Strings on a Shadow Puppet

by T.L. Evans

In a war between democracy and civil rights, which do you choose?

Strings on a Shadow Puppet is the exciting debut novel from T.L. Evans that combines the thrills of military science fiction with the thoughtful intrigue of espionage and mystery. With sympathetic characters, dark conspiracies, and enough fast paced combat to keep any action junkie on the edge of their seat, Strings on a Shadow Puppet will keep you turning the pages until the last plot twist is revealed.

"The ability to control one’s own future is not a privilege, it’s a right!" The image of the figure who spoke was carried across all the comms channels by a hacker signal. It was an extreme ectomorph, tall and ultra thin, with slanted eyes, swirling dotted tattoos, an extended cranium and high curling hair. "The ability to select one’s own government, is not a privilege, it’s a right. Democracy is the only form of government that ensures these privileges remain rights -- inalienable human rights. Rights that cannot be controlled by the privileged few, nor shared with bug-eyes, slimies or others whose alien ways corrupt human society! I am the Dalang, Speaker of the Wayang Liberation Front, and this is not the last you will hear from me! Long live the Federalist Revolution!"

475 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 19, 2005

About the author

T. L.Evans was born in Vancouver B.C. Canada in 1966 to an American mother and a British father. Now a full time writer, he has a Doctorate in archaeology from the University of Oxford and has worked throughout Europe, the US and bits of Latin America, specializing in concepts of spatial analysis, gender and identity. He lives with his wife and son in the Pacific Northwest.

For the past several years, Tom has reviewed and written about Speculative Fiction, Mysteries and Espionage on his blog The Archaeologists' Guide to the Galaxy (www.sophyanempire.wordpress.com).

His first novel, Strings on a Shadow Puppet is a dark character driven interstitial work that combines the thrills of military science fiction and space opera with the intrigue of espionage mysteries. He has numerous academic and technical publications which, to be honest, are not really quite as engaging.

Reviews

[T.L. Evans]

This really is the best novel I've written to date.

Much more gripping than either "Digital Archaeology: Bridging Method and Theory." (with P. Daly; Routledge. London. 2006) or even "Quantitative Identities: A Statistical Summary and Analysis of Iron Age Cemeteries of North-Eastern France 600 - 130 BC" (BAR International Series 1226. Archaeopress. 2004).

Oh yes, and I will actually remove this statement once there are some more real reviews....

[Charlee Allden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strings on a Shadow Puppet by TL Evans is the story of a small, highly-skilled naval intelligence team that sets out to stop the most brutal terrorist cell the Sophyan Empire has ever faced. The book succeeds at telling an engrossing tale that keeps you eagerly flipping pages to the end. But oh, is the story so much more. With the book title in mind and the fact that the story focuses on a military intelligence team, you’d be right to suspect there is a great deal more to it. These aren’t just soldiers sent to take down the baddies, though they do see a good bit of action, this is about intelligence gathering and digging beneath the surface to find out who is pulling the strings behind the obvious bad guy. Great characterization and many twists make this a book that will stick with me for a long time.

Extended review on my blog: http://smartgirlsscifi.wordpress.com/...

[Y.I. Washington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually thought I'd written the review for this, back in February. Apparently it didn't save and I just figured it out.

Anyway, I've read this book 3 times, so obviously, I think it's pretty awesome. The world building, storytelling, in depth and believable characters, brilliant twists, and action were refreshing and fun.

The main plot--who's behind all of the rebel attacks, and can the crew of the H.M.S. Hunter find them--kept me glued to the pages, happily anticipating the next scene. The fun of finding out that some people aren't what they seem and just about everybody has an agenda, was exciting.

I for one am anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.

[Alan Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is hands down one of the best military science fiction books I've ever read. I love the technolyin it and the plot is actually interesting instead of being the normal stuff you usually find in the genre.