The Hidden Institute
The Hidden Institute is a neo-Victorian novel written by Parsec Award Finalist and NaNoWriMo winner Brand Gamblin.
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 304 pages
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 273 KB
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Big C Productions; 1 edition (March 8, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B004R9QUQ8
Lending: Enabled
Synopsis
Rising above your station can be deadly.
Cliffy is a child born on the streets of a Neo-Victorian world. Witnesses to a murder, he blackmails a nobleman, receiving a unique bribe. In exchange for his silence, the nobleman introduces him to the Malcolm Rutherford Holden Institute of Regentrification. There, Cliffy learns to walk, talk, and act like a nobleman, so that he may infiltrate high society. But that type of fraud is punishable by death, and when Cliffy uncovers a plot to assassinate a head of state, he’s hunted by more than just the aristocracy.
Royal intrigue, daring escapes, sub-dermal machines, and bear polo. A grand adventure in a not-so-distant world.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
- 2011 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction Story (Novella Form)
What Reviewers Say About The Hidden Institute
Nathan Lowell – “Brand Gamblin has created a world that’s part Anthony Burgess, part Michael Moorecock, and all original. In this gritty imagining of a steamy dystopia, Brand weaves intrigue and romance, danger and wry wit into a commentary on contemporary society. As Cliffy struggles to rise above his working class roots, he encounters rakes and scoundrels, ignoble nobility and caring assassins.
He even learns bear polo.
I’ve been waiting for this book to come out for a long time and have enjoyed watching it develop from the germ of an idea to a full-throated roar of a novel.
[transparency disclaimer: I have no financial interest in this work. I'm biased. I know Brand. I designed the cover. I told him about the parts that sucked before he published the book and he changed 'em. I think you should grab a sample anyway and make up your own mind.]”
D. J. Havard – “As a fan of Gamblin’s last novel “Tumbler” It was with some trepidation that I approached “The Hidden Institute”, the author had decided to change genre from Space Opera to Steampunk.
I needn’t have worried, this accessible coming of age saga was such a fun read, It felt a bit like a cross between Tom Brown’s Schooldays and Stephenson’s “The Diamond Age”.
The Author’s second outing is if anything even better than his first novel and I’m looking forward to finding out what he does next.”
About Brand Gamblin
Brand Gamblin was born in San Antonio in 1973. He spent most of his youth in Texas, earning a bachelors degree in Computer Science from Texas Tech University.
Following college, he achieved his boyhood dream of working as a video game programmer. For the next decade, he published games for such companies as Microprose, Acclaim, and Firaxis.
In his spare time, Brand created the YouTube video cult classic, “Calls For Cthulhu”, which has thousands of followers worldwide, and has been nominated for several film awards.
Brand’s first book, Tumbler, was released as a podiobook in 2009, and then was self-published in 2010.
His second book was a steam punk retelling of George Orwell’s 1984. It was finished in 2010, and is still in production.
In 2011, Brand published “The Hidden Institute”, a futuristic story of regentrification. It has been called “Oliver Twist meets My Fair Lady, with a death penalty.”
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Images Courtesy of Brand Gamblin