Synopses & Reviews
"An unexpected, inventive, heartfelt riff on the workplace novel — startup realism with a multiverse twist." —Anna Wiener, author of Uncanny Valley
Introducing Josh Riedel's adrenaline-packed debut novel about a dating app employee who discovers a glitch that transports him to other worlds.
Once you sign an NDA it's good for life. Meaning legally, I shouldn't tell you this story. But I have to.
A college grad with the six-figure debt to prove it, Ethan Block views San Francisco as the place to be. Yet his job at hot new dating app DateDate is a far cry from what he envisioned. Instead of making the world a better place, he reviews flagged photo queues, overworked and stressed out. But that's about to change.
Reeling from a breakup, Ethan decides to view his algorithmically matched soulmate on DateDate. He overrides the system and clicks on the profile. Then, he disappears. One minute, he's in a windowless office, and the next, he's in a field of endless grass, gasping for air. When Ethan snaps back to DateDate HQ, he's convinced a coding issue caused the blip. Except for anyone to believe him, he'll need evidence. As Ethan embarks on a wild goose chase, moving from dingy startup think tanks to Silicon Valley's dominant tech conglomerate, it becomes clear that there's more to DateDate than meets the eye. With the stakes rising, and a new world at risk, Ethan must choose who — and what — he believes in.
Adventurous and hypertimely, Please Report Your Bug Here is an inventive millennial coming-of-age story, a dark exploration of the corruption now synonymous with Big Tech, and, above all, a testament to the power of human connection in our digital era.
Review
“A smart exposé of the tech boom imbued with a touch of weird fantastical elements....It's impressive how much Riedel packs into this.”
Publishers Weekly
Review
"Please Report Your Bug Here is disarming and inspired, unafraid of big questions and deep longings. Josh Riedel writes the topics of early adulthood — the search for meaning chief among them — with humor, heart, and vivid, lived-in precision. This is a book about technology that reminds me that writing is tech, too, and that, behind all technology, there are humans, only wanting to connect."
Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin
Review
"Please Report Your Bug Here is a Silicon Valley gumshoe story that's also a meditation on authenticity and connection in a world ever more mediated by technology. In this riveting and surreal debut, Josh Riedel explores the labyrinthine mysteries of Big Tech and of the human heart."
Helen Phillips, author of The Need
About the Author
Josh Riedel was the first employee at Instagram, where he worked for several years before earning his MFA from the University of Arizona. His short stories have appeared in One Story, Passages North, and Sycamore Review. Please Report Your Bug Here is his first novel. He lives in San Francisco, California.