Thank you to everyone who entered the competition: Kevin was the nearest and wins the prize. He suggested a “interactive fiction or narrative simulation”, which is closer than anyone else got to “it’s a book!”
This has been a long time in the writing. If you’re interested in the early days of computing, the proto-internet, or what it feels like to be an outsider in a damaged world, you might find something for you in this book. You can read an extract of it or find out more over on my personal website. And now… back to the synths!