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Hot damn I was excited to read this. I picked it up hoping to get that same video game feeling I had reading Ready Player One but missed out on reading Armada. I figured there must be more authors who have a handle on this element of pop culture besides Ernie Cline and there are. That being said when Ernie’s foreword mentions he does not have a short in the books because he missed the deadline I was very disappointed and figured they should have left him out altogether rather than have him essentially rewrite his intro from his first two books. It’s like having Spielberg as your executive assistant producer on the credits of a movie and the reality is the audience know he was not involved at all.
Onto the stories!
God Mode by Daniel H Wilson – Interesting but not particularly strong opening. Nothing makes much sense until the ‘Ah-ha’ moment at the end which means just as it get’s interesting it’s over. Was hoping for more from the Author of the Robopocalypse series.
NPC by Charles Yu – Not bad. A nice story about a guy who suddenly finds himself powered up after a cosmic type incident and the subsequent change, or lack of change, in the way he feels about himself, his role, and his fellow human beings.
Respawn by Hiroshi Sakurazaka – The first story I really enjoyed. A simple man with simple pleasures is killed and finds his personality has been teleported into the body of his killer. Subtle and dealing with some really nice ideas. 4/5
Desert Walk by S. R. Mastrantone – Awesome story about the most boring game ever! Walk through the desert and every four hours you might see a bush if your lucky but everything is individually coded and not just repeating meaning their could be something out there. Captures that concept of grinding at it’s most basic but intense and then goes in a totally different direction you will not see coming. 4.5/5
Rat Catcher’s Yellows by Charlie Jane Anders – Liked this one. A disease threads through society leaving some people seriously short of sandwiches at the picnic. For some reason many of these people find solace playing a game where cats rule their own kingdoms and a carer must decide between the hopes they have for their patient and the reality of the unreal situation.
1UP by Holly Black – The friends of a recently deceased young man find a game at his funeral that they must play in real time to unlock the mystery of his murder. 4/5
Survival Horror by Seanan McGuire – Two kids get trapped in their bedroom/another dimension while playing a newly installed game. Bit wonky this one and didn’t really much sense to me.
Real by Django Wexler – My favourite in the book. A journalist tracks down the somewhat mythological creator of a game that was never officially released and is played by those that think it is actually real. A networked phone game that identifies ‘demons who have invaded earth’ and glowing runes on walls that makes the player feel truly involved. A truly wonderful and delicious premise delivered in just the most fantastic manner. 5/5
Outliers by Nicole Feldringer – Didn’t get this one. A loner gamer plays a game that looks at weather patterns instead of going to her brothers wedding.
<end game> by Chris Avellone – The first of a number of text based game stories. Many repeating phases over and over and some interesting bits from the POV of the character in the game but myeh.
Save Me PLZ by David Barr Kirtley – What if the boundaries between game and reality were blurred and someone eventually figured out how to make them bleed together. Think small men handing out quests on main streets and swords that can carve through just about anything being part of every day lilfe. 4/5
The Relive Box by T.C.Boyle – This was a sad one but scarily imaginable as a very possible outcome for where we are headed. A new invention gives people the ability to plug into their old memories and relive them. A father and daughter who have lost their wife and mother must try and live on without her whilst the fathers obsession with figuring out what went wrong threatens to destroy the only relationship he has left. 4/5
Roguelike by Marc Laidlaw – A somewhat repetitious text based game story that follows the actions of someone attempting something. With death at every turn each action must be played out over and over again until the right combination of actions is stumbled over. There were some funny moments in this one, which surprisingly can’t be said for the rest of the book and it had a little kick at the end.
All of the people in your party have died by Robin Wasserman – A teacher becomes obsessed with Oregon Trail and notices parallels between her own life and the game when she must leave those behind her to get where she needs to be.
Recoil! By Micky Neilson – Really dug this one. A story within a story, where a young man, testing a new game, suddenly becomes involved in a real life terrorist situation. I thought I new where it was going but I was pleasantly kicked in the face but the subtle and clever ending. 4.5/5
Anda’s Game by Cory Doctrow – Very interesting look at the world of gold farmers, unions and the industrialisation of gaming. A young heroin finds herself questioning the missions her clan are fighting when someone from the side of their victims manages to get some communication though.
Coma Kings by Jessica Barber – Coma is a game you plug into that involves you building structures in a competition. The winner seeks to destroy the others construct and it is a big craze. The two sisters in the book are extraordinary talented players with one of them going so far as to have the game implanted directly into the brain putting them in a vegetable like state. Their consciousness exists only in the game and it is here that the other sister must try and reach her.
Stats by Marguerite K. Bennett – A man finds himself in a really weird and shitty situation when someone begins messing with his real life stats.
Please Continue by Chris Kluwe – A young guy rises up the ranks of players but sees the finish lose its lustre and ends up telling us to go out and get a real life.
Creation Screen by Rhianna Pratchett – A character is created who seems to have the soul of a condescending and disapproving mother as she proceeds to lecture the reader on how their life is wasted in front of a screen and that the deeds achieved in game mean nothing in life.
The Fresh Prince of Gamma World by Austin Grossman – Almost no idea what this one is about and don’t feel inclined to go at it again.
Gamer’s End by Yoon Ha Lee – Great story about the use of war games 4/5
The Clockwork Solider by Ken Liu – Didn’t do it for me and more text based games stuff.
Killswitch by Catherynne M. Valente – Awesome. Hard to explain why but if you are a gamer you will get it. 5/5
Twarrior by Andy Weir – Another very strong story. A kid creates a program and tells it to go learn some shit and get back to him. A billion cycles later and what is talking to him infects every known system in the planet and is wicked smart. 4.5/5
Select Character by Hugh Howey – Top notch and explores that wonderful urban legend of doing so well in a game that the army calls you and recruits you but with a very different twist. 4.5/5
Overall a very solid collection. There are some that had a video game in them but did not feel like they captured the spirit and a few that felt like they were written by people who had never played a game in their life or saw them as the end of society. The rest of them were fantastic and showed some real imagination and talent. The highlights for me were the stories by Wrexler, Mastrantone, Howey and Valente to name a few. I’ve I’ve been meaning to grab a copy of Django’s first book The Thousand Names and have done so and now Wool by Hugh Howey is a must read too.
