Dark Moon Shallow Sea

“Normal” is not usually associated with Paige, who is diagnosed with autism. She accidentally stumbles upon an email sent to her father regarding her location, moods, heart rate, and more. Paige realizes her parents enrolled her in a study and lied to her about the tonsillectomy that was performed a few years before. It was actually a surgery to implant a chip that could be used to control her!

She doesn’t feel like she can talk to her parents, so she strikes out to find the other kids in the study with the help of her best friend. When the company responsible for her implant, Nucleus, releases information that they will be merging with Homepage, a social media company, she worries for her privacy. She hatches a plan to take them down, with the help of some new friends.

This subject is timely, as children and adults alike wrestle with the lack of privacy afforded by an online society, and how consent is ignored or abused by online giants. Combining Paige’s neurodivergent experience with these issues also allows an examination into the question: what is normal? Some readers will see themselves in Paige, while hopefully others gain insight into their neurodivergent neighbors.