Tag: books

Come to My Book Launch Events April 7 & 9

My new book, Transaction Denied, is going to be in bookstores across the country April 7. Come celebrate the launch, pick up a book, hang out, and talk about digital rights with me at two SF Bay Area events.

I know how much Bay Area folks loathe crossing the bridge—especially on a weekday—so I’m hosting an event on each side. Come to whichever one is closer.

EAST BAY

Tuesday April 7, 2026
7 PM
Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore
 2904 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705
Space is limited. Please RSVP and try to arrive at 6:45 (the bathroom closes at 6:30 PM, so plan accordingly).
RSVP here.

SAN FRANCISCO

Thursday April 9, 2026
7 PM
City Lights Books
261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, California 94133
(Parking at North Beach Garage works pretty well if you drive.)
RSVP here.
Space is limited. Please RSVP and try to arrive by 6:45 PM. Some of us will go next door to Vesuvio for drinks after.

Can’t be there in person? No worries—the San Francisco event at City Lights will be livestreamed. RSVP to watch on Zoom.

I will be joined at both events by Cyrus Farivar, an award-winning author, editor, and investigative tech journalist with 20+ years of experience. He is also the author of multiple books, including Habeas Data (2018) and The Internet of Elsewhere (2011). Cyrus has written for Forbes, NBC News, Ars Technica, NPR, The Economist, Wired, and many others.

You can pick up the book at the launch, if you haven’t already pre-ordered it. (Though pre-orders are the single best way to help a brand new author like me.)

About the book:

Weaving together over a decade of research with interviews and narratives from those personally impacted by financial censorship, Transaction Denied reveals how financial exclusion has become a tool to pressure marginalized voices into silence.

From the executive director of a voting rights nonprofit to a teacher of Iranian poetry, to adult content creators and the cannabis community, the book uplifts the voices of those who have been targeted by these powerful institutions. Their stories are a launching point for exploring larger issues about who should have the power to censor in a democratic society.

A portion of every book sale goes to support Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Transaction Denied Now Available for Pre-Order

My new book, Transaction Denied: Big Finance’s Power to Punish Speech, is available for pre-order today.

Here are three ways to order:

1. Use this link to order from Bookshop.org and a portion of the proceeds will go to support an amazing bookstore in Stratford, CT called Obodo Serendipity Books.

2. Order from Amazon.

3. Order from Barnes and Noble.

You can also contact your local bookstore to get a copy on order.

Regardless of where you order the book from, a portion of the book sales will go to benefit the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Pre-ordering books is one of best ways to support an author. Strong pre-sales lead to more promotional opportunities, more book events, more media interest, and then more book sales. This becomes a flywheel effect: the more attention your book gets early on, the more opportunities it has to get attention later. So please pre-order the book on any platform you would like. There will be an audiobook at launch, too.

Transaction Denied delves into a key issue that has gotten a lot of attention lately: what does it mean to have a financial system that is not speech neutral? I talk about how financial companies have byzantine terms that give them vast power to cut off the accounts of speakers on a whim. And, it’s not those in power who are losing access to the financial system. Those who are otherwise denied power in our society suffer the most from this sort of censorship.

The book is full interviews with people who lost their financial accounts because of otherwise legal speech. Between those stories, I talk about the laws, regulations, and corporate policies that created this system, and some of the key court battles that have left us in a state where financial companies have so much power to punish disfavored speakers.

The more I worked on the book, the more I realized this wasn’t just a book about speech and money—it’s about democracy. It’s about whether financial corporations should have the right to control which speakers are punished, and it’s about who can freely participate in our society. And those choices impact all of us.

Please pre-order today and please share the word on social media. If you’re interested in hosting a book event (in person or on Zoom), please let me know.