ELLEN ULLMAN

A New York Times Notable Book of 2012From the acclaimed American novelist and memoirist Ellen Ullman, By Blood is a gothic noir novel that explores questions about fate, identity and genetics in the guise of a gripping psychological thriller.A professor is on leave from his post a leave that may have been forced upon him. He may or may not be of sound mind. To steady himself, he rents an office in San Francisco. It is 1974, a time when free love and psychedelic ecstasy have given way to drug violence and serial killings. Through the thin office walls, the professor overhears the sessions of a therapist and a patient, and without knowing the patients name or face he comes to know the details of her life, her family, her lovers. He inserts himself into her search for her "mysterious origins": a deeply troubling journey through displaced-persons camps, stolen children, and hidden pasts.Ellen Ullman is a writer of ferocious intelligence, and By Blood is thrilling and fraught, a darkly atmospheric tale of what we can know about our identity, what we can escape of it, and what we cannot.A novel that thematically interweaves fate, identity, obsession and genetics into a propulsive page-turner that shows a profound understanding of character. Its a multilayered mystery (in the same way that Dostoyevsky was a mystery writer) and an inquiry into the subjective nature of narrative . . . A first-rate literary thriller of compelling psychological and philosophical depthKirkus (Starred Review)A thrilling page-turner of a book . . . Book clubs of America, take note. By Blood is what you should be reading. Ullman is someone we all should be reading. NewsdayA literary inquiry into identity and legacy . . . A gripping mystery . . . The storytelling is compelling and propulsive . . . Ullman is also a careful stylist.Los Angeles TimesEllen Ullmans By Blood is published by Pushkin PressEllen Ullmans Close to the Machine, a memoir of her time as a software engineer during the early years of the internet revolution, became a cult classic and established her as a writer of considerable talent; with her second book, The Bug, she became an acclaimed and vital novelist; By Blood is her third. Her essays and opinion pieces have been widely published in venues such as Harpers, The New York Times, Salon, and Wired. She lives in San Francisco.

The debut novel by the acclaimed American novelist and former computer programmer Ellen Ullman, The Bug is both a novel of ideas and a suspense story.Thrilling and intellectually fearless . . . If more contemporary novels delivered news this relevant and wise theyd have to stop declaring the death of the novel The New York TimesIn one of the computer-dictated pauses that now constantly intrude on our lives, Roberta Walton starts to think back twenty years, to her first job in computing, to the bug she found there and the man it destroyed. Ellen Ullmans acclaimed first novel compellingly, thrillingly explores the connections between us and our machines, and between programming, obsession and madness. As the bug - bug UI-01017, The Jester - teases, defies and threatens its creators.Ellen Ullmans The Bug is published by Pushkin Press.Ellen Ullmans Close to the Machine, a memoir of her time as a software engineer during the early years of the internet revolution, became a cult classic and established her as a writer of considerable talent; with her second book, The Bug, she became an acclaimed and vital novelist; By Blood is her third. All three are published in the UK by Pushkin Press. Her essays and opinion pieces have been widely published in venues such as Harpers, The New York Times, Salon, and Wired. She lives in San Francisco.

Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents, Ellen Ullmans cult classic memoir of the world of computers in the 1980s and early 1990s, is an insight of a world we rarely see up close."Astonishing... impossible to put down"San Francisco Chronicle"We see the seduction at the heart of programming: embedded in the hijinks and hieroglyphics are the esoteric mysteries of the human mind" WiredClose to the Machine has become a cult classic: Ellen Ullmans humane, insightful, and beautifully written memoir explores the ever-complicating intersections between people and technology; the strange ecstasies of programming; the messiness of life and the artful efficiency of code. It is a deeply personal, prescient account of working at the forefront of computing.With a new introduction by Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget"By turns hilarious and sobering, this slim gem of a book chronicles the Silicon Valley way of life... full of delicately profound insights into work, money, love, and the search for a life that matters" NewsweekEllen Ullmans Close to the Machine, a memoir of her time as a software engineer during the early years of the internet revolution, became a cult classic and established her as a writer of considerable talent; with her second book, The Bug, she became an acclaimed and vital novelist; By Blood is her third. All three titles are published in the UK by Pushkin Press. Her essays and opinion pieces have been widely published in venues such as Harpers, The New York Times, Salon, and Wired. She lives in San Francisco.