Can the digital networks that record our footprints hold us steady when dementia threatens to push us off the path? This question has real stakes for data analyst Charlie Sanders. His best hope for a father succumbing to Alzheimer¿s comes from assistive technology that Charlie helps design for a scrappy startup. Despite early successes, Charlie has growing doubts about the motives of each of his colleagues - the eccentric CEO in Seattle, the call center guru in India, and the Trump-loving Aussie transplant who keeps the books. His worries grow when the company takes on a clandestine client who occupies the Oval Office. Will Charlie keep his father and his country on track, or turn a whole generation into glitches?

John Webster Gastil is a professor at Pennsylvania State University who studies group behavior. The National Science Foundation has supported his research on the Oregon Citizens Initiative Review, the Australian Citizens Parliament, jury deliberation, and cultural cognition. Gray Matters is John's first foray into fiction, and his second novel, Dungeon Party, is also forthcoming from Cosmic Egg Books. John lives in State College, PA, USA.