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:

https://littleredreviewer.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/interview-with-jerry-gordon-author-of-breaking-the-world/

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:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Judgement day is here. It’s the 25th anniversary of the standoff in Waco, and my debut novel, Breaking the World, is now available in stores. With the book now available, I thought I’d corral the early reviews in one spot. The response to the book has been phenomenal. I can’t wait to hear what you think!

Check out the reviews below, read an excerpt of the book, and consider picking up a copy from:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

An absorbing blend of history and narrative fiction which elevates the Waco tragedy into an unforgettable exploration of society, faith, and truth. Breaking the World by Jerry Gordon is a compelling novel that thunders, and challenges, from page one. The characters are genuine, the struggles throughout are powerful, balanced, and thoughtful. The novel’s conclusion and Gordon’s ideas within do what great fiction often hopes to — defies and then transcends what we thought we knew.

— Geoffrey Girard, Bram Stoker Award-Nominated Author of Project Cain and Truthers

The things we do to each other are more awful than any haunted house, ghoul, or demon could ever be, and in BREAKING THE WORLD, Jerry Gordon delivers an unflinching look at real-life horror. This novel will gnaw its way through your skull, burrow into your brain, and mess with you in the best way possible. It’s a pitch-black tale of moral ambiguity, with sympathetic characters facing a home-grown apocalypse of twisted faith, fire, and madness. It’s one of the strongest horror debuts in recent memory, which not only entertains but provides penetrating insight into a dark chapter of American history. This is horror done right.

— Tim Waggoner, Bram Stoker Award-Winning Author of Like Death and Some Kind of Monster

If Breaking the World had solely been about life within the Branch Davidian compound during the FBI standoff, I would have been perfectly content with this book. Gordon, however, ups the ante considerable… What Gordon does here is ballsy, of the big brassy kind, and I have to applaud him. It’s a move that I’m fairly certain will land Breaking the World as one of my best reads of 2018, and I’ll be thinking about this work for a good long while. Few books have jolted me or left me clamoring for a follow-up quite like this.

— Michael Patrick Hicks, High Feever Books

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I’m happy to report six stories from Streets of Shadows made Ellen Datlow’s list.  Stories recognized for excellance include:

Gerard Brennan – “Morrigan’s Girls”

Jonathan Maberry – “Toby’s Closet”

Nick Mamatas – “Der Kommissar’s in Town”

Tom Picirrilli – “What I Am”

Laurie Tom – “Unfilial Child”

Doug Warrick – “The Man Who Has Been Killing Cats”

The supernatural crime anthology can be ordered from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Alliteration Ink.

The blurbs and highlighted reviews for this beautiful hardcover are quick to point out that it’s not your typical zombie novel. And with good cause, as readers get to view the apocalypse through the eyes of a depressed and self-destructive writer trying desperately to drink himself into something resembling Charles Bukowski between gigs as a “driller” for the city of San Francisco.

The perspective is a bit jarring at first, but readers that push on will be rewarded with a rich portrait of a young man desperate for a life he doesn’t feel worthy to lead and a love he can never obtain. In the end, the traumatized, post-apocalyptic version of life in the Bay Area offered by Mamatas feels more uncomfortably real than most fantasies about the end of days.

If you’re looking for a thoughtful journey into a wannabe writer’s apocalypse, with zombies, The Last Weekend will satisfy.  Recommended.

Purchase from: PS Publishing, Amazon

Robinson Crusoe meets Apollo 13 in this tale of a smart-ass engineer stranded on the surface of Mars when his mission goes horribly wrong.  The near-future novel, written by one of NASA’s own, presents an ultra-plausible fight for survival against astronomical odds.  Mark Watney caries this problem-solving love letter to the space program with wit, determination, and MacGyver-esque abilities.

The book’s weakness lies in its greatest strength, a singular focus on survival.  But you won’t care.  You’ll be too busy trying to save Mark Watney.  I listened to The Martian on audiobook.  The story, mainly told through mission logs, is perfect for this format.

That said, I loved the book enough to order a paperback.

Ridley Scott will be directing a film version, but you should really give Andy Weir‘s novel a read.

Highly recommended.

The Martian:  Trade Paperback, Audiobook

Synopsis:

“Ghost in the Machine” takes place in a near future where Democrats and Republicans are minority parties, and the Sons of Liberty control the White House and Congress. Third-party politics, torture bans, and a mysterious “Ghost Program” conspire to change the course of the nation.

Review:

“GHOST IN THE MACHINE by Jerry Gordon, from the Spring 2012 issue of Shroud magazine. This is my first experience reading a Jerry Gordon short story, and I’ll be back for more. (I’m more familiar with Jerry’s work as Maurice Broaddus’ co-editor on the DARK FAITH books.)  In “Ghost,” Jerry takes a shot at modern politics in what seems to be a slightly dystopian near-future. We don’t get many details of the world: somehow San Diego has been destroyed and in the aftermath, both Democrats and Republicans have fallen in favor to a new party, the Sons of Liberty. The public isn’t aware of the use of mind-reading spies to keep various politicians in line .. but our main character, John Wexler, knows just how well they work.  Especially once he becomes a target himself.  Gordon introduces the concept so subtly that at first I thought he was talking about regular spies (with lines like “well, let the ghosts do their work…”), until the realization hit that these are, in effect, psychic hit-men. I won’t give away the twist the story takes, but I will say it was highly satisfactory.”

~365 Short Stories

The issue is available from Amazon. Enjoy!