A Virtual Love
by Andrew Blackman
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Pub Date 1 Apr 2013 | Archive Date 10 Jul 2013
Description
A novel exploring the boundaries of social networking - how it effects a person's perception of individuals and how online personas can differ from real life.
Blurb
For Jeff Brennan, juggling multiple identities is a way of life. Online he has dozens of different personalities and switches easily between them. Offline, he shows different faces to different people: the caring grandson, the angry eco-protester, the bored IT consultant.
So when the beautiful Marie mistakes him for a famous blogger, he thinks nothing of adding this new identity to his repertoire. But as they fall in love and start building a life together, Jeff is gradually forced into more and more desperate measures to maintain his new identity, and the boundaries between his carefully segregated personas begin to fray.
In a world where truth is a matter of perspective and identities are interchangeable, Jeff finds himself trapped in his own web of lies. How far will he go to maintain his secrets? And even if he wanted to turn back, would he be able to?
A Note From the Publisher
Blackman lives in the UK, but previously spent six years in New York, where he worked as a staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal. His work has also been published in Monthly Review, the Cincinnati Post, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Seattle Times, Tampa Tribune, Toronto’s Globe and Mail, Post Road, Carillon, Smoke, and in books by Twenty Stories Publishing, Greenacre Writers and Leaf Books, and he won the 2004 Daniel Singer essay prize. Andrew has a degree in modern history from Oxford University and a Master’s in journalism from Columbia University. A Virtual Love, deals with the issue of identity in the age of social networking. Follow Andrew on Twitter @BlackmanAndrew
Advance Praise
‘A compelling tale, told from several perspectives, about the identity that people project about themselves in the social media world and the real life identity that we all cannot escape from. A fascinating, modern story that had me gripped.’ - Award-winning author Alex Wheatle MBE
‘a compelling and very entertaining look at the complexities of our hyper real age, an insightful and witty exploration of the disconnect between image and reality, truth and appearance and whether love and sincere sentiment can overcome the short term thrills of social media.’ – James Miller
‘A Virtual Love by Andrew Blackman is a thoroughly modern novel, much of which takes place online. Its lead character, Jeff, is confident with the different images that he projects on social media and dating websites, and when the beautiful Marie mistakes him online for someone else, he plays along and they fall in love. "We create different versions of ourselves on different sites," says the author, "and reshape or delete them at will." The novel goes as far as to question whether anyone has a "real" identity anymore.’ - The Independent
Marketing Plan
Coverage includes: We Love This Book, The Workshy Fop, Bibliojunkie, Babbling Books, Bloggers Recommend, The Innocent Flower, Random Thoughts, Postcards from Asia, The Angel Resident, Writing Magazine, Ham and High, Female First, Book Around the Corner, Geosi Reads, Quiet Fury Books and My Memories of a Future Life.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781909039452 |
| PRICE | £7.99 (GBP) |
