Are they comfortable with this?’ ” she said. “Most of these N.S.L.’s are filed on large companies. Why would they want to disclose that? Most companies view it as good corporate citizenry.”
One critic of the law, former Senator Russ Feingold, said in a statement that it was long past time for Congress “to rein in the use of national security letters.”
“This is not a partisan issue,” Mr. Feingold said, “it is about the legislative branch providing an adequate check on the executive branch. Republicans advocating limited government should take a close look at these statutes and consider supporting changes.”
Mr. Merrill argues that the blanket gag orders have prevented a full public debate on the subject. He himself largely left the I.S.P. business in 2004, independent of his legal case, and only now has returned to hosting a couple of clients as part of a nonprofit project, the Calyx Institute, which aims to study how to protect consumers’ privacy.
Regarding the news about Twitter, he wrote in an e-mail: “I commend Twitter’s policy of notifying their customers of government requests for their private data and for their challenging and subsequently removing the gag order. This is a great example of the government’s misuse of secrecy provisions and of exemplary privacy ethics on behalf of Twitter.”
Ms. Caproni, who has testified before Congress about the program, said that it had been more than amply debated. “People at the A.C.L.U. and the press” think the letters are “a bigger deal than the companies.”
To one of Mr. Merrill’s A.C.L.U. lawyers, Jameel Jaffer, the smooth operation of the system is a sign that it is not working. The privacy rights at stake are not those of the companies who hold the information, Mr. Jaffer said, but “about people whose records are held.” And those people should be told, he said.
“People used to be the custodians of their own records, their own diaries. Now third parties are custodians of all that,” he said. “Everything you do online is entrusted to someone else — unless you want to go completely off the grid, and I’m not even sure that is possible.”
Our latest presentation about THE GRAMMA SUTRA is finally available from fora.tv. Here's your chance to check out my writing partner (Sylvana Joseph) and I as we discuss sex and women of a certain age in front of a group of architects from around the world at the recent New Aging and Architecture conference at UPENN.
Special thanks to Matthias Hollwich, principal at HollwichKushner (HWKN), for inviting us to participate. It was a blast!
For more videos, visit The Gramma Sutra channel @ YouTube, or log on to The Definitive and Defiantly Funny Online Guide to Sex and discover your true sexuality @ TheGrammaSutra.com.
Inspired by the ancient Hindu classic, The Kama Sutra, THE GRAMMA SUTRA (See TheGrammaSutra.com) delivers infotainment on the psychology and physiology of sex for women over fifty, and offers tips and humorous insights on:
Dressing for Sexcess;
Dating & Entertaining for the newly single;
Props & Playthings (Yes, those kinds of toys!);
Sexercise Routines;
Gramma Sutra Illustrations of sexual positions — mindful of the conditions that women are likely to experience as they age.
The website also serves as an online community for mature women, enabling them to speak candidly and anonymously with one another on sensitive topics ranging from vaginal dryness during menopause to sex after a double mastectomy. [NOTE: We have a very strict Privacy Policy.]
Founded by yours truly and Sylvana Joseph — lawyer, writer and public radio commentator.
We are already in discussion with major advertisers about site sponsorship opportunities, and our agent is currently talking with publishers about a book deal.
That's right. A non-fiction title called . . . THE GRAMMA SUTRA — The Definitive and Defiantly Funny Guide to Sex for Women of a Certain Age.
And you could be a part of it. Become a GrammaSutra Test Bedroom and you and your honey (or honeys) might be featured in the next print edition!
Meantime, thanks to all of you who picked up a copy of my new softcover titles in time for Halloween. They are:
KISS ME, I'M DEAD.
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 is angry. Yes, Mallory is like any other teenage girl . . . except Mallory is dead.
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." School Library Journal said, "Kiss Me, I’m Deadtells 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 Deadscores on several levels, most notably as a drama that blows apart all preconceived notions of how history can be retold."
Click hereto 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 hereto 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 Fangless Fables Press Collection.
Click hereto purchase your copy of TWO TEEN TERRORS!
Meanwhile, the latest edition of THE WAVE — A John Decker Thriller is surpassing everyone's sales expectations as an eBook and trade paperback.
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."
To order your trade paperback copy of THE WAVE — A John Decker Thriller, click here. To order your eBook, click here.
Last but not least, THE GOD MACHINE continues to climb up the charts . . . especially as an eBook.
The novel will also soon appear in Spanish (for distribution in Spain and all of Latin America) and in Turkish. So — Gracias, and Çok Sagolun! There is even interest now from publishers in Indonesia!
Click hereto purchase your copy of the book the Historical Novels Reviewcalled, "a truly unpredictable, suspenseful mystery . . . (and) a very impressive historical thriller."
Caroline Thompson (author of Edward Scissorhands) @ Small & Creepy Films "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.com "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."
Historical Novels Review "History galore, violence, and intrigue fill the pages of this tightly plotted, twisting and turning adventure story, reminding one of a multilayered Russian matryoshka doll. The reader will also learn a great deal about da Vinci, Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and many more historical geniuses . . . 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!"
Crystal Reviews "J. G. Sandom, like Dan Brown and other writers covering similar conflicts, offers each reader a thrilling adventure ride but also some fascinating knowledge about Masons, the Founding Fathers of America, architecture, cathedrals, and so much more . . . Gospel Truths is a dynamic, exciting, intelligent read that will thrill every reader and, for true seekers, may even send you searching for the real 'gospel truth.' A notable novel that will gain fresh attention and interest of new readers! Move over, Dan Brown!"
To purchase your copy of GOSPEL TRUTHS, click here.
Kirkus "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."
John Murphy @ Goodreads.com "I was introduced to J. Sandom and his early work, Gospel Truths, by chance. Intrigued by Mr. Sandom I decided to read the Gospel Truths but did so with some intrepidation. As a Jesuit-educated history student I was concerned that the historical, theological underpinnings of Mr. Sandom's novel would lack the academic rigor I would expect even for a fictional writing. Not only did Gospel Truths exceeed my intellectual expectations, but I was impressed with the seamlessness with which Mr. Sandom chases history in the context a compelling love story. When it came to The God Machine, my trepidation returned. Why test fate? What if this sequel was not as good? I took a leap of faith and was not disappointed. Mr. Sandom confirmed his ability to interwine the continuing spiritual and emotional tribulations of Joseph Koster in a very granular and enticing examination of history, religion and morality. It is clear that Mr. Sandom has his own opinion and I congratulate him for having the courage to state it. But whether you agree or not with his point of view, your appreciation for the interplay between American history and American morality will be greatly enriched. He brings Ben Franklin to life. I found myself rooting for Ben on his odyssey and had to remind myself Mr. Franklin's story has already been told. That is because Mr. Sandom's Ben Franklin is not the well-known figure of American antiquity but, rather, a complex human being driven by love and desire for things large and small, who in the process made great history. It suggests that all of us could make great history and should. I highly recommend this God Machine."
Michael Weis @ Amazon.com "I had read Gospel Truths and enjoyed it, so was looking forward to The God Machine and wasn't disappointed. Intricate and mysterious - Sandom is some kind of polymath - so much, about so many things, crammed into a good page-turner, from chips to church. I've heard that Sandom and Dan Brown both went to Amherst at the same time. It makes me wonder whether Brown might have been inspired by Sandom, since Sandom's was published first. But Sandom's works are much more intricate and complex. And, those 1 star reviews. What's with that? Maybe they're Church people or wish they were. Anyway, buy it."
Etienne @ Etienne's Blog "Interesting and very flowing. It is hard to put the book down as every chapter leaves you wanting for more. It is also interesting how the author develops the romantic story between the two main characters as he did in his previous book Gospel Truths . . . Great credit has to go to the author for conducting vast historical, mathematical, and scientific research to include in the book's story."
Dave Dafilou @ Amazon.com "The God Machine is a fast reading fun book. The plot unfolds rapidly and there is constant action. I like the characters in the book. The main character has appeared in previous Sandom books, and although I have not yet read these books, it was easy to follow the references and keep on track with the plot. I also thought Sandom did a good job of setting the scene for the book regardless if it was pre-revolutionary Philadelphia or modern day California. With a few well chosen sentences, the author made you understand the key features of where the scene takes place. That is important for a story that moves across the US and Europe and through differnt time periods. This was my first Sandom novel and I have already bought my next."
Matt @ goodreads.com "Great read. Fast paced and exciting. Really interesting concept; very thought provoking. Joseph Koster is a great main character, smart and deductive. A thriller you'll have a hard time putting down."
B. Moore @ Amazon.com "I love to read, read a great deal, but will drop a book I don't find interesting anywhere from the first page to well into the book. I want to be engaged by the plot, the characters, or both. The God Machine has a complicated, engaging plot, and is intelligently written, with vast amounts of historical detail. It moves right along and certainly kept me enthralled. It is a book that is far, far better than many of those on the best-seller lists. And J.G. Sandom is a far better writer than many of those best-selling authors who churn out books like widgets on an assembly line. He deserves a wide audience."
To purchase your copy of THE GOD MACHINE, click here.
Linda "katknit" @ Amazon.com "Gospel Truths is an intelligent, complex, and competently written thriller. No bells or whistles here, just a few laptops, along with some dedicated and dangerous individuals determined to get their hands on Q, for various reasons of their own. And no neatly wrapped up ends in the final chapters. But there are some interesting passages descriptive of different locations, such as Chartres and the Rodin Museum in Paris . . . Masonic secrets, corrupt church officials, and money laundering schemes - all well before Da Vinci Code, imagine that!"
David Hall @jgsandom.com "Michner and Rutherford wrote complex historical novels. I am so amazed when an author combines technical, historical and complex writing in a single work, as you have. We readers of novels depend on the accuracy of the presentations . . . I look forward to any future writings."
Dan @ Square Dancing Dan in Denmark "The atmosphere in Gospel Truths is dark and moody.Sandom is a creative wordsmith and his characters are compelling and likeable . . . (GOSPEL TRUTHS) delivers a well crafted story with surprising twists . . . l am looking forward to reading the sequel."
Tom Bradley @ chapter.indigo.ca "Gospel Truths isa moody, literate thrillerthatprecededThe Da Vinci Code by more than a decade.It'sa great mystery, intricate and complex. A great read."
Ben @www.goodreads.com "Fascinating and well-written, it's what the genre should be —an intellectual, as well as a visceral thrill."
To purchase your copy of GOSPEL TRUTHS, click 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 irresistible 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. If it's only half as good as "The Wave" I'll expect another two or three sleepless nights — and chalk them up once again as time well spent."
Gracie412 @ amazon.com "All I can say is WOW . . . I love thrillers, and this John Decker story is a great one. The concept of environmental terrorism is all the more frightening because of the reality of global warming and cooling political alliances. John Decker is one of the great flawed heroes. Like Jason Bourne and Jack Ryan, John Decker is smart, dedicated, resolved and has a personal life that would make Dante weep. As a puzzle lover I was psyched to see a hero who also loves to piece things together and is addicted to codes and such. A demented killer in the middle east, a package of uranium large enough to make a nuclear bomb, an Israeli police officer, a gorgeous oceanographer and a volcano in the canary islands are pieces of this puzzle that Decker and Swenson (the love interest who actually is more than a pretty face, thank you J.G. Sandom!) have to put together before a catastrophe destroys millions of people. I LOVED this book. It's a thrill ride of a read and if you liked The Bourne Series or any of Tom Clancy's or James Patterson's stuff, you'll love The Wave. I recommend it highly."
For those of you who like puzzles and games, click here . . . just for fun! Challenge yourself to THE GOD MACHINE crossword or jigsaw puzzle.
Click here to view and download some e-Postcards/Wallpapers based on THE GOD MACHINE.
READINGS & SIGNINGS
Do you have ten members in your Reader's Circle or Book Club? Want to have a Skype Reading and Book Conference about THE GOD MACHINE, THE WAVE, KISS ME, I'M DEAD or any of my other books? Click here to learn how you can bring me into your home via a free Skypeonline video call. All you need is broadband Web access and a PC.
I appreciate your feedback. If you'd like to say something about a reading, please click here.
IN OTHER NEWS
Did you enjoy THE GOD MACHINE? Read the prequel: GOSPEL TRUTHS . . . now available as an eBook!
Before The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol . . . before The Last Templar . . . before The Secret . . . and before THE GOD MACHINE —there was GOSPEL TRUTHS! Re-released after almost two decades, it's time to read the book that started it all.
Booklist called GOSPEL TRUTHS, "a splendid, tautly woven thriller . . . (and) an intelligent mystery of tremendous spiritual and literary depth." Library Journal said, "A masterful first novel, based on a true incident, which spins a complicated web of corruption, greed and deception." And Mostly Murder characterized it, "A fascinating mystery . . . captivating and engrossing."
When City of London Police Inspector Nigel Lyman is assigned to investigate the death of a notorious Italian Banker found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge in London, the inquiry leads him to the Amiens and Chartres cathedrals in France in pursuit of a shadowy arch criminal — leader of a corrupt Masonic lodge, the I Four — intent on acquiring an ancient Gnostic Gospel whose discovery would undermine the very foundations of Christianity.
If you liked GOSPEL TRUTHS or THE HUNTING CLUB, if you enjoyed KISS ME, I'M DEAD or CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER, if you're loving THE GOD MACHINE, check out THE WAVE — A John Decker Thriller.
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.
See some recent TV interviews on "Breezin' with Bierman" — available at YouTube. Watch me read from THE WAVE, and chat about my other recent publications.
[NOTE: I am currently working on a sequel to THE WAVE called THE PLAGUE. More announcements about this new John Decker thriller soon!]
CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER is my third Young Adult (YA) novel, originally released as Resurrection Men under pen name T.K. Welsh. Now is your time to buys this thrilling horror story, for the first time available as a paperback and eBook.
Here's the thing about bodysnatching. 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 . . .
Check out the latest in-depth author interview at Wordswimmer. See what inspires me to write my YA novels, and learn something about my writing process. CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER was 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." BIG A, little a called the novel, “A moody, evocative tale . . . (J.G. Sandom) is fast becoming one of my favorite writers. His work transcends genre and audience classification.” VOYA said, "Teen readers will thoroughly enjoy the hair-raising suspense in this historical thriller." Kirkus Reviews called CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHERperfect for, “audiences that relish historical fiction." TeensReadToo termed it, “an intense, dark work of historical fiction . . . I highly recommend this book.” 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." Jen Robinson's Book Page called the novel, “Gripping and fast-paced, filled with intriguing historical details . . . The ending is utterly satisfying and consistent. Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction." The Miss Rumphius Effect said, “(J.G. Sandom), where have you been? I loved this book . . . Pick it up and you'll find it hard to put down.” 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.”
For a sample chapter of CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER, click here.
To purchase your copy of CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER, click here.
KISS ME, I’M DEAD is my second Young Adult (YA) novel, originally released as The Unresolved under pen name T.K. Welsh . . . and — of all my work —one of my personal favorites.
This award-winning novel is finallyavailable in paperback and in eBook form from Fangless Fables Press, where their motto is, "The real evil is us."
See what the WashingtonPost called, "a subtle gem."
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 in which her sister was killed. 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 just like any other teenage girl.
Except Mallory is dead.
KISS ME, I’M DEAD was ranked one of theTop Ten Children's Booksof the yearby the Washington Post, and nominated for a Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Teens' Top Ten,the only book award recommended and awarded solely by teens. The novel was previously named an Association of Jewish LibrariesNotable Book for Teens by the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee. KISS ME, I’M DEAD was also nominated for the Cybils literary awards, named one of only a handful of 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 Postsaid, "(J.G. Sandom) writes with a precision and delicacy unusual for YA fiction." 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 called the novel, "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."
For a sample chapter of KISS ME, I’M DEAD, click here.
To purchase your copy of KISS ME, I'M DEAD, click here.
And if that isn’t enough, both KISS ME, I’M DEAD and CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER are both available in TWO TEEN TERRORS.
To purchase your copy of TWO TEEN TERRORS, click here.
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