Ben East Books

Citizenship | Literature

Select novels, short stories, and nonfiction on contemporary life.

PROFILES IN SERVICE

What began as a bold experiment in grassroots service produced future ambassadors whose courage would guide U.S. diplomacy through seven decades of war, peace, and social change.

More about this book

Novels

Read, Listen, Watch

  • Chopping Wood on 9/11

    Writing about the Zen Buddhism saying “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water,” yard work, and visiting the dump.

  • Profile: Parker Borg

    Sketches of distinguished American diplomats from my forthcoming book, Profiles in Service.

  • Launch of New Podcast

    Novelist Ben East introduces a new podcast about building international relations for a stronger America.

  • Critical Mass

    My latest novel has achieved critical mass. I’m no longer inventing the figments of a void, but rather connecting the last pieces of a puzzle with finite space to go astray. All creative energy is bent toward that one objective.

  • Golden Nib, Blue Ribbon

    This spring I submitted the story to my local Virginia Writers Club chapter, the Northern VWC. Today I learned I won the blue ribbon for my Golden Nib submission.

  • Infinite Agents, Zero Answers

    The finest in storytelling as a coping mechanism for what happens to us in the real-world. Join me in an audio experience that turns a chat with AI into a satire of chatting with AI.

  • Bot Battle

    Your schizophrenic mind imagines the bot and all its bot friends at the BigBotCorporation scraping your user data and related accounts to better understand what position you’re in to pay exorbitant fees and thereby charge you the maximum without scaring you off.

  • So Much More than a Sandwich

    Edgar Allan Poe Award nominee Diane Fanning shared her gathered wisdom from publishing 27 books. My favorite: Writing is not a competition. All writers walk in each other’s shoes and know the courage and resilience required to complete the ACT OF WRITING A BOOK.

  • Blocked Caller

    You have a long history of resentment and loathing toward the telephone. Phone calls with the home warranty company, Chince, merely made you hate them all the more.

  • The Leak Business

    Having not done this before, I’m hesitant to pull to hard. I don’t want to break something. We just had a new shower installed in this bathroom and wouldn’t it destroy me to have to redo the vanity? Ever been to a tile store? Some things in life we need less choice, not more.

Join 500+ subscribers

Sign up