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Ben H. Winters

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Ben H. Winters

Goodreads Author


Born
in Washington, D.C., The United States
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Member Since
May 2010

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Ben H. Winters is the author most recently of the novel The Quiet Boy (Mulholland/Little, Brown, 2021). He is also the author of the novel Golden State; the New York Times bestselling Underground Airlines; The Last Policeman and its two sequels; the horror novel Bedbugs; and several works for young readers. His first novel, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, was also a Times bestseller. Ben has won the Edgar Award for mystery writing, the Philip K. Dick award in science fiction, the Sidewise Award for alternate history, and France’s Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire.

Ben also writes for film and television. He is the creator and co-showrunner of Tracker, forthcoming on CBS. Previously he was a producer on the FX show Legion, and on the upcomin
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Ben H. Winters Thanks a lot, Bradley. I'm glad you dug the series.

Interestingly, Quirk Books and I had brief discussions about releasing a short e-book between Coun…more
Thanks a lot, Bradley. I'm glad you dug the series.

Interestingly, Quirk Books and I had brief discussions about releasing a short e-book between Countdown City and World of Trouble, and that's what I was working on: a short story or novella about Culverson tracking down those kids. It didn't happen, obviously, but trust me when I say that he found them.

Happy reading.

Ben(less)
Ben H. Winters Yes, I do a ton of research of all kinds, and it is super important to me to get the feel of the place right. When I wrote TLP I was living in Cambrid…moreYes, I do a ton of research of all kinds, and it is super important to me to get the feel of the place right. When I wrote TLP I was living in Cambridge, MA, and I must have taken a dozen trips back and forth to Concord and just sort of wandered around, poking into stores and getting a sense of the city map. At some point I gave myself a tour of the hospital, which led to that really being a big location for the book. Getting the facts right is crucially important, I think, especially for books likef mine, where there is this HUGE and UNLIKELY conceit -- I want everything else to feel incredibly real, as grounded and natural as possible. (less)
Average rating: 3.71 · 134,286 ratings · 16,741 reviews · 67 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Last Policeman (The Las...

3.77 avg rating — 35,360 ratings — published 2012 — 8 editions
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Underground Airlines

3.82 avg rating — 26,022 ratings — published 2016 — 33 editions
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Countdown City (The Last Po...

3.85 avg rating — 15,970 ratings — published 2013 — 33 editions
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World of Trouble (The Last ...

4.04 avg rating — 12,616 ratings — published 2014
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Sense and Sensibility and S...

3.28 avg rating — 12,254 ratings — published 2009 — 2 editions
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Golden State

3.47 avg rating — 8,144 ratings — published 2019 — 18 editions
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Inside Jobs: Tales from a T...

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3.18 avg rating — 3,206 ratings — published 2020 — 2 editions
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Bedbugs

3.42 avg rating — 2,950 ratings — published 2011 — 15 editions
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The Quiet Boy

3.51 avg rating — 1,773 ratings — published 2021 — 8 editions
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Android Karenina

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3.45 avg rating — 1,774 ratings — published 2010 — 13 editions
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More books by Ben H. Winters…

“one of crime fiction’s most inventive practitioners…”

I’m proud to say Golden State has gotten some wonderful press.


Here are a few of my favorite quotes:



“At a time in the real world when everybody seems to own their version of the truth and phrases like “alternative facts” are used to cover falsehoods, Golden State is, no lie, a fascinating examination that takes fidelity and correctness down a freaky Orwellian path.”―USA Today


“Winters has a knac

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Published on March 11, 2019 13:03
The Last Policeman Countdown City World of Trouble
(3 books)
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3.85 avg rating — 64,000 ratings

The Secret Life of Ms. Fink... The Mystery of the Missing ...
(2 books)
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3.65 avg rating — 443 ratings

Tales to Keep You Up at Night More Tales to Keep You Up a...
(2 books)
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3.45 avg rating — 176 ratings

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Ben’s Recent Updates

Quotes by Ben H. Winters  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Because as any writer will tell you, an IDEA for a book is like falling in love, it’s all wild emotion and headlong rush, but the ACTUAL ACT of writing a book is like building a relationship: it is joyous, slow, fragile, frustrating, exhilarating, painstaking, exhausting, worth it.”
Ben H. Winters, The Last Policeman

“It is a strange kind of fire, the fire of self-righteousness, which gives us such pleasure by its warmth but does so little to banish the darkness.”
Ben H. Winters, Underground Airlines

“The first time we met he shot me in the head with an electric staple gun, but our relationship has evolved in the subsequent months.”
Ben H. Winters, World of Trouble

Polls

What would you like to discuss in March (read before March 1st)? A vote is a commitment to return to discuss the book if your choice wins. (Don't vote if you aren't sure you'll return.) Happy voting!

Golden State by Ben H. Winters
2019, 3.49 stars, 319 pages
$2.99 Kindle, cheap used print, may be at your library
"Lazlo Ratesic is 54, a 19-year veteran of the Speculative Service, from a family of law enforcement and in a strange alternate society that values law and truth above all else. This is how Laz must, by law, introduce himself, lest he fail to disclose his true purpose or nature, and by doing so, be guilty of a lie.

Laz is a resident of The Golden State, a nation resembling California, where like-minded Americans retreated after the erosion of truth and the spread of lies made public life, and governance, increasingly impossible. There, surrounded by the high walls of compulsory truth-telling, knowingly contradicting the truth--the Objectively So--is the greatest possible crime. Stopping those crimes, punishing them, is Laz's job. In its service, he is one of the few individuals permitted to harbor untruths--to "speculate" on what might have happened in the commission of a crime.

But the Golden State is far less a paradise than its name might suggest. To monitor, verify, and enforce the Objectively So requires a veritable panopticon of surveillance, recording, and record-keeping. And when those in control of the truth twist it for nefarious means, the Speculators may be the only ones with the power to fight back."

 
  9 votes, 50.0%

The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey
2020, 4.11 stars, 416 pages
$4.99 Kindle, print starting at $8.52, at the library

"Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable world. A world where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly vines and seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don't get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will.

Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He knows the first rule of survival is that you don't venture beyond the walls.

What he doesn't know is - what happens when you aren't given a choice?

The first in a gripping new trilogy, The Book of Koli charts the journey of one unforgettable young boy struggling to find his place in a chilling post-apocalyptic world. Perfect for readers of Station Eleven and Annihilation."


 
  5 votes, 27.8%

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa
2019, 3.71 stars, 274 pages
$11.99 Kindle, used starting at $7.34, at the library

"On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses—until things become much more serious. Most of the island's inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten.

When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past.

A surreal, provocative fable about the power of memory and the trauma of loss, The Memory Police is a stunning new work from one of the most exciting contemporary authors writing in any language.">

 
  3 votes, 16.7%

The Running Man by Richard Bachman, aka Stephen King
1982, 3.88 stars, 317 pages
$9.99 Kindle, cheap used print, probably at your library
"The Running Man is set within a dystopian future in which the poor are seen more by the government as worrisome rodents than actual human beings. The protagonist of The Running Man, Ben Richards, is quick to realize this as he watches his daughter, Cathy, grow more sick by the day and tread closer and closer to death. Desperate for money to pay Cathy’s medical bills, Ben enlists himself in a true reality style game show where the objective is to merely stay alive."

 
  1 vote, 5.6%

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“The first time we met he shot me in the head with an electric staple gun, but our relationship has evolved in the subsequent months.”
Ben H. Winters, World of Trouble

33469 Q&A with Ben H. Winters — 7 members — last activity Aug 29, 2010 06:58PM
Ben H. Winters, author of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and the new Android Karenina, will answer questions about mash-up novels, genre ficti ...more
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message 1: by Nancy

Nancy Rosser Hi Ben! Just finished World of Trouble and loved it! However, I wondered why poor Hen could not have found Nico alive so they could be together at the end. I did think it was a good thing that he returned to Ruthie and the Amish at the end but the events leading up to that seemed so violent and sad. I hope when faced with such an outcome i could behave better.
Let your fans know what's next for you! Good luck with all your future projects!
Nancy Rosser


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