Godblog

Tall, non-fat, blond, extra-conflicted, to goCircumstances force Dag, a young snowboarder based in Whistler, to give up his sport and to find another way to live. He embarks on two paths, the first, a subsistence job as a barista in a coffee mega-chain where he works hard to be a worker extraordinaire to boost his tips. He also invents an online alter ego who pronounces his own brand of wisdom and rant, an outlet to express what Dag can't in his day-to-day role of coffee slave and supportive friend. His dark side blogs provocation in every post and gains a following.Women figure prominently in his life, including his friend Heathen, whose competitive skiing successes are a painful counterpoint to his own loss; his new roommate Grace, whose expectations are impossible for him to live up to; and the flirtatious customers and the casual flings he suddenly finds himself drawn to and capable of.Dag's personality suffers in the struggle between his real and cyber lives. The ensuing difficulties impact the people in his life, especially as the blog becomes a public phenomenon. But it veers wildly between bluster and baiting, as people begin to do what it says.When his blog butts heads with the corporate paranoia of his coffee overlords, Dag has trouble keeping his real and cyber selves integrated. His percolating identity crisis boils over into real-life jeopardy, scalding himself and those around him.Godblog raises fundamental questions about the risks and rewards of reinventing ourselves in the twenty-first century, with all of the main characters remaking themselves in one way or another, as we often do. The story is told through a combination of regular narrative, blog entries, and corporate memos from the coffee-industrial complex, which also becomes a catalyst in the drama.Innovative, edgy novel by a very promising new novelist.