Welcome to the Sleepernet blog! I’m Mike McCool, fledgling author and recuperating engineer. In the coming weeks I’ll be posting updates on the road to getting the book published.

I started writing the book about two and a half years ago, through a combination of pent-up creativity and a somewhat simple question I asked myself.

While driving during the Obama / Romney campaign, I first saw a bumper sticker that had some kind of ad hominem attack against Obama. (I don’t even remember what it was, think the sort of slogan “Thanks Obama!” parodies.) Then, on another car, I saw a similar attack against Romney.

I briefly wondered: What would it be like if we removed the personal attacks from politics and made the candidates anonymous?

This simple notion combined beautifully with a concept I’d been working on for a future America with immersive virtual reality, colorful characters as superheroes, and a science fiction culture. Two years and four and a half drafts later, a complete novel has fallen out.

I’ll talk more about my writing process and other sorts of blog things in future updates. In the meantime, get familiar with the characters of the sleepernet through Ryan Kinnaird’s amazing artwork. Ryan’s been a joy to work with and I look forward to posting more updates with our future collaborations.

Good to have you here!