When my novel, The Traveler, was first published, it was called a fantasy because of its description of a world where fear dominates politics and privacy has disappeared. In How We Live Now, I describe the facts that shaped my fictional vision. We live in a society where our emails, our phone calls - even our trips to the mall - are routinely tracked and monitored. I guard my privacy with a variety of strategies. How We Live Now explains why you might want to make the same decision.