Gods of the Digital Age follows Kenna Talbott: genius, perfectionist, software engineer, and elite gamer. At age 20, she is a wealthy young woman, a highly sought after independent programmer, and a prisoner of her own creation. Kenna’s perfectionism (bordering on obsession) gives her a modicum of control in a world with entirely too many variables for her to manage. It also cuts her off from the rest of humanity. In desperation, she turns to an online multiplayer game called Gods of an Empire and finds a way that she can connect to other people with something in common while maintaining a safe distance and a degree of anonymity. The only problem is that her obsession with perfection finds its way into her new found outlet and it springboards her into the spotlight she has been desperate to avoid. When the game developer outs her at a conference in order to save face, she is bombarded with offers of sponsorship, reporters lining up interviews, and an international community demanding to know how she cheated her way to the top of the gaming circuit. All of this becomes too much very quickly and she is soon overwhelmed until a kind woman with dark eyes and a dangerous smile offers her a way out. She will make all of this go away if she competes in one last tournament. Desperate for escape, she agrees and signs on the dotted line. Little does she know that the stakes have now risen far beyond sponsorship and bragging rights. Now, she must face others chosen like herself in a Virtual Reality arena to determine which among them will rise to become gods of a new age and who will die in the pursuit.

Gods of the Digital Age is a work in progress and this author’s first adventure to make it beyond the scribbled notebooks that line the shelves. This was brought to light by the Nerdist Video Game Contest and I hope you enjoy! Please feel free to leave feedback and share. Follow me on Twitter @EllisShaw101