Twenty-five years ago today, the fifty-one-day standoff between the Branch Davidians and the FBI came to an end. I spent two years of my life researching, writing, rewriting, and polishing a book set during the standoff.
There are plenty of excellent nonfiction books about Waco, but none of them give you a feel for what it was like to be trapped in that horrible situation. I wanted to write a book that humanized the participants, a book that could question (as I do) the actions of both the church and our government.
Today, it’s a book you can read. It’s the end of launch day, and I’m gathering up all the crazy goodness for you in one spot.
The early critical response to the book has been phenomenal. Check out the early reviews here:
http://www.jerrygordon.net/2018/04/breaking-the-world-early-reviews/
John Scalzi was cool enough to let me steal his website and talk about “The Big Idea” behind Breaking the World:
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2018/04/19/the-big-idea-jerry-gordon/
The always awesome Mary Robinette Kowal let me borrow her website to talk about one of my “Favorite Bits” writing the book, strong female characters:
http://www.jerrygordon.net/2018/04/breaking-the-world-early-reviews/
I sat down with Andrea Johnson for a relatively spoiler-free interview about the book, the 25th anniversary of Waco, and the lessons of the standoff that are still important today:
And I wrote a long-form essay about the crazy, real life story behind the book, “My Road Trip with David Koresh” that was published in Apex Magazine. You can snag a copy here:
https://www.apexbookcompany.com/collections/apex-magazine-all/products/apex-magazine-issue-107/
You can read an excerpt of the book:
https://read.barnesandnoble.com/book/breaking-the-world/
Better yet, pick up a copy:
