Download or read book Solarversia written by MR Toby Downton and published by Toby Downton. This book was released on 2015-08-18 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's the 29th February 2020 and Nova Negrahnu cannot wait to start playing Solarversia, a year-long game based in a virtual world that's modelled on the real world solar system. Given three lives, three vehicles, and told to master the Science of Solarversia to stand a chance of winning, players compete against 100 million people for the 10m grand prize, and a place in the history books. Solarversia starts three months before Nova's A-levels, the life-changing exams that could see her win a place at Nottingham, the university that Charlie attends, the second-year student she falls for on an open-day visit. As she strains to balance her addiction to the game with her mounting schoolwork, Nova's world is unexpectedly turned upside down when the Holy Order, a mysterious cult-like organisation sets its sights on the game and Spiralwerks, its creator. Told from three different perspectives - Nova the gamer, Artica Kronkite, the CEO of Spiralwerks, and Casey Brown, a newly-initiated member of the Holy Order - Solarversia is a game that author Toby Downton hopes to make for real, to launch in 2020, so that people can actually play it. From the initial press release: The world of virtual reality is about to fundamentally reshape the way in which we live, work and play. The Oculus Rift - the much-lauded and potentially transformational VR headset, which broke crowdfunding records in 2012, and was recently acquired by Facebook for $2 billion - is scheduled to launch in early 2016. While its most obvious impact will hit the world's 700 million plus gamers, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes the potential VR impact to be far more profound: "Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face - just by putting on goggles in your home." The relatively new genre of litRPG, or virtual reality inspired science fiction centred around the gaming industry, is booming, with Ernest Cline's bestseller Ready Player One already in production for a major movie adaptation with Spielberg directing. Downton is emerging as a driving force in the VR revolution. His novel Solaversia is just the first step in his thrillingly ambitious multi-platform story-telling experience that will explore the relationships between artificial intelligence, technology and the human spirit. Downton has incorporated his tech-company - Spiralwerks - in the real world, developing Solarversia as a commercially available game, ready to storm the games market in 2020. Accompanying the publication of Solarversia is the Golden Ticket promotion, which will enable readers to win one of a hundred specially reserved places within the Player's Grid, through a series of innovative competitions."

Download or read book For the Win written by Cory Doctorow and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2011 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative and exhilarating tale of teen rebellion against global corporations from the New York Times bestselling author of Little Brother. Not far in the future... In the twenty-first century, it's not just capital that's globalized: labour is too. Workers in special economic zones are trapped in lives of poverty with no trade unions to represent their rights. But a group of teenagers from across the world are set to fight this injustice using the most surprising of tools - their online video games. In Industrial South China Matthew and his friends labour day and night as gold-farmers, amassing virtual wealth that's sold on to rich Western players, while in the slums of Mumbai 'General Robotwallah' Mala marshalls her team of online thugs on behalf of the local gang-boss, who in turn works for the game-owners. They're all being exploited, as their friend Wei-Dong, all the way over in LA, knows, but can do little about. Until they begin to realize that their similarities outweigh their differences, and agree to work together to claim their rights to fair working conditions. Under the noses of the ruling elites in China and the rest of Asia, they fight their bosses, the owners of the games and rich speculators, outsmarting them all with their gaming skills. But soon the battle will spill over from the virtual world to the real one, leaving Mala, Matthew and even Wei-Dong fighting not just for their rights, but for their lives...

Download or read book Ready Player One written by Ernest Cline and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-08-16 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. “Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA Today • “As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates.”—Entertainment Weekly A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready? In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days. When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself. Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly • San Francisco Chronicle • Village Voice • Chicago Sun-Times • iO9 • The AV Club “Delightful . . . the grown-up’s Harry Potter.”—HuffPost “An addictive read . . . part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart.”—CNN “A most excellent ride . . . Cline stuffs his novel with a cornucopia of pop culture, as if to wink to the reader.”—Boston Globe “Ridiculously fun and large-hearted . . . Cline is that rare writer who can translate his own dorky enthusiasms into prose that’s both hilarious and compassionate.”—NPR “[A] fantastic page-turner . . . starts out like a simple bit of fun and winds up feeling like a rich and plausible picture of future friendships in a world not too distant from our own.”—iO9

Download or read book Freedom TM written by Daniel Suarez and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-01-07 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller Daemon unleashed a terrifying technological vision of an all-powerful, malicious computer program. Now, our world is the Daemon's world—unless someone stops it once and for all... The Daemon is in absolute control, using an expanded network of shadowy operatives to tear apart civilization and build it anew. Even as civil war breaks out in the American Midwest in a wave of nightmarish violence, former detective Pete Sebeck—the Daemon's most powerful, though reluctant, operative—must lead a small band of enlightened humans in a movement designed to protect the new world order. But the private armies of global business are preparing to crush the Daemon once and for all. In a world of shattered loyalties, collapsing societies, and seemingly endless betrayal, the only thing worth fighting for may be nothing less than the freedom of all humankind.

Download or read book This Adventure Ends written by Emma Mills and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A contemporary novel about a girl who finds friendship and love following a fateful move to a new town.

Download or read book Summer of Sloane written by Erin L. Schneider and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2016-05-04 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Warm Hawaiian sun. Lazy beach days. Flirty texts with her boyfriend back in Seattle. These are the things seventeen-year-old Sloane McIntyre pictured when she imagined the summer she'd be spending at her mom's home in Hawaii with her twin brother, Penn. Instead, after learning an unthinkable secret about her boyfriend, Tyler, and best friend, Mick, all she has is a fractured hand and a completely shattered heart. Once she arrives in Honolulu, though, Sloane hopes that Hawaii might just be the escape she needs. With beach bonfires, old friends, exotic food, and the wonders of a waterproof cast, there's no reason Sloane shouldn't enjoy her summer. And when she meets Finn McAllister, the handsome son of a hotel magnate who doesn't always play by the rules, she knows he's the perfect distraction from everything that's so wrong back home. But it turns out a measly ocean isn't nearly enough to stop all the emails, texts, and voicemails from her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend, desperate to explain away their betrayal. And as her casual connection with Finn grows deeper, Sloane's carefree summer might not be as easy to come by as she'd hoped. Weighing years of history with Mick and Tyler against their deception, and the delicate possibility of new love, Sloane must decide when to forgive, and when to live for herself.

Download or read book Time Between Us written by Tamara Ireland Stone and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2012-10-16 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett's unique ability to travel through time and space brings him into Anna's life, and with him, a new world of adventure and possibility. As their relationship deepens, they face the reality that time might knock Bennett back where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate-and what consequences they can bear in order to stay together. Fresh, exciting, and deeply romantic, Time Between Us is a stunning and spellbinding debut from an extraordinary new talent in YA fiction. "A beautifully written, unique love story." --Melissa Marr, New York Times best-selling author of The Wicked Lovelyseries "The story will hold readers with its twists and turns, present and future; its love, sadness, and anger; and especially, its surprising secrets." -- Booklist "A warm, time-bending romance [that] will have readersrooting for the couple that keeps daring fate." -- Publishers Weekly "Time Between Us is the very best kind of love story --heart-pounding, intense, and unputdownable!" -- Elizabeth Scott, author ofBloom and Perfect You

Download or read book Rules of Play written by Katie Salen Tekinbas and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-09-25 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An impassioned look at games and game design that offers the most ambitious framework for understanding them to date. As pop culture, games are as important as film or television—but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games. Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance. Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.

Download or read book Book Marketing Is Dead written by Derek Murphy and published by Creativindie. This book was released on 2013-12-31 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to sell a ton of books (even if you're starting with no platform). If you've found this book I'm assuming you have or will soon have a book out on the market, and are exploring ways to turn it into a best-selling powerhouse that will slaughter the competition and pay for your retirement. The indie publishing world is thrilling because of the possible returns, and I hope you and your book do well. You're probably searching for things like "book marketing" and "book promotion" so you can learn how to find readers and convince them to buy your book. But almost everything you read will be wrong. That's because marketing in general is dead. Advertising is dead. Selling and convincing people to buy: also dead. The new law of book sales is this: if you're talking about your book, promoting your book, sharing your book... you're screwing it all up. Don't make "Old School" marketing mistakes that will sabotage your efforts! This book will help you to... Avoid the common mistakes that kill book sales Set up an author platform quickly that will triple your results Use Social Media (like an expert) without being annoying Advertise for maximum impact (at the lowest cost) Make powerful friends online who can move thousands of books Before you spend a lot of money on book marketing services or author publicity... Make sure you've plugged all the holes in your sales funnel so you're not throwing money away. If you're looking for a "Bestseller Campaign" but don't have a big budget... This book will show you plenty of ways to improve sales without spending a dime.

Download or read book AlterWorld written by D Rus and published by . This book was released on 2014-07-18 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: cation Date: July 18, 2014 A new pandemic - the perma effect - has taken over Earth of the near future. Whenever you play your favorite online game, beware: your mind might merge with the virtual world and dump its comatose host. Woe be to those stuck forever in Tetris! And still they're the lucky ones compared to those burning alive eternally within the scorched hulls of tank simulators. But some unfortunates - the handicapped and the terminally ill, shell-shocked army vets, wronged crime victims and other society misfits - choose to flee real life willingly, escaping to the limitless world of online sword and sorcery MMORPGs. Once a seasoned gamer and now a terminal cancer patient, Max grasps at this final chance to preserve his life and identity. So he goes for it - goes for the promise of immortality shared with a few trusty friends and the woman he loves. Together they roam the roads of AlterWorld and sample its agony and ecstasy born of absolute freedom.

Download or read book Metagame written by Sam Landstrom and published by 47North. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Speculative science fiction at its finest, MetaGame by Sam Landstrom is a 'future gamers' field guide and a philosophical cyberpunk adventure. In this original and disturbingly irreverent prospective world, gaming is more than a diversion--and gamers are, literally, in it for life. The OverSoul, an enigmatic, unifying force, offers winners points that add up to currency. Reigning champs are given the gift of immortality--while losers are condemned to aging and death. D_Light is one of the best players in his Family and will do anything to win, even if it means committing murder. When he's invited to a MetaGame--an exclusive, high-stakes competition--he jumps at the chance. But after the first quest, D_Light's overly ambitious ways brand him a renegade. With a warped sense of freewill that is needed to prevail, D_Light must either kill someone he's grown to love--or lose everything.

Download or read book The Fortunate Fall written by Raphael Carter and published by . This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reporter Maya Andreyeva is a "camera," broadcasting her perceptions to millions from her virtual-reality cranial implants. Maya's discovery of a covert state-approved massacre raises dangerous issues involving conspiracy, tyranny, and mind control. Author Raphael Carter's ingenious tale takes a compelling look at the role of media in shaping historical narrative. "Vibrant, sweet, and tragic ... Carter attempts impossible things and succeeds brilliantly." ― Jonathan Lethem.

Download or read book The Way of the World written by David Fromkin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-01-09 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did we get here? David Fromkin provides arresting and dramatic answers to the questions we ask ourselves as we approach the new millennium. He maps and illuminates the paths by which humanity came to its current state, giving coherence and meaning to the main turning points along the way by relating them to a vision of things to come. His unconventional approach to narrating universal history is to focus on the relevant past and to single out the eight critical evolutions that brought the world from the Big Bang to the eve of the twenty-first century. He describes how human beings survived by adapting to a world they had not yet begun to make their own, and how they created and developed organized society, religion, and warfare. He emphasizes the transformative forces of art and the written word, and the explosive effects of scientific discoveries. He traces the course of commerce, exploration, the growth of law, and the quest for freedom, and details how their convergence led to the world of today. History's great movements and moments are here: the rise of the first empires in Mesopotamia; the exodus from Pharaoh's Egypt; the coming of Moses, Confucius, the Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad; the fall of the Roman Empire; the rise of China; Vasco da Gama finding the sea road to India that led to unification of the globe under European leadership. Connections are made: the invention of writing, of the alphabet, of the printing press, and of the computer lead to an information revolution that is shaping the world of tomorrow. The industrial, scientific, and technological revolutions are related to the credit revolution that lies behind today's world economy. The eighty-year world war of the twentieth century, which ended only on August 31, 1994, when the last Russian troops left German soil, points the way to a long but perhaps troubled peace in the twenty-first. Where are we now? The Way of the World asserts that the human race has been borne on the waters of a great river--a river of scientific and technological innovation that has been flowing in the Western world for a thousand years, and that now surges forward more strongly than ever. This river highway, it says, has become the way of the world; and because the constitutional and open society that the United States champions is uniquely suited to it, America will be the lucky country of the centuries to come. Fromkin concludes by examining some of the choices that lie ahead for a world still constrained by its past and by human nature but endowed by science with new powers and possibilities. He pictures exciting prospects ahead--if the United States takes the lead, and can develop wisdom on a scale to match its good fortune.

Download or read book Christian s Journey written by Karl Schaller and published by Chariot Victor Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic Pilgrim's Progress retold for today's children! Filled with whimsical characters and adventures, this book will delight your children for years to come

Download or read book Heir Apparent written by Vivian Vande Velde and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2002 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sample Text

Download or read book You written by Austin Grossman and published by Mulholland Books. This book was released on 2013-04-16 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Russell joins Black Arts games, brainchild of two visionary designers who were once his closest friends, he reunites with an eccentric crew of nerds hacking the frontiers of both technology and entertainment. In part, he's finally given up chasing the conventional path that has always seemed just out of reach. But mostly, he needs to know what happened to Simon, his strangest and most gifted friend, who died under mysterious circumstances soon after Black Arts' breakout hit. As the company's revolutionary next-gen game is threatened by a software glitch, Russell finds himself in a race to save his job, Black Arts' legacy, and the people he has grown to care about. The deeper Russell digs, the more dangerous the glitch appears -- and soon, Russell comes to realize there's much more is at stake than just one software company's bottom line.

Download or read book The Rich Employee written by James Altucher and published by . This book was released on 2015-09-01 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. Many of us are happy to have a job, we just want a better job, one that fulfills us, makes us wealthy, and brings us satisfaction.Still, income is now permanently going down versus inflation for the average employee. Industry, knowledge, and management are all being outsourced cheaply to other countries or to technology. Many people mistakenly think that the solution is entrepreneurship. That "entrepreneurship is the pathway to riches". This is not true. Being an entrepreneur does have great upside but also it has a well-known rate of failure of 85%. There is no way to predict your way out of that 85%. 85% of ALL startups fail. The solution is to become a rich employee with the mindset and techniques described in this book. This is the first book ever to detail how one can become a The Rich Employee in our times. And there is more: companies in this new century will only succeed if they encourage their employees to develop a Rich Employee mindset. Written by the author of "The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth" which USA Today has called "One of the 12 Best Business Books of All Time" and also the author of WSJ and USA Today bestseller "Choose Yourself" which Forbes recently called one of the "Top Five Books Every Entrepreneur Must Read", this book gives you the tools to find satisfaction, meaning, and true wealth as a rich employee.