This... is Leamingville. Paul and Molly’s marriage is being disrupted by social media. Lars Purcell, the new media guru, is checked into a midlife crisis centre. Tristan Frazer has come to town with a money-making scheme for social networking inspired by a Russian novel. Gregory Bugg has gone from web junky to therapeutic saviour dedicating himself to unplugging the masses. Corrupt mayor Dmitri Grimm is fighting for his political life as a radio pirate has captivated the otherwise politically disengaged public, and the rise of a social media powered digital shadow mayor. The global village idiot has declared himself the poet laureate of the internets. Inspired by Sinclair Lewis’ biting appraisal of contemporary mores, alternative cartoonist Seth’s enchantingly detailed studies of fictional cities, and seasoned with plenty of Jonathan Franzen-esque qualities, ZOMG! takes place in a mid-sized fictitious Ontario city where social media technology touches the lives of ten common people in the run-up to a mayoral election. Media consolidation, midlife crisis, radio piracy, digital addiction, flat-pack furniture, social networking schemes, online narcissism, a poet laureate of the Internet and vivid visions of hell all feature in this Canadian novel verité filled with pop-up interruptus, Twitter-esque feeds, notification alerts, and web-ads that satirically blends the media of print with the rich multimedia saturated online environment. A novel merging the social media landscape of today with that of a new participatory politics.