The More You Ignore Me

The idea for the novel came from the author’s time as the administrator for the blog of the Poetry Foundation, where he was responsible for moderating the comments section, which was constantly derailed by off-topic tirades.

This novel addresses the vast and enigmatic community of people who make their life almost exclusively on the Internet through blog comments and message boards, commonly referred to as ‘trolls.’

Nichols structures the novel as an extended blog comment, giving it a formal inventiveness reminiscent of Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad.

Topical concerns of communication in the Internet age run throughout the novel—isolation, the need for acceptance, the appeal of anonymity, perception versus reality, etc.

The author is young (under 35) and has great media contacts through his work as a film, literary, and pop culture critic. He is also a former bookseller (at Amherst Books in Massachusetts and Bailey / Coy Books in Seattle).