J. G. Sandom ~ Author

What's New In November, 2012

Hey, if you haven't done so already, click on the Become a Fan button on the left margin and become a Fan at my Facebook fan page. Thank you!

SuperStorm Sandy has ravished most of the Northeast, leaving behind devastating tableaux of destruction in New York and New Jersey, and killing over one hundred Americans.

We live on the edge of the precipice. The rise of only a few meters of sea level puts countless of our coastal cities at risk. Who would have dreamed of seeing the subways of New York full of seawater, cars floating away!

To some, it's worrisome to consider these cataclysmic events are natural phenomena, out of our control, acts of nature. To me, it's even more troubling to consider they're the outcome of man-made behaviors, such as the purposeful production and willful burning of fossil fuels, and our lollygagging over emission limits.

Increasingly, through acts that can only be described as wanton eco-terrorism, the planet we live on is being geologically and meteorologically shaped by human forces, often driven by particular economic, political, or socio-religious agenda.

The photo of the Statue of Liberty at the top of this post is a fake, taken from the movie The Day After Tomorrow, but it might not have been.

If you think the string of photos below is disturbing, if you feel that what you're still going through following Sandy is a nightmare, consider what it would have been like if instead of a Category 1 hurricane (Katrina was a 5), the Eastern Seaboard had been struck by a mega-tsunami.

We had a devastating 12-foot storm surge. Imagine the damage caused by a wave more than 16 stories high (160+ feet) smashing into our Eastern Seaboard.

Now, consider if that eco-disaster were man-made — by a terrorist. That's the conceit behind my novel, THE WAVE.

If you're living in a storm-devastated area of the country, like New York or New Jersey, you might want to check out THE WAVE . . . if only so that you can count your blessings.  Think about how much worse it could have been!

 RECENTLY REDUCED FROM $7.99 TO ONLY $2.99!

For the next 6 months, 10% of all profits from the sale of this title will go to the Red Cross for Sandy Relief.

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 â€” assisted by brilliant and beautiful oceanographer Emily Swenson â€” 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.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano is currently in a dormant stage, but will almost certainly erupt again. The western half of the volcano has an approximate volume of 500 cubic kilometres and an estimated mass of 1,500,000,000,000 metric tons. If it were to catastrophically slide into the ocean, it could generate a wave with an initial height of about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) at the island, and a likely height of around 50 metres (164 ft) at the Caribbean and the Eastern North American seaboard when it runs ashore eight or more hours later.

Tens of millions of lives will be lost as the cities and towns of New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington DC, Miami, Havana, Rio, and countless others along the Atlantic coast in South America, Africa and Europe are destroyed, wiped out in seconds.

As Emily Swenson says about the inevitability of the fall of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma, “I’m afraid you don’t understand, Agent Decker.  It’s not about likelihood.  It’s a certainty.  The only variable is time.”

At some point in the future, the island will come apart and a mega-tsunami will stream across the Atlantic at the speed of a jet plane, obliterating the entire Easter Seaboard of the United States, killing more than forty million people, thirteen percent of the U.S. population. And hundreds of millions will be injured, one out of every three Americans. It will cause trillions of dollars in damage. The entire U.S. economy will be disrupted for years, if not permanently crippled.
This is not speculation. This is a fact.

 The last Cumbre Vieja eruption occurred in 1971. The next? Who knows. Click below to see what it might look like.

 

For an excerpt from The Wave, click here.

To purchase your copy of The Wave, click here.

Click here to check out my Pinterest board. [WARNING:  Some of the images on this board may be disturbing to younger readers.]

I'd like to thank all my fans for your fabulous support of The Wave. I set aside 10% of the profits from the sale of this book to Japanese tsunami relief efforts last year. Your generosity helped thousands of victims.

While The Wave may be a work of fiction, I know from my extensive research how devastating tsunamis and â€” as seen in my book â€” mega-tsunamis can be. The events of March, 2011, reminded us just how fragile and fickle our environment is, and how we must do whatever we can to protect it.  Now, SuperStorm Sandy has reminded us again.

If you do have power, and you're looking for something uplifting to read on your Kindle, Nook, iPad, smartphone or laptop, 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. It's only around 15 manuscript pages, and it's FREE!

We live the lives of locusts, gone in a summer's day. I miss you, Dad!

 

"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

[Click here to check out my Pinterest board for After the Great Muskie Hunt.]

ON SALE FOR JUST 99¢
THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

 TWO AWARD-WINNING
YA CRIME NOVELS!

 

KISS ME, I'M DEAD 

 

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

On June 15, 1904, over a thousand New Yorkers, mostly German immigrants on a Church outing, died when the General Slocum steamship was set afire and sank in the East River. It was the greatest mass killing in New York City history . . . until 9/11.

When her boyfriend is accused of the crime, an amateur teen detective, Mallory Meer, risks everything to solve the mystery behind the tragedy. Was Dustin guilty? Or was someone else responsible for the fire that killed over a thousand men, women and children â€” including Mallory's own baby sister?

Only Mallory can understand what this crime truly means, because she's not only one of the victims . . . she's one of the dead.

An extraordinary story of revenge, of the quest for justice, and of a love so powerful, not even death could extinguish it.

Mallory Meer is like any other teenage girl. She likes to have fun. She thinks her sister is ridiculous. Her parents drive her crazy. She's got a terrible 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 get to the bottom of it, to find out who's guilty, and to finally bring them 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
Carrie meets Sherlock Holmes

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!

Click here to check out my Pinterest board for Kiss me, I'm Dead.

CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER

The beggar children of London are vanishing. They're disappearing . . . right off the streets.

Some say it's got something to do with the business of body snatching, grave robbers digging up corpses and selling them to doctors for medical research.

Some say it's far worse.

Now, racing against time, only Victor — a poor immigrant boy recently ship-wrecked and sold into the bondage of beggary â€” can uncover the identity of the ghoulish murderer at the heart of London’s furtive trade in human trafficking.

They killed his best friend.

They kidnapped the girl that he loves.

Now, there's only one thing worse than their finding him . . . and that's him finding them first. 

Oliver Twist meets Breaking Bad
Spartacus meets Bones

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.

Click here for the Pinterest board.

 

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!

 

STILL LOOKING FOR THAT PERFECT TITLE?

 

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.

Click here to check out my Pinterest board for The God Machine.

The novel has just come out in Spanish from LA FACTORÍA DE IDEAS. It's available in Europe and Latin America, as well as in the the US. Later this year, look for it in Turkish too!

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

What's New In October, 2012

Hey, if you haven't done so already, click on the Become a Fan button on the left margin and become a Fan at my Facebook fan page. Thank you!

Sometimes, especially after devastating natural disasters like SuperStorm Sandy (named after that pesky underwater squirrel on SpongeBob, no doubt), it's easy to despair. Global warming. Regional conflicts. Sectarian violence. The whole world looks so bleak.

In reality, however, we are actually living in a golden age. According to Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, "Violent deaths of all kinds have declined from around 500 per 100,000 people per year in pre-state societies to around 50 in the Middle Ages, to around six to eight today worldwide, and fewer than one in most of Europe."

What about gun-toting Americans and our inordinate rate of homicides (currently around five per 100,000 per year) compared with other Western democracies? In 2005, Pinker computes, just eight tenths of 1 percent of all Americans died of domestic homicides and in two foreign wars combined.

Why has violence declined? Hobbes was only partially right in advocating top-down state controls to keep the worse demons of our nature in check. A bottom-up civilizing process has also been under way for centuries, according to Pinker:

"Beginning in the 11th or 12th [century] and maturing in the 17th and 18th, Europeans increasingly inhibited their impulses, anticipated the long-term consequences of their actions, and took other people’s thoughts and feelings into consideration. A culture of honor — the readiness to take revenge — gave way to a culture of dignity — the readiness to control one’s emotions. These ideals originated in explicit instructions that cultural arbiters gave to aristocrats and noblemen, allowing them to differentiate themselves from the villains and boors. But they were then absorbed into the socialization of younger and younger children until they became second nature."

That second nature is expressed in the unreported "10,000 acts of kindness," as the late Stephen Jay Gould memorably styled the number of typically benevolent interactions among people for every hostile act.

In the Middle Ages, mutilation and torture were the norms for infractions, and the death penalty was applied even for non-violent crimes (such as stealing a loaf of bread!). In fact, according to Manuel Eisner, there were 100 homicides per 100K people/year in the Middle Ages. Today, there are less than 1 per 100K/year. And according to FBI statistics (which I've been studying for THE PLAGUE), since the turbulent 1960s and early '70s, when homicide rates were around 10 per 100K, they've been cut in half. Same goes for "organized" violence (wars, ethnic conflicts, etc.): In the 1950s, there were 65,000 casualties per armed conflict/year; today (2005), that's dropped to less than 2,000 per conflict/year.

So, how come the planet seems to be going to hell in a hand-basket?

Mostly, it appears, it's because of two factors:  better reporting, and because we're growing more sensitive to such deaths.

Today, we argue about the relative merits and moral repugnancy of capital punishment. In contrast, in the Middle Ages, the debate was more about quartering someone vs. burning them at the stake! When life is cheap, it's a matter of psychological survival not to get upset about it. With the rise of stable representative democracies, affluence, education, etc., life is no longer cheap — at least not in most parts of the world.

In fact, according to journalist Robert Wright, cooperation and non-violence can actually deliver benefits to both parties (e.g. sharing the peace dividend).

Also, technology has increased trade in goods and services which has, in turn, promoted the notion that people are actually more valuable alive than dead; they are, after all, potential consumers.

So, the next time some reactionary opines that it was so much better in the good old days, ask him or her if s/he really wants to go back to the Age of Innocence, when small bands of hunter-gatherers populated the earth.

Deaths due to tribal warfare (of today's hunter-gatherers — our best approximation of this halcyon age) range from 15-60%! Today, it’s statistically almost non-existent.

About 25 million soldiers died in World Wars I and II. Another 12 million were killed in this century's other wars and revolutions, for a total of 37 million dead due to war. But, if you applied the hunter-gatherer rate to warfare today, we would have lost 2 billion over the last 10 years.

Even if you add deaths that were not caused by war or revolution, but by the conscious decision of tyrants, politicians, or bureaucrats to murder great numbers of their own people for reasons of ideology, religion, race or land (think Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot), that only adds another 100 million deaths this century.

Only, you say?  Hey, 140 million deaths from human-on-human violence is a heck of a lot better than 2 billion!

Think about that as you wait for your lights to go on in the Northeast, and bitch about how hard your life has become. Folks I know didn't have power in New Orleans for 3 months after Katrina. I'm sure you can handle 3-4 days, or even a couple of weeks. Instead of complaining (as way too many of my friends are doing who are not knee-deep in water, and who still have a home), why not distract yourself by seeing if your neighbors need help?

Meantime, if you do have power, and you're looking for something to read on your Kindle, Nook, iPad, smartphone or laptop, 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. It's only around 15 manuscript pages, and it's FREE!

We live the lives of locusts, gone in a summer's day. I miss you, Dad!

 

 

"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

[Click here to check out my Pinterest board for After the Great Muskie Hunt.]

 

LOOKING FOR SOME SPINE-TINGLING NEW THRILLERS?

ON SALE FOR JUST 99¢ THIS HALLOWEEN

 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!

Click here to check out my Pinterest board for 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.

Click here to check out my Pinterest board for 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!

 

STILL LOOKING FOR THAT PERFECT TITLE?

 

Meantime, THE WAVE, my indie title from Cornucopia Press, continues to outsell all of my Big Six books.  And if you're living in a storm-devastated area of the country, like New York or New Jersey, you might want to check this out . . . just so that you can see how much worse Sandy could have been.  At least, the SuperStorm didn't spawn a mega-tsunami!

 

PLUS, 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 â€” assisted by brilliant and beautiful oceanographer Emily Swenson â€” 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.

Click here to check out my Pinterest board for The Wave. [WARNING:  Some of the images on this board may be disturbing to younger readers.]

I'd like to thank all my fans for your fabulous support of The Wave. I set aside 10% of the profits from the sale of this book to Japanese tsunami relief efforts last year. Your generosity helped thousands of victims.

While The Wave may be a work of fiction, I know from my extensive research how devastating tsunamis and â€” as seen in my book â€” mega-tsunamis can be. The events of March, 2011, reminded 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.

Click here to check out my Pinterest board for The God Machine.

The novel has just come out in Spanish from LA FACTORÍA DE IDEAS. It's available in Europe and Latin America, as well as in the the US.  Later this year, look for it in Turkish too!

If you've already purchased a copy of La máquina de Dios and you post a review at Amazon, I'll send you a special thank you (no matter what your review).  My Spanish is rusty and I'd love to see what people think of the translation!

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