Name: The Distractions
ISBN: 979-8888454817

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.

Liza Monroy is the author of the novels The Distractions (Regalo) and Mexican High (Spiegel & Grau/Random House), the essay collection Seeing As Your Shoes Are Soon To Be On Fire (Counterpoint/Soft Skull), and the memoir The Marriage Act: The Risk I Took To Keep My Best Friend In America And What It Taught Us About Love (Counterpoint/Soft Skull). Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, the L.A. Times, Newsweek, Poets & Writers, Marie Claire, Everyday With Rachael Ray, Jane, Self, Bust and various anthologies, including both New York Times' Best of Modern Love, Best American Food Writing, Goodbye To All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York, One Big Happy Family, and Wedding Cake For Breakfast. She lives in Santa Cruz, California, teaches through Stanford Continuing Studies Creative Writing Program, and in her free time enjoys surfing, reading, yoga, sunshine, and coffee.

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