'Nasim is a young computer scientist, hoping to work on the Human
Connectome Project: a plan to map every neural connection in the human
brain. But funding for the project is cancelled and Nasim ends up
devoting her career to Zendegi, a computerised virtual world used by
millions of people. Fifteen years later, a revived Connectome Project
has published a map of the brain. Zendegi is facing fierce competition
from its rivals and Nasim decides to exploit the map to fill the virtual
world with better Proxies: the bit-players that bring its crowd scenes
to life. As controversy rages over the nature and rights of the Proxies,
a friend with terminal cancer begs Nasim to make a Proxy of him, so
some part of him will survive to help raise his orphaned son. But
Zendegi is about to become a battlefield...' (Publisher's blurb)
