*A few years back I released a short lesbian cyberpunk novel taking place in the aftermath of a hacked election that leads to the collapse of the US… for some reason it’s started getting more attention recently (can’t imagine why!) Here’s the first chapter of [Dreams in Digital](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33559729-dreams-in-digital). Enjoy!*
Every Run begins with a Gate.
Sometimes it presents as a literal gate or doorway. Sometimes it’s a wall I have to scale, a mechanism to manipulate, or a suspicious guard I have to sneak or bluff my way past. It’s the hardest part of a Run to prime, usually taking on only the vaguest outlines of your intentions as the dream starts to take shape. Here more than anywhere else, your intuition is in the driver’s seat.
On the Kobayashi Run, the Gate materialized in front of me as a towering calligraphic scroll, its finely textured face completely filling my field of view. Gracefully brushed characters swam lazily across its cream-colored surface, drifting like inky clouds, and the thick paper seemed to wave in response to a non-existent breeze. There was no sky, no earth, no sense of space at all. There was only the scroll, and me. I had no body yet. That would come later.