Exit Strategy is the third and final installment in The Uncommon Series, the #1 highest rated financial thriller on Amazon (you can find the audio version of book one here and book two here). The trilogy follows Mara Winkel as she leads her tech startup from garage to IPO and gets caught up in an international conspiracy along the way. I did a ton of research to inform the story, which you can read about here.
Audiobooks can be difficult and expensive to produce, especially for indie writers like me. But it’s a format I’ve adored since I was a child. There’s something special about listening to a story that sets my imagination on fire. Just this morning, I finished the audio version of Malka Older’s excellent debut novel Infomocracy, a cyberpunk tale about the future of geopolitics that crackles with energy and big ideas (highly recommended). That’s why I’m not surprised that the popularity of audiobooks has skyrocketed in recent years, and also why I take production so seriously. I worked with award-winning house Brick Shop Audio on Exit Strategy and Jennifer O’Donnell did a fabulous job narrating the book.
Last week, the first review of the audiobook came out and made all that work and investment feel worth it (you can read the full review here). “Exit Strategy leaves nothing in the tank. Action-packed from the beginning as Mozaik fights to stay afloat and tries to bring down the biggest money laundering schemes in the world. Every page bleeds with realism and authenticity. The production quality was perfect and you couldn’t ask for a better narrator.”
I hope you agree with Brian’s assessment, and would love to here what you think if you give it a listen. We’re now working on producing audiobooks for both Cumulus and Neon Fever Dream.
It’s been a busy month since my last missive. GeekDad ran a glowing review of Cumulus that includes an in-depth interview with me on how to dissect technology trends, what companies need to do in order to succeed with innovation, and the real world issues that inspired the story. Cumulus also reached 100 reviews on Amazon, which got me unreasonably excited. I really love hearing what you think of the stories, and reader reviews make a surprisingly large impact.
In late August, we hosted a party to celebrate the release of both Cumulus and Neon Fever Dream. As always, it was a delight to chat with friends and fans about the books. Novels might be penned by authors, but they only come alive in readers’ imaginations.
Shortly after the party, we madly packed our gear and set out to spend a week in the desert at Burning Man. This was our third Burn, and it was as profoundly fun and transformative an experience as ever. One special treat this time around was hearing from Burners who’d read Neon Fever Dream, including one who gave copies to everyone who attended their playa wedding. Black Rock City is a temporary city humming with creativity and adventure and if you haven’t visited, you might want to consider adding it to your bucket list.
Finally, next week I head out to give a talk at this year’s Future in Review conference in Park City, Utah. Future in Review is a conference focused on the next 5-10 years of tech and regularly attended by Elon Musk, Vinod Khosla, Craig Venter, Paul & Irwin Jacobs, Larry Brilliant, Paul Allen, and Michael Dell. David Brin, Cory Doctorow, Ramez Naam, Kim Stanley-Robinson, and Neal Stephenson have all been featured science fiction authors in the past few years and I’m honored to participate this time around. I love telling stories live as well as on the printed page, and between this and my Talk at Google a few months ago, it’s been a fun summer for speaking.
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