The God Conspiracy
Derek Gilbert returns to Podiobooks.com today! Those who enjoyed is strong narration skills — he’s a radio pro — on Iron Dragons will find his new serialized audiobook a bit different. With that auspicious intro, we present The God Conspiracy:
One e-mail. Five lines. 4,000 dead.
And it is only just beginning…
When a small boy in Iowa forwards a mysterious email from ‘God’ to a small group of friends, he unwittingly releases a trigger that sends blood pouring throughout his farming community.
Thousands more are dead across the country in dozens of simultaneous terror attacks and the government blames fundamentalists who want to trigger the Apocalypse.
FBI Agent Joe Unes reluctantly teams with reclusive Internet radio host Barney Ison (from Sharon K. Gilbert’s The Armageddon Strain) to expose the plot — and discovers that he’s not contending against flesh and blood.
The first five episodes of this thriller are in the default feed. Historically, Derek has been great about regular updates. But I still prefer a custom feed. It’ll put episodes “on hold” if I’m unable to listen for a period of time. No need letting them pile up. Hooray for the cloud!
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June 14th, 2009 at 9:38 am
very cool story so far. i have no idea what direction it is going. but very good.
June 26th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Wow…! Captivating.. Scary… Edge of your seat..
Cant wait to here more..
June 28th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
[...] Derek Gilbert’s The God Conspiracy [...]
July 9th, 2009 at 5:08 am
Compelling story..Living, breathing characters..
I am fairly new to podiobooks and found a few that captivated me and then a dry spell of nothing really grabbing me.
This one does the job..
My biggest beef is that it’s not finished yet and I have to wait!
July 19th, 2009 at 5:46 am
Derek, you have a wonderful voice! Your characters are sufficiently quirky to make them memorable and the story is intriguing. However there is also strong christian content and I generally find christian fiction to be too exclusionary to enjoy. Your writing is good. I’ll continue to listen and hope that the story plays out to be more provoking than a christian morality tale. Thanks for presenting your work in this format.
July 20th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Hi, Jane: I’m a Bible-believing Christian, and I agree with your assessment of most Christian fiction.
I won’t hide what I believe to appeal to a broader audience, but I hope you’ll find that not all the Christians are lily-white and some of the good guys don’t address their beliefs at all. In other words, I’d be interested to see whether you think I’ve succeeded in not letting the characters’ beliefs overwhelm the story.
Frankly, I think a lot of church-goers will have more issues with the theology my wife and I are writing into the Laodicea Chronicles series than agnostics and non-believers. Our former publisher had a real problem with the UFOs, crop circles, and — especially during the Bush years — any hint that the government might be working against us instead of for us.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Thanks for the comment Derek. More crop circles and UFOs please! (just kidding). Your reference to being a little at odds with your religious community and publisher made me recall my wedding. I’m Jewish and married a fallen Catholic a few decades ago. After the (very short) ceremony, his family was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more “theater” and mine was still digesting that we had a woman Rabbi. Sometimes you can’t please anybody (but yourself)! But I can see that being more of a drawback in publishing. I’ll be sure to drop you feedback again after the final chapter.
July 25th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Great stuff Derek. But can ya hurry up and finish it cause me and my wife are hanging out for the rest of it!!!
July 26th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Thanks, Pete! But you’ll have to wait–that’s my evil plan!
The book is just now at Amazon.com and we’re pitching to bookstores, so I’ll hold to one 15 to 30-minute episode a week until it’s done. At that rate, it will conclude sometime in November.
July 29th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Great work, Pete. It took some digging through the mostly crappy podcasts on the Zune network to find some gems and your work is definitely one of them! Feels like good movie material as well, sort of in the spirit of “Know1ng”. Keep it up!
July 29th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Great work, Mr. Gilbert. It took some digging through the mostly crappy podcasts on the Zune network to find some gems and your work is definitely one of them! Feels like good movie material as well, sort of in the spirit of “Know1ng”. Keep it up!
August 12th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Very good storytelling, but when I got to the part where the weapons of mass destruction were moved from Iraq to some other bad Arab place I realized that this was the bad dream of some crazy Christian nutter.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Will: Well, you’re right–I am a crazy Christian nutter. Most of my Christian friends think so because I’m no fan of the Republican Party, George W. Bush, or the War
That Will Never EndOn Terror.However, the information about Iraq’s WMD is accurate. I suggest reading the research of John Loftus, the former Justice Department attorney who documented the assistance given by the CIA and MI6 to Nazis and the Muslim Brotherhood after WWII. You’ll find the article about Saddam’s WMD program here.
Conclusion: While the war in Iraq was most certainly justified on false pretenses, the “Bush lied, people died” absolutists are also wrong. Which means, of course, that EVERYBODY thinks I’m nuts when we discuss the topic.
August 26th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
How can I order the audiobook ” The God Conspiracy” online?
September 24th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Whaaaat I like about this:First the production: Good narration: clearly audible voice and good intonation. Plus: a good story that keeps you wondering what the title is all about (and more than that). Also with good quips (in the right places). Well done! A very satisfying listen.
September 24th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Great narration! Very good sound quality, very clear without alot of volume jumping. Also sounds like you have done your research quite well before hand. Characters are laid out very well and the story flows quickly, but not to fast to leave the listener behind. Nice job.
September 28th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
It seems to me that this is evangelical, fundamentalist preaching disguised as a “thriller” novel. If I wanted to hear a “Left Behind”-type novel, I would have searched under ‘religion’. Anyone can write what they want, but it would have been nice if the description had at least mentioned the heavy emphasis on religiosity. The story is OK but honestly I can’t get past chapter 12 – it’s absurd how much presching is involved; it actually interferes with the quality of the narrative. I think I’ll switch to the “God Delusion”!
October 9th, 2009 at 5:49 am
fascinating book. couldnt stop listening. only i wish the theme music was a decibel or two lower. Good book.
October 13th, 2009 at 11:08 am
I’ve enjoyed this book so far and in answer to PenMacD I’d say that there’s a difference between a story that actually preaches and a story that is an action story but has a Christian viewpoint.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
God, guns and geeks!
October 20th, 2009 at 10:23 am
did you skip episode 23 or mislabel?
November 14th, 2009 at 1:02 am
The story is entertaining (although disturbing at times – but not in a bad way) and the narration was very well done. I didn’t mind the religious bent as it suited the characters (mind you, I don’t know people who are demonstrably religious so I’m not a good judge and I have no supernatural belief).
November 15th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
It did suit the characters… until the conspiracy theorist showed up and started attributing things to God, as well. That’s where I got off the train.
November 16th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Hey Derek, I did stick around for the end. The story was well paced, and as I said before, wonderfully produced and presented but I was a little disappointed with the end. Your “The End?” wrap up, has sequel written all over it, but for me, the religion was a little too strong. Good luck, though. You write well and I wish you success.
November 26th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I didn’t like it. It felt like almost all characters were constantly talking about god without anyone pointing out that there was absolutely no evidence for super natural causes. Most audiobooks use a sound when changing scenes but this one had none or I didn’t hear it. That made it difficult to follow what was happening. This is my first audiobook from about 40 that I could barely follow.
But the biggest problem was the religion. It really takes you out of the story and there was absolutely no reason to put religion in the story.
February 25th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Ok. I liked the story. Very decent to listen to. I travel a lot and love to read, but paging through a novel and drive are not real congruent to a safe trip. You have a very good pleasing voice over the speakers in my pickup. The religious message was just fine. It was important to the story line. Non-Christians should not be offended. I would like to add one critical point. You need to have a girlfriend or a female do some of the voices. I am great at impersonating folks and wish you would have asked me to do the Indian fellow and the Texas senator’s voice. No charge, no strings and I will do it on the next one. It made it hard to follow without the voice shift in some parts, and you did not too a real good job of doing the Indian fellows voice. Shoot me an e-mail and I can help a bit.
April 4th, 2010 at 9:29 am
I think you have done a great job with the God Conspiracy. Audio quality was really good, and your narration was a lot better then most. I was also surprised (pleasantly) at how well you portrayed the Christian faith. Honestly, I thought it was going to be another book slamming God, but it looked interesting so I decided to endure that. Imagine how shocked I was.
Don’t let the nay-sayers discourage you. It’ a great story.
P.S. I was very impressed by your research concerning the government. I don’t know much is true, but honestly after some of the stuff I have learned myself, none of it would surprise me. You’re pretty close to the mark.
April 22nd, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Ok…sequel? When? I am impatiently waiting.
April 30th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
liked the narration and the story flow. Characters were well thought out and like able. Problem was the religion, well to be honest it was the jamming of it into places it did not fit well.
For example the escape in the beginning, when thugs for the govt are coming for you will automatic weapons you wont take the time to sit and pray.
The characters aways seemed to have to discuss God or Jesus or the Bible or tell each other they will pray or are praying, ect.
When these things kept happening it snapped me out of the story you worked so well to weave me into.
Well, I did enjoy your story Mr Gilbert and thank you for it
July 21st, 2010 at 7:51 am
When I first started listening to the story, I was a little confused because it jumped between characters with hardly even a pause in the story. But once I got used to the switching between characters, I really enjoyed this story! I thought it was great! I would recommend this story to anyone! Thank you for sharing it with us!
And I can’t wait for the sequel! I hope is comes out soon!! :]
August 12th, 2010 at 8:20 am
Great story. Unfortunately, it seems to be very realistic, if a bit “out there”. Agreed with Rusty about maybe having some different voices, because it did get a bit confusing. However, that is the only “gripe” and not really a gripe at all.
Liked the theme music, but it was a bit too loud. I always had to hit the volume to turn it down a bit.
Too much religeon? I can see the point, but doesn’t it reflect society to some extent? Sure there are conspiracy “nuts” all over, but I bet there are a few more “foil hat fans” with a religious bent than not. I don’t know. It didn’t bug me at all.
Can’t wait to hear the next one. This story left me wanting at the end. Sure sign of a good read (or listen in this case).
September 22nd, 2010 at 5:21 pm
If you don’t like the “religion jamming out in places”, don’t listen to it. This is a great book and I love the character development. I think this book is a mix of all too realistic and a little out there but then again, most books are like this. From a fellow St Louisan – I know all too well the daily nuances of the city. Thanks, Derek, I look forward to other books.
November 21st, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Derek,
Another great story! Please keep writing with your “Christian” style. I am a proud Christian and it is hard to find good, clean Christian stories – for adults. Thank you and keep up the great work!
December 9th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Derek gives us a riveting psychological thriller with The God Conspiracy. His characters are believable and he doesn’t stretch the reader’s credulity when he asks “what if…?” I only had two criticisms of the audiobook, both of which are minor. The audio quality is excellent, but Derek does not use any sort of sounder or announcement to indicate when the scene changes. This is very disorienting for the listener. Several times I would be totally into the story and then realize that we had transitioned to another place or time well after the fact. The other thing many readers may find distracting is Derek’s presentation of one denomination of Christianity being fact. For example, I was brought up Christian, but never taught that Jesus had brothers or sisters. While religion is present in the novel, Derek does an excellent job of not beating the listener over the head with it.
January 13th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
This was not what I was expecting, though I was still very much pleased with the end result. Very good story, and a good series of parallel plots. I have some further feedback, if you are interested, but I don’t want to dump it on you if you have moved on to other projects and consider this one complete.
In any event, a good listen, thank you very much for giving it out.
Cheers.
March 15th, 2011 at 8:02 am
I really liked this book, even more than Iron Dragons. It was a great listen, very well read, great audio quality and excellent writing. Derek did a great job juggling multiple viewpoint characters, and delivering a super long complicated story that had great pacing. I also appreciated that it was a Christian book. I don’t find many that are as well done as The God Conspiracy. Thanks for releasing it as a free podcast, it was a long book, but worth my time. I enjoyed every episode. Great stuff, I look forward to your next one!
May 10th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
I thought the first 2/3 of the book were riveting. What started out as a great government conspiracy, left me feeling beaten over the head with a bible. The ending felt rushed and poorly thought out compared to the rest of the book. The audio quality was top rate. The narration was excellent. But unless you are looking for a book dripping with Christianity, I think you will be disappointed.
June 3rd, 2011 at 10:15 am
Absolutely amazing book. I really wish that more Christian writers would write and narrate like you Derek. Great job!
June 24th, 2011 at 10:00 am
Great story, very well narrated. My only complaint is that the music at the beginning/ending of each episode is way too loud and jarring – Gilbert’s voice is very sonorous, and listening to each episode was very relaxing… then the music at the end would kick in and, each and every time, make me jump. Very unimportant matter, I suppose, but it really bothered me. Still — excellent book, well worth the listening!
November 5th, 2011 at 10:28 am
I have to agree, the music at the beginning / end of each episode is way, way to loud. IMO, it doesn’t fit the book / story very well either.
Great story, excellent book. I still gave it 5 stars across the board.
December 3rd, 2011 at 6:01 pm
I had a couple of long drives and listened to this book. The story moves along at a decent pace and early on, it felt like it would be a good listen. The story is just compelling enough that I made it through, but in the end felt like there would have been a better use of my time.
I continuously got the sense that the author is on a mission to spread a Christian message, and actually believes that something like the silly story that played out is actually possible.
Good fiction usually requires a suspension of disbelief, and the reader (or listener) is rewarded for doing so. In this case, it just wasn’t possible for me.
If you believe in big government conspiracies and don’t mind being preached to, you might like it.