A little over a month ago, I got an e-mail from a marketing person at a small publisher in California. We have a book we think you’ll like, she said. Can we send you a copy? she asked.
Now, I’ve received a handful of these e-mails in the past few years. I have a blog that has a few inbound links, and a fair amount of traffic, and apparently the publishers are always looking for a way to get some buzz in the blogosphere.
I’ll be completely honest: I figured the book would be so-so at best. I’d never heard of the author, Leinad Zeraus. I didn’t know the publisher, Verdugo Press. And if they were reaching out to me, well, they were probably scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Guess what: the book is Daemon by Leinad Zeraus, and it’s remarkable. No, really. I can remember the feeling I had, sitting in the audience as the credits rolled after seeing The Matrix on opening day. I knew I’d seen something that was different, important, and something that I’d want to see again. And again. When I finished Daemon this afternoon, I had that same feeling. Daemon is to novels what The Matrix was to movies. It will be how other novels that rely on technology are judged.
Another review at Civil Bitch.
Another review at the Escapist
A little over a month ago, I got an e-mail from a marketing person at a small publisher in California. We have a book we think you’ll like, she said. Can we send you a copy? she asked.
Now, I’ve received a handful of these e-mails in the past few years. I have a blog that has a few inbound links, and a fair amount of traffic, and apparently the publishers are always looking for a way to get some buzz in the blogosphere.
I’ll be completely honest: I figured the book would be so-so at best. I’d never heard of the author, Leinad Zeraus. I didn’t know the publisher, Verdugo Press. And if they were reaching out to me, well, they were probably scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Guess what: the book is Daemon by Leinad Zeraus, and it’s remarkable. No, really. I can remember the feeling I had, sitting in the audience as the credits rolled after seeing The Matrix on opening day. I knew I’d seen something that was different, important, and something that I’d want to see again. And again. When I finished Daemon this afternoon, I had that same feeling. Daemon is to novels what The Matrix was to movies. It will be how other novels that rely on technology are judged.
Another review at Civil Bitch.
Another review at the Escapist
Link to book on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and Powell’s.
Stewart Brand review
Stewart Brand (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Brand) reviewed this book on Amazon. Here is the review: Great new techno-thriller author, February 4, 2008
I was wowed by the book and got in touch with the author. He politely inquired if I would blurb DAEMON. Absolutely:
My rule is, I only blurb books that I would buy copies of to give friends and colleagues, and this one qualifies.
DAEMON is better than early Tom Clancy (when he was good) because… 1) The tech of this techno-thriller is invoked with inside rather than second-hand knowledge; 2) the writing is better; 3) deeper issues are explored, with greater imagination.
–Stewart Brand