3 book recommendations from Eliot Peper
Big news. I just submitted the rough draft of a new novel to the publisher. Borderless (working title) is the sequel to Bandwidth, my new science fiction thriller about hackers, spies, and the geopolitics of climate change that comes out May 1.
Finishing a rough draft is a major milestone in the lifecycle of a book, and I handed in the Borderless manuscript with a mix of satisfaction, relief, nostalgia, anxiety, and anticipation. This was an exciting, surprising, and often challenging book to write and it allowed me to reach back into my graduate work on global policy even as I explored how technology is changing the ground rules of international affairs. It was a joy to get to know the protagonist, figure out who she is and why she does what she does, and come away with a certain uncanny pride when she started doing things that surprised me. In writing as in life, passing one milestone means barreling on toward the next. Wish me luck with editorial.
In the meantime, Bandwidth is available for preorder and people are saying nice things about it. If you're a reviewer/media and want to read an advance review copy, just reply to this email and let me know.
And now, books I love that you might too:
Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews is a fast-paced espionage thriller written by a veteran spook who spent over thirty years running covert-action operations for the CIA. The novel illustrates the lives and work of spies with exceptional rigor, providing countless insights into the clandestine tradecraft, politics, and inner turmoil that define real-life intelligence officers. Read this book for a rare glimpse into the shadow world that circles beneath frantic New York Times headlines.
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald is a deeply-moving memoir about grieving the loss of a parent by training a bird of prey. Macdonald's prose is transcendent, and there are lines so beautiful I reread them over and over again. But more powerful than the lyrical grace of the writing is the profound emotional force contained in the pages of this book. Macdonald excises her heart and soul with surgical precision, and I constantly found myself contemplating my own life and loved ones and reflecting on our shared relationship with the world we live in.
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin is an epic tale of adventure and resistance set in a world where certain people are born with the power to manipulate the geological forces that cause and quell earthquakes, raise mountains, and shift tectonic plates. But unlike other fantasy stories where the magical live blessed secret lives parallel to the rest of us, Jemisin's gifted few are persecuted and enslaved by a society that fears and coopts their talents. This turns what is already a masterfully-told and compulsively-entertaining story into a study of the nature of power and the institutional dynamics and broken systems that shape, and sometimes break, our lives.
Bonus recommendation: Hip-Hop Evolution is fascinating four-part Netflix documentary that follows the genre from its birth at a Bronx house party all the way to its breakthrough into the mainstream with the release of Dr. Dre's triple platinum debut album, The Chronic. If you've ever wondered about the origins of rap, this series is pure gold and includes interviews with many of the people who made hip-hop the musical juggernaut it is today.
In other news, I love telling stories in person as well as on the page, and I have few talks coming up that are well worth checking out if you're in the area. On March 7th, I will be co-leading a workshop on storytelling and entrepreneurship at the Ignite Conference in San Diego. On April 9th, I will be speaking about science fiction at the GamesBeat Summit 2018 in Berkeley (you can get 30% off the tickets by using "peper" as the discount code). On April 10-13, I will be speaking on a series of panels about technology, society, and the future at the Conference on World Affairs in Boulder. Come say hi and ask me hard questions!
If you enjoy this newsletter and want to support it, forward this email to a friend. I love sharing amazing stories that explore the intersection of technology and culture. The goal of this newsletter is to recommend books, both fiction and nonfiction, that crackle and fizz with big ideas, keep us turning pages deep into the night, challenge our assumptions, help us find meaning in a changing world, and make us think, feel, and ask hard questions. In an age of digital abundance, quality is the new scarcity. The right book at the right time can change your life.
I also pull back the curtain on my creative process. When I'm not reading books, I'm writing them. If you're interested, you can find my books right here. They've been praised by Businessweek, Popular Science, TechCrunch, io9, and Ars Technica. I'd love to hear what you think if you give them a read.
Cheers, Eliot
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