| J.G. Sandom | |
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Web Pioneer and Author |
J. G. Sandom, known in the advertising industry as the Father of Interactive (Internet) Advertising[1] co-founded the nation's first digital advertising agency, Einstein and Sandom Interactive (EASI), in 1984,[2] and is the author of nine works of fiction, including The God Machine, Gospel Truths, The Hunting Club, The Wave, The Unresolved and Resurrection Men.
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Born in Chicago (19 December 1956), the youngest of three children, of a Danish immigrant mother (Else Hvingtoft) and father of Lithuanian ancestry (Zane Joseph Sandom), J.G. Sandom moved to Weybridge, England, at nine months. Zane Sandom worked for American Express and the family was transferred to France, where the author first began attending school at St. Martin's, in the town of Jouy-en-Josas, near Versailles. Less than two years later, Sandom moved to Rome, Italy, where he attended St. George's British International School during the next four years. While in Italy, Sandom performed on the legitimate stage at the Goldoni theatre as a mouse in the English pantomime Cinderella, and in a full-length motion picture produced by Dino De Laurentiis starring Walter Chiari, called Il Giovedi.[3]
Sandom then moved to San Rafael, California, where he attended the 3-Rs school, and where he first developed an interest in writing. After less than two years in San Rafael, the Sandom family was transferred back to Europe; they resided at the Wentworth Estate in Surrey England, not far from Virginia Water. Sandom attended The Fernden School in Haslemere, Surrey, and Winchester College, in Hampshire, over the next five years, through his O-Levels. During this period, the author’s family was transferred back to the United States, while he remained in boarding school in England.
Sandom returned to the United States at the age of 15. Following two years at New Canaan High School in Connecticut, Sandom entered Amherst College in 1974, where he completed his first novel, The Seed of Icarus. Sandom took a semester off from college in order to work on a freighter (The African Dawn) which traveled to Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique, and then returned to graduate from Amherst with honors with a double major in English and philosophy. While in college, Sandom helped launch a literary magazine called Writing at Amherst, won both the Corbin prize and the Academy of American Poets prize, and studied under a variety of visiting writers, including Robert Stone, Julian Symons and the Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney.[4]
Following graduation, Sandom spent several months traveling throughout the Sahara, primarily in southern Algeria, while researching his second novel, The Blue Men. Sandom then moved to New York City where, for the next five years, he worked as a freelance copy writer, public relations and advertising executive, and corporate spokesperson trainer for such companies as Hill & Knowlton and Ketchum Inc.
In 1984, Sandom co-founded Einstein and Sandom Interactive (EASI), an interactive advertising agency. It grew to become the largest digital marketing services firm when it was purchased by D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles in 1994.[5] Sandom continued to manage EASI on behalf of DMB&B through 1996.
From January 1997 through October 1999, Sandom served as Director of Interactive at OgilvyOne Worldwide,[6] a division of Ogilvy & Mather. During this time, the company grew from a loss of $2 Million to an estimated $100 Million in revenues in 30 months, and from 12 “permalancers” to 650 digital marketing specialists worldwide. In 1998, OgilvyInteractive was named “Best Interactive Ad Agency” of the year by Adweek, and won two premier Cyber Lions awards [7] at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for Campaign Magazine On-line and the IBM Olympic Luge Game.
From November 1999 through October 2003, Sandom served as President and CEO, and then Vice Chairman of RappDigital Worldwide, the interactive arm of direct marketing/direct response agency Rapp Collins, now a business unit of DDB Worldwide, an Omnicom Company.[8] Within a year of inception, RappDigital became one of the nation’s "Top Twenty" interactive ad agencies, according to Adweek magazine.[9]
In 1992, Sandom wrote Gospel Truths. Since then, he has written six other novels, including The Wall Street Murder Club (formerly called The Hunting Club), The Wave, and The God Machine.
Booklist called Gospel Truths, "a splendid, tautly woven thriller...(and) an intelligent mystery of tremendous spiritual and literary depth." Library Journal said, "A masterful first novel, based on a true incident, which spins a complicated web of corruption, greed and deception." And Mostly Murder characterized it, "A fascinating mystery...captivating and engrossing."
Kirkus Reviews described The Wall Street Murder Club as "A Big Apple Deliverance, endowing New York culture with all the corrosively dehumanizing power of Dickey's wild nature...Slickly entertaining right down to the last, inevitable twist. (Film rights to Warner Brothers -- and there's no mystery why.)" And Booklist said, "(Sandom) writes with stunning elegance and nearly poetic beauty...A sure hit with any suspense reader."
The Wall Street Murder Club was optioned for Warner Bros. by Lee Rich for theatrical development;[10] screenplay by Ronald Bass, with Joel Schumacher scheduled to direct.
While known mostly as a writer of thrillers and mysteries, Sandom is also the author of several Young Adult (YA) novels (originally released under the pen name T.K. Welsh) including the award-winning The Unresolved (August 2006) and Resurrection Men (Spring 2007), published by Dutton/Penguin. Both novels were republished in paperback in October 2010 by Fangless Fables Press: Kiss Me, I'm Dead (originally titled The Unresolved) and Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher (originally titled Resurrection Men).
Publishers Weekly[11] called Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher, "A haunting tour of London's underclass during the 1830s...(Sandom's) visceral descriptions of industrial London are unflinching...Teens will likely be both captivated by Victor's harrowing story as well as his ability to prevail in the face of harsh injustices." VOYA said, "(Sandom's) plot and writing style are reminiscent of Oliver Twist by Dickens but far more graphic. Teen readers will thoroughly enjoy the hair-raising suspense in this historical thriller." And KLIATT[12] said, "Like M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, this look at sinister events in history makes the era come alive and lingers in the memory."
Ranked one of the Top Ten Children's Books of 2006 by the Washington Post,[13] Kiss Me, I'm Dead was nominated for a Young Adult Library Services Association -- YALSA 2007 Teens' Top Ten,[14] the only book award recommended and awarded solely by teens. The novel was named a 2007 Association of Jewish Libraries Notable Book for Teens by the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee,[15] which recognized only six works in Jewish teen literature in 2007. The novel was also nominated for the 2006 Cybils[16] literary awards, and for the 2007 Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) by the American Library Association.[17]
The Washington Post said, "(Sandom) writes with a precision and delicacy unusual for YA fiction," and called Kiss Me, I'm Dead a "rare gem." School Library Journal said, "Kiss Me, I'm Dead tells a remarkable story in a remarkable way." Horn Book Magazine called Kiss Me, I'm Dead, "A decidedly unconventional ghost story ... (and) a tightly wound novel." Kirkus Reviews termed it, "A remarkable account." Romantic Times said, Kiss Me, I'm Dead is a book you shouldn't pass up." Midwest Book Review called Kiss Me, I'm Dead, "a wonderfully different kind of ghost story." And bookslut.com said, "Kiss Me, I'm Dead scores on several levels, most notably as a drama that blows apart all preconceived notions of how history can be retold."[18]
The God Machine was released in May, 2009. Caroline Thompson (author of Edward Scissorhands) said, "Move over, Dan Brown...All hail J.G. Sandom...(The God Machine) is a thrilling and breathless, rapturously-written and mind-blowing read. It’ll keep you up all night, turning pages as fast as your little fingers can manage."[19] Bookpage.com said "Sandom has a knack for combining legendary gospels, ancient secrets, star-crossed lovers and Masonic puzzles to create a simmering stew of conspiracy, intrigue and danger that keeps the plot pot boiling until the very end."[20] And the Historical Novels Review said, "History galore, violence, and intrigue fill the pages of this tightly plotted, twisting and turning adventure story, reminding one of a multilayered Russian matryoshka doll. The reader will also learn a great deal about da Vinci, Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and many more historical geniuses...Those who love numbers, physics, and a truly unpredictable, suspenseful mystery will relish the facts and ponderings replete in this well-written, mysterious spin-off of The Da Vinci Code. The God Machine is a very impressive historical thriller!"[21]
The Wave - A John Decker Thriller was republished as a trade paperback by Cornucopia Press in May 2010. Kirkus said, "Sandom's strength lies in the verve of his story, with writing that has both muscle...(and) brains...Races from improbable to crazywild, all in good fun, with Sandom always one step ahead...A story with enough manic energy to be worthy of a nuclear explosion."[22]
J.G. Sandom continues to consult in the world of interactive advertising and digital marketing communications, and is currently working on a sequel to The Wave called The Plague.