Apple-Obsessed Author Fella

A Bit Late, But… Reddit AMA And Other News

Hey, I’m presently doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything!) over at Reddit Books.

Go, ask stuff.

I’ll try to answer it.

Easy-peasy, nacho-cheesey.

Go ask me stuff.

And then hey, since I got you in the mood to click things:

NPR reviews ZER0ES:

“As his five hackers clash with each other, both personally and ideologically, at The Lodge, their growing awareness of the dark forces lurking behind the walls of the government — and of reality — kicks the suspense into high gear. Wendig is an ace at pacing, and he hurtles the reader through hacking sequences and action scenes with equal bang. It’s not an easy task to make a sitting-and-typing session feel nail-bitingly tense, but Zer0es‘ high-octane blend of nervy characters, dark humor and bristling dialogue carry the day. Even when he gets his geek on, his well-researched, efficiently-deployed technobabble never threatens to overwhelm.”

And so does BoingBoing:

“Chuck Wendig’s new technothriller Zeroes is a hacker misfit tale in the lineage of War Games and Sneakers, true to the spirit (and often, the minutae) of security work, and exciting as hell to boot.”

And so does the NY Daily News:

“Fans of recent Crichton and recent King will eat this bogus story up. And fans of early 2000s jargon will treasure it. The rest of us? Bored until the tale’s last 80 pages…. In “Zeroes,” Chuck Wendig upholds his reputation for irreverent, garbled language, but he fails to captivate his audience until the long-spun-yarn’s fruition. Literature’s underground shock jock relies too heavily on tween language, and not enough on nail-biting story structure. Instead, we’re left with a handful of Gilmore Girls whose snappy sarcasm and sappy stereotypes distract from an otherwise enticing sci-fi story.”

Wait, maybe don’t read that one. (And did he just ding me by comparing me to Stephen King and Gilmore Girls? Aren’t both of those things awesome? And what ‘recent Crichton’ is he talking about? Michael Crichton is no longer a living author. Is he writing novels from beyond?) (Also, am I really “literature’s underground shock jock?”) (I’m very confused?)

SFFWorld reviewed it, too:

“I’ve read only a fraction of Chuck’s prodigious output so I had some expectations – well drawn characters, great plotting, with a solid through line of sinister throughout. On those counts, I was not disappointed.”

And so did bad-ass authorperson E.C. Myers:

“From the very first page, it’s evident that Wendig is either secretly a world-class hacker in his own right, or he’s done so much research that he has become not only comfortable, but fluent in the technical and paranoia-fueled online world that hackers inhabit. Either way, he’s definitely on the NSA’s watchlist — but this book should be on their reading list as well, as Zer0es is an entertaining and timely addition to the subgenre.”

I also wrote a blog for Bookish: “Hacking Is Actually Kind Of Boring.”

I’m sure there’s more I’m missing but I’m a bit dazed and dizzy from travel and book launches and all that good stuff. Hopefully I’ll see some of you tomorrow night at WORD in Brooklyn at 7pm.

*falls over ded*