WINNER, Honorable Mention, 12th Annual Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards

The eighties. Online chat. Suicide. There's never been a coming-of-age novel like this. On ChatNet, the online hangout for teenagers, nobody uses their real names. Calvin AKA Iron Man is best friends with Gabriel AKA Dionysus, and they both fall for Brooke AKA Sister of Mercy. Dionysus kills himself and Iron Man tries to figure out what drove his friend over the edge. dionysus logged out is like A Separate Peace fast-forwarded into the information age. It's literature for geeks.

Reviews:

"dionysus logged out expertly uses the trappings of a computer age adolescence as a lens to bring the most painful human experiences into sharp focus. Deftly flowing from Star Wars, Street Fighter and Sabbath into sex, sickness and suicide, James David King tells us the truth, beautifully and painfully."

- D. B. Weiss, writer, Lucky Wander Boy, Game of Thrones

"A compelling and heart-breaking work of fiction. It renders all the desperation, emptiness and profound sexual desire of our teenage years so faithfully that the reader can't help but feel transported back, body and soul, to those awkward years....King's prose is sparse and staccato....the read is fluid, quick and impossible to put down. The characters are vivid and their portrayals strikingly honest....James David King's vast knowledge of mathematics and computer programming creates a refreshing and rare voice in the protagonist, Calvin, who sees society, nature, relationships through the Coke bottle glasses of computer programming metaphors. dionysus logged out is not just a successful debut of one of America's bravest new voices in fiction, it's a geeky hovercraft transport to the very darkest part of the soul, and then, grudgingly, gracefully, a human ascent up the mountain of that soul's redemption." 

- Pi Ware, writer/director, Solitude, The Act

"Struck a real chord for me with its focus on our inability to connect, sometimes even to those closest to us. The characters are vivid and realistic, and for those who remember this time, or want to learn more about it, Dionysus Logged Out is a must read."

- Neil S. Plakcy, writer, Mahu

"I read the whole thing in one sitting, and when I got to the end I turned back to the first page and started reading it again."

- C. Lee "Reprobus"

Read the free dionysus logged out PDF

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Comments

[Eliot]

Hey, I just wanted to thank you for putting this up. I read the book today, and it resonated with me. Reading it took me back to high school. To the alienation, loneliness, self doubt, and dead-end sexual frustration of that time, that still lingers in my life today, 5 years later.

A friend of mine also committed suicide in high school. The story feels true. You captured the emotional mess, and the uncertainty. Somehow, it's nice to hear the truth. To hear that others have felt like I have felt.

Thanks again for sharing this story for free. It's refreshing to read something so honest and raw, that feels more life-shaped than story-shaped. I hope you continue writing and sharing it. :)

[Jamie]

Thank you for reading it.

I know now that dwelling on or ruminating about a painful subject is not a good idea, but I still don't regret writing it, and I like to think finishing it helped me let go ...