This insightful study of a world in flux, framed by a dystopian future America and a disintegrating family, is disturbingly timely. *Publishers Weekly*
The America of 2037 is a country distracted by, infatuated with, and addicted to Arcadia. The brainchild of reclusive genius Juan Diego Reyes, Arcadia is a wickedly immersive, all-encompassing social-media platform and virtual-reality interface. Although Arcadia has made the Reyes family fabulously wealthy, its left themand the rest of the countryimpoverished of that rare currency: intimacy. When Juan Diego mysteriously vanishes, the consequences shatter the lives of the entire Reyes clan.
As matriarch Autumn struggles to hold the family together, siblings Gideon, Holly, and Devon wrestle with questions of purpose and meaningseeking self-worth in a world where everything has been cheapened. Outside the artificial safety of Arcadia, America has crumbled into an unrecognizable nation where a fundamentalist ex-preacher occupies the Oval Office, megacorporations blithely exploit their full citizenship, and a twenty-foot-high Great Wall of Freedom plastered with lucrative advertising bestrides the US-Mexican border.
In a polarized society now cripplingly hooked on manufactured highs, the Reyes family must overcome the seduction of simulation to find the kind of authentic human connection that offers salvation for all.
**
Review
Sean Gandert has written an impressive first novel. It has a rare combination of vision and heartnot to mention a funny, scary dystopia that is both impressively imagined and dismayingly plausible. Tom Bissell, author of *Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter*
Sean Gandert's new book is a must-read, a gotta-read book, a go out and buy the damn thing. Once you buy it, share it, carry it in your backpack and tell your friends about it, you're not going to get this kind of book in school, this is way ahead of school books, it dips into real life, it dives into the underworld of our feelings and holds you there, until you discover the pearls Jimmy Santiago Baca, author of *A Place to Stand*
This novel is like if Sword Art Online and Stranger Things had a child, just so it could tell you a story about the future. This brilliant novel is about how what we love about games can become what we fear about the world, without our noticing, until it is done. Prescient, funny, smart, a story to disappear into and come out the other side. Alexander Chee, Whiting Award winner and author of *The Queen of the Night*
A fascinating and ambitious first novel by a very talented writer.An indispensable read. Rudolfo Anaya, author of *Bless Me, Ultima*
About the Author
Sean Gandert was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and an MFA in creative writing from Bennington College. A freelance writer and college English instructor, Seans reviews and interviews have appeared in Paste magazine and other publications. An avid gamer, Sean currently resides in Florida with his partner and their three cats.
