A few days ago, Jason Glaspey, a prominent member of Portland’s tech and startup community, and the man behind PaleoPlan,  approached me and said he would be doing a review of Avogadro Corp: The Singularity Is Closer Than It Appears on Silicon Florist.

Avogadro Corp is my first novel. It’s a techno-thriller about the accidental creation of an artificial intelligence at the world’s largest Internet company and the subsequent race to contain it, as it starts to manipulate people, transfer funds, and arm itself.

It’s set almost entirely in Portland, Oregon. Readers have enjoyed the references to Portland’s coffee scene, imaging a 10,000 employee tech company in downtown Portland, and the realistic portrayal of AI emergence. Some early feedback includes:

• “jaw-dropping tale about how something as innocuous as email can subvert an entire organization”
• “a terrific, and stunningly believable, account of how the first sentient artificial intelligence might accidentally arise”
• “HAL, the self aware CPU from 2001 a Space Odyssey is a kitten compared to ELOPe”
• “a startling, feasible examination of the emergence of artificial intelligence”

It’s available in paperback, for the kindle, and inepub format for a variety of other e-readers. And so far it’s doing great – averaging 5 star reviews on Amazon.

Jason knew I had been offering a Kindle Fire and some Amazon gift certificates in exchange for help promoting Avogadro Corp. He asked if I would keep it running a little longer until his review came out. That didn’t seem quite fair to people who had already done so much to help get the word out.

So instead I’m going to give away a second Kindle Fire.

Here’s the deal:

1. Spread the word in the next week! Send people to this blog post or the Avogadro Corp page on Amazon. Here are some ideas: Facebook “like”, Facebook sharing, retweets, Twitter, e-mail, e-mail signature, blog posts, or a review if you’ve already read it. You can sing about it from street corners too, but this may get you funny looks. (Please stick to appropriate sharing to audiences who will appreciate learning about a good book. I don’t want to encourage spammy behavior.)
2. By 9am PST on Dec. 31 (ya know, the last day of the year), leave a comment on this blog post telling me what you did. If possible, quantify the impact (clicks, page views, etc.).

I’ll consider the first 20 submissions, if I get that many, and from the 3 that I think did the best job (subjective, I know), I’ll pick one to receive the Kindle Fire. The 2 runner ups will receive a $25 Amazon gift card. Void where prohibited, robots and artificial intelligences under 21 not allowed, no prize awarded if the AI apocalypse occurs before the contest ends, etc., etc. Recipients will be announced within a few days after the 31st. (If you don’t want the Kindle Fire, you can donate it to a school or non-profit.)

Most of all, I hope you enjoy Avogadro Corp.

Thanks,
Will