Virtual Reality Fantasy

Neal Stephenson is a blazing new force on the sci-fi scene. With the groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, he has "vaulted onto the literary stage." It weaves virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility - in short, it is the gigathriller of the information age.

Refresh is an explosive, powerful short story about a near-future dystopia in which citizens can commodify every waking moment of their lives with computer-generated augmented reality. But this ubiquitous, game-changing technology can create dangerous consequences, especially for society’s most vulnerable people.

Colene does not know what to think of the stranger she has rescued. Darius tells her he has traveled from "his reality" to find her. In proving to Colene that other worlds do exist, he uses up the power of the artifact that would allow them to travel back to his universe.

The Singularity - the merger of man and machine into a greater whole - is finally within humanity's grasp. When programmer Jeff Lawing gets the opportunity to join Singularity Online, the world's first realistic VRMMO and the testing ground that will lead to the Singularity, he leaps to accept. Singularity is much more realistic and darker than Jeff had imagined, though.

Louis Parker is the divorced father of two teenagers who is still trying to find his life's purpose. After losing his job, Louie' financial situation convinces him he has nothing to lose if he agrees to test out a radical new virtual reality video game for a substantial fee. But Louie quickly learns that virtual reality is a lot more complicated than he realized. By the end of his seven days, is Louie trapped in virtual reality forever? If he is able to return to his own reality, is it the same one he started from, or has it immeasurably changed.

From the New York Times–bestselling author comes the second entry in the popular Otherland series. A small band of adventurers has penetrated the veil of secrecy that prevents the uninitiated from entering Otherland. But having broken into the amazing worlds within worlds that make up this...

Instead of enjoying the game, I found myself trapped inside my character's dead body. Now the only way I can save myself is by procuring the Scroll of Rebirth. The problem is my chances of getting it are slim. I'm an undead: an outlaw with no friends, only fickle allies and plenty of enemies. Who are only waiting for their chance to strike. My undead hangman character has to tread a razor's edge, with only the support of his fellow players preventing his imminent plunge into the abyss. But are they who they claim they are?

The year is 2245, and the world has undergone explosive growth in multiple industries. The age of Virtual Reality came long ago, opening up new fields for people to enjoy and seek employment. There were even those that chose to sacrifice their physical bodies, becoming digital existences that lived within Internet communities. But with the age of VR, everyone still dreamed of that next step, the next level of adventure.

Dying in virtual reality isn't fun, but facing bullets from real-world criminal overlords is really the pits. In such a desperate scenario, their demand to render them a service in VR doesn't sound like such a bad alternative. The problem is, the games played by spook agencies follow much harsher rules. For them, the absence of choice doesn't sound like a good excuse - not if you end up in the grindstones of their undercover schemes.

Two novellas set in Aliette de Bodard’s award-winning, critically acclaimed Xuya universe, a timeline where Asia became dominant, and where the space age has Confucian galactic empires of Vietnamese and Chinese inspiration. Contains The Citadel of Weeping Pearls and The Tea Master and the Detective.

Would you be prepared to work for free? How would you like to bust your hump for a large corporation 60-plus hours a week without a wage or a single day off for the vague promise of some mysterious perks in the distant future? You'd refuse point blank, wouldn't you? But what if the job in question was playing a state-of-the-art fantasy MMORPG game? And what if this was the only thing you're really good at? Especially considering that your in-game partner is someone really special to you - and this person already lives a virtual life?

Bullied at school and home, Ash finds respite from his unhappy life in virtual reality games. One night, he spends his meager savings to help a stranger, who thanks him with a copy of an old fantasy game called The Glass Realm. While exploring the game, Ash meets a seemingly humble shopkeeper named Ruby. But from the start, Ruby seems different than the other townsfolk-especially when she and Ash stumble across an in-game quest designed not for the player, but for Ruby to solve.

ZeitgeistIt's 1999 in Cyprus, an ancient island bejeweled with blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers and littered with rusting land mines, corroding barbed wire, and illegal sewage dumps. Here, in the Turkish half of the island, the ever-enterprising Leggy Starlitz has alighted, pausing on his mission to storm the Third World with the "G-7" girls, the cheapest, phoniest all-girl band ever to wear Wonderbras and spandex. And his market is staring him in the face.

Digitally reincarnated into the world's most powerful online video game, Clay must now find out what's happening on the outside to save those living in his world. On top of this, he's been pushed into a quest by a young paranoid king, nations are preparing for war, and a malevolent glitch continues its path of destruction.

The familiar world collapsed overnight. As the Transformation progressed, disasters occurred throughout the Earth. Materials changed their properties, new species of flora and fauna appeared. The Game converted our world into a huge dungeon, completely replacing the previous civilization. However, the alien plans for Earth began to go awry from the very beginning. The conversion was less successful than expected. An ordinary young man stole the bonus for the first gaming action, depriving the invaders of their perk.

Eure schöne neue Welt ist tödlich! Mit einem Schlag endet Vivians sorgenfreies Leben: Ihre Mutter Sofia wurde ermordet! Die erfolgreiche Game-Entwicklerin stand kurz vor dem Release eines bahnbrechenden Computerspiels. "White Maze" wird mit neuartigen Lucent-Kontaktlinsen gespielt - dank ihnen erleben die Spieler virtuelle Game-Welten mit allen Sinnen. Aber warum zerstörte Vivians Mutter kurz vor ihrem Tod die Prototypen der Linsen Zusammen mit dem schulbekannten Hacker Tom will Viv den Mord an Sofia aufklären. Dazu muss Viv selbst Lucent-Linsen einsetzen und tief in die virtuelle Welt eintauchen.

Mike Hagen, an American nicknamed "Crybaby", became one of those chosen to be given an augmented reality interface. However, his favorite game was an MMA fighter - possibly, for the reason that he'd never fought in real life, and the interface adapted itself to him.

When disaster strikes a cargo flight over the arctic, pilot Andre decides it's time to upload. He pays to have his brain sliced and scanned so his mind can live in the computerized, virtual world of Talespace. Since Talespace runs on the logic of a game, Andre takes full advantage. He becomes a high-flying pegasus learning the magic of the sky and battling monsters for the Night Queen. He's even in time for a fun little war.

Alex is one of us. An office rat during daytime, he spends sleepless nights playing his favorite MMO game: a familiar, predictable world which is about to collapse. A new virtual universe arrives to replace it, aggressively devouring all others: the Crystal Sphere. Alex gets involved in testing new technologies which promise to revolutionize gaming. Fitted out with a neuroimplant which provides a 100 percent authentic experience, he has to survive in the Crystal Sphere against all odds.

Murph lives on an ocean liner which has been set down in the corn fields of Kansas. He works as a security op and plays dangerous games in a virtual reality called Way Out. But Murph is lonely and wants to meet his online lover, Cat, in person. But who is Cat, exactly, and what secret is she keeping from Murph?