E-book exclusive special feature: This PerfectBound e-book contains “Virtualism,” an essay on consumerism in a wired time – written especially by the author to help to encourage you to buy this e-book.Ursula Van Urden arrives in the volcano-shadowed metropolis of Middle City in the wake of her sister Ivy's widely publicized suicide attempt. In an effort to understand the events leading up to her sister's breakdown, Ursula meets with Ivy's mysterious boyfriend Chas Lacouture, the owner of the powerful trendspotting firm Tomorrow, Ltd. Before she knows why or how, Ursula is working for Chas and is given the mandate to "find the future". Thus begins Ursula's odyessy into a world where she learns that at the core of every successful product lies a paradox, how surfaces can replace experience, and that schizophrenia is a metaphor for consumer culture. But as she delves deeper into the world of trendspotting (and as her institutionalized sister's fantasies grow stranger and more apocalyptic), Ursula struggles to understand why she is inexplicably drawn to a filthy, rodent-eating homeless girl living in nearby Bannister Park.