Strings on a Shadow Puppet

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.

"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," it continued, "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!"

"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. What drives them? And what costs do they pay? Do we all pay? For me, this is where the author exceeds my expectations of the genre." - Charlie Alden (Smart Girls Like Science Fiction and Paranormal Romance)

T. L. Evans was born in Vancouver B.C. Canada in 1966 to an American mother and a British father. 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). He has numerous academic and technical publications. This is his first novel.