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 Thomas 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.

"Evans kept me on the edge of my chair the whole time, through twists and turns that I didn't see coming but enjoyed immensely." -
Jerry Oltion, Winner of the Nebula and Endeavor Awards, nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Novella, Locus Award for Best First Novel, Locus Award for Best Short Story, author of Getaway Special, Anywhere But Here, Paradise Passed, and many more...

Put on your voose suit, light up your implants, and strap in! Evans is gonna take you for a ride! William C. Dietz, author of the Legion of the Damned, and Galactic Bounty series

"In his first venture into military science fiction, author T.L. Evans expertly forges a brilliant tale of espionage, loyalty, political struggle, and military service, within a galactic setting a far future laced with incredible technology. Prepare yourself for an engrossing read in the Strings on a Shadow Puppet." - William Bregnard, Future War Stories

"I have read an astonishing sci-fi book.... Strings on a Shadow Puppet not only builds on many of the constants of Science Fiction, but it goes way beyond them." Charles Van Doren, author of The Lion of Cortona, A History of Knowledge, The Joy of Reading, and How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading.

"Strings on a Shadow Puppet thoughtfully questions notions of social class, democracy, and freedom, in a way that is, frankly, very timely… we all know spying is part of our world today, but what are the costs to the people living with the reality of it day in and day out? For me, this is where the author exceeds my expectations of the genre."
- Charlie Alden (Smart Girls Like Science Fiction and Paranormal Romance)

469 pages, Paperback

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.