At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut that is part quest, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots and flying DeLoreans.

"Michael and his friends, Sarah and Bryson, must stop the Mortality Doctrine and those behind it now as the fate of humanity is in the balance"-- The VirtNet combined the most cutting-edge technology and the most sophisticated gaming for a full mind-body experience. And it was Michael's passion. But now every time Michael sinks, he risks his life. The VirtNet has become a world of deadly consequences, and Kaine grows stronger by the day. The Mortality...

"Michael is a skilled internet gamer in a world of advanced technology. When a cyber-terrorist begins to threaten players, Michael is called upon to seek him and his secret's out"--

"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 themselves "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...

When the company behind Virtual Children creates a reality TV show called "The Substitute," 10 couples compete to raise a Virtual Child from birth to age 18 in a nine-month period where the prize is the right to keep their virtual child or risk it all for the chance of a real baby.

"In modern-day Los Angeles, a shadowy faction led by the governor of California develops the arcane art of combat linguistics, planting the seeds of a future totalitarian empire. Isobel is the queen of the medieval rave-themed VR game Sparkle Dungeon. Her prowess in the game makes her an ideal candidate to learn the secrets of power morphemes--unnaturally dense units of measuring warp perception when skillfully pronounced. But Isobel's reputation...

Helen Vectorvich just botched first contact. And she did it in both virtual reality and outer space. Only the most elite Far Reaches deep-space pilots get to run waldos: robots controlled from thousands of lightyears away via neural integration and quantum entanglement. Helen and her navigator were heading the construction of a wormhole gate that would connect Earth to the star, until a routine system check turned deadly. As nasty rumors swarm around...