Government surveillance novel revealed in print

SYDNEY - Aug. 12, 2013 - PRLog -- As the world responds to revelations about government surveillance, author/journalist Adam Bender has published the first print edition of his dystopian opus, We, The Watched.

The current debate over the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program, PRISM, highlights a great conundrum for citizens of any country: How much personal privacy should one give up in exchange for better national security?

In We, The Watched, an amnesiac struggles to conform in a nation that administers a Watched List of its own citizens. He meets people who accept invasive surveillance by the government and forced uniformity by the church as necessary safeguards for protecting national security. But will the fresh perspective from his rebirth be a blessing or a curse?

“When I wrote my novel We, The Watched, I imagined a dystopian nation in which the government had used national security as an excuse to take all privacy rights from the people,” says Bender. “That’s not the case today, but it is one possible outcome if the balance swings too far in one direction.”

The self-published novel had previously been available as an eBook, but this announcement marks its first paper edition. The book will be distributed by CreateSpace and sold through Amazon.com and other stores with a recommended retail price of USD$9.99.

The cover of We, The Watched, depicting the graffiti symbol of a group of revolutionaries in the novel known as the Underground, was designed by Belinda Pepper of Red Swallow Design.

“Action, romance, and social commentary woven into a brilliant story," writes David Broughton in a review for the American Chronicle.

An eBook edition of We, The Watched is also available for USD$2.99 in Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony, Kobo and Smashwords stores. For more information and a full listing of stores, visit www.WeTheWatched.com.

Bender has recently finished writing a sequel called Divided We Fall and is working on a screenplay of We, The Watched. The manuscript for the sequel was a quarterfinalist in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards, one of the top 100 novels selected in the sci-fi category.

We, The Watched is available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/We-Watched-Adam-Bender/dp/1434832740.

About the Author:

Adam Bender writes speculative fiction that explores modern-day political fears with a balance of action and romance. A journalist by day, Bender has reported extensively on technology and the international debate between personal privacy and national security. Bender is a senior journalist for Computerworld, Techworld and CIO in Sydney, Australia. He previously covered U.S. politics on Capitol Hill for the esteemed Washington trade journal, Communications Daily. He has won journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the Specialized Information Publishers Association (SIPA).

Bender maintains an active social media presence on Twitter (@WatchAdam) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/wethewatched). In addition, he has a website and blog located at www.adambenderwrites.com.

An expatriate from the U.S., Bender currently lives with his wife in Sydney, Australia.

Contact:

To request a review copy or interview, please email the author.