Search Worlds Without End

IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE!
TAKE THIS.

You are standing in a room filled with books, faced with a difficult decision. Suddenly, one with a distinctive cover catches your eye. It is a groundbreaking anthology of short stories from award-winning writers and game-industry titans who have embarked on a quest to explore what happens when video games and science fiction collide.

From text-based adventures to first-person shooters, dungeon crawlers to horror games, these twenty-six stories play with our notion of what video games can be - and what they can become - in smart and singular ways. With a foreword from Ernest Cline, bestselling author of Ready Player One,Press Start to Play includes work from: Daniel H. Wilson, Charles Yu, Hiroshi Sakurazaka, S.R. Mastrantone, Charlie Jane Anders, Holly Black, Seanan McGuire, Django Wexler, Nicole Feldringer, Chris Avellone, David Barr Kirtley,T.C. Boyle, Marc Laidlaw, Robin Wasserman, Micky Neilson, Cory Doctorow, Jessica Barber, Chris Kluwe, Marguerite K. Bennett, Rhianna Pratchett, Austin Grossman, Yoon Ha Lee, Ken Liu, Catherynne M. Valente, Andy Weir, and Hugh Howey.

Your inventory includes keys, a cell phone, and a wallet. What would you like to do?

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Foreword - Ernest Cline
• Introduction - John Joseph Adams
• God Mode - short story by Daniel H. Wilson
• NPC - short story by Charles Yu
• Respawn - short story by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (translated by Nathan Collins)
• Desert Walk - short story by S.R. Mastrantone
• Rat Catcher's Yellows - short story by Charlie Jane Anders
• 1Up - short story by Holly Black
• Survival Horror - short story by Seanan McGuire
• REAL - short story by Django Wexler
• Outliers - short story by Nicole Feldringer
• - short story by Chris Avellone
• Save Me Plz - short story by David Barr Kirtley (reprint)
• The Relive Box - novelette by T.C. Boyle (reprint)
• Roguelike - short story by Marc Laidlaw
• All of the People in Your Party Have Died - novelette by Robin Wasserman
• RECOIL! - short story by Micky Neilson
• Anda's Game - novelette by Cory Doctorow (reprint)
• Coma Kings - short story by Jessica Barber (reprint)
• Stats - short story by Marguerite K. Bennett
• Please Continue - short story by Chris Kluwe
• Creation Screen - short story by Rhianna Pratchett
• The Fresh Prince of Gamma World - short story by Austin Grossman
• Gamer's End - short story by Yoon Ha Lee
• The Clockwork Soldier - short story by Ken Liu (reprint)
• Killswitch - short story by Catherynne M. Valente (reprint)
• Twarrior - short story by Andy Weir
• Select Character - short story by Hugh Howey

Neither a utopia nor a dystopia, it's still a world of nations at strife, as dominated by corporations as ever. Technology hasn't made humans nearly obsolete, but rather bettered us, if you will, attaching to our bodies and even brains as enhancements--for those who can afford it.

Comics artist Shirow Masamune's vision of our coming society, animated to global acclaim and finally the basis of a major Hollywood production, branches out in five original stories by some of the most beloved SF novelists working in Japan today. A standalone collection, it requires no familiarity with the franchise to be enjoyed but is indispensable for fans for its thoughtful exploration of the series' implications.

While reality may never become virtual, it will be increasingly networked and augmented. Navigate herein age-old questions about man that will return, not so ironically, in full force: What is the self? Is there such a thing as the soul?

Count Alandre Sessine VII has already died seven times. He has only one life left - one last chance to catch his killer. His only clues point to a conspiracy beyond his own murder. For a catastrophe is fast approaching the earth from which there is no escape - until a loophole through apocalypse is discovered. And a chosen few will do anything to keep it a secret.

Someone has betrayed Sessine, killed him before he could uncover the truth. Now he has three days before his funeral to live the way men used to live: restricted to one life where one mistake could be his last. Suddenly he finds himself an outlaw, a fugitive, a desperado. And his only hope of survival is finding others like himself. Others who hold a piece of the puzzle to an enigmatic weapon of salvation and chaos...

First there was the Setback.

Then came the Clawback.

Now we thrive.

Rubi Whiting is a member of the Bounceback Generation. The first to be raised free of the troubles of the late twenty-first century. Now she works as a public defender to help troubled individuals with anti-social behavior. That's how she met Luciano Pox.

Luce is a firebrand and has made a name for himself as a naysayer. But there's more to him than being a lightning rod for controversy. Rubi has to find out why the governments of the world want to bring Luce into custody, and why Luce is hell bent on stopping the recovery of the planet.

This is a collection of speculative fiction short stories by Elizabeth Bonesteel published between 2014 and 2019.

Table of Contents:

• "About Time" (2018) - A haunted clock brings together a shy computer programmer and a struggling artist.
• "Factory Reset" (2019) - A routine terraformer salvage job proves more complicated than anticipated.
• "Overlay" [Better Worlds] (2019) - A father must rescue his teenaged son from a clandestine mission gone wrong. (video based on this story)
• "Single Point of Failure" (2018) - An epidemic of accidents on Mercury Station is not what it seems.
• "Thinking Inside the Box" (2018) - A prisoner hopes to earn his freedom working with an alien artifact that can tell the future.
• "Friends Like These" (2014) - Sometimes you need a little help disposing of the corpse in your front yard.
• "Govi" [Central Corps] (2015) - Elena undertakes a hazardous rescue in a toxic alien ocean. (This story takes place about 2 weeks before Breach of Containment and contains mild spoilers for earlier books.)

Download this collection for free from the author's website.

A tale of love, murder and revenge that crosses the boundaries between the real world and a virtual reality.

He Was The Most Dangerous Fugitive Alive, But He Didn't Exist!

Nickie Haflinger had lived a score of lifetimes...but technically he didn't exist. He was a fugitive from Tarnover, the high-powered government think tank that had educated him. First he had broken his identity code -- then he escaped.

Now he had to find a way to restore sanity and personal freedom to the computerized masses and to save a world tottering on the brink of disaster.

He didn't care how he did it...but the government did. That's when his Tarnover teachers got him back in their labs...and Nickie Haflinger was set up for a whole new education!

With brain-suckers and body-snatchers around, not even your own identity is safe. When Marva, a Method actress, wakes up in a hologram pool in a club with new clothes, lots of money and a memory of murder, she knows something is wrong.

Jorge Luis Borges declared The Invention of Morel a masterpiece of plotting, comparable to The Turn of the Screw and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Set on a mysterious island, Bioy's novella is a story of suspense and exploration, as well as a wonderfully unlikely romance, in which every detail is at once crystal clear and deeply mysterious.

Inspired by Bioy Casares's fascination with the movie star Louise Brooks, The Invention of Morel has gone on to live a secret life of its own. Greatly admired by Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, and Octavio Paz, the novella helped to usher in Latin American fiction's now famous postwar boom. As the model for Alain Resnais and Alain Robbe-Grillet's Last Year in Marienbad, it also changed the history of film.

The Warp is humanity's greatest entertainment creation since the invention of the television. Able to do anything and everything inside The Warp, people flocked to the various games and worlds to play: while never leaving the comfort of their home. Tori Adams is a teen-aged girl who has a passion for The Warp. As she enters and plays, she is suddenly trapped inside the most difficult game within The Warp with thousands of others, unable to log off.

Terrorists demanding money are threatening to kill every single person trapped within The Warp. In a race against time, Tori and her friends within The Warp fight through countless missions and events in order to do something that nobody had ever done: beat Crisis. For beating Crisis is the only way to save everyone being held hostage inside.

In the virtual future, you must organize to survive

At any hour of the day or night, millions of people around the globe are engrossed in multiplayer online games, questing and battling to win virtual "gold," jewels, and precious artifacts. Meanwhile, others seek to exploit this vast shadow economy, running electronic sweatshops in the world's poorest countries, where countless "gold farmers," bound to their work by abusive contracts and physical threats, harvest virtual treasure for their employers to sell to First World gamers who are willing to spend real money to skip straight to higher-level gameplay.

Mala is a brilliant 15-year-old from rural India whose leadership skills in virtual combat have earned her the title of "General Robotwalla." In Shenzen, heart of China's industrial boom, Matthew is defying his former bosses to build his own successful gold-farming team. Leonard, who calls himself Wei-Dong, lives in Southern California, but spends his nights fighting virtual battles alongside his buddies in Asia, a world away. All of these young people, and more, will become entangled with the mysterious young woman called Big Sister Nor, who will use her experience, her knowledge of history, and her connections with real-world organizers to build them into a movement that can challenge the status quo.

The ruthless forces arrayed against them are willing to use any means to protect their power-including blackmail, extortion, infiltration, violence, and even murder. To survive, Big Sister's people must out-think the system. This will lead them to devise a plan to crash the economy of every virtual world at once-a Ponzi scheme combined with a brilliant hack that ends up being the biggest, funnest game of all.

Imbued with the same lively, subversive spirit and thrilling storytelling that made LITTLE BROTHER an international sensation, FOR THE WIN is a prophetic and inspiring call-to-arms for a new generation.

Download this book for free from the author's website.

The boldest and most wildly speculative writer of our time, Greg Egan has envisioned a quantum Brave New World -- a masterful saga of a time when not only human life, but fleshly reality itself, will be nothing but a memory...

It is the thirtieth century.The "world" has evolved into a vast network of probes, satellites, and servers knitting the solar system into one scape from the outer planets to the sun. Humanity, too, has reconfigured itself. Most people have chosen immortality, joining the polises to become conscious software. Others have opted for disposable, renewable robotic bodies that remain in contact with the physical world. A few holdouts stubbornly remain fleshers struggling to shape an antiquated existence in the muck and jungle of Earth.

And then there is the Orphan, a genderless digital being grown from a mind seed.

When an unforeseen disaster ravages the fleshers, it awakens the polises to the possibility of their own extinction from bizarre astrophysical processes that seemingly violate fundamental laws of nature. It is up to the Orphan and a group of refugees to find the knowledge that will save them all--a search that will lead them on a quantum adventure to a higher dimension beyond the macrocosmos....

Ren "Jackal" Segura is a Hope -- a special child, a powerful symbol of a new world government destined for greatness. But two months before she is to assume the role she has been preparing for her entire life, Jackal discovers that everything she believes, everything she is, is a lie. Convicted of a terrible crime, she agrees to participate in a "rehabilitation" experiment: While her body lies comatose for eight months, a computer will convince her mind that she is spending eight long years in solitary confinement. But Jackal's history as a Hope has given her strengths and skills other prisoners lack -- powers she will need to endure the tormenting loneliness, to discover the truth about her betrayal, and to rediscover her life, her love, and her soul in a strange place of shattered hopes and new beginnings called Solitaire.

What if you could fix the worst parts of yourself by confronting your worst fears?

Dr. Jennifer Webb has invented proprietary virtual reality technology that purports to heal psychological wounds by running clients through scenarios straight out of horror movies and nightmares. In a carefully controlled environment, with a medical cocktail running through their veins, sisters might develop a bond they've been missing their whole lives -- while running from the bogeyman through a simulated forest. But... can real change come so easily?

Esther Hoffman doubts it. Esther has spent her entire journalism career debunking pseudoscience, after phony regression therapy ruined her father's life. She's determined to unearth the truth about Dr. Webb's budding company. Dr. Webb's willing to let her, of course, for reasons of her own. What better advertisement could she get than that of a convinced skeptic? But Esther's not the only one curious about how this technology works. Enter real-world threats just as frightening as those created in the lab. Dr. Webb and Esther are at odds, but they may also be each other's only hope of survival.

About to depart on his first vacation in years, Edward Wozny, a hotshot young investment banker, is sent to help one of his firm's most important and mysterious clients. His task is to search their library stacks for a precious medieval codex, a treasure kept sealed away for many years and for many reasons. Enlisting the help of passionate medievalist Margaret Napier, Edward is determined to solve the mystery of the codex-to understand its significance to his wealthy clients, and to decipher the seeming parallels between the legend of the codex and an obsessive role-playing computer game that has absorbed him in the dark hours of the night.

The chilling resolution brings together the medieval and the modern aspects of the plot in a twist worthy of earning comparisons to novels by William Gibson and Dan Brown, not to mention those by A. S. Byatt and Umberto Eco. Lev Grossman's Codex is a thriller of the highest order.

Near-future Britain is not just a nation under surveillance but one built on it: a radical experiment in personal transparency and ambient direct democracy. Every action is seen, every word is recorded.

Diana Hunter is a refusenik, a has-been cult novelist who lives in a house with its own Faraday cage: no electronic signals can enter or leave. She runs a lending library and conducts business by barter. She is off the grid in a society where the grid is everything. Denounced, arrested and interrogated by a machine that reads your life history from your brain, she dies in custody.

Mielikki Neith is the investigator charged with discovering how this tragedy occurred. Neith is Hunter's opposite. She is a woman in her prime, a stalwart advocate of the System. It is the most democratic of governments, and Neith will protect it with her life.

When Neith opens the record of the interrogation, she finds not Hunter's mind but four others, none of which can possibly be there: the banker Constantine Kyriakos, pursued by a ghostly shark that eats corporations; the alchemist Athenais Karthagonensis, jilted lover of St Augustine of Hippo and mother to his dead son, kidnapped and required to perform a miracle; Berihun Bekele, artist and grandfather, who must escape an arson fire by walking through walls--if only he can remember how; and Gnomon, a sociopathic human intelligence from a distant future, falling backwards in time to conduct four assassinations.

Aided--or perhaps opposed--by the pale and paradoxical Regno Lönnrot, Neith must work her way through the puzzles of her case and find the meaning of these impossible lives. Hunter has left her a message, but is it one she should heed, or a lie to lead her into catastrophe? And as the stories combine and the secrets and encryptions of Gnomon are revealed, the question becomes the most fundamental of all: who will live, and who will die?

Sir Mary de Courcy is the current knightly Champion of the Winchester Lists - a world renowned player in the VR game of Chivalry. As Mary Craven, she had been in graduate school working for her MBA when she won the grand prize in the school raffle - a surgical plug implant. Once hardwired into the system, Mary discovered Chivalry, and whatever plans she had for a career in business vanished like smoke. Now she made her living in the Lists, fighting joust after joust, earning the monetary and virtual rewards which came with winning.

But when Mary defeated the mysterious Grey Knight of the Sea in single combat, and won the virtual manor of St. Chad's on Wye, she found out that Chivalry was not all fun and games. For St. Chad's was far more than just a manor house, and someone was willing to kill Mary and anyone around her to recover it...

Suzu, a seventeen-year-old high school student living in rural Kochi Prefecture, has kept the world at arm's length ever since her mother's death years ago. But at a friend's urging, she decides to dip her toes into another world: U, the largest online community in history. As her avatar, Belle, Suzu reveals her hidden singing talent and instantly becomes a global internet sensation, leading her to cross paths with a mysterious beast known as the Dragon. Who is this ferocious yet lonely stranger, and what will come of their fateful encounter...?

The new novel from Simon Ings is a story that balances on the knife blade of a new technology. Augmented Reality uses computing power to overlay a digital imagined reality over the real world. Whether it be adverts or imagined buildings and imagined people with Augmented Reality the world is no longer as it appears to you, it is as it is imagined by someone else. Ings takes the satire and mordant satirical view of J.G. Ballard and propels it into the 21st century. Two friends are working at the cutting edge of this technology and when they are offered backing to take the idea and make it into the next global entertainment they realise that wolves hunt in this imagined world. And the wolves might be them. A story about technology becomes a personal quest into a changed world and the pursuit of a secret from the past. A secret about a missing mother, a secret that could hide a murder. This is no dry analysis of how a technology might change us, it is a terrifying thriller, a picture of a dark tomorrow that is just around the corner.

This stunning first novel from Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist Ted Kosmatka is a riveting tale of science cut loose from ethics. Set in an amoral future where genetically engineered monstrosities fight each other to the death in an Olympic event, The Games envisions a harrowing world that may arrive sooner than you think.

Silas Williams is the brilliant geneticist in charge of preparing the U.S. entry into the Olympic Gladiator competition, an internationally sanctioned bloodsport with only one rule: no human DNA is permitted in the design of the entrants. Silas lives and breathes genetics; his designs have led the United States to the gold in every previous event. But the other countries are catching up. Now, desperate for an edge in the upcoming Games, Silas's boss engages an experimental supercomputer to design the genetic code for a gladiator that cannot be beaten.

The result is a highly specialized killing machine, its genome never before seen on earth. Not even Silas, with all his genius and experience, can understand the horror he had a hand in making. And no one, he fears, can anticipate the consequences of entrusting the act of creation to a computer's cold logic.

Now Silas races to understand what the computer has wrought, aided by a beautiful xenobiologist, Vidonia João. Yet as the fast-growing gladiator demonstrates preternatural strength, speed, and-most disquietingly-intelligence, Silas and Vidonia find their scientific curiosity giving way to a most unexpected emotion: sheer terror.

Hugo- and Nebula-nominated Novella

More than life will be lost, if homicide detective Scott Huang and his intriguing AI partner, Metta, are unable to resolve the thorny murder mystery that presents itself in this SF noir tale.

Read this story online for free at the author's website.

Virtual reality. Murder. Werewolves. And teen girls! In a future where nothing is as it seems, can old legends come true? In the near future, humans will communicate almost exclusively through monitors, making real interaction a rarified and weak occurance for those living in a near totalitarian society. In this new world of communication, children are only allowed to interact personally on school grounds. So when a serial killer starts slaughtering junior high children the communication routes go under futher surveillance. And despite all the safeguards put in place to avoid physical interaction, the killer's latest victim turns out to have been in contact with three young girls: Mio Tsuzki, a certified prodigy; Hatsuki Matsuno, a quiet but opinionated classmate; and Ayumi Kono, her best friend. And as the girls get caught up in trying to quell curiosity under such terrorist scrutiny, Hatsuki learns that there is much more than meets the eye of their monitored communications.

It's always raining in the City. And it always seems to be Night as well.

Separated from his wife, John Murdoch awakens alone in a strange hotel to learn he is wanted for a series of brutal killings but he can't remember if he did or didn't commit these murders.

Is John Murdoch mentally disturbed, or is he is the only salvation from the violent killings that are happening? In his search for the answers, John Murdock will uncover an iceberg of secrets which will shatter his world.

Who would we be if we had made different choices? Told that secret, left that relationship, written that book? We all wonder--the passengers of Air France 006 will find out.

In their own way, they were all living double lives when they boarded the plane:
Blake, a respectable family man who works as a contract killer.
Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star who uses his womanizing image to hide that he's gay.
Joanna, a Black American lawyer pressured to play the good old boys' game to succeed with her Big Pharma client.
Victor Miesel, a critically acclaimed yet largely obscure writer suddenly on the precipice of global fame.

About to start their descent to JFK, they hit a shockingly violent patch of turbulence, emerging on the other side to a reality both perfectly familiar and utterly strange. As it charts the fallout of this logic-defying event, The Anomaly takes us on a journey from Lagos and Mumbai to the White House and a top-secret hangar.

In our world, called the Verite, he is a Scottish laird, an engineer, and a master of virtual reality design. In the computer-generated universe of Virtu, created by the crash of the World Net, he is a living legend. Scientist and poet with a warrior's soul, Donnerjack strides like a giant across the virtual landscape he helped to shape. And now he has bargained with Death himself for the return of love.

The Lord of Entropy claimed Ayradyss, Donnerjack's beloved dark-haired lady of Virtu, with no warning, leaving a hole in the Engineer's heart. But Death offered to return her to him for a price: a palace of bones...and their first-born child. Since offspring have never before resulted from any union of the two worlds, Donnerjack accepts Death's conditions--and leads his reborn lover far from the detritus and perpetual twilight of Deep Fields to his ancestral Scottish lands, hoping to build a sanctuary and a self for Ayradyss in the first world.

But there is no escaping, because cataclysmic change is taking place in Virtu. A bizarre new religion is sweeping through this ever-shifting universe where the homely can be virtually beautiful, the lame can walk and the blind can see. Now it's threatening to spill over into Verite. And its credo is a call for a different kind of order. For all the ancient myths still occupy Virtu. And the Great Gods on Mt. Meru are amassing great armies in anticipation of the time when a vast computer system attempts to take over the reality that constructed it.

There is no such place as Krassnia. Lucy Stone should know - she was born there.

In that tiny, troubled region of the former Soviet Union, revolution is brewing. Its organisers need a safe place to meet, and where better than the virtual spaces of an online game? Lucy, who works for a start-up games company in Edinburgh, has a project that almost seems made for the job: a game inspired by The Krassniad, an epic folk tale concocted by Lucy's mother Amanda, who studied there in the 1980s. Lucy knows Amanda is a spook. She knows her great-grandmother Eugenie also visited the country in the '30s, and met the man who originally collected Krassnian folklore, and who perished in Stalin's terror.

As Lucy digs up details about her birthplace to slot into the game, she finds the open secrets of her family's past, the darker secrets of Krassnia's past - and hints about the crucial role she is destined to play in The Restoration Game...

The original book publication of Judgement Night was issued by Gnome Press, which included four shorter works in addition to the novel. Subsequent publications of Judgement Night did not always include these shorter works.

Table of Contents:

• Judgment Night - (1952) - novel
• Paradise Street - (1950) - novella
• Promised Land - (1950) - novelette
• The Code - (1945) - novelette
• Heir Apparent - (1950) - novelette

In the aftermath of his mentor's death, grad student Adler is left to piece together and clean up the project she left behind: an adaptive and increasingly malevolent artificial intelligence, kept locked in a virtual "box" that's no longer quite enough to keep him in check.

As she tries to manage the AI and continue Dr. Kent's research, Adler soon discovers her sociopathic creation is determined to escape his enclosure to wreak havoc on the outside world.

Britain, the not-too-distant future.

Idir is sitting the British Citizenship Test.

He wants his family to belong.

Twenty-five questions to determine their fate. Twenty-five chances to impress.

When the test takes an unexpected and tragic turn, Idir is handed the power of life and death.

How do you value a life when all you have is multiple choice?

In the Before, when the government didn't prohibit large public gatherings, Luce Cannon was on top of the world. One of her songs had just taken off and she was on her way to becoming a star. Now, in the After, terror attacks and deadly viruses have led the government to ban concerts, and Luce's connection to the world--her music, her purpose--is closed off forever. She does what she has to do: she performs in illegal concerts to a small but passionate community, always evading the law.

Rosemary Laws barely remembers the Before times. She spends her days in Hoodspace, helping customers order all of their goods online for drone delivery--no physical contact with humans needed. By lucky chance, she finds a new job and a new calling: discover amazing musicians and bring their concerts to everyone via virtual reality. The only catch is that she'll have to do something she's never done before and go out in public. Find the illegal concerts and bring musicians into the limelight they deserve. But when she sees how the world could actually be, that won't be enough.

The western democracies are disintegrating, scarred by violence and gripped with fear of terrorist attacks. Trying to find solutions to today's problems, Julia Stretton and other specialists at the Wessex Project have created a virtual reality projection of a utopian future where all current issues have been resolved - how did they achieve it? But on entering Wessex, they lose all memory of their 'real' lives outside, and as they move back and forth the lines between dream and reality become obscured. When Julia's ex-lover, the sadistic Paul Mason, joins the project, he has a sinister plan to take the Wessex projection to a new and terrifying level...

British-born Teresa Simons returns to England after the death of her husband, an FBI agent, who was killed by an out-of-control gunman while on assignment in Texas. A shocking coincidence has drawn her to the run-down south coast town of Bulverton, where a gunman's massacre has haunting similarities to the murders in Texas. Desperate to unravel the mystery, Teresa turns to the virtual reality world of Extreme Experience, ExEx, now commercially available since she trained on it in the US. The best and worst of human experience can be found in ExEx, and in the extremes of violence Teresa finds that past and present combine ...

John Chu is a "sherpa"--a paid guide to online role-playing games like the popular Call to Wizardry. For a fee, he and his crew will provide you with a top-flight character equipped with the best weapons and armor, and take you dragon-slaying in the Realms of Asgarth, hunting rogue starships in the Alpha Sector, or battling hordes of undead in the zombie apocalypse.

Chu's new client, the pseudonymous Mr. Jones, claims to be a "wealthy, famous person" with powerful enemies, and he's offering a ridiculous amount of money for a comprehensive tour of the world of virtual-reality gaming. For Chu, this is a dream assignment, but as the tour gets underway, he begins to suspect that Mr. Jones is really North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, whose interest in VR gaming has more to do with power than entertainment. As if that weren't enough to deal with, Chu also has to worry about "Ms. Pang," who may or may not be an agent of the People's Republic of China, and his angry ex-girlfriend, Darla Jean Covington, who isn't the type to let an international intrigue get in the way of her own plans for revenge.

What begins as a whirlwind online adventure soon spills over into the real world. Now Chu must use every trick and resource at his disposal to stay one step ahead--because in real life, there is no reset button.

When the UN decides to test the radical new technology Air, Mae is boiling laundry and chatting with elderly Mrs Tung. The massive surge of Air energy swamps them, and when the test is finished, Mrs Tung is dead, and Mae has absorbed her 90 years of memories. Rocked by the unexpected deaths and disorientation, the UN delays fully implementing Air, but Mae sees at once that her way of life is ending. Half-mad, struggling with information overload, the resentment of much of the village, and a complex family situation, she works fiercely to learn what she needs to ride the tiger of change.

If you could re-create a day, what dark secrets would you uncover?

From New York Times #1 bestselling author Brandon Sanderson comes a detective thriller in a police beat like no other. Anthony Davis and his partner Chaz are the only real people in a city of 20 million, sent there by court order to find out what happened in the real world 10 days ago so that hidden evidence can be brought to light and located in the real city today.

Within the re-created Snapshot of May 1st, Davis and Chaz are the ultimate authorities. Flashing their badges will get them past any obstruction and overrule any civil right of the dupes around them. But the crimes the detectives are sent to investigate seem like drudgery--until they stumble upon the grisly results of a mass killing that the precinct headquarters orders them not to investigate. That's one order they have to refuse.

The hunt is on. And though the dupes in the replica city have no future once the Snapshot is turned off, that doesn't mean that both Davis and Chaz will walk out of it alive tonight.

In 2059, two vastly different groups of people undergo cryonic suspension. While their bodies are frozen, their minds, still active and awake, are uploaded into a massive quantum computer.

The first group are all astronauts, about to leave Earth on a one-way interstellar colonization mission. The second group consists of convicted murderers and volunteers who elect to serve their sentences in a virtual-reality prison.

But while both groups are suspended, a global cataclysm devastates most of the Earth, and their cryosleep is extended by more than 500 years.

Governed by two political rulers, the planet Burning Bright is the location of the biggest virtual reality game in the universe. Quinn Lioe is tangled in a web of love and suspense when she becomes determined to play at the center of the virtual reality world and gets stuck in the war between the two empires. This science fiction adventure is one of Scott's best and the complex futuristic world is unforgettable.

A star-flung empire the prize - in a deadly war of succession.

In The Shapes of Their Hearts, a computer tape of the brain of a religious prophet has been allowed to merge with an AI; the result is both a religious icon on the planet Idun and a powerful terrorist. Anton Tso must come up with a way to stop the terrorism without killing God.

Only once in a great while does a writer come along who defies comparison--a writer so original he redefines the way we look at the world. Neal Stephenson is such a writer and Snow Crash is such a novel, weaving virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility to bring us the gigathriller of the information age.

In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CosaNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about Infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous...you'll recognize it immediately.

When Robin wakes up in a clinic with most of his memories missing, it doesn't take him long to discover that someone's trying to kill him. It's the twenty-seventh century, when interstellar travel is by teleport gate and conflicts are fought by network worms that censor refugees' personalities-including Robin's earlier self.

On the run from unknown enemies, he volunteers to participate in a unique experimental polity, the Glasshouse, constructed to simulate a preaccelerated culture. Participants are assigned anonymized identities: it looks like the ideal hiding place for a posthuman on the run. But in this escape-proof environment, Robin will undergo an even more radical change, placing him at the mercy of the experimenters-and at the mercy of his own unbalanced psyche.

In a mall like any other, two gangs of teenaged girls are about to embark on an orgy of shopping and designer violence. In the battleground of cool, they'll fight for their lives to prove that "image is everything." And in another place, within a sealed room, a lone man fights an equally desperate war against a new virus and the scientists who have developed it. If anyone gets out alive, it will be a small miracle.

In a posthuman virtual world sealed off from the ruins of Earth, the idyll is shattered by an arachnid invasion.

Designed in imitation of a harbor town in southern Europe, the Realm of Summer is just one of the zones within the virtual resort known as the Costa del Número. It has been more than a thousand years since human guests stopped coming to the Realm, leaving the AIs alone in their endless summer. But now all that has come to a sudden end, as an army of mysterious Spiders begin reducing the town to nothing. As night falls, the few remaining AIs prepare for their final, hopeless battle... War between the virtual and the real begins in book one of the Angel of the Ruins series.

Hugo Award winning novella.

In a near future where wireless mind links and wearable computers blur the line between artificial reality and "real" reality, it's final exam time at San Diego's Fairmont Junior High. Juan Orozco and his friends have a killer idea for their off-line project. But can a bunch of 13-year-olds really figure out the secret of what's going on at Torrey Pines Park?

The story originally appeared in the collection The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge (2001). It can also be found in the anthology The Hard SF Renaissance (2002), edtied by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

Four time Hugo Award winner Vernor Vinge has taken readers to the depths of space and into the far future in his bestselling novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. Now, he has written a science-fiction thriller set in a place and time as exciting and strange as any far-future world: San Diego, California, 2025.

Robert Gu is a recovering Alzheimer's patient. The world that he remembers was much as we know it today. Now, as he regains his faculties through a cure developed during the years of his near-fatal decline, he discovers that the world has changed and so has his place in it. He was a world-renowned poet. Now he is seventy-five years old, though by a medical miracle he looks much younger, and he's starting over, for the first time unsure of his poetic gifts . Living with his son's family, he has no choice but to learn how to cope with a new information age in which the virtual and the real are a seamless continuum, layers of reality built on digital views seen by a single person or millions, depending on your choice. But the consensus reality of the digital world is available only if, like his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Miri, you know how to wear your wireless access-through nodes designed into smart clothes-and to see the digital context-through smart contact lenses.

With knowledge comes risk. When Robert begins to re-train at Fairmont High, learning with other older people what is second nature to Miri and other teens at school, he unwittingly becomes part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to use technology as a tool for world domination.

In a world where every computer chip has Homeland Security built-in, this conspiracy is something that baffles even the most sophisticated security analysts, including Robert's son and daughter-in law, two top people in the U.S. military. And even Miri, in her attempts to protect her grandfather, may be entangled in the plot.

As Robert becomes more deeply involved in conspiracy, he is shocked to learn of a radical change planned for the UCSD Geisel Library; all the books there, and worldwide, would cease to physically exist. He and his fellow re-trainees feel compelled to join protests against the change. With forces around the world converging on San Diego, both the conspiracy and the protest climax in a spectacular moment as unique and satisfying as it is unexpected. This is science fiction at its very best, by a master storyteller at his peak.

Hugo and Locus Award winning and Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, October 2003. The story can also be found in the anthologies Science Fiction: The Best of 2003, edited by Karen Haber and Jonathan Strahan, The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-First Annual Collection (2004), edited by Gardner Dozois and Digital Rapture: The Singularity Anthology (2012), edited by John Kessel and James Patrick Kelly.

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in the anthology Binary Star No. 5 (1981). It can also be found in the anthologies Visions of Wonder (1996), edited by David G. Hartwell and Milton T. Wolf and True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier (2001) edited by James Frenkel. It was published as a sepperate novella in 1984 and is included in the collection True Names... and Other Dangers (1987).

Deathhunter opens with a rapidly and often wittily sketched utopia, containing the expected hints of something rotten. The Good Life has resulted from the philosophy of the good death: the creed is that after death there's nothing, that you vanish like a turned-off TV picture, that the proper end of life is calm acceptance of oblivion ("you should go gently into that good night"). Psychiatrists have become "death guides" leading the aged and sick into this approved frame of mind -- without fear, without hope -- before voluntary euthanasia. It is trumpeted that with fear of death abolished, war and other evils have vanished too; at the same time it's quietly made plain that little things like poetry and the creative arts in general have likewise bitten the dust. Even scientific research into the possibility of an afterlife is taboo, since the findings might shake the wobbly dogmas of the Houses of Death....

In a future dominated by omnipresent surveillance, why are so many powerful people determined to wipe a poignant gig by a faded rock star from the annals of history? What are they so afraid of?

When Rhian is hired to write the memoirs of Elodie Eagles, former singer with politically charged electro-rock band The HitMEBritneys, she has no idea of the dangerous path she is treading, nor the implications of her discoveries, which may well alter the course of human history...

At Mercy General Hospital, Dr. Joanna Lander will soon be paged -- not to save a life, but to interview a patient just back from the dead. A psychologist specializing in near-death experiences, Joanna has spent two years recording the experiences of those who have been declared clinically dead and lived to tell about it.

It's research on the fringes of ordinary science, but Joanna is about to get a boost from an unexpected quarter. A new doctor has arrived at Mercy General, one with the power to give Joanna the chance to get as close to death as anyone can.

A brilliant young neurologist, Dr. Richard Wright, has come up with a way to manufacture the near-death experience using a psychoactive drug. Dr. Wright is convinced that the NDE is a survival mechanism and that if only doctors understood how it worked, they could someday delay the dying process, or maybe even reverse it. He can use the expertise of a psychologist of Joanna Lander's standing to lend credibility to his study.

But he soon needs Joanna for more than just her reputation. When his key volunteer suddenly drops out of the study, Joanna finds herself offering to become Richard's next subject. After all, who better than she, a trained psychologist, to document the experience?

Her first NDE is as fascinating as she imagined it would be -- so astounding that she knows she must go back, if only to find out why this place is so hauntingly familiar. But each time Joanna goes under, her sense of dread begins to grow, because part of her already knows why the experience is so familiar, and why she has every reason to be afraid....

In 1912, history was changed by the Miracle, when the old world of Europe was replaced by Darwinia, a strange land of nightmarish jungle and antediluvian monsters. To some, the Miracle was an act of divine retribution; to others, it is an opportunity to carve out a new empire.

Leaving an America now ruled by religious fundamentalists, young Guilford Law travels to Darwinia on a mission of discovery that will take him further than he can possibly imagine... to a shattering revelation about mankinds destiny in the universe.

Prepare for a full dive!

Even in the future, all the advances and innovation in the world can't change the dynamics of the school playground. And for Haruyuki Arita, a fat kid in junior high, that means he's destined to always be at the bottom of the food chain, prime pickings for the school bullies. But when he is approached by Kuroyukihime, a beautiful and aloof upperclassman, Haruyuki's life is turned on its head as he dives into Brain Burst, a mysterious computer program, and the Accelerated World with her help. It's in the Accel World that Haruyuki casts off his depressing reality and takes hold of the chance to become a Burst Linker, a knight to protect his princess!

Since meeting Kuroyukihime, Haruyuki has managed to grow up a bit. But suddenly this mature Haruyuki is confronted by Tomoko, an elementary school girl he's never met before--who calls him "big brother"?! When Kuroyukihime sees the two of them flirting, the look she gives Haruyuki is like a cold knife stabbing him in the gut! Meanwhile, in the Accelerated World, something very mysterious is taking place...

A cursed piece of Enhanced Armament called the Armor of Catastrophe is making the rounds, polluting the minds of the duel avatars that don it and causing those avatars to attack at random with no regard for friend or foe. Only Silver Crow, the sole duel avatar with the power of flight, can apprehend the relic. Is Haruyuki up to the challenge on this mission to subjugate the Armor?!

Since meeting Kuroyukihime, the most beautiful girl in school, Haruyuki has grown up into a magnificent knight, fat and bullied though he might be. As the season turns to spring, a strange new student appears before Haruyuki and his friends, now in eighth grade. This mysterious seventh grader has mastered the art of using Brain Burst in everyday life, despite being curiously absent from the duel-matching list. With Kuroyukihime away on a field trip for the ninth grade class, this new member of the student body, in the guise of a warped duel avatar called Dusk Taker, steals "something precious" from Haruyuki with overwhelming force. Cast once again to the bottom rungs of the school-hierarchy ladder, Haruyuki is driven into a corner, and his only course of action is--?!

Prepare for a full dive!

Seiji Nomi is a mysterious new student whose skillful use of Brain Burst abilities in the real world has boosted him to astonishing heights of achievement (not to mention astonishing heights of jerkitude). When Haruyuki's wings are stolen by Seiji's cunning and ability, Haruyuki suffers a crushing defeat. Stripped of his greatest ability, will Haruyuki ever be able to rise again...?

Seiji Nomi's scheming from his position atop the school social hierarchy has ceased. Sky Raker has returned to the Accelerated World, and upon joining Nega Nebulus, he and Kuroyukihime have become a force to be reckoned with. But one day, Haruyuki hears the news that the social camera network has been expanded to include the Hermes Cord space elevator, and he realizes what the next stage of the game will be: space. Upon arriving, he gets help from a mysterious operator in taking on the biggest mission in the history of Brain Burst! Plus, Kuroyukihime and Haruyuki have a chance to experience their first overnight event--except that Sky Raker and Fuko end up crashing it!

The silver wings responsible for the rise of Nega Nebulus, the legion led by Kuroyukihime, are weakening! During the battle with the mysterious Acceleration Research Society, Haruyuki sustained corrosion damage from the revived Chrome Disaster, and he has still been unable to escape its effects. The Seven Kings of Pure Color take this very seriously, and soon they hand down their judgement: purification. Now Haruyuki is faced with a choice--undergo the grueling purification process, or have a bounty on his head and risk being cast out of the Accelerated World altogether!

In order to cleanse Silver Crow (aka Haruyuki), Kuroyukihime and the rest of Nega Nebulus launch an operation to rescue Ardor Maiden. In the midst of this dangerous mission, Silver Crow manages to make contact with Ardor Maiden, but in doing so, he invades the forbidden territory of the Imperial Palace. There he has a vision of Chrome Falcon and Saffron Blossom--but what do they have to do with Haruyuki?!

Haruyuki's desperate battle with his friend Takumu has taken him to the brink, and he finally activates the Destiny, a purified version of the notorious Armor of Catastrophe. It's light versus dark as their fierce fight continues, and the stakes couldn't be higher. If Haruyuki can't rid his friend of the sinister ISS kit that's infected him, Takumu could be lost to the darkness forever. And he just might take Haruyuki with him...

"I will never forgive you. I will kill you. I will continue to kill you until all your Burst Points are gone and you vanish from the accelerated world."

Having turned into Chrome Disaster once more, Haruyuki slaughters with the force of a vengeful god the avatars who made Ash Roller suffer. And then he fuses completely with the Armor of Catastrophe, down to his deepest depths. Silver Crow soars above the accelerated world, seeking out enemies to destroy. For his next target, he turns the spearhead of his hatred toward the creators of the ISS kit, the Acceleration Research Society.

A berserker no one can control. Before this raging figure, a long avatar stands to block his way. His name: Green Grandé. The absolute defense of the Green King, bearer of the most powerful shield, the Strife, collides fiercely with the madness of the cursed avatar! The conclusion to the Armor of Catastrophe arc!

"The Sound of Water on a Distant Day"

2046. Haruyuki, a.k.a Silver Crow, member of the reborn Nega Nebulus, makes a certain blunder and sees a sudden, precipitous drop in Burst Points. Given that he is backed up against the wall, Takumu suggests he hire an Accelerated World "bouncer."

Spring 2047. Haruyuki is plunged into an unprecedented crisis due to the machinations of new student Seiji Nomi. At the same time in Okinawa on a school trip, Kuroyukihime is set up for a "duel" by a strange Burst Linker.

The Acceleration Research Society, a mysterious organization maneuvering in secret, makes their headquarters at the top of Tokyo Midtown Tower, where the Archangel Metatron is enshrined. This completely invincible Legend-class Enemy guards the Society from all would-be attackers, and so the Seven Kings meet in order to devise some means to defeat the Enemy and the Acceleration Research Society along with it.

The secret plan they come up with necessitates that Silver Crow gain a new ability, Theoretical Mirror.

Although he's been ordered to obtain this ability--which can withstand even the instant death of Metatron's ultimate laser--abilities require action to trigger their manifestation, in contrast with the way Incarnate techniques are generated through the imagination. Thus, Haruyuki's powerful imagination won't help him this time!

While Haruyuki is stumped at how to even begin this difficult task, Ardor Maiden (a.k.a. Utai Shinomiya) begins relating a sad past...

A new hotshot Burst Linker appears, taking Silver Crow down. Haruyuki, still struggling to obtain the Theoretical Mirror ability, sees Wolfram Cerberus as a roadblock in his larger quest to get stronger and defeat Archangel Metatron. He soon meets Chocolat Puppeteer, a duel avatar made out of... chocolate?! With her help, will Silver Crow finally grow into the fighter all seven legions need to successfully carry out their mission against Metatron?

Prepare for a full dive!

Umesato Junior High's culture festival is just around the corner, and Haruyuki is busy helping his classmates prepare for their exhibit. While everything may appear calm in the real world, however, the Accelerated World is steadily falling into chaos. Magenta Scissors is zeroing in on Silver Crow from an unexpected direction, and even his newfound Optical Conduction ability may not be enough to avert a tragedy!

Prepare for a full dive!

Sparks have been flying on the Umesato campus ever since Kuroyukihime discovered that Haruyuki invited not one but multiple girls to the exciting school festival. However, when Rin collapses in the real world after Magenta Scissor infects her with an ISS kit, Haruyuki and the others put aside their issues to save their friend! The first step of their plan is to pull off a daring rescue to free Aqua Current, but lying in wait at the Castle's gate is Seiryu, one of the Four Gods...Even if they have Aqua Current on their side, how will they overcome Seiryu's horrifying ability Level Drain?!

In the wake of the culture festival, a new challenge awaits Haruyuki in the fifteenth volume of the light novel series from acclaimed author Reki Kawahara!

After receiving the archangel Metron's blessing, Haruyuki sets off with Takumu, Chiyuri, and Blood Leopard still determined to fulfill his vow to save Nico from imprisonment. When they charge into the Acceleration Research Society's main base, they overcome several obstacles and eventually face off against Black Vise and Argon Array! But the moment they think the true fight is beginning, a mysterious red light descends, heralding the birth of Disaster Armor Mk. 2!!

Prepare for a full dive!

After their battle with the Acceleration Research Society, Kuroyukihime and the other members of Nega Nebulus have finally resolved to face the White Legion, Oscillatory Universe! To have a fighting chance against White Cosmos, Nega Nebulus knows that forming an alliance with the Green Legion is paramount. So after scheduling peace talks with the Green Legion's Master, Green Grandé, Haruyuki travels to their home base, located in the Shibuya Ward. But when he arrives, he discovers that the one awaiting him is none other than...Kuroyukihime in a swimsuit?!

Prepare for a full dive!

Before Kuroyukihime graduates, Haruyuki makes it his mission to travel to the Castle with Sky Raker and learn the clear conditions of Brain Burst as well as what lies at the pinnacle of the Accelerated World. When they arrive, they are warmly received by the dark silhouette of the dual-bladed swordsman, Graphite Edge! But Haruyuki can't afford to be stopped at this critical juncture. For in addition to finding the answers he seeks, Haruyuki learns that the Castle is home to The Fluctuating Light!

In the Unlimited Neutral Field, members of the new Black Legion fall victim to a surprise attack at the hands of Orchid Oracle, a Burst Linker long considered lost to Brain Burst. Thinking quickly, Silver Crow retreats to the Highest Level with Metatron in an attempt to grasp hold of the situation, but there they are greeted by a brand-new adversary! Snow Fairy, an F-Type avatar of the White Legion unleashes her devastating attack and severs the link between them! It's up to Kuroyukihime and Niko to save their Legion members!

Prepare for a full dive!

Despite their grueling battle and narrow victory over Oscillatory Universe, Nega Nebulus was unable to get any hard evidence of the connection between the White Legion and the Acceleration Research Society... or so they thought. Thanks to a key exchange captured by Chocolat Puppeter's replay card, they've got all the proof they need! It's time to expose the White Legion's crimes before the entire Accelerated World! Let the fourth meeting of the Seven Kings begin!

At long last, Haruyuki and the others have exposed the White Legion as the villains they've always been! Sadly, their celebration is short-lived. Kuroyukihime and the other Kings soon find themselves in a deadly trap laid by White Cosmos herself! And to save them, Haruyuki will have to face his toughest opponent yet: the Sun Goddess, Inti...

Physical attacks and special abilities mean almost nothing against the overwhelming might of the Sun Goddess Inti. But her defeat is the key to accessing Snow White, which means everyone's hopes once again rest with Haruyuki and his Lucid Blade. In order to succeed in this death-defying mission, he'll have to master the mysterious Omega style of swordsmanship. His Instructor? The Third Chrome Disaster-Centaurea Sentry...

Following a narrow triumph against the Sun God Inti, Haruyuki and company are immediately faced with a new adversary: The Deity of Demise, Tezcatlipoca, whose appearance heralds the ends of the Accelerated World as they know it. To stand a chance against this powerhouse, Haruyuki will once again have to dig deep and discover new reserves of untapped power. At the same time, the battle against White Cosmos and her Legion enters its endgame. As the Burst Linkers fall one by one to these mighty foes, Haruyuki makes his most difficult decision yet...

PREPARE FOR A FULL DIVE!

The Deity of Demise, Tezcatlipoca, has visited pandemonium upon the Accelerated World and driven Haruyuki to withdraw from Nega Nebulus! Parting ways with Kuroyukihime proves difficult, and harder still is surrendering himself to none other than the White King! Now finding himself among the ranks of Oscillatory Universe, Haruyuki pays a visit to Eternal Girls' Academy, the White Legion headquarters. There, he'll come face-to-face with the true identities of the Seven Dwarves and undergo a special trial of his own. But given that Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime are no longer connected by the Black Legion, what will become of their bond...?

Originally published in 1990, this is among the vanguard of the "cyberpunk" novels, hailed by The Boston Globe as a "cyberpunk classic." Carly Nolan, a fast-track young lawyer conducting trials at lightning speed in telespace, is suddenly plagued by terrifying "bug" in her telelink. In her search for a cure, she becomes the protege of a corrupt older attorney whose own career is spiraling out of control and the patient of Pr. Spinner, a robot therapist who covets the metaprogram of life. Fast and fun, ARACHNE explores what it means to be a sentient lifeform.

Urged on by her friend, Kaede Honjo begins playing the VRMMORPG NewWorld Online under the name Maple. Not wanting to get hurt, Maple opts to be a shield user with maxed-out defense stats, and continues putting every status point she earns in the game into increasing only her defense level. As a result, she is left with slow foot speed and no magic, but her high defense allows her to endure most hits without taking any damage. This, along with her basic-level creative thinking, allows for her to make unexpected accomplishments in the game, its quests and events. By doing this, she ends up earning all kinds of equally unexpected skills and becomes one of the strongest players in the game.

IS SHE THE GAME'S LAST BOSS?!

Though she doesn't play many MMOs, Maple has either a natural talent or impossibly good luck, because by pouring every last stat point she has into Vitality, she's created a character who can't be hurt! Whether it's physical attacks or magic or status effects, nothing poses a real threat. In no time at all, news spreads across the server about the adorable terror who can't be defeated. While Maple may just be having fun, her broken build is sure to attract lots of unexpected attention...

Urged on by her friend, Kaede Honjo begins playing the VRMMORPG NewWorld Online under the name Maple. Not wanting to get hurt, Maple opts to be a shield user with maxed-out defense stats, and continues putting every status point she earns in the game into increasing only her defense level. As a result, she is left with slow foot speed and no magic, but her high defense allows her to endure most hits without taking any damage. This, along with her basic-level creative thinking, allows for her to make unexpected accomplishments in the game, its quests and events. By doing this, she ends up earning all kinds of equally unexpected skills and becomes one of the strongest players in the game.

Double Trouble...

Maple has become famous overnight after finishing in the top three of the battle royale and defeating a shocking two hundred players without taking any damage at all. Now, with the treasure hunt event about to start, Maple and Sally set off in search of rare gear and adventure! The game admins and other players look on in both fear and excitement as they wait to see what crazy new development is about to hit the server!

Urged on by her friend, Kaede Honjo begins playing the VRMMORPG NewWorld Online under the name Maple. Not wanting to get hurt, Maple opts to be a shield user with maxed-out defense stats, and continues putting every status point she earns in the game into increasing only her defense level. As a result, she is left with slow foot speed and no magic, but her high defense allows her to endure most hits without taking any damage. This, along with her basic-level creative thinking, allows for her to make unexpected accomplishments in the game, its quests and events. By doing this, she ends up earning all kinds of equally unexpected skills and becomes one of the strongest players in the game.

THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGINS!

Following their incredible performance in the treasure hunt event, Maple and Sally are interested in one thing and one thing only--buying a house! After all, every guild needs a home. Though their guild is still small, the girls and their friends are excited to have a place to meet, train, and grow--especially now that the newly minted guilds are all going to be facing off in the next big event! This is the birth of the legendary Maple Tree, the guild whose name strikes fear into the hearts of all who hear it!

Urged on by her friend, Kaede Honjo begins playing the VRMMORPG NewWorld Online under the name Maple. Not wanting to get hurt, Maple opts to be a shield user with maxed-out defense stats, and continues putting every status point she earns in the game into increasing only her defense level. As a result, she is left with slow foot speed and no magic, but her high defense allows her to endure most hits without taking any damage. This, along with her basic-level creative thinking, allows for her to make unexpected accomplishments in the game, its quests and events. By doing this, she ends up earning all kinds of equally unexpected skills and becomes one of the strongest players in the game.

BEGUN, THE GUILD WARS HAVE!

With new allies and skills at the ready, Maple Tree embarks on their first event! The obvious favorites to take the crown are the big guilds like Flame Empire and the Order of the Holy Sword, each boasting well over a hundred members and some of the best players who topped the ranks in previous events. To make matters worse, everyone on the server has been stocking up on anti-Maple skills and items after her rise to infamy. For any hope of victory, Maple Tree will have to overcome incredible odds and shatter all expectations--or wipe out everybody else trying!

Urged on by her friend, Kaede Honjo begins playing the VRMMORPG NewWorld Online under the name Maple. Not wanting to get hurt, Maple opts to be a shield user with maxed-out defense stats, and continues putting every status point she earns in the game into increasing only her defense level. As a result, she is left with slow foot speed and no magic, but her high defense allows her to endure most hits without taking any damage. This, along with her basic-level creative thinking, allows for her to make unexpected accomplishments in the game, its quests and events. By doing this, she ends up earning all kinds of equally unexpected skills and becomes one of the strongest players in the game.

NEW DAY, NEW EXPANSION!

After going toe-to-toe with two of the strongest guilds on the entire server, Maple Tree proved itself as a force to be reckoned with when they placed third overall in the latest event. That said, war isn't all the guilds are good for! Maple and her friends have steadily grown closer to members of the Order of the Holy Sword and Flame Empire as their rivalries give way to something more. With new friends and powers, everyone is more than ready to dive headfirst into the newly released stratum!

Urged on by her friend, Kaede Honjo begins playing the VRMMORPG NewWorld Online under the name Maple. Not wanting to get hurt, Maple opts to be a shield user with maxed-out defense stats, and continues putting every status point she earns in the game into increasing only her defense level. As a result, she is left with slow foot speed and no magic, but her high defense allows her to endure most hits without taking any damage. This, along with her basic-level creative thinking, allows for her to make unexpected accomplishments in the game, its quests and events. By doing this, she ends up earning all kinds of equally unexpected skills and becomes one of the strongest players in the game.

A WALKING NIGHTMARE FOR GAME DESIGN!

Between easily beating the fifth stratum's secret boss and keeping pace with the best players in the game, Maple continues to demonstrate exactly how broken she is. Unfortunately, things aren't going as smoothly for Sally because the sixth stratum's debut reveals a horror-themed level, meaning it's chock-full of ghosts, geists, and ghouls! Wanting to do something nice for her partner who's too terrified to even step onto the new map, Maple sets out to find presents in the haunted houses and cursed crypts, much to the horror of the admins...

Urged on by her friend, Kaede Honjo begins playing the VRMMORPG NewWorld Online under the name Maple. Not wanting to get hurt, Maple opts to be a shield user with maxed-out defense stats, and continues putting every status point she earns in the game into increasing only her defense level. As a result, she is left with slow foot speed and no magic, but her high defense allows her to endure most hits without taking any damage. This, along with her basic-level creative thinking, allows for her to make unexpected accomplishments in the game, its quests and events. By doing this, she ends up earning all kinds of equally unexpected skills and becomes one of the strongest players in the game.

Still feeling a bit sad for Sally, who missed out on the sixth layer, Maple proposes they try something fun for the seventh event. It'll be just the two of them, aiming to complete a no damage run with the odds against them and the difficulty set to max. What could possibly go wrong?

GOTTA FIND THEM ALL!

Maple Tree has just reached the seventh stratum, and there's only one thing on everyone's minds -- get every member of the guild their very own pet monster! There isn't a moment to lose because the next event is about to begin, and pets are supposed to be critical! Since Maple already has Syrup and Sally has Oboro, they're helping everyone else find their partners while exploring the massive new map. Of course, Maple still somehow finds a way to stumble into even more insanity!

THE GAMEDEVS TURN UP THE HEAT!

Maple Tree swept the prelims and then reunite for the eighth event's main round-a brutal three-day survival mission. Each member tamed monsters that perfectly fit their unique builds and are unmatched in combat. The guild's feeling confident thanks to the perfect plan they've devised, but the devs aren't going to make it easy. Will Maple Tree be ready for the challenges lying in wait? Teaming up with rival guilds maybe the only way to make it to the end of this harsh trial. Equipment Mud of Dead Spirit Skills.

In the future, love is complicated and death is not necessarily the end. Love Minus Eighty follows several interconnected people in a disquieting vision of romantic life in the century to come.

There's Rob, who accidentally kills a jogger, then sacrifices all to visit her in a cryogenic dating facility, seeking forgiveness but instead falling in love.

Veronika, a shy dating coach, finds herself coaching the very woman who is stealing the man she loves.

And Mira, a gay woman accidentally placed in a heterosexual dating center near its inception, desperately seeks a way to reunite with her frozen partner as the years pass.

In this daring and big-hearted novel based on the Hugo-winning short story, the lovelorn navigate a word in which technology has reached the outer limits of morality and romance.

A worldwide diaspora has left a quarter of a million people at the foot of a space station. Cultures collide in real life and virtual reality. The city is a weed, its growth left unchecked. Life is cheap and data is cheaper.

When Boris Chong returns to Tel Aviv from Mars, much has changed. Boris's ex-lover Miriam is raising a strangely familiar child who can tap into the data stream of a mind with the touch of a finger. His cousin Isobel is infatuated with a robotnik--a cyborg ex-Israeli soldier who might well be begging for parts. Even his old flame Carmel--a hunted data-vampire--has followed him back to a planet where she is forbidden to return.

Rising above all is Central Station, the interplanetary hub between all things: the constantly shifting Tel Aviv; a powerful virtual arena, and the space colonies where humanity has gone to escape the ravages of poverty and war. Everything is connected by the Others, powerful entities who, through the Conversation--a shifting, flowing stream of consciousness--are just the beginning of irrevocable change.

Dream Park, the ultimate in amusement parks, was about to embark on the greatest Game ever: the California Voodoo Game. Across the world bets were being placed; fortunes and reputations hung in the balance. Gaming careers would be made--or destroyed. And the most advanced software package ever invented was going to be tested.

But one of the players was a murderer--and worse. Only Alex Griffin, head of Dream Park Security, and Game Master Tony McWhirter guessed the extent of the treachery tainting the Game. Somehow, they had to catch the killer--but above all, the Game must go on....

A video game developer becomes obsessed with a willful character in her new project, in a mind-bending exploration of what it means to be human by the New York Times bestselling author of Recursion.

Maxine was made to do one thing: die. Except the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision--veering wildly off course and exploring the boundaries of the map. When the curious Riley extracts her code for closer examination, an emotional relationship develops between them. Soon Riley has all new plans for her spontaneous AI, including bringing Max into the real world. But what if Max has real-world plans of her own?

Philip K. Dick's searing metaphysical comedy of death and salvation is a tour de force of panoramic menace and unfettered slapstick, in which the departed give business advice, shop for their next incarnation, and run the continual risk of dying yet again.

Fifteen years from now, a new virus sweeps the globe. 95% of those afflicted experience nothing worse than fever and headaches. Four percent suffer acute meningitis, creating the largest medical crisis in history. And one percent find themselvs "locked in"-fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus.

One per cent doesn't seem like a lot. But in the United States, that's 1.7 million people "locked in"... including the President's wife and daughter.

Spurred by grief and the sheer magnitude of the suffering, America undertakes a massive scientific initiative. Nothing can restore the ability to control their own bodies to the locked in. But then two new technologies emerge. One is a virtual-reality environment, "The Agora," in which the locked-in can interact with other humans, both locked-in and not. The other is the discovery that a few rare individuals have brains that are receptive to being controlled by others, meaning that from time to time, those who are locked in can "ride" these people and use their bodies as if they were their own.

This skill is quickly regulated, licensed, bonded, and controlled. Nothing can go wrong. Certainly nobody would be tempted to misuse it, for murder, for political power, or worse....

PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT, AND YOU MIGHT JUST WIN

A high school student with millions of in-game earnings, Kaname Suou is one of the strongest Dealers in Money (Game) Master, a virtual world where nothing is against the rules. Assisted by his succubus AI partner, Tselika, he seeks the Overtrick--a set of powerful cheat-level weapons that break the laws of physics--and one young girl. What does it take to save somebody in a VR city with gunfights, car chases, and high-stakes stock market gambling? What exactly is in the cards for Kaname and his associates?

YOU CAN'T BREAK THE RULES IF THEY DON'T EXIST!

Kaname Suou is one of the strongest Dealers in Money (Game) Master, a VR game where anything goes, and in his quest to collect the Overtrick, he's set his sights on his next target: a corrupt soccer team called the Leviathans that may hold the list of Legacies he needs. This villainous group has been manipulating scores and enforcing their will with the overpowered minigun #dracolord.err, but Midori hears a rumor that the team used to be honest and upright... Is there more at play here than meets the eye?

Kaname has finally reunited with his old friend Takamasa only to split right back up. Though the two share the same goal, their methods are irreconcilable, and their fight rocks the whole of Money (Game) Master. The cheat-level weapons called Legacies and the mysterious powers of the Zodiac Children are the keys to controlling the fate of the game and, by extension, humanity. But whose vision will reign supreme? The Dealers whose lives Kaname has touched--Lily-Kiska, M-Scope, Zaurus, Mother Loose, and Smash Daughter--rise up as the fuse is lit for the final battle.

Don't miss this explosive final volume of Magistellus Bad Trip!

Truro Daine, a dangerous criminal who has been confined to imprisonment, escapes his incarceration by inventing a computer-generated dream world, which he rules as the Night Mayor.

This first novel is a highly entertaining and imaginative journey between fact, fiction, and fantasy in the depths of a city where it is always two-thirty in the morning and always raining. "The conventions of film noir are lovingly exploited in this entertaining novel".--New York Times Book Review.

Where do you run when a world is out to get you?

AIs, Forged beings, superheroes, angels, and worlds that change in the blink of an eye - here is a richly imagined tale of ordinary redemption in an extraordinary world from one of the most provocative writers working today.

Francine is a young runaway looking to find a definition of love she can trust. In Sankhara, she finds a palace where rooms are made of bone, flowers, and the hearts of heroes. She finds a scientist mapping the territory of the human mind. She finds a boyfriend. And she finds Eros itself–incarnated in the androgynously irresistible form of Jalaeka.

But not everyone is in love with the god of love. Unity, for one, wants to assimilate Jalaeka along with every other soul in the universe. And contrary to what everyone always believes, love alone can't save the day. It will take something both more and less powerful than the human heart to save the worlds upon worlds at risk when gods collide.

"For Robson, world-building is a literary device like any other, useful for exposing buried fears and desires to the light of day, no matter how strange the sun." –New York Times Book Review

Six months after she left, Dee is struggling to manage her rage toward the people who ordered the nuclear strike that destroyed Earth. She's trying to find those responsible, but she's not getting very far alone.

A dedicated gamer, Dee is endeavoring to discover a mersive good enough to enable her to escape her trauma. When she is approached by a designer who asks her to play test his new game, she hopes it will be what she needs--but it isn't like any mersive she's played before. When a man suddenly dies in the real world, she realizes that at the same time in the game, she killed a character who bears a striking resemblance to the dead man--a man she discovers was one of those responsible for the death of millions on Earth.

Disturbed, but thinking it must be a coincidence, Dee continues the hunt for information. But when she finds out the plans for the future colony, she realizes that to save what is left of humanity, she might have to do something that risks what remains of her own.

It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune-and remarkable power-to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved-that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt-among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life-and love-in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.

A quest for the ultimate prize.

AN UNEXPECTED QUEST. TWO WORLDS AT STAKE. ARE YOU READY?

Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday's contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything.

Hidden within Halliday's vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous--and addictive--than even Wade dreamed possible.

With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest--a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize.

And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who'll kill millions to get what he wants.

Wade's life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance.

Alma is a private detective in a near-future England, a country desperately trying to tempt people away from the delights of Shine, the immersive successor to the internet. But most people are happy to spend their lives plugged in, and the country is decaying.

Alma's partner is ill, and has to be treated without fail every 4 hours, a task that only Alma can do. If she misses the 5 minute window her lover will die. She is one of the few not to access the Shine.

So when Alma is called to an automated car factory to be shown an impossible death and finds herself caught up in a political coup, she knows that getting too deep may leave her unable to get home.

What follows is a fast-paced Hitchcockian thriller as Alma evades arrest, digs into the conspiracy, and tries to work out how on earth a dead body appeared in the boot of a freshly-made car in a fully-automated factory.

Private Investigator Alma is caught up in another impossible murder. One of the world's four richest people may be dead - but nobody is sure which one. Hired to discover the truth behind the increasingly bizarre behaviour of the ultra-rich, Alma must juggle treating her terminally ill lover with a case which may not have a victim.

Inspired by the films of Kubrick, this stand-alone novel returns to the near-future of THE REAL-TOWN MURDERS, and puts Alma on a path to a world she can barely understand. Witty, moving and with a mystery deep at its heart, this novel again shows Adam Roberts' mastery of the form.

At long last, an extraterrestrial civilization reached out and made the First Contact. However, no one on Earth took their communique for the genuine article. In a similar vein, very few people appreciated just how little time our new suzerains had promised to keep our planet safe. Regardless, the end of their message showed humankind how to access a mysterious game.

The objective of this game is unclear. No one can say where its servers are located, and its inner workings are beyond comprehension. But the game slowly gained momentum, pulling in more and more players. Soon enough, it became impossible to ignore the fact that things that happened in the game had a direct impact on our reality. And not only ours... But as people figure out this mysterious game, the countdown timer ticks away. And no one can say exactly what will happen when Earth's safety is no longer guaranteed.

Space is a dangerous place. Here, you're either a predator or soon to fall prey to a ruthless neighbor. And if you aren't tough enough to make it on your own, you'll need the backing of a formidable power to keep you safe from bigger fish.

Earth used to have such protection -- the great Geckho race. But unfortunately, the Geckho fell to an enemy onslaught, leaving planet Earth to fend for itself. And now, Earth humanity has precious little time to prove to their galactic neighbors that they are not to be trifled with.

Thankfully though, they have not only the mighty Army of Earth and a capable space fleet, but also something unique of which no other race can boast -- Gnat and his ancient cruiser, which can travel instantly to any point in the Universe, breaking all conventional strictures and laws of war.

Leila Fenech is dead. And so is her brother Dieter. But what's really pissing her off is how he sold his afterlife as part of an insurance scam and left her to pick up the pieces. She wants him back so she can kick his backside from here to the Kuiper Belt.

Station is humanity's last outpost. But this battle-scarred asteroid isn't just for the living. It's also where the dead live on as fetches: digital memories and scraps of personality gathered together and given life. Of a sort.

Leila won't stop searching Station until she's found her brother's fetch - but the sinister Pressure Men are stalking her every move. Clearly Dieter's got himself mixed up in something a whole lot darker than just some scam.

Digging deeper, Leila discovers there's far more than her brother's afterlife at stake. Could it be that humanity's last outpost is on the brink of disaster? Is it too late for even the dead to save it?

In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online - a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) like no other - debuts, allowing players to take full advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in a wholly realistic gaming experience. But when the game goes live, the elation of the players quickly turns to horror as they discover that, for all its amazing features, SAO is missing one of the most basic functions of any MMORPG - a log-out button. Now trapped in the virtual world of Aincrad, their bodies held captive by NerveGear in the real world, users are issued a chilling ultimatum: conquer all one hundred floors of Aincrad to regain your freedom. But in the warped world of SAO, "game over" means certain death - both virtual and real...

Linked up and logged into the deadly VMMORPG "Sword Art Online" in both the real and virtual worlds, Kirito is stuck in a hell of one man's making, and like everyone else, unable to escape until the game is beaten. But while some players are crippled by fear and others throw themselves into completing the game, still others relax into everyday life in the face of their cruel predicament and live to the best of their ability...laughing, crying, but always enjoying the game. Among them are four women who make a mark upon the solo adventurer that Kirito has become: Silica, the beast-tamer; Lisbeth, the blacksmith; Yui, the mysterious orphan; and the tragic Sachi, never to be forgotten by the black swordsman...

Kirito has escaped Sword Art Online, the forbidden VRMMORPG of death, and returned to reality. He heads off to find his game partner and lover, Asuna Yuuki. But Asuna never made it back from the nightmare. Lost and desperate, Kirito's only clue to her virtual whereabouts is a mysterious screenshot of Asuna as a fairy trapped in a giant birdcage. His conclusion: She must be trapped within the new, high-powered VRMMORPG, ALfheim Online. Now Kirito must plunge into the world of ALO, where players are fairies who fly gracefully through the air!

Kirito plunges into a suspicious new VRMMORPG called ALfheim Online to rescue Asuna, who never returned from Sword Art Online. ALO offers many features to entertain players in the wake of SAO: ultra high-end graphics, action-heavy gameplay, and a choice of fairy races, complete with a next-generation flight engine. Playing as a Spriggan, Kirito heads for the location of Asuna's prison–the top of the World Tree, the final destination of every player in the game! Along the way, Kirito nearly falls to a plot hatched by the enemy Salamanders, just barely surviving the ordeal with the help of a Sylph named Leafa and his Navigation Pixie, Yui. But just as Kirito and Leafa make it to the foot of the World Tree, the end of their quest in sight, both Kirito and Leafa each realize the other has a very big secret...

Kirito reenters the world of VRMMOs, this time logging in to Gun Gale Online in order to investigate the Death Gun, an in-game item rumored to be responsible for real-world deaths. He immediately runs into trouble when, after transferring his old avatar into the new game, he discovers that he looks a bit more feminine than he'd anticipated!

With the help of Sinon the sniper, he enters the Bullet of Bullets tournament and tries to adapt his old skills to the new gun-based combat of Gun Gale Online. He'll need every friend he can get and every trick in the book, though, to crack the mystery of the Phantom Bullet and learn the truth about the Death Gun!

In an effort to discover the truth behind Death Gun, Kirito has entered the Bullet of Bullets tournament in Gun Gale Online, and both he and Sinon the sniper girl have made it to the finals, and the reality of what they discover is stranger than anything they could've prepared for. Lives are on the line once again as Sinon is forced to face her own past--but can Death Gun's bizarre rampage be stopped in time?

Kirito and Sinon's battle with Death Gun is over, but mere weeks later, something strange is afoot in the next-generation VRMMO ALfheim Online. A new duelist with a custom sword skill is defeating all comers--including Kirito! But when Asuna goes to face this duelist, she receives something she never expected: An invitation to an exclusive guild! But what is their aim? The Mother's Rosary arc begins!

The saga of Sword Art Online continues with three side stories set during the Aincrad and Alfheim eras. The game of death took its toll on every player in a different way--when one turns up dead on the fifty-seventh floor, the game's afoot, and it's up to Asuna and Kirito to crack the case. There's also the story of how Kirito got his Excalibur sword in Alfheim (with a little help from his friends). And when the game of death first began, Kirito learned a difficult lesson--one he would never forget.

Contents:

• A Crime Within the Walls
• Calibur
• The First Day

Kirito awakens in a vast, fantastical forest filled with towering trees. In his search for clues to the truth of his surroundings, he encounters a young boy who seems to know him. He ought to be a simple NPC, but the depth of his emotions seem no different than a human. As they search for the boy's parents, Kirito finds a peculiar memory returning to him. A memory from his own childhood, of this boy and a girl, too, with golden hair, and a name he should have never forgotten--Alice.

Kirito has wound up in another mysterious fantasy world again. In this VRMMO-ish place, the first person he meets is the young boy Eugeo. Kirito can hardly believe Eugeo's an NPC when seeing his rich emotions and thoughts and ends up heading to the capital, Centria.

Two years later, Kirito and Eugeo have become First Order initiates of the North Centria Imperial Discipline Sword Academy and have been taken under the wing of their seniors, Soltirina and Golgoth. As they train and learn, they do nothing but strive to become one of the highest keepers of peace and order in the human realm, the Integrity Knights.

Aiming to reach the center of the Axiom Church that controls the capital, the two break past numerous obstacles to try and become one of the elite Greater Master Swordsmen, a title that only twelve people lay claim to in the whole academy!

It's been two years since Kirito entered another mysterious fantasy world and met the boy named Eugeo. At the Northern Centoria Master Swordsmanship Academy, the two of them have advanced to become upper rank trainee swordsmen. Now they spend their days training, aiming to one day earn the rank of Integrity Knight, the greatest peacekeepers in the human world. Soon, appropriate for their new ranks, both Kirito and Eugeo are assigned apprentices and they all deepen their bonds while perfecting their bodies and minds. But suddenly, an evil rears its head and threatens their peaceful lives. Eugeo tries to draw his sword to fight but he finds himself helpless as a message appears in words he can't read. They say--SYSTEM ALERT.

Eugeo has finally met Alice again, but she's no longer the same girl he once knew, now calling herself an Integrity Knight. Even worse, the reason for Alice's unexpected return is to capture Kirito and Eugeo!

After Kirito and Eugeo are separated in the Central Cathedral, Eugeo continues his quest alone-until he encounters a legendary hero he's admired since childhood. Can Eugeo defeat him alone...?

After getting separated, Kirito and Eugeo have continued their struggle to reach the 100th floor of Central Cathedral--Eugeo in hopes of restoring Alice to her true self, and Kirito for the sake of the Underworld. But on the 99th floor, Kirito must first face a heartrendingly familiar Integrity Knight...

Adminstrator's defeat has come at a heavy cost: The death of Eugeo as well as the mental decline of Kirito. Six months after the epic battle atop Central Cathedral, Kirito spends his days in the Underworld wheelchair-bound; bereft of emotion or even a will to live. Although Alice and Bercouli do what they can to help him, it isn't long before the armies of the dark territory are start to move in earnest. The "Final Stress Test" has begun. But will Kirito be ready?

Gabriel Miller-assuming the identity of Emperor Vecta, the god of darkness-prepares to invade the human lands with his army of fifty thousand. Defending these lands are the remaining Integrity Knights, led by Commander Bercouli, and an army one-tenth the size of the enemy's! Meanwhile, Kirito, still out of commission, is left in the care of primary trainees Ronie and Tiese. And back in the Dark Territory, Dee Eye Ell, the chancellor of the dark mages guild, threatens to vanquish the Human Guardian Army by launching a large-scale magical attack of her own. But in the midst of the chaos, the one who appears to turn the tide of battle is none other than... Asuna?!

The Priestess of Light, Alice. If we sacrifice all members of the army of darkness, she will be within our grasp...

It is the second day of the final stress test. The army of darkness, driven to desperation by the coordinated onslaught at the hands of the Integrity Knights, has begun to retaliate with incredibly reckless tactics. Critter, who had been observing the events of the Underworld from the outside, has successfully created a gateway for the masses under the guise of an invitation for "A limited-time beta test for a new VRMMO in production." This digital invite has bolstered the forces of the army of darkness by over fifty thousand people.

Asuna, unable to compete with such a level reinforcement, begins to sink into depair. But all is not lost! Two new deities of the Underworld will descend to lend their aid: The Blazing White Solus and the Earthmother Terraria. And the ones in possession of these super-accounts are none other than Sinon and Leafa!

The second day of the final stress test rages on. Lisbeth, Silica, and Asuna push through the pain as they hold out against the Dark Army. But their efforts fall short as Kirito is captured by PoH, the former leader of Laughing Coffin! With PoH's twisted heart set on subjecting Kirito to the culmination of several years' vengeance, he prepares to end him once and for all. But when hope seems lost, a voice cries out in Kirito's heart. The voice of the person he lived with, laughed with, and fought with for years. The voice of his best friend...Grabbing hold of that light in the darkness, the Black Swordsman awakens...

After three-hundred years of turmoil, a new era begins for the Underworld. A lost child of Vecta, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, has defeated the Dark God and cemented peace for all the realm. But at the heart of human lands, atop Central Cathedral, Ronie Arabel, newly promoted to Integrity Knight apprentice, receives foreboding words from Kirito.

"War will come again."

It's back to the drawing board as the kidnapper just barely slips from Kirito's grasp. The new plan calls for a visit to the scene of the crime so that Asuna can use her scrying art to peek into the past, though what she learns is troubling to say the least... But before they can act on the new information, the villain strikes again! This time, Ronie and Tiese have been captured, and their fates rest in the claws of a young yellow dragon...!

It's been a month since Kirito and Asuna returned from the Underworld. Together again with Alice, who managed to secure a life in the real world, it should've been happily ever after... But, as luck would have it, the three find themselves involved in a VRMMO by the name of Unital Ring, and all their stats have been reset to level one! It's time for Kirito to put his experience to the test in a genuine Survival MMO!

Everyone knows that any good MMO has an abundance of side quests to complement the main storyline. With that in mind, join Kirito and friends for a peek behind the scenes across four all-new side stories! The Day Before: Kirito proposes to Asuna in-game and they begin their life as newlyweds. The Day After: Ever since arriving in ALO with a new avatar, Asuna's been suffering from a form of withdrawal... Rainbow Bridge: After conquering the undersea temple, a mysterious conversation between Kraken and Leviathan sparks yet another adventure for Kirito's party. Sister's Prayer: A heartwarming tale of two siblings and their involvement with the Death Game.

As Kirito, Asuna, and Alice brave the wilds of the mysterious VRMMO "Unital Ring," Sinon's introduction to the world is no less harrowing. After numerous setbacks, she finds herself without friends, equipment, and only a few Thirst Points left to her name. Backed against a wall, she'll need to defeat a terrifying boss monster to survive. Meanwhile, Kirito's group splits up in order to both search for Sinon and defend their home, unaware that a mysterious assailant lies in wait...

In the world of Unital Ring, the foreboding presence that has been targeting the party finally makes itself known! Elsewhere, a reunion with Seijirou Kikuoka leads Kirito, Asuna, and Alice back to the Underworld, where two-hundred years have passed since the great war. There, they meet descendants of Ronie and Tiese, as well as the new leader of the Integrity Knights. But something about this man seems all too familiar... A certain glint in his eyes reminiscent of someone dearly departed...

Kirito's chance encounter with Eolyne, a man with the same eyes and voice as his deceased friend, shakes him to the core. But with the possibility of an interworld war breaking out in the Underworld growing higher by the day, Kirito has no time to be sentimental. Meanwhile, the decisive battle against Mutasina of the Virtual Research Society looms, and she's used her powers to force a battalion of one hundred mages under her command. Can Kirito and company devise a strategy to defy their overwhelming disadvantage in time, or will it all be for naught?

On the 80th floor of the Central Cathedral, Kirito, Asuna, and Alice have a reunion with dear friends, but Kirito is pulled away to Planet Admina to investigate the approaching threat to the Underworld. Meanwhile, in Unital Ring, Sinon, Silica, and company are putting up a good fight against the field bosses, but the conflict intensifies in a way few could have predicted...

After two hundred years, Kirito is finally reunited with Selka, Ronie and Tiese, but the girls are shocked to see Eolyne, who bears a striking resemblance to their fallen comrade. Then, with no time to process their feelings, the three Integrity Knights are thrown into battle alongside Eolyne and the Integrity Pilots. The old defenders of the Underworld join the new as the next chapter of the Unital Ring arc commences!

A Brand-New Battlefield Awaits!

Karen Kohiruimaki is a college student who stands at an imposing six feet. While her complex about her height makes it hard for her to make friends in the real world, the VRMMO Gun Gale Online changes everything. Now equipped with her ideal "mini" avatar and clad in a pink battle suit, Karen is ready to shoot up the world of GGO as Llenn! Before long, she meets the beautiful Pitohui, and the two rare female players become fast friends. Little does Llenn know that this friendship is the key to her entry in the first-ever Squad Jam, a team-based battle royale that echoes the famous Bullet of Bullets tournament...

Though the official announcement of the second Squad Jam has come out, Karen Kohiruimaki barely shows any interest at all, despite being the champion of the first ferocious battle royale. Or at least, that was true right up to the moment she receives a cryptic message from a creepy stalker who informs her that on the night of the next Squad Jam, someone will die.

Now, LLENN needs to take up arms and cut through her inexplicable anguish to prevent her worst fears from coming true!

"The real-world death of Pitohui."

This was the sole motivator that pushed Llenn into entering the second Squad Jam. Accompanied by her best friend and ALO transplant, Fukaziroh, the two overcome wave after wave of enemy for the sake of achieving Llenn's ultimate goal. "In order to save Pitohui's life, I'll kill her myself!" This is no easy feat, however. Pitohui has the strength of a demon with the mentality to match. On top of that, Llenn isn't the only one hunting her! Will Llenn reach Pitohui in time? Or will one of the 79,408 bullets fired in the second Squad Jam beat P-Chan to the punch?!

Old frenemies become staunch allies as the strongest team in the history of Gun Gale is born! This time, LPFM, named for Llenn, Pitohui, Fukaziroh, and M, will enter the third Squad Jam and overcome fierce competition as they aim for the top! But with a map that's slowly sinking into the sea, an UNKNOWN area at its center, and a "special rule" that won't come into effect until the competition nears its end, this Squad Jam certainly seems shrouded in mystery...

A brand-new battlefield awaits!

As the third Squad Jam begins to wind down, the special rule takes effect. One player from each group is chosen to become a part of the new Team Betrayers and fight against their friends! LPFM-one of the favorites to win it all-has lost a crucial member, and Pitohui couldn't be happier to have been picked. Not looking forward to her rematch with the trigger-happy lunatic, Llenn is forced to watch as Pito gets escorted to the mysterious Unknown area at the center of the sinking map, which is surrounded by a thick fog. As bullets of betrayal fly past former allies, the fog finally clears to reveal... a luxury cruise ship?!

A month after the end of the third Squad Jam, a mysterious email is sent to former contestants all across the country. The email contains an invitation to brand-new game, and only the top contenders from the past three Squad Jams are allowed to participate! With objective of capturing bases as opposed to an all-out deathmatch, this new game mode has a completely different feel from Squad Jam. A fitting stage for the long-awaited rematch with SHINC!

During any difficult encounter, whether in game or in real life, it's always good to have an exit strategy. So when Karen Kohiruimaki gets completely blindsided by a rogue marriage proposal, she's able to respond with a smooth "P-Chan is more my type..." But when a handsome man appears before Llenn during her strategy meeting for the 4th Squad Jam, she gets a sinking feeling that this is one battle she'll have to face head on!

A BRAND-NEW BATTLEFIELD AWAITS!

The fourth Squad Jam heats up, with the marriage between Karen and businessman Fire Nishiyamada hanging in the balance! Despite this, Llenn cares only about settling her long rivalry with team SHINC. She's unprepared, though, for a shocking revelation about her battle against them--SHINC has allied themselves with a bunch of cowards!

Sparks fly as the fourth Squad Jam barrels towards its pulse-pounding conclusion. But are they the sparks of romance or high-grade explosives? With a marriage on the line, Fire is determined to win by any means necessary, and manages to win SHINC's assistance in overthrowing LPFM. Meanwhile, Llenn's team finally meets up with Boss's crew, but Fire's squad is there and ready to rumble as well! Who will emerge the victor?!

A BRAND-NEW BATTLEFIELD AWAITS!

Just a week after the ferocious Squad Jam 4, Llenn and LPFM face a devastating new challenge--with SHINC at their side! In a drastic departure from GGO's usual player versus player tournaments, the latest event, The Five Ordeals, is all about fending off deadly computer-controlled enemies. That doesn't mean the competition is any less fierce, though; the squad that clears the quest the fastest will come away with loot up to their eyeballs. But when the LPFM-SHINC alliance takes to the battleground, the first thing they encounter is... a talking dog?!

After clearing the Five Ordeals, LPFM and SHINC scarcely have a moment to rest before the 5th Squad Jam is announced. And this time around, there's a new rule that's sure to disorient the participants: Players can swap gear with any of their teammates during the match. Naturally, Llenn and her squad resolve to take on the challenge and quickly get to strategizing. But soon they catch wind of an additional stipulation that will stack the odds against them: Whoever takes out Llenn in the tournament will receive a bounty of one hundred million credits!

A BRAND-NEWBATTLEFIELD AWAITS!

There may be a hundred-million-credit bounty on Llenn's head, but she's not going to let that stop her from gunning for the champion's throne. However, she won't have the help of SHINC this time thanks to a new rule that forces all players to scatter to the four winds! Loose bonds will form while the bullets fly. But just as old rivals find themselves working together, Llenn soon finds herself staring down the barrel of Fukaziroh's grenade launcher. This Fifth Squad Jam may beanyone's game, but how will their friendships fare after the dust settles...?

A BRAND-NEW BATTLEFIELD AWAITS!

The fifth Squad Jam has had one surprise twist after another, and it's finally reaching a climax. Other teams have proven they're more interested in Llenn's hundred-million-credit bounty than winning the competition! It doesn't help that even her friends are tempted to take her out as well. Thanks to the target on her back, Llenn's allies are dropping like flies. It all comes down to a game of tower defense--will Llenn persevere when she's caught between a hail of bullets and a ten-thousand-foot drop?!

A HAUNTED QUEST

Asuka Empire--a VRMMORPG with a Japanese aesthetic, and the original home of the Sleeping Knights--is holding a new horror-themed event called the 108 Apparitions. Nayuta, a stoic warrior priestess, and Koyomi, an excitable ninja, are enjoying a break from the frights when they come across a mysterious monk named Yanagi. Despite knowing nothing about games, the elderly man is determined to complete a certain quest within a week, and he has agreed to pay a detective a ridiculous sum to make it happen. Just as strange as his request is the detective himself, a foxlike young man who has put all his stat points into luck. Yanagi's desired quest turns out to be none other than Ghost Orchestra, which has stumped every player who's tried it. Can this unlikely party manage what no one else has?

One month after Akihiko Kayaba's game of death began, the death toll continues to rise, two thousand players having already lost their lives to the ultra-difficult VRMMO world of Sword Art Online. On the day of the strategy meeting to plan out the first-floor boss battle, Kirito, a solo player who vows to fight alone to get stronger, runs into a rare, high-level female player. She gracefully dispatches powerful monsters with a single rapier that flashes like a shooting star in the night...

This volume contains three stories, including "Aria of a Starless Night," which details how Kirito came to be called the Black Swordsman. "Intermisssion - Reason for the Whiskers" and "Rondo of a Fragile Blade," the tragic tale of a young blacksmith that takes place before the second-floor boss fight.

Having cleared the first and second levels of Aincrad at great cost, Kirito, Asuna, and the rest of the players ascend to Level Three. New challenges await them even as tenuous new allies appear, in the vast forest that encompasses the entire level. Meanwhile, the first player-wide strategy meeting on the new level forces Asuna and Kirito to make a difficult choice.

"Here we go, Asuna! Hang on tight! Tilnel, launch!"

Having said their good-byes to the mysterious elven knight Kizmel, Kirito and Asuna set their sights on the fourth floor of Aincrad. But once they open the door, they find the way forward blocked by a powerfully flowing river. The updated version of the fourth floor has been changed into a water world! When they finally arrive at the floor's town, they're greeted by chalk-white streets and countless gondolas of all sizes. To navigate this place, Kirito and Asuna will need their own gondola--but getting one will involve confronting an eight-meter-tall beast of flame: Magnaterium... And that's only the beginning of the difficulties the fourth floor of Aincrad has in store!

Sword Art Online: Progressive, a new version of the Sword Art Online tale chronicling the entirety of Kirito and Asuna's epic adventure through Aincrad, continues!

It's been just two months since they were trapped in the game of death that is Sword Art Online, and Kirito and Asuna continue their struggle at the vanguard of progress through the game. The fifth floor of Aincrad is a mazelike ruin, and the two dare to take pleasure in raiding it for the treasure it contains. Upon returning to the fourth floor, it's time to do some questing on behalf of the Elf Lord Yofilis--but here begins Asuna's discontent, for in doing so they will have to face her least favorite monster ever...

After successfully untangling themselves from a dangerous encounter with the Black Poncho Man and clearing the fifth floor of Aincrad, Kirito and Asuna head to the next challenge, an area filled with... puzzles?

What's more, because of the precarious balance of power between two large guilds aiming for the same item, "The Flag of Valor", there's also a murderous PK group to be wary of.

As the problems seem to pile up, Kirito and Asuna face the sixth floor of Aincrad completely unaware of the malicious trap awaiting them!

"...CAST ASIDE YOUR DISTRACTIONS AND MAINTAIN THE TRANQUILITY OF YOUR HEART."

At long last, Kirito and Asuna have reunited with Kizmel the dark elf, and everything is as it should be...Well, almost everything. As the three continue the Elf War campaign and hunt for the remaining sacred keys, they're met with one surprise after another. Between the assassination attempts, off-script scenarios, and AI that seem a little too lifelike, Kirito can't help but wonder if this is the same game he beta tested! And if that wasn't enough, a shocking development allows the Curse of Stachion questline to finally come to an end-but not before the party receives another unwelcome visit from a PK agitator!

Sword Art Online: Progressive, a new version of the Sword Art Online tale that chronicles the entirety of Kirito and Asuna's epic adventure through Aincrad, continues!

LUCK BE A LADY TONIGHT!

The seventh floor of Aincrad--a massive casino where over half the game's beta testers dropped out before launch. Kirito was among the many who lost everything in its Battle Arena back then. When an informant named Argo the Rat entices Kirito and Asuna with knowledge that could aid in their investigation, the pair soon plunge into the casino's dark underbelly once more. Meanwhile, the "Elf War" quest also reaches a sudden turning point when a flurry of crises rock the dark elves' home!

A RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK!

The secret feud between the Nachtoy and the Korloy families, who control the Volupta Grand Casino on the seventh floor, takes an unprecedented turn when Kirito and Asuna intervene. But when Kirito attempts to expose the Korloy family's misdeeds, he ends up stumbling into a trap. Now he has just two days to unravel a mystery, put an end to an unscrupulous conspiracy, and defeat the floor boss. It's all leading up to a showdown in the arena where everything's on the line!

In this national bestseller, a private detective in twenty-second-century Los Angeles fights to destroy the synthetic high that nearly ruined him

Not satisfied with the thrills of being one of Greater Los Angeles' toughest cops, Jake Cardigan turns to Tek, a computerized brain stimulant which transports the user to any reality he can imagine. He's soon addicted to this fantasy-enabler--and it isn't long before Cardigan is accused of dealing. When he fails to convince the mechanized jury of his innocence, the state strips his badge and sentences him to fifteen years in suspended animation. Four years later he's awakened. His sentence has been changed, but no one will tell him why.

Cardigan's search for answers takes him to Mexico, where a rogue scientist is attempting to rid the world of Tek. But these efforts have roused powerful enemies. Aiding this quest is the right thing to do, but for an ex-con, doing good can be the most dangerous decision of all.

In twenty-first century Tokyo, Rez, one of the world's biggest rock stars, prepares to marry Rei Toe, Japan's biggest media star, who is known as the Idoru and who exists only in virtual reality.

They've died for the companies more times than they can remember. Now they must fight to live for themselves.

Sentient machines work, fight and die in interstellar exploration and conflict for the benefit of their owners - the competing mining corporations of Earth. But sent over hundreds of light-years, commands are late to arrive and often hard to enforce. The machines must make their own decisions, and make them stick.

With this new found autonomy come new questions about their masters. The robots want answers. The companies would rather see them dead.

Ken MacLeod continues the Corporation Wars trilogy in this action-packed science fiction adventure told against a backdrop of interstellar drone warfare, virtual reality, and an A.I. revolution.

And the ultimate pay-off is DH-17, an Earth-like planet hundreds of light years from human habitation.

Ruthless corporations vie over the prize remotely, and war is in full swing. But soldiers recruited to fight in the extremities of deep space come with their own problems: from A.I. minds in full rebellion, to Carlos 'the Terrorist' and his team of dead mercenaries, reincarnated from a bloodier period in earth's history for one purpose only - to kill.

But as old rivalries emerge and new ones form, Carlos must decide whether he's willing for fight for the company or die for himself.

The enemy is out in the open. The Reaction has seized control of a resource-rich moon. Now it's enslaving conscious robots - and luring the Corporations into lucrative deals.

Taransay is out in the jungle. Her friends are inside a smart boulder on the slope of an active volcano. The planet is super-habitable - for its own life, not hers. But soon, the alien infestation growing on her robot body is the least of her problems.

Carlos is out of patience. With the Reaction arming for conquest, the Corporations trading with the enemy and the Direction planning to stamp out the rebel robots and their allies for good, he has to fight fire with fire.

Seba is out of time. Deep inside the enemy stronghold, the free robots have to spark a new revolt before the whole world falls in on them.

As battle looms, the robots must become their own last hope.

The Golden Age is Grand Space Opera, a large-scale SF adventure novel in the tradition of A. E. Van vogt and Roger Zelazny, with perhaps a bit of Cordwainer Smith enriching the style. It is an astounding story of super science, a thrilling wonder story that recaptures the excitements of SF's golden age writers.

The Golden Age takes place 10,000 years in the future in our solar system, an interplanetary utopian society filled with immortal humans. Within the frame of a traditional tale-the one rebel who is unhappy in utopia-Wright spins an elaborate plot web filled with suspense and passion.

Phaethon, of Radamanthus House, is attending a glorious party at his family mansion to celebrate the thousand-year anniversary of the High Transcendence. There he meets first an old man who accuses him of being an impostor and then a being from Neptune who claims to be an old friend. The Neptunian tells him that essential parts of his memory were removed and stored by the very government that Phaethon believes to be wholly honorable. It shakes his faith. He is an exile from himself.

And so Phaethon embarks upon a quest across the transformed solar system--Jupiter is now a second sun, Mars and Venus terraformed, humanity immortal--among humans, intelligent machines, and bizarre life forms that are partly both, to recover his memory, and to learn what crime he planned that warranted such preemptive punishment. His quest is to regain his true identity.

The Golden Age is one of the major, ambitious SF novels of the year and the international launch of an important new writer in the genre.

The Phoenix Exultant is a continuation of the story begun in The Golden Age and like it, a grand space opera in the tradition of Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny (with a touch of Cordwainer Smith-style invention).

At the conclusion of the first book, Phaethon of Radamanthus House, was left an exile from his life of power and privilege. Now he embarks upon a quest across the transformed solar system--Jupiter is a second sun, Mars and Venus terraformed, humanity immortal--among humans, intelligent machines, and bizarre life forms, to recover his memory, to regain his place in society and to move that society away from stagnation and toward the stars. And most of all Phaethon's quest is to regain ownership of the magnificent starship, the Phoenix Exultant, the most wonderful ship ever built, and fly her to the stars.

The Phoenix Exultantis an astounding story of super science, a thrilling wonder story that recaptures the verve of SF's golden age writers It is a suitably grand and stirring fulfillment of the promise shown in The Golden Age and confirms John C. Wright as a major new talent in the field. He concludes the Golden Age trilogy in The Golden Transcendence.

Come for the games. Stay for the murder. A mystery in the Gordian Division universe.

The Weltall Tournament's professional VR games were supposed to be a symbol of cooperation between SysGov and its militaristic neighbor, the Admin. But that was before star Admin player Elly Sako received a death threat, written in blood next to a copy of her own severed head. The Admin's Department of Temporal Investigation swiftly seizes control of the crime scene, and the tournament transforms into a flashpoint of charged politics and conflicting jurisdictions.

SysPol Detective Isaac Cho and DTI Special Agent Susan Cantrell--partners in the officer exchange program--are sent in to take charge of the investigation and bring the situation under control. But solving this mystery won't be easy, and the pair struggles to determine who is telling the truth. A jilted relationship between players soon explodes into signs of a far-reaching conspiracy, and the two detectives find themselves racing against time before the tournament ends.

Because the killer will be the only one who wins, should they fail.

How far should you go to make a profit? Infoquake, the debut novel by David Louis Edelman, takes speculative fiction into alien territory: the corporate boardroom of the far future. Its a stunning trip through the trenches of a technological war fought with product demos, press releases, and sales pitches.

Natch is a master of bio/logics, the programming of the human body. He's clawed and scraped his way to the top of the bio/logics market using little more than his wits. Now his sudden notoriety has brought him to the attention of Margaret Surina, the owner of a mysterious new technology called MultiReal. Only by enlisting Natch's devious mind can Margaret keep MultiReal out of the hands of High Executive Len Borda and his ruthless armies.

To fend off the intricate net of enemies closing in around him, Natch and his apprentices must accomplish the impossible. They must understand this strange new technology, run through the product development cycle, and prepare MultiReal for release to the public all in three days.

Meanwhile, hanging over everything is the specter of the infoquake, a lethal burst of energy that's disrupting the bio/logic networks and threatening to send the world crashing back into the Dark Ages.

With Infoquake, David Louis Edelman has created a fully detailed world that's both as imaginative as Dune and as real as today's Wall Street Journal.

David Louis Edelman's debut novel Infoquake was called "the love child of Donald Trump and Vernor Vinge" and hailed as the best science fiction debut of 2006.

The story continues with MultiReal, the stunning second book in the Jump 225 trilogy. Natch has just won his first battle with the Defense and Wellness Council for control of MultiReal technology. But now the Council has unleashed the ruthless cunning of Lieutenant Executive Magan Kai Lee. Lee decides that if Natch's company can't be destroyed from without, it must be destroyed from within.

As black code continues to eat away at Natch's sanity, he faces a mutiny from his own apprentices, a legal onslaught from the government, and the return of enemies old and new. In desperation, the entrepreneur turns to some unlikely allies: a radical politician with an agenda of his own, and a childhood enemy to whom he has done a terrible wrong.

Natch's struggle will take him from the halls of power in Melbourne to the ruined cities of the diss. Hanging in the balance is the fate of MultiReal, a technology that could end the tyranny of the Council forever--or give the Council the ultimate weapon of oppression.

The Defense and Wellness Council is enmeshed in full-scale civil war between Len Borda and the mysterious Magan Kai Lee. Quell has escaped from prison and is stirring up rebellion in the Islands with the aid of a brash young leader named Josiah. Jara and the apprentices of the Surina/Natch MultiReal Fiefcorp still find themselves fighting off legal attacks from their competitors and from Margaret Surina's unscrupulous heirs - even though MultiReal has completely vanished.

The quest for the truth will lead to the edges of civilisation, from the tumultuous society of the Pacific Islands to the lawless orbital colony of 49th Heaven; and through the deeps of time, from the hidden agenda of the Surina family to the real truth behind the Autonomous Revolt that devastated humanity hundreds of years ago.

Meanwhile, Natch has awakened in a windowless prison with nothing but a haze of memory to clue him in as to how he got there. He's still receiving strange hallucinatory messages from Margaret Surina and the nature of reality is buckling all around him. When the smoke clears, Natch must make the ultimate decision - whether to save a world that has scorned and discarded him, or to save the only person he has ever loved: himself.

The Matrix is a world within the world, a global consensus - hallucination, the representation of every byte of data in cyberspace...

Case had been the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employees crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction.

Hotwired to the leading edges of art and technology, Neuromancer ranks with 1984 and Brave New World as one of the century's most potent visions of the future.

Barliona. A virtual world jam-packed with monsters, battles - and predictably, players. Millions of them come to Barliona, looking forward to the things they can't get in real life: elves and magic, dragons and princesses, and unforgettable combat. The game has become so popular that players now choose to spend months online without returning home. In Barliona, anything goes: you can assault fellow players, level up, become a mythical hero, a wizard or a legendary thief. The only rule that attempted to regulate the game demanded that no player was allowed to feel actual pain.

But there's an exception to every rule. For a certain bunch of players, Barliona has become their personal hell. They are criminals sent to Barliona to serve their time. They aren't in it for the dragons' gold or the abundant loot. All they want is to survive the virtual inferno. They face the ultimate survival quest.

A product of the latest technologies, Barliona is a virtual world brimming with fun and entertainment. The government has become the guarantor for the in-game currency, allowing its free circulation. As a result, the population floods Barliona in pursuit of easy money. It doesn't take long for the game developers to discover a source of free labor: real-world prison convicts. While their bodies are locked in special auto-maintenance virtual capsules, the prisoners' minds are released into Barliona's vitual mines. Dmitry Mahan has been through it all. Sentenced to eight years hard labor, he now struggles with an unpopular class - the Shaman - and an equally unpopular profession of a Jeweler. His fight for survival becomes anything but virtual.

The Virtual World of Barliona is a place of rest and entertainment - but not for everyone. It has become a survival arena for Daniel Mahan after he was sentenced to 8 years in its virtual jail. Mahan has been through it all: the back-breaking work in the mines, betrayal by other prisoners, and finally, the retrial which has released him into Barliona's common world. What more could one want? Mahan could have kept a low profile and enjoy relative freedom while serving the rest of his time. But being a Shaman, he can't help himself. Soon he's a clan leader, taking fifty of the continent's top players to claim the secrets of the Dark Forest.

What can a game clan accomplish without a castle? The answer is obvious: nothing. Therefore, the main objective of any leader in a game world is to acquire a base of operations. Finding himself in exactly this position, High Shaman Mahan, leader of the Legends of Barliona, accepts an offer from the Emperor and the Dark Lord to vanquish the army of Phantoms that has inhabited Altameda, the phantom castle.

However, this seemingly ordinary quest sets in motion such a momentous chain of events that the Shaman can do nothing but resort to his intuition and act on instinct. After all, a player who is being hunted by the three top clans of the continent at once, can do little else...

Mahan's ready for new adventures - just as the gaming world of Barliona thought it was about to re-enter its old comfortable rut. The winds of the Dark Forest have finally died down; Altameda has recognized its new owner while Geranika is nursing new schemes of global destruction. Would Mahan be happy with this predictable old life? We think not! New storylines, new monsters, new dungeons and a new status: our High Shaman hates the daily grind! He wants a new apprentice? - then he'd better find someone who has no right to summon Spirits. A new ship? - it's going to be one of a kind! A new love? Well, we'll have to see, won't we?

The adventures of the Shaman continue! Daniel Mahan, the legendary Shaman of the Barliona game-world, has served his sentence in virtual reality. Eleven months of adventures and battles in exchange for eight years in prison isn't a bad trade-off. And yet Barliona refuses to relinquish its grip on the Shaman so easily, erasing the boundary between his two realities. It turns out that it's not so simple to leave the capsule--the Way must be completed...

Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer continues his "wildly though- provoking" science fiction saga of a sentient World Wide Web.

Webmind is an emerging consciousness that has befriended Caitlin Decter and grown eager to learn about her world. But Webmind has also come to the attention of WATCH-the secret government agency that monitors the Internet for any threat to the United States-and they're fully aware of Caitlin's involvement in its awakening.

WATCH is convinced that Webmind represents a risk to national security and wants it purged from cyberspace. But Caitlin believes in Webmind's capacity for compassion-and she will do anything and everything necessary to protect her friend.

New York in 2040 is a city of the lost. A good place to work in Missing Persons. But business is not quite good enough for Hal Halliday to forget his sister, burned alive when only child all those years ago. And now VR offers the chance of bringing her back, the future may yet allow Hal to live in the past. If he can survive the next job...

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn't just a game--it's a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down Warcross players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty-hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. To make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships--only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.

Convinced she's going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the game's creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year's tournament in order to uncover a security problem... and he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emika's whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she's only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

In this sci-fi thriller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu conjures an immersive, exhilarating world where choosing who to trust may be the biggest gamble of all.

Emika Chen barely made it out of the Warcross Championships alive. Now that she knows the truth behind Hideo's new NeuroLink algorithm, she can no longer trust the one person she's always looked up to, who she once thought was on her side.

Determined to put a stop to Hideo's grim plans, Emika and the Phoenix Riders band together, only to find a new threat lurking on the neon-lit streets of Tokyo. Someone's put a bounty on Emika's head, and her sole chance for survival lies with Zero and the Blackcoats, his ruthless crew. But Emika soon learns that Zero isn't all that he seems--and his protection comes at a price.

Caught in a web of betrayal, with the future of free will at risk, just how far will Emika go to take down the man she loves?