Phillip R. Ford

Virtue

The story, reminiscent in tone of a Twilight Zone allegory, involves a strange woman with an odd accent who loses her husband in a graphically depicted scene of auto-erotic asphyxiation. To cope with her loss, she seeks a virtual-reality substitute (a ‘man chip’ as she calls it). This pursuit leads her into the prurient world of tech addicts who rely on ‘chip pushers.'