Second Act: A Novel of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - Paperback

by Joe Navratil (Author)

While Bradley Joseph strategizes how to overcome his fears and social anxiety disorder that confine him to his Silicon Valley home, a bold woman he meets on a dating app conscripts him to watch the classic film Roman Holiday. There's only one problem-Bradley is the world's premier alternate reality creator and Nicole is a technology journalist with an agenda.

After launching his latest alt-reality masterpiece that pairs dead actors with live ones, Bradley uses it to write alternate scenes for Audrey Hepburn's films. He premieres his work with Nicole, who challenges Bradley to reincarnate the actress.
Bradley produces a faithful stand-in for himself and adapts his technology to travel back to 1953 San Francisco and romance pre-stardom "Audrey." He loses himself in her life and times, orchestrating Audrey to cure his phobias and ignite his love life. Technological advances allow Audrey to direct the action but Nicole's disappearance makes Bradley choose between axing the program and a classic Hollywood ending.