# Under the Amoral Bridge by Gary Ballard - Only $.99 cents



## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

I'd like to introduce my debut cyberpunk novel to you. Titled _Under the Amoral Bridge_, it is set in near-future Los Angeles, a city ruled by the velvet-covered iron fist of the Chronosoft Corporation. Artemis Bridge is the go-to, know-who guy - the amoral fixer with the hookup for any illicit desire that can be imagined. If you need it, he can get it, no matter how illegal, depraved or immoral. He prides himself on a distant neutrality, untouched by the corruption he traffics. When a young hacker dies in his arms, he is enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy involving the upcoming mayoral election. With only days to the election, Bridge must avoid assassination while trying to sell a career-ending video of the mayor that can't be given away.

The book has gotten nothing but positive reviews so far. The latest is a 5-star review from SciFi Mafia.com. Heather at BookObsessed gave a mini-review that was also glowing, and Mihir at Fantasy Book Critics loved it as well.

The book is available on the Kindle at the links above for only $4 (as well as on Smashwords.com) and the paperback version is available on Amazon.com and CreateSpace.com for $12. Enjoy!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Gary--

Welcome to KindleBoards and congratulations on your book and your first post!

We invite you to use your book cover as your avatar and have links to your book and website in your signature. Although self-promotion is limited to the Book Bazaar, most of our authors have found the best way to promote their books is to be as active throughout KindleBoards as time allows. This is your target audience--book lovers with Kindles!

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Please add to your existing book thread when you have news about your book rather than start a new one, it helps the members who are trying to follow you. You may have a separate thread for each of your books. We recommend you bookmark your post so that you can find it in the future.  You may respond to all posts, but if there have been no member posts, we ask that you wait a week before "bumping" the thread by posting back-to-back posts of your own. And we ask that Amazon reviews not be repeated here as they are easy to find at your book link. Also, full reviews from other sites should not be posted here, but you may post a short blurb and a link to the full review instead. All this, and more, is included in our Forum Decorum. From time to time our site rules may change; be sure to check Forum Decorum for the current guidelines and rules. _


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Love the title!  And since I'm in a hate LA mood, I've purchased the book.  Of course it'll be months before I get to read it...


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

Thanks for the purchase! I hope you enjoy the book. I've been real pleased with the amount of positive feedback. I keep waiting for someone to savage the book in true Internet style (much like I've done to other things on the Internet for years) just to see what it feels like.

I forgot to post to the paperback version - it has some reader reviews on it that aren't on the Kindle. For some reason, Amazon didn't link the Kindle version to the paperback version so it's two different titles for the purposes of reviews and such.

EDIT TO ADD: Katiebabs at the book blog Babbling about Books, has published an interview with me about self-publishing that might be of interest.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

I thought I'd come back by and let you know that the Kindle version of Under the Amoral Bridge is now on sale for .99 cents through Christmas. Grab it here.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

Under the Amoral Bridge received another great review today, this one from Josie at The Book Journal. As someone who had never read cyberpunk, she still found it an enjoyable read and wanted to read the upcoming sequel.



> If I were to be asked if you should read this book, I would say yes. It's a great story, great characters (whether you like or dislike them personally, you still get involved with them) and has a great reading rhythm. I look forward to the second book in the series.


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## angel_b (Nov 18, 2009)

HaemishM said:


> I thought I'd come back by and let you know that the Kindle version of Under the Amoral Bridge is now on sale for .99 cents through Christmas. Grab it here.


Thanks Gary. I've downloaded and it's high on my TBR list.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

Spad over at Spad's Literary Potpourri posted an interview with me for his Featured Author's Project. It includes an excerpt from _Under the Amoral Bridge_ and a few thoughts from me in regards to ebooks.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

Ed Patterson and Greg Banks at the Indie Spotlight have made me the featured author today on the Indie Spotlight. Thanks to Greg and Ed for their tireless efforts promoting self-published authors.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

Got another good (3.5 pints) review by the Drunken Scholar. While he felt my ending was a bit too neat (and he was partly right), he still enjoyed it enough that he's looking forward to the next novel in the series.

http://thedrunkenscholar.net/?p=3320

Don't forget the Kindle version is still only $.99 cents!


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## ScottLCollins (Dec 7, 2009)

Added to my wishlist. Hope to get it and read it in the next week or two. Will be sure to post a review when I'm finished. Congrats on the success!!


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

The sequel to this first novel of mine, The Know Circuit, has been released. Details on it are in the other thread. You can still get the first book on the Kindle for only $.99 cents.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

I wanted to come back and post about a great review I just received on GoodReads for this novel. From the 4-star review by Brainycat:

"This is a solid, but not groundbreaking cyberpunk adventure. Gary doesn't tread too far off the genre's beaten path, and for most of the book the action and dialogue (though not the vocabulary; sed -e "s/cyberpunk/SomeGenre/g") could be set in any noir story from Renaissance Europe to the far distant future. It's a quick read, and it's full of likable characters.

It doesn't suffer from the drawbacks typical of episodically published stories. Each installment flows well into the next, with no unnecessary recaps or useless cliffhangers: thankfully, this book reads nothing like Charles Dickens. The denouement feels like it's tacked on; almost like Gary lit a neon sign on a drizzly evening that says, "Second Novel: Here!" with a huge flashing arrow to the only plot point he left unresolved.

I like slimy, narcissistic antiheroes and Amoral Bridge delivers. He's not a total douchebag, he operates by his own moral compass that's tuned to a darwinian inspired nihilism I found myself relating to...

This book is a great introduction to cyberpunk for people who might not usually read scifi, and for diehard cyberpunk fans it's a great way to spend a couple of nontaxing hours."

The Kindle eBook edition is still only $.99 cents.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

For today only (Monday, June 21), I'm offering the eBook version of this novel FREE on Smashwords.com. Smashwords has multiple formats, including the .mobi Kindle format, so grab it now while you can. Just go to the Smashwords listing, add the book to your cart and use the coupon code EP62B at checkout. I hope you enjoy the novel, and if you do, please consider posting a review here, or at Amazon.com. Those reviews really give a struggling indie author like myself some much needed exposure.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

Now that I've released the second book in this series,The Know Circuit, I decided that I'd like to give readers an easier way to get into the series than buying two seprate books. So, I've created an eBook that combines the full text of both books in The Bridge Chronicles series, Under the Amoral Bridge and The Know Circuit, into one eBook for $3.50 - which is cheaper than buying the two eBooks separately. I present you with:

The Bridge Chronicles, Books 1 & 2

Enjoy!


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## ScottLCollins (Dec 7, 2009)

Just finished it. Thanks for the fun read! Here's my review:

4 stars
I was a little worried that I'd get lost in a book filled with technical jargon, but Mr. Ballard did a fantastic job of giving me enough information that I understood the premise without overwhelming me with techie speak. The fast, action packed plot kept me turning pages well into the night.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

David Wisehart posted a great interview with me today about my cyberpunk novels on his Kindle Author blog:

http://kindle-author.blogspot.com/2010/08/interview-gary-ballard.html


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

David Alexander, author and owner of the InkSplashD blog, just gave an excellent review for Under the Amoral Bridge!



> I downloaded the ePub version of the file from Smashwords and shuttled it to the top of my TBR pile. That was like a week ago. Off and on, over the course of the next few days, I managed to finish all 51,000 words.
> 
> And let me tell you, I need Book 2. The book was well written, dialog was sharp, and descriptions were pretty much on-point. Ballard doesn't hit you over the head with pretty prose or pages upon pages of description. There's nothing pretty in 2028 Los Angeles. His prose comes off sharp, the characters acerbic.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

Red Adept Reviews, one of the more well-known Kindle eBook reviewers, just gave Under the Amoral Bridge a fantastic review! 4 3/4 stars overall! You can read the whole thing at http://redadeptreviews.com/?p=2994 but here's just one excerpt:

"Artemis, the main character, was really fun to read about. I loved his style. While I couldn't agree with his politics, or lack thereof, or his moral reasonings, he still remained sympathetic in my eyes. He wasn't particularly likable, yet I still found myself cheering him on."

The book is on sale in the Amazon Kindle store right now for only $.89 cents and the paperback is available for $10.80.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

I received another good review the other day, from A.F. Stewart, who writes in the Canada Sci-Fi Examiner:



> The characters are well-rounded, with the focal character neither heroic nor completely indifferent; he is just a guy trying to get himself out of a bad situation in one piece. Also, the author does do a splendid job of painting his future world, a gritty, dark place full of people turned jaded, corrupt or apathetic.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

Fans of this science fiction series will be interested to know that I have some free, short fiction starring the main character of that series available on the web at The SciFried.com. The short story, called The New Transfer Protocol, takes place before Under the Amoral Bridge and is available here:

http://www.thescifried.com/features/featured-fiction/item/53-the-new-transfer-protocol

Enjoy!


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

I've added three new short stories set in the Bridge Chronicles universe to my web site:

The Run
Anatomy of a Credit Assassination
T.R.C.

They can all be found on this page of my site. I hope you guys dig them.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

_Under the Amoral Bridge_ received a good review from Jenna at the Giant Fire Breathing Robot web site. In the review, she said:



> "It's gritty, engrossing, and interesting. I think Bridge is one of my favorite characters ever written-he doesn't apologize for who he is, and he's in an interesting vocation, for sure. He may be the go-to guy, and he does know everyone, but he has his own personal issues (his girlfriend being one) that he handles superbly, too.
> 
> This being a "cyberpunk" book should not prevent you from diving right in-the tech is well-described and while integral to the story, it is not completely out-of-this-world, over-the-top type gadgets, as so many in this genre aspire to confuse their readers with. You won't get baffled by pages of tech, but you will find them well-integrated and pretty much central to the various characters."


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

Just wanted to pop in to note that I've changed my web site address from a Blogspot site to a full-fledged web site: The Bridge Chronicles! On the site, you can find all the free short stories set in the Bridge universe as on my previous site, and starting next week, I'll be posting excerpts from my new novel, _if [tribe] =_ which is due out in May. And of course, _Under the Amoral Bridge_ is still available for only $.99 for the Kindle and other eBook formats.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

_Under the Amoral Bridge_ was featured today on the Author POV segment of the Freelance and Fiction Blog. You can read the entire interview here:

http://freelanceandfiction.weebly.com/the-freelance-and-fiction-blog.html

The novel is still available for only $.99 in eBook format. It has received 10 5-star reviews and has continued to sell extremely well even 2 years after publication. You can get all three of the novels in my Bridge Chronicles series (Under is the first) in one eBook called The Bridge Chronicles Trilogy for only $5.25.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

I just noticed today that Under the Amoral Bridge got a great review on the Barnes & Noble eBook page. I don't check that page often and was very pleased to see such a positive review. Some choice quotes:



> Bridge doesn't think he's anybody special, but he's surrounded by these fascinating minor characters who see something in him that he doesn't see himself. The book has a reasonably engaging plot and effective pacing, though both could be just a little sharper. More than that, it does exactly what it was designed to do, according to the author: it creates a world and a situation I want to know more about. The line between the Haves and the Have-Nots has continued to grow, creating a sociopolitical disaster that does not ignore economics, racial tensions, or the continued impact of the Internet on everyday life.
> 
> This is a solid novel I could happily have paid five or six dollars for and felt like it was money well spent.


The book is still available as a $.99 cent eBook, and as part of a trilogy compilation called The Bridge Chronicles Trilogy for only $5.25.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

This novel got a positive review from the blogger Christie Cote at Christie's Book Reviews. Though cyberpunk is not her preferred genre, she still enjoyed the book.



> It was well written and descriptive. I could easily imagine the world. The author did well with giving a vivid image of who Bridge was and what he was like. He wasn't really someone I would be friends with.
> 
> The story was fast paced and had a good amount of action.


Thanks to Christie for reading the book.


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## HaemishM (Dec 9, 2009)

On the strength of this novel, I was named the SFNetCast indie author of the month for May. The book is still available as an eBook for only $.99 cents. The site's owner gave me a positive review as well, which you can see on the link above.


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