Video Game Fiction

Oops, I missed a few days!  Oh, right back at it!  Here are ten novels with video game elements!

A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart - Alex loves his family, and yet he struggles to connect with his eight-year-old autistic son, Sam. The strain has pushed his marriage to the breaking point. So Alex moves in with his merrily irresponsible best friend on the world's most uncomfortable blow-up bed. As Alex navigates single life, long-buried family secrets, and part-time fatherhood, his son begins playing Minecraft. Sam's imagination blossoms and the game opens up a whole new world for father and son to share. Together, they discover that sometimes life must fall apart before you can build a better one. Inspired by Keith Stuart's own relationship with his autistic son, A Boy Made of Blocks is a tear-jerking, funny, and, most of all, true-to-life novel about the power of difference and one very special little boy.

Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly by Conrad Wesselhoeft - Seventeen year-old dirt-bike-riding daredevil Arlo Santiago catches the eye of the U.S. military with his first-place ranking on a video game featuring drone warfare, and must reconcile the work they want him to do with the emotional scars he has suffered following a violent death in his family. Adios, Nirvana author Conrad Wesselhoeft, takes readers from the skies over war-torn Pakistan to the dusty arroyos of New Mexico's outback in this young adult novel about daring to live in the wake of unbearable loss. 

Epic by Conor Kostick - Generations ago, violence was banned on New Earth. Society is governed and conflicts are resolved in the arena of a fantasy computer game, Epic. Everyone plays. If you win, you have the chance to go to university, get more supplies for your community, and fulfill your dreams; if you lose, your life both in and out of the game is worth nothing.
When Erik, seeking revenge for the unjust treatment of his parents, dares to subvert the rules of Epic, he and his friends find themselves up against with the ultimate masters of the game: the Committee. If Erik and his friends win, they may have the key to destroying Epic's tyranny over New Earth. But if they lose . . . Book 1 of 3 in the Epic series

Fallout by Gwenda Bond - Lois Lane is new to Metropolis, and this time, the teenager is determined to fit in. But almost as soon as she walks into her new high school, it becomes clear that it won't be easy. Kids known as the Warheads are making another girl insane, and Lois, with her snazzy new job at the Daily Planet, might be the only person who can stop them . . . Book 1 of 5 in the Lois Lane series

Insignia by S. J. Kincaid - The earth is in the middle of WWIII in Insignia, the first entry in S. J. Kincaid's fast-paced sci-fi adventure trilogy perfect for fans of Ender's Game.
The planet's natural resources are almost gone, and war is being fought to control the assets of the solar system. The enemy is winning. The salvation may be Tom Raines. Tom doesn't seem like a hero. He's a short fourteen-year-old with bad skin. But he has the virtual-reality gaming skills that make him a phenom behind the controls of the battle drones.
As a new member of the Intrasolar Forces, Tom's life completely changes. Suddenly, he's someone important. He has new opportunities, friends, and a shot at having a girlfriend. But there's a price to pay. . . . Book 1 of 3 in the Insignia series

Kat and Meg Conquer the World by Anna Priemaza - Kat's anxiety makes it hard for her to talk to new people; she only feels safe in front of her computer, playing her favorite video game. Meg hates being alone, but her ADHD keeps pushing people away. When the two girls are thrown together for a year-long science project, they discover they do have one thing in common: their obsession with the online gaming star LumberLegs and his hilarious videos. If they can stick together and stay out of their heads, they might figure out how to help each other-- and build the kind of friendship Kat never knew she wanted and Meg never believed she'd find. 

Mindwar by Andrew Klavan - Rick's high school football team couldn't be stopped when he was leading them as their quarterback. He was going to Syracuse on a scholarship. But then his dad abandoned them and a terrible accident left him crippled. Certain his old life is completely lost, Rick spends months hiding away in his room playing video games. He achieves the highest scores on so many games that he's approached by a government agency who claims to be trying to thwart a cyber attack on America that would destroy the technological infrastructure of the entire country. The agents say that the quick-thinking of a quarterback coupled with Nick's gaming experience make him perfect for this assignment. Entering The Realm gives Rick the one thing he thought he'd never have again: a body that's as fast and as strong as he ever was before the accident. But the more time he spends in The Realm, the more questions he has. What secrets are these agents keeping from him? What really happened to his father? How many others have gone into The Realm already and failed? And perhaps most important, is he the hero they think he is? Book 1 of 3 in the Mindwar Trilogy 

The Peripheral by William Gibson - Depending on her veteran brother's benefits in a city where jobs outside the drug trade are rare, Flynne assists her brother's latest beta-test tech assignment only to uncover an elaborate murder scheme.
"William Gibson returns with his first novel since 2010's New York Times-bestselling Zero History. Where Flynne and her brother, Burton, live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Fortunately, Burton has his veteran's benefits, for neural damage he suffered from implants during his time in the USMC's elite Haptic Recon force. Then one night Burton has to go out, but there's a job he's supposed to do-a job Flynne didn't know he had. Beta-testing part of a new game, he tells her. The job seems to be simple: work a perimeter around the image of a tower building. Little buglike things turn up. He's supposed to get in their way, edge them back. That's all there is to it. He's offering Flynne a good price to take over for him. What she sees, though, isn't what Burton told her to expect. It might be a game, but it might also be murder. 

Soda Pop Soldier by Nick Cole - Gamer PerfectQuestion fights for ColaCorp in WarWorld, an online combat sport arena where mega-corporations field entire armies in the battle for real world global advertising-space dominance. Within the immense virtual battlefield, players and bots are high-tech grunts, using drop-ships and state-of-the-art weaponry to wipe each other out. But times are tough and the rent is due, and when players need extra dough, there's always the Black, an illegal open source tournament where the sick and twisted desires of the future are given free rein in the Westhavens, a gothic dungeon fantasy world. And all too soon, the real and virtual worlds collide when PerfectQuestion refuses to become the tool of a mad man intent on hacking the global economy for himself.  Book 1 of 2 in the Soda Pop Soldier series

Z. Rex by Stephen Cole - You're 14 and find yourself on your own. Your father, who has developed the world's cutting edge research on virtual electronic game-playing, has been missing for weeks. And suddenly you're being hunted by men with guns, your picture is on the news, and, worst of all, something seemingly impossible is chasing you--a savage, man-eating dinosaur. How can that be? Why is everyone trying to capture you? And what is your strange connection with this 21st-century prehistoric monster? 

Video Games

Today is National Retro Video Game Day, so I'm featuring 10 books about video game history, culture, and more.

Art of Atari by Tim Lapetino - ATARI is one of the most recognized names in the world. Since its formation in 1972, the company pioneered hundreds of iconic titles including Asteroids, Centipede and Missile Command. In addition to hundreds of games created for arcades, home video systems, and computers, original artwork was specially commissioned to enhance the Atari experience, further enticing children and adults to embrace and enjoy the new era of electronic entertainment. ART OF ATARI is the first official collection of such artwork. Sourced from museums and private collections worldwide, this book spans over 40 years of the company's unique illustrations used in packaging, advertisements, catalogs, and more!

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games are Made by Jason Schreier - You've got your dream job--making video games. You have a great project, great designs, and clever controls. One morning, you get a call from your producer. Turns out that wall-jumping trick won't work because the artists don't have time to design a separate animation just for the plumber to move that way. Also, your lead designer keeps micromanaging the programmers, which is driving them crazy. Your E3 demo is due in two weeks, and you know there's no way you can get it done in less than four. You'll have to cut out some of the game's biggest features just to hit your deadlines. And suddenly the investor is asking if maybe you can slash that $10 million budget down to $8 million, even if you have to fire a few people to make it happen? Welcome to video game development. In his years covering the industry, Jason Schreier has often heard developers say that any game actually released is a miracle. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Schreier takes you behind the scenes of some of the biggest recent games to share never-before-told stories of the struggles and failures the development teams faced along the way. His reputation for great storytelling and fly-on-the-wall detail will provide readers with the clearest picture yet of what actually goes on behind the scenes. Each chapter will cover a different game, from major studios with nine-figure budgets to indie games with half a dozen people on their teams. The chapters will also focus on a variety of subjects in the process, from building the basics to adjusting for fan reaction post-launch. Blood, Sweat, and Pixels will give readers an unparalleled inside look at one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world.

Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation by Blake J. Harris - A mesmerizing, behind-the-scenes business thriller that chronicles how Sega, a small, scrappy gaming company led by an unlikely visionary and a team of rebels, took on the juggernaut Nintendo and revolutionized the videogame industry-- in development as a feature film from Sony Pictures in 1990, Nintendo had a virtual monopoly on the videogame industry. Sega, on the other hand, was just a faltering arcade company with big aspirations and even bigger personalities. But all that would change with the arrival of Tom Kalinske, a former Mattel executive who knew nothing about videogames and everything about fighting uphill battles. His unconventional tactics, combined with the blood, sweat, and bold ideas of his renegade employees, completely transformed Sega and led to a ruthless, David-and-Goliath showdown with Nintendo. Little did he realize that Sega's success would create many new enemies and, most important, make Nintendo stronger than ever.The battle was vicious, relentless, and highly profitable, eventually sparking a global corporate war that would be fought on several fronts: from living rooms and school yards to boardrooms and Congress. It was a once-in-a-lifetime, no-holds-barred conflict that pitted brother against brother, kid against adult, Sonic against Mario, and the United States against Japan.Based on more than two hundred interviews with former Sega and Nintendo employees, Console Wars is the tale of how Tom Kalinske miraculously turned an industry punch line into a market leader. Blake J. Harris brings into focus the warriors, the strategies, and the battles and explores how they transformed popular culture forever. Ultimately, Console Wars is the story of how a humble family man, with an extraordinary imagination and a gift for turning problems into competitive advantages, inspired a team of underdogs to slay a giant and, as a result, give birth to a sixty-billion-dollar industry.

Game On!: Video Game History From Pac-Man to Mario, Minecraft, and More by Dustin Hansen - Find out about the fast and furious growth and evolution of video games (including how they are quickly taking over the world!) by looking at some of the most popular, innovative, and influential games ever, from Pong, the very first arcade game ever, to modern hits like Uncharted.  Learn about the creators and inspiration (Mario was named after Nintendo's landlord after he barged into a staff meeting demanding rent), discover historical trivia and Easter eggs (The developers of Halo 2 drank over 24,000 gallons of soda while making the game), and explore the innovations that make each game special (The ghosts in Pac-Man are the first example of AI in a video game).  Whether you consider yourself a hard-core gamer or are just curious to see what everyone is talking about,Game On! is the book for you!

A History of Video Games in 64 Objects by the World Video Game Hall of Fame - Inspired by the groundbreaking A History of the World in 100 Objects, this book draws on the unique collections of The Strong museum in Rochester, New York, to chronicle the evolution of video games, from Pong to first-person shooters, told through the stories of dozens of objects essential to the field's creation and development.  Drawing on the World Video Game Hall of Fame's unmatched collection of video game artifacts, this fascinating history offers an expansive look at the development of one of the most popular and influential activities of the modern world: video gaming.  Sixty-four unique objects tell the story of the video game from inception to today. Pithy, in-depth essays and photographs examine each object's significance to video game play--what it has contributed to the history of gaming--as well as the greater culture.

Replay: The History of Video Games by Tristan Donovan - A riveting account of the strange birth and remarkable evolution of the most important development in entertainment since television, Replay is the ultimate history of video games. Based on extensive research and over 140 exclusive interviews with key movers and shakers from gaming's past, Replay tells the sensational story of how the creative vision of game designers gave rise to one of the world's most popular and dynamic art forms.

Significant Zero: Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games by Walt Williams - From the award-winning videogame writer behind Spec Ops: The Line comes an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how today's blockbuster video games are made. When his satirical musings in a college newspaper got him discharged from the Air Force, it became clear to Walt Williams that his destiny in life was to be a writer--he just never thought he'd end up writing video games, let alone working on some of the most successful franchises in the industry--Bioshock, Civilization, Borderlands, and Mafia among others. Williams pulls back the curtain on an astonishingly profitable industry that has put its stamp on pop culture and yet is little known to those outside its walls. In his reflective yet comically-observant voice, Williams walks you through his unlikely and at times inglorious rise within one of the world's top gaming companies, exposing an industry abundant in brain power and out-sized egos, but struggling to stay innovative. Significant Zero also provides clear-eyed criticism of the industry's addiction to violence and explains how the role of the narrative designer--the poor soul responsible for harmonizing gameplay with storylines--is crucial for expanding the scope of video games into more immersive and emotional experiences. Significant Zero offers a rare look inside this fascinating, billion-dollar industry and a path forward for its talented men and women--gamers and nongamers alike--that imagines how video games might inspire the best in all of us.

Supercade: A Visual History of the Video Game Age, 1971-1984 by Van Burnham - Remarkably, the first interactive computer game was programmed in 1958 ("Tennis for Two," devised as a way to occupy bored guests to Brookhaven National Laboratory), and the first commercially available hardware able to download games over telephone lines was produced in 1982 (Gameline, a modem marketed for the Atari 2600 game system). These are but two of the many fascinating facts in this lively, colorful history of the golden years of the video game (i.e., the years before the personal computer became the primary medium of the games). The author, a contributing editor to Wired magazine, enlists the help of numerous experts in the field to tell this splashy story in a detailed but userfriendly style. For some readers, this will be a trip down memory lane (Atari, Activision, Pong, Space Invaders, PacMan); for others, an eyeopening story about the quest for video-game supremacy. Either way, it's a winner.  (David Pitt, Booklist)

The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon - The Story Behind the Crazy That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World by Steven L. Kent - With all the whiz, bang, pop, and shimmer of a glowing arcade. The Ultimate History of Video Games reveals everything you ever wanted to know and more about the unforgettable games that changed the world, the visionaries who made them, and the fanatics who played them. From the arcade to television and from the PC to the handheld device, video games have entraced kids at heart for nearly 30 years. And author and gaming historian Steven L. Kent has been there to record the craze from the very beginning.
This engrossing book tells the incredible tale of how this backroom novelty transformed into a cultural phenomenon. Through meticulous research and personal interviews with hundreds of industry luminaries, you'll read firsthand accounts of how yesterday's games like Space Invaders, Centipede, and Pac-Man helped create an arcade culture that defined a generation, and how today's empires like Sony, Nintendo, and Electronic Arts have galvanized a multibillion-dollar industry and a new generation of games.

Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time by Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton - Vintage Games explores the most influential videogames of all time, including Super Mario Bros., Grand Theft Auto III, Doom, The Sims and many more. Drawing on interviews as well as the authors' own lifelong experience with videogames, the book discusses each game's development, predecessors, critical reception, and influence on the industry. It also features hundreds of full-color screenshots and images, including rare photos of game boxes and other materials. Vintage Games is the ideal book for game enthusiasts and professionals who desire a broader understanding of the history of videogames and their evolution from a niche to a global market.