David Yoon grew up in Orange County, California, and now lives in Los Angeles with his wife, novelist Nicola Yoon, and their daughter. He drew the illustrations for Nicola's #1 New York Times bestseller Everything, Everything. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Frankly In Love, which was a William C. Morris Award finalist and an Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature Honor book, the YA novel Super Fake Love Song, and the adult thriller Version Zero. Before he made his living as a writer, David spent more than a dozen years working in the tech industry as an interface designer and user experience expert, a role that immersed him in all the cultural and technical workings of core online industries like advertising technology, social media, cybersecurity, and content strategy. It was during this time that he observed a paradox: while these companies believed its work was making the world a better place, the staff behind these platforms had a serious mistrust and disdain for the very things they were creating. Yoon mines this experience in VERSION ZERO, his first novel for adults, which tackles everything from social media and personal privacy to data mining, surveillance capitalism, and the responsibilities of individuals in a globalized society. Part satire, part tech thriller, this propulsive tale centers on Max, a blackballed data whiz who assembles a team of disillusioned tech workers to create chaos in the world of social media—with disastrous consequences. Yoon uses his dazzling abilities to bring this contradictory and often insidious world to life with startling prescience and ease, establishing himself as one of the most exciting and dynamic voices writing today in the tradition of Blake Crouch, Ernest Cline, and Max Barry. Version Zero is out everywhere books are sold on Tuesday, May 25th. Please consider picking it up at your local bookshop or at bookshop.org. Follow me at all socials @uncorkingastory and be sure to rate and subscribe to Uncorking a Story wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.