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Furniture Sliders Award Press Release
The following Press Release has been issued to over 400 outlets announcing Furniture Sliders and the Literary Titans Gold Book Award. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE A Shadowed World Reawakens: “Furniture Sliders” by Alexander Bentley Redefines Post-War Espionage with a Quantum Twist The war may have ended, but the secrets never did. In Furniture Sliders, the electrifying new novel from Alexander Bentley, the smoldering ruins of 1947 Europe conceal a deeper, more dangerous conflict, one that distorts time, memory, and identity itself. Spanning New York, Vienna, Prague, Montevideo, and Mendoza, Bentley’s first installment in The Bureau Archives Trilogy introduces readers to Max Calder, a former intelligence operative desperate to leave the shadows behind. But when Artemis, a spectral figure from his past, resurfaces with a warning, Calder is thrust back into a chase for the Mirror, a secret so classified even its creators have vanished. As Calder hunts for answers across a world still cloaked in smoke and subterfuge, truth and illusion become indistinguishable. Each safehouse, each coded message, slides a few inches sideways from reality. Every revelation brings him closer to discovering that the most dangerous secret of all might be himself. Recipient of the Literary Titan Gold Book Award, Furniture Sliders has been hailed as “a post-war spy-fi romp that kicks off The Bureau Archives Trilogy with a smoky, rain-slicked bang.” The novel masterfully fuses espionage, noir atmosphere, and speculative science fiction, creating what Literary Titan describes as “a stylish, time-twisting spy thriller that leaves you wanting the next mission right away.” The book’s world is painted in fog, cigarette smoke, and fractured memory, with Bentley’s prose pulsing like a jazz rhythm beneath a neon haze. Readers are drawn into a labyrinth where the line between hunter and hunted blurs, and where every choicehas world-altering consequences. Bentley’s upcoming sequel, Angus Sliders, is already slated for release on December 15, promising to delve even deeper into the mysterious Bureau and the secrets that shape its operatives. Don’t miss the start of The Bureau Archives Trilogy, a gripping fusion of espionage, noir, and speculative science fiction that’s already earning critical acclaim. Available now in Kindle, paperback and hardback editions on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Get your copy of Furniture Sliders today—and discover the secret that could change everything. About the Author Alexander Bentley is a serial entrepreneur and award-winning novelist based in California, known for his rare ability to merge the intellectual intrigue of science with the visceral suspense of espionage fiction. With an extensive career founding and leading technology companies in both the UK and the USA, Bentley has served as CEO of public and private enterprises and worked with the UK Ministry of Defence, the U.S. Department of Defense, and multiple aerospace and defense companies. His background in physics, and deep familiarity with quantum mechanics and secure communications technologies, informs his writing with scientific precision and authenticity. Writing under his own name, Bentley brings a new dimension to post–World War II noir, combining shadowy intrigue with speculative twists in what he calls “Spy-Fi.” He lives in California with his wife, Lucinda, and is the proud father of two grown children, Alexander (Lex) and Virginia (Ginny). Furniture Sliders marks the beginning of The Bureau Archives Trilogy, a bold exploration of identity, secrecy, and the malleability of truth. Contact Information Name: Alexander Bentley Email: Alexander@AlexanderBentley.com Country: United States Website: https://www.alexanderbentley.com END
Literary Titans gave Furniture Sliders a five-star review. Now they have given Furniture Sliders their Gold Award! The Literary Titan Gold Book Award is bestowed upon "books that exemplify exceptional standards in the presentation of original content". Quite the honor! I guess I can now be called not just an author but an award-winning author! Couldn't be more pleased. Sets the bar high for Angus Sliders! I suppose we will see in December when it launches - it definitely has something to live up to!
Short Stories - "The Calderverse"
I have always envisaged that the trilogy of books, which includes Furniture Sliders, Angus Sliders, and Cuban Sliders, would create multiple opportunities to expand the scope. Call it the Calderverse! Further stories based on the Bureau Archives Trilogy characters could be created. Well... first steps have been taken! This website now features five new Calderverse short stories, starring Max Calder and Alicia Rayes. Look for the "Stories" menu item at the top of the page. One of the new short stories - The Montevideo Dossier - takes Max, Alicia, and the Mirror further into the Sci-Fi realm. The other four new ones are a short series of their own. All based around "Incidents" and leveraging Mirror technology in a different direction, with MI6 using it to control what people think and what they remember - especially around what happens and when. As you wait for Angus Sliders to publish, enjoy a Calderverse short story or two!
Author’s Inspiration: Max Calder
Max Calder was never meant to be a flawless spy. He was not born from a single model but from the shadowed spaces where history, memory, and imagination intersect. I wanted to write a spy who felt real, not invincible — someone scarred by the compromises of his profession, shaped as much by what he has lost as by what he has done. The character draws on the weary resilience of Graham Greene’s protagonists, the compromised idealism of John le Carré’s agents, and the fractured identities of real Cold War figures such as Kim Philby and Juan Pujol García (“Garbo”). Yet Calder is not a copy of them. He is a man of the margins — a survivor from Glasgow’s Gorbals, an outsider at Cambridge, an MI6 operative who never quite belonged in the rooms where history was decided. His greatest flaw — mistrust — is also his armor. He cannot give himself fully to any cause because he has seen too many masks slip. The Mirror technology makes him more fragile still, blurring memory and identity until he wonders if he is even himself. Calder’s story is not about glamour or victory, but about endurance. He survives not because he is the strongest, but because he understands what most spies never admit: that betrayal, like time, is inevitable — and that survival is its own kind of truth. The inspiration was to write a spy who isn’t defined by victories, but by the cost of endurance. Calder is proof that sometimes the greatest battles in espionage aren’t against enemies, but against yourself.
Another question I have been asked a few times is why Rosyth? So here is the answer….. In my dim and distant past, in my youth, I was an Army Cadet. Enjoyed most of it. Was the only cadet in the school to achieve an Army instructors certificate in signals (hauled up in front of the whole school on that one!) and was also classified as a marksman in both small bore and full bore rifle shooting. Spent time away from home on all sorts of escapades (as well as being arrested by the Military Police for drinking Coke in a local pub - someone had reported us for drinking beer!). Then an opportunity arose… would you like to join the Royal Navy on one of their warfare exercises for a week. Why not! I was the only Army Cadet amongst a whole ship full of sailors…. That was fun in itself as you can imagine. I joined one of the Royal Navy’s Leander Class anti-submarine frigates at Rosyth in Scotland. So there you have it.We went all round the British Isles and eventually docked in Devon. We stopped at the Isle of Skye for some fun too. For example, a yacht race where a navy cadet I had befriended and I beat the navy teams. One memorable day was during some of the war games. Apart from firing Bofors guns at a target towed by one of the other frigates (I missed! But then so did most others), we were “attacked” by a couple of Phantom jet fighters (I think they were FG.1s from the Naval Air Squadron). The most amazing thing was you never heard them coming. The sound was many seconds behind them buzzing the ship. And it was visceral! You felt it as much as hearing it! We saw them coming the second time around… approaching in complete silence until several seconds after they flew by. So that is it. This has all stuck in my memory for years. I guess if I was going to pick a location it was going to be the Rosyth Royal Naval Dockyard.
I have been asked many times since the launch of Furniture Sliders when the next book is due given that Furniture Sliders is Book 1 of a trilogy. It will not be too long! The next book is Angus Sliders and is targeted to publish mid-December this year. The story continues. Max Calder is back as are more of his missing memories. Alicia is back too when a secret called Project Oracle at a black site called ANGUS appears in both London and Scotland. Was the Mirror really destroyed in the Rosyth Incident? It actually has all of the hallmarks of an espionage related theft of Mirror technology perpetrated by MI6 “off the books”. Some familiar figures appear to be entangled in it including the Soviet double agent Kim Philby! Russian connections! Do not want to give all of the storyline away - so no more until later! But the back page blurb draft is as follows! Lisbon, London, Rosyth, Inversheil 1948. Max Calder thought he left the shadows behind with his service record, but when an unexpected encrypted radio message from MI6 surfaces in Lisbon, he knows the past isn’t done with him. What was destroyed wasn't - it was stolen. Project Oracle. A secret so deep it was stitched into silence at a black site called ANGUS. Time warps, missing hours, faces that shouldn't exist—all of it tied to the Mirror. A technology that it was apparent both the Bureau and rogue elements of MI6 were chasing. Now it’s back. And so is Alicia Rayes. Sharp as broken glass and just as dangerous. Once a loyal intelligence agent, now something else entirely. She knows what the Mirror did. What it still does. And she’s not the only one. Everyone’s hunting something. Calder’s just trying to stay one step ahead of ghosts and men who don't cast shadows. In this game, memory can’t be trusted. Neither can time. And Calder’s running out of both. In this haunting continuation of the saga, noir meets espionage meets speculative science fiction in a tale of recursion, betrayal, and the illusions of self.
Furniture Sliders and Alexander Bentley are getting more attention on social media! My own Facebook and Instagram accounts are attracting interest and followers…. All good news! Some of those posts have been boosted on Facebook and there are now posts on some of the book and author groups. There are also some adverts starting to appear. If people do not know the book exists then they can’t buy it! So far the reviews are pretty good! Fingers crossed it keeps up as we head towards Book 2 in the trilogy!
You can see some of the comments about the book on this web site home page. But here is one from Amazon that was an excellent review and summary. A good grade too! Angela A 5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing mix of noir and sci-fi!! Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2025 Verified Purchase Haven't read a spy - or should I say, spy-fi - thriller like this in years. I've read Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Poirot (and countless others), but a lot of the more recent books I've picked up have felt stale in what they offer. Not to discount modern writers, but I feel as if the spark that fiction used to have is just gone.Not here! Honestly, Furniture Sliders gives a lot more than just the same-old stuff I was expecting. Bentley has crafted something genuinely thrilling here, because it's not just "spy" or detective, it's a mix of noir and sci-fi...with a shockingly unique plot.The premise is that a post-war operative (Max Calder) for an agency called the Bureau is pulled back into the game after WWII, only to find that there's more going on than he initially realized. It's a conspiracy weaving time travel, government agencies, and, of course, a healthy dose of espionage. Not only that, but Bentley ties in real-world characters and events, showing he's done his research while writing this. He mixes in quantum science and real-world spy tactics, Alan Turing, and cutting-edge tech in a way that makes it believable, while also keeping it mysterious.Max Calder himself, the main character of the series, is a fun read. He's not showy, but he's one of the best at what he does - and this is constantly at odds with the recurring theme of missing and faltering memory throughout the book.How do you know what's real, and how can you succeed if your memories might be false?From what I can tell, this is Bentley's first novel, but he's nailed it. I'm looking forward to what comes next in the series! KK 4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read. Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2025 Verified Purchase The kind of sci-fi you can cruise through, enjoying the author's obvious talent for developing a plot and fleshing out characters and scenes. You'll feel as though you've been to some of the locations, stepping back into the last century. You'll also gain some insight into the world of quantum mechanics where many strange things are regularly observed to happen, and observation itself appears to be capable of causing change - Schrodinger's cat notwithstanding.
The Furniture Sliders Launch Was Amazing!
A select group of over 30 people attended the Furniture Sliders book launch on Wednesday 23rd July! This included other authors as well as avid book readers, some of whom had seen an advance copy and some had read it, and they were suitably impressed with both the book and the event and especially the launch video (see Video Trailer) which was shown on the big screen at full 4K resolution! The book is dedicated to Lucinda who can be seen in the photo standing next to one of the display banners. Now to get the book out in to the big wide reader world!
Yes! Today 23rd July is the day that Furniture Sliders launches. It will be available on Amazon and Apple Books and distributed through Ingram globally. There is a Kindle and eBook version, a paperback, a hardback and a hardback with dust jacket. All available today. Check it out! Check out the first reviews! Enjoy! Then look forward to the next book in the trilogy - Angus Sliders - due before Christmas 2025.
