The Distractions
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
Solitary tech worker Mischa Osborn is mourning the shelving of her passion project—an artificial intelligence algorithm capable of love—when a chance encounter with a social media celebrity leads her spiraling into an all-consuming obsession. Simultaneously, someone—or something—is watching.
Mischa Osborn spends her days as a ProWatcher—keeping distracted people on task and lonely ones accompanied—from her Brooklyn Megabuilding, while eating PetriMeat Steax and working out with her favorite personal trainer, a straight-talking algorithm named Tory.
Her carefully constructed, isolated existence is suddenly upended by a chance realspace encounter with a HighlightReel celebrity, Nicolás Adán Luchano. On their first date, hiking in Kuulsuits and watching DroneBeez pollinate flowers, Mischa experiences a brief but intense realspace connection.
Mischa takes to relentlessly watching Nic onReel. As Mischa’s ReelWatching spirals into an all-consuming obsession, and even realspace stalking, Mischa takes increasingly desperate measures to be seen and valued, sucking others into her vortex of obsession until she completely loses control.
Meanwhile, someone is equally obsessed with Mischa, tracking her every move and perhaps even influencing her choices.
A tale of how technology enables obsession, envy, and unrelenting comparison, told through an eccentric cast of interconnected characters, The Distractions invites us to reflect on who we are watching, and why.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With this thought-provoking work of speculative fiction, Monroy (The Marriage Act) examines social media addiction in an eerily plausible future. Mischa Osborn, creator of the failed project Alovue (an algorithm "capable of actual love"), now works as a ProWatcher for Reel, an immersive social channel that curates highlight reels of its users' lives. During a ReelCon, Mischa meets and forms an unexpected IRL connection with "ReelStar" (read: influencer) Nicolás Adán "NicAdán" Luchano, who gives Mischa the impression that they will meet up in Mischa's hometown of Brooklyn in a month. Then NicAdán tosses Mischa over for their rival, Mire D'Innit. Crushed, Mischa falls into a toxic obsession with both NicAdán and Mire, working to get as close to the ReelStar couple as possible by becoming the ProWatcher for Ari Dae Tyler, who curates the gallery that launched NicAdán's career. Eventually, Mischa convinces Ari to let them do ProWatching sessions in person and heads to Los Angeles, where their jealousy sends them into a criminal spiral. Throughout all this, someone—or something—watches Mischa's every move, and possibly even influences their actions. Monroy's worldbuilding is both imaginative and resonant, and the balance of advanced technology to recognizable emotion feels just right. Fans of wry, dystopian near-future sci-fi should check this out.
