Join authors Ashley Kalagian Blunt in conversation with James McKenzie Watson as they discuss her psychological thriller, Dark Mode.

Reagan has been happy living an offline life. She has no email, no mobile, no social media. But when women start getting murdered around her city, she can't help but notice that they all look like her. Is it paranoia or is someone watching?

A riveting psychological thriller drawn from true events, Dark Mode delves into the terrifying reality of the dark web, and the price we pay for surrendering our privacy one click at a time.

Books will be available for purchase and signing on the night provided by Berkelouw Mona Vale.

Mona Vale Library

$7.00 + booking fee. A complimentary glass of wine and nibbles on arrival.

Enquiries: 8495 5028 or libraryprograms@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au

Ashley Kalagian Blunt is the author of How to Be Australian and My Name Is Revenge, which was shortlisted for the 2019 Woollahra Digital Literary Awards and was a finalist in the 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award. Dark Mode is her third release. Her writing appears in the Sydney Morning Herald, Overland, Griffith Review, Sydney Review of Books and more. Ashley teaches creative writing and is an award-winning speaker and has appeared at Sydney Writers’ Festival, Brisbane Writers’ Festival, Story Club and more, and is a Moth StorySLAM winner. Originally from Canada, she has lived and worked in South Korea, Peru and Mexico.

James McKenzie Watson writes fiction with a focus on health and rural Australia. His novel Denizen won the 2021 Penguin Literary Prize and was published by Penguin Random House in 2022. Denizen also received a 2021 Varuna Residential Fellowship and a 2021 KSP Residential Fellowship. James has written for The Guardian, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings and the Newtown Review of Books. He has appeared at events including the Sydney Writers' Festival, Newcastle Writers Festival and BAD Crime Sydney.

Ashley & James co-host the podcast James and Ashley Stay at Home, a podcast about writing, creativity and health.