While it’s fairly simple to find just about anything on the Internet, author Ben Woods says there's one thing that sticks out the most: crazy people.
The Developers (King Printing, $13.95, 342 pages, thedevelopersbook.com) mixes the insane and obscene with technology, romance and pop culture. Computer novices (the ones who confuse their CD drive with a cup holder) and experts (the ones who talk to themselves in code that most of mankind has yet to translate) will easily understand the group’s urgency and hilarity as it tries to make its mark on the virtual world.
Woods, a Louisville,, resident, currently works as a web application developer for LeapFrog Interactive Inc. in Louisville. He writes online columns pertaining to technology, life and other random items for a number of regional and national websites, including whas11.com and ihigh.com, a high school Internet portal based in Lexington.
The book tells the story of Matt Severnson, who has assembled a team of hard-working, quasi-geek individuals to build a revolutionary website for a northern Michigan city. The system becomes a big hit despite the group members’ idiosyncratic traits. Fast food addiction, incessant sexual tension and heated bingo competition constantly distract the team. While the opportunity arises to work with the US government in reinventing the Internet, the issue comes second to Matt’s relationship with Katy, the team’s co-leader. They cannot hate each other enough to halt their steamy romance, but they can’t love each other enough to share anything but a fish dinner.
The book is currently available at regional Borders locations, independent bookstores and Amazon.com. It is also now available through Baker & Taylor, a national distributor. Woods also recently signed with Biblio Distribution.
"With the recent Internet chatter that has been surfacing about larger, more powerful internet companies the book's message appears to be eerily relevant. This is a must for anyone who really dug '1984' or 'Brave New World' but also likes to surf the net from time to time, preferably with the idea in the back of your head that Big Brother could be watching."
- Katie Richardson, Buzz Magazine, Champaign, Ill.
" ... The Internet concepts in 'The Developers' are enough by themselves for a novel. But Woods wraps the technical aspects of the story around the company's five 20-something employees, who try to balance work with their love lives, marriages, Richard Simmons fixations, stalker ex-husbands and secret lives in dangerous miniskirt cults ... "
- Jim Mayse, Owensboro (Ky.) Messenger-Inquirer
" 'The Developers' is a frank and honest, and truly humorous window into the creative economy. The characters we meet in Woods' novel are the prototypes for the engines of our future. Whether it is the author's imagination or reality, I'm sold. These are people I'd like to know. Or at least people I'd like to have working for me."
- Randy Smith, Destinations Bookstore, New Albany, Ind.
"Thank you for your kind words and sense of humor. You are a gifted man!"
- Richard Simmons, Hollywood, Calif.
" ... Each character ... adds drama and humor to the events leading to .comU's launch as personal issues intervene in regular daily work ... "
- Mel Robertson, Crawfordsville (Ind.) Journal Review
ISBN 0-9764322-8-5 | Book website: thedevelopersbook.com | Author website: benwoods.com
To place orders or arrange a book signing or interview,
Contact: Ben Woods | 502-727-0401 | ben@benwoods.com
