Why am I passionate about this?

My father wanted to be an astrophysicist, and as a kid I caught his passion for the future from the many science fiction books he’d left throughout our house. As an adult, the advances in technology have brought the future envisioned in those books closer than ever. My passion for what awaits us led me to write The Price of Safety, which contains innovations that are right around the corner—and have already started to come true (which is freaky), between Elon Musk’s cranial implants to DNA tracking. The world we live in is becoming more like the world in my books. I hope we’re ready! 


I wrote

The Price of Safety

By Michael C. Bland,

Book cover of The Price of Safety

What is my book about?

By 2047, no crime in America goes unsolved. No wrongdoing goes unseen. When Dray Quintero learns his nineteen-year-old daughter Raven…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Dark Matter

Michael C. Bland Why did I love this book?

Dark Matter has a compelling premise: in the near future, someone creates a machine that mimics Schrodinger’s cat thought experiment—to potentially devastating consequences. But countering the story’s scientific plotline is the main character’s drive to reunite with his family (in multiple ways, which you’ll discover if you read it).

This mix of science and humanity resonated with me and influenced me when I wrote my book. The science in Dark Matter was handled well, with Crouch showing the science rather than stopping the story with pages of exposition.

Gripping, yet scary in its implications if this technology is ever created (I’m looking at you, AI-developers), Dark Matter is an amazing ride.

By Blake Crouch,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked Dark Matter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Brilliant. . . I think Blake Crouch just invented something new' - Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher series.

From Blake Crouch, the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter is sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human - a relentlessly surprising thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we'll go to claim the lives we dream of, perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Ready Player One.

'Are you happy in your life?'
Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.
Before he awakes to find…


Book cover of Bandwidth

Michael C. Bland Why did I love this book?

Peper’s novel is about how the technology available in the near future, which seems like a gift, can be used against you. (Sound familiar?)

In this instance, it is being used to potentially change humanity’s fate, and the main character has to decide what to do about it, if anything. The book stuck with me as it involves power, corruption, and the risks of relying too much on technology.

It’s a complex story, trying to encapsulate the threats our future holds, not only in terms of technology but the damage to our environment and how both could impact our survival.

There are elements of my novel in terms of having neural feeds, though the story explores how life would be experienced if you could capture every moment (not that I personally want to capture everything that happens in my own life).

By Eliot Peper,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bandwidth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A rising star at a preeminent political lobbying firm, Dag Calhoun represents the world's most powerful technology and energy executives. But when a close brush with death reveals that the influence he wields makes him a target, impossible cracks appear in his perfect, richly appointed life.

Like everyone else, Dag relies on his digital feed for everything-a feed that is as personal as it is pervasive, and may not be as private as it seems. As he struggles to make sense of the dark forces closing in on him, he discovers that activists are hijacking the feed to manipulate markets…


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Book cover of Quoz: A Financial Thriller

Quoz By Mel Mattison,

It’s 2027. Rory O’Connor is the financial genius who helped create ICARUS, a quantum computer that controls the world’s stock markets with AI and algorithms. But Rory has recently suffered some tough breaks. He’s checked out of high finance and into a luxury Caribbean condo. After a former colleague finds…

Book cover of Prey

Michael C. Bland Why did I love this book?

To me, Crichton’s strength was taking scientific knowledge/achievements and crafting stories that showed how they could impact us.

Yes, he took those to extremes (DNA sequencing to create dinosaurs, robots that revolt against their human masters, and so), but that’s the job of a writer. Prey is not his best-known work but is mesmerizing in terms of the type of future that could exist. His story uses a mix of swarm technology, biology, and AI to craft a cautionary tale, with a main character who has to fight to save his loved one.

Crichton uses biology as part of his support for how his future could take place, with implications that I think few consider as we develop more sophisticated technology. A scary future indeed.

By Michael Crichton,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Prey as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles—micro-robots—has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive.

It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.

Every attempt to destroy it has failed.

And we are the prey.

As fresh as today's headlines, Michael Crichton'smost compelling novel yet tells the story of a mechanical plague and the desperate efforts of a handful of scientists to stop it. Drawing on up-to-the-minute…


Book cover of Daemon

Michael C. Bland Why did I love this book?

Suarez’s debut novel focuses on an all too real possibility of our future—and the dangers we could face.

Daemon warns of our reliance on computers as he tells a fast-paced story about a massive software program that awakens and initiates a terrible plan no one can decipher. We seem to accept that computers are programmed with our best interest in mind, though few truly know everything hidden in those endless lines of code.

Suarez shows the dangers of that near-blind acceptance. Knowledge is power. In Daemon, this tenant is taken to the extreme, with an artificial intelligence holding all the cards. It’s a future we might already be facing but don’t realize yet. 

By Daniel Suarez,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Daemon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

Matthew Sobol is dead, but his final creation survives.

It begins with a bizarre murder, where the only possible perpetrator happens to be dead. As more killings follow, the police are completely out of their depth. It falls to the unlikely partnership of Sebeck, a computer-illiterate cop, and Ross, an enigmatic hacker, to realise the scale of the imminent danger.

The Daemon is seemingly unstoppable, and murder is the least of its capabilities. As it leaves a trail of death and destruction in its wake, Sebeck and Ross must face up to a terrifying possibility. Can they convince a disbelieving…


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Book cover of Kanazawa

Kanazawa By David Joiner,

Emmitt’s plans collapse when his wife, Mirai, suddenly backs out of purchasing their dream home. Disappointed, he’s surprised to discover her subtle pursuit of a life and career in Tokyo.

In his search for a meaningful life in Japan, and after quitting his job, he finds himself helping his mother-in-law…

Book cover of Lucifer's Hammer

Michael C. Bland Why did I love this book?

The oldest book on the list, Lucifer’s Hammer seems to be an end-of-the-world tale. And it is to a degree: the world is forever altered after a comet enters the earth’s atmosphere and breaks apart, the huge pieces slamming into the West Coast.

It’s the aftermath, though, where things get interesting. How do people survive? How much of their humanity survives with them? This is the story Niven and Pournelle tell, with a level of realism that echoes people’s attitudes and actions witnessed during the COVID pandemic.

With a clash between rival forces leading to a showdown that dictates the survivors’ future, Lucifer’s Hammer has continued to resonate with me years after reading it.

By Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Lucifer's Hammer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“The first satisfying end-of-the-world novel in years . . . an ultimate one . . . massively entertaining.”—Cleveland Plain-Dealer

The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization.

But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival—a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known.…


Explore my book 😀

The Price of Safety

By Michael C. Bland,

Book cover of The Price of Safety

What is my book about?

By 2047, no crime in America goes unsolved. No wrongdoing goes unseen. When Dray Quintero learns his nineteen-year-old daughter Raven committed a heinous act, he covers it up to save her life. This pits him against the police he's respected since he was a child and places him in the crosshairs of Kieran, a ruthless federal Agent. Dray must overcome the surveillance system he helped build and the technology implanted in people's heads.

To protect his family, he turns to a group of fighters who also discovered the government’s secret. But their help isn’t enough, for his adversaries have a level of control he’s unable to escape. That no one can. Hunted and betrayed, with time running out, Dray must choose between saving Raven and dismantling the near-perfect society he helped create.

Book cover of Dark Matter
Book cover of Bandwidth
Book cover of Prey

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