The Forever Factor Spotlight Book Tour
This book promo is through iRead Book Tours.
The Forever Factor spotlight book tour includes a fun author interview and an exciting giveaway. Improve your odds of winning by leaving a comment for the author, sharing on social with a book lover, and subscribing to Sarandipity’s email list.
Book Details
Book Title: THE FOREVER FACTOR: A SILICON VALLEY novel by Tom Hogan and Amanda Iles
Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 410 pages
Genre: genetic engineering science fiction, medical thrillers, hard science fiction
Publisher: Laughing Dog Publishing LLC
Release date: March 5, 2025
Tour dates: June 16 to July 8, 2025
Content Rating: R for language
“You want to get a realistic view on how breakthrough technologies emerge from Silicon Valley? Hogan and Isles, with deft dramatic style, put you right there with characters who remind me of those I worked alongside over the past 40 years. Brilliant, yes; imperfect, unquestionably; conflicted, sometimes; ambitious, you bet. Well worth your time.” — 5-Star Review on Amazon
Book Description:
Silicon Valley’s relentless pursuit of innovation collides with the profound quest for longevity in this thrilling new novel.
When visionary inventor Petra Alexander stumbles upon a groundbreaking discovery that could radically extend the human lifespan, she’s catapulted into the high-stakes world of Silicon Valley startups. Armed with ambition and a deeply personal drive, Petra must navigate the cutthroat corridors of tech giants, venture capitalists, and biohackers—as well as threats from powerful forces dead set against the transformative technology she’s developing.
Funded by “The Hydras,” an elite group of tech moguls dedicated to biohacking and longevity, Petra pushes the boundaries of science, spurred by her quest to find a cure for the rapid-aging disease that killed her sister and now threatens her mother. Reluctantly assuming the mantle of biotech CEO, she faces impossible choices: Who will control access to a life-saving breakthrough? What sacrifices will she make in the name of progress? And how far is she willing to go when her own life is at risk?
Packed with gripping suspense and nuanced ethical dilemmas, The Forever Factor offers a rare glimpse into the startup culture that shapes our world. From clandestine yacht gatherings to high-stakes negotiations in Silicon Valley boardrooms, the novel intertwines scientific breakthroughs, corporate intrigue, and human drama in a narrative that will leave you questioning the very nature of life, mortality, and innovation.
Fans of Michael Crichton’s techno-thrillers and Blake Crouch’s speculative fiction will find themselves captivated by this smart, fast-paced tale that dares to ask: Should anyone be allowed to master immortality—or does the pursuit threaten the very future of humanity?
Buy the Book:
Amazon
B&N ~ BAM
Bookshop.org
add to Goodreads
Meet the Authors:
Amanda Iles: Amanda Iles is a writer who creates prose on behalf of Silicon Valley executives and companies, from Steve Jobs to the latest hot startups. Before writing professionally, she earned a biology/philosophy degree and worked in a developmental neurobiology lab at UC San Diego, followed by a graduate degree from the prestigious UC Santa Cruz science writing program.
Tom Hogan: Tom Hogan is an author and screenwriter based in Austin, TX. Left for Alive is his first novel. He is also the screenwriter for The Devil’s Breath, a noir thriller set in Auschwitz. It was a finalist at the Napa Valley Film Festival and semi-finalist at the Austin Film Festival.
Tom’s past writing experience has been on the non-fiction side. He is the co-author (with Carol Broadbent) of The Ultimate Startup Guide: Marketing Lessons, War Stories, and Hard-Won Advice from Leading Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors. The book highlights the lessons Tom and Carol learned as principals at Crowded Ocean, a marketing firm that has launched over 50 Silicon Valley startups. He has also written extensively for travel books, political journals, and Newsweek.
Professionally, Tom has split his career between academia and technology marketing. He was a lecturer in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Santa Clara University and UC Santa Cruz. He joined Silicon Valley in its infancy, where he was the original creative director at Oracle. Moving into the VC (Venture Capital) world, he was a co-founder of Crowded Ocean and now advises startups in Silicon Valley and Austin.
Connect with the Author:
website ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodreads
Guest Post by Tom Hogan
The Forever Factor, a suspense set in the startup world of Silicon Valley, had an
interesting beginning. Before I started writing full-time I was neck-deep in Silicon
Valley—first as Oracle’s first Creative Director, then in the VC (Venture Capital) arena,
where my firm helped launch over fifty startups.
Given my access to some of Silicon Valley’s major players—from weekly meetings with
Larry Ellison to regular meetings with the valley’s top VCs—when I started writing,
people would always say: “You should write an insider book about the Valley, its
lifestyles and characters.” I had resisted that request for my first three novels, but gave
in for the fourth.
There was a starting point for this decision. Jim Goetz, an old friend who became one of
the top VCs in the world, had told me through our years together that he wanted to write
a book with me when he stepped back from some of his VC responsibilities. So we
scheduled a dinner to talk about the project, with the idea being that Jim would provide
the topic and underlying technology and I’d do the writing.
But when we got together it became clear that he had trouble taking his VC hat off. He
had five topics, all of which would make for great startups. But they also made for a
lousy novel, since the topics would leave the general public high and dry. After five
interesting ideas but no potential 400-page novel, we decided to try again in a couple of
weeks.
We then updated each other on our lives and families. Jim had just come back from a
getaway with a group of friends, many of whom were fellow VCs. The friends shared
stories of their passion for biohacking: using their own bodies as test sites for ways to
try living as healthily as possible for as long as possible. And that’s when I knew we
had the basis for a novel—the quest to live forever and how it’s never been more
possible than now. It would take the reader inside Silicon Valley and its startups, but
using the suspense novel as its premise.
There was just one problem. The quest for longevity is more a biotech issue than a
technology one, and I knew squat about biotech. Luckily, Jim’s friend and fellow VC,
Theresia Rouw, was best pals with Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia, who ran an MIT institute that
focused on a number of human life issues, longevity being one of them. I sent her the
first two chapters of the new novel and asked for her input. Her feedback was not only
close to immediate, it was so thorough that it was clear to the two of us that it would
work better if we did this face-to-face. So I headed to Boston.
A second piece of luck came as I was running my post-MIT outline by the group that
reviews my novels. It turned out that Amanda Iles, an old friend and a great writer, had
her grounding in biotech. She became my ‘science whisperer’, helping me understand
what Sangeeta and her crew were focusing on and how we could piggyback on their
work. After our third session with the outline I asked her if she’d be interesting in co-
authoring the book. She said yes and here we are.
One of our challenges in writing a book like The Forever Factor is striking a balance
between credible science and mystery/suspense. We hope we’ve achieved that goal,
but would love to know what you think.
Happy reading.
Giveaway:
$25 Amazon Gift Card, courtesy of the authors of THE FOREVER FACTOR (one winner) (USA and Canada) (ends July 15)
THE FOREVER FACTOR by Tom Hogan and Amanda Iles Book Tour Giveaway
This looks like a great read. Thanks for sharing.