“Halting State [is] a near-future story that is at once over-the-top and compellingly believable.” – Vernor Vinge, author of Rainbows End        
      
In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates—a dot-com start-up...

"The inventive and hauntingly timely story of a seventeen-year-old coder's catapult to stardom, reminiscent of The Social Network with a Ready Player One twist. For seventeen-year-old Opal Hopper, code is magic. She can build entire worlds from scratch -- shimmering lakes, Mars craters, any virtual experience her heart desires. But she can't code her dad back into her life. When he disappeared after her tenth birthday, leaving only a cryptic note,...

While playing a total immersion virtual reality game of kings and intrigue, fourteen-year-old Giannine learns that demonstrators have damaged the equipment to which she is connected, and she must win the game quickly or be damaged herself. In the virtual reality game Heir Apparent, there are way too many ways to get killed -- and Giannine seems to be finding them all. Unless she can get the magic ring, find the stolen treasure, answer the dwarf's...

"Be careful of what you mod for, you just might get it! The new kid, Theo, has modding skills that are just right for adventuring in the mysterious world of Minecraft, but his meddling may have also just created a monstrous new threat. Now his friends don't trust him, but it's going to take everyone working together to defeat this hostile mob and face the changes caused by a crack in the code!"--publisher

"A story collection, in the vein of Carmen Maria Machado, Kelly Link, and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, spanning worlds and dimensions, using strange and speculative elements to tackle issues ranging from class differences to immigration to first-generation experiences to xenophobia. What does it mean to be other? This question murmurs in the heart of each of Brenda Peynado's strange and singular stories. Threaded with magic, transcending time and place,...

Tom, a fourteen-year-old genius at virtual reality games, is recruited by the United States Military to begin training at the Pentagon Spire as a Combatant in World War III, controlling the mechanized drones that do the actual fighting off-planet.

"A work-from-home comedy where WFH meets WTF. Told entirely through clever and captivating Slack messages, this irresistible, relatable satire of both virtual work and contemporary life is The Office for a new world. Gerald, a mid-level employee of a New York-based public relations firm has been uploaded into the company's internal Slack channels--at least his consciousness has. His colleagues assume it's an elaborate gag to exploit the new work-from...

Entrepreneurs often suffer from superhero syndrome -- the misconception that to be successful, they must do everything themselves. Not only are they the boss, but also the salesperson, HR manager, copywriter, operations manager, online marketing guru, and so much more. It's no wonder why so many people give up the dream of starting a business - its just too much for one person to handle. But Chris Ducker, outsourcing expert and Virtual CEO, knows...

"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 in Scott Moore's Battle of the Linguist Mages. 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 meaning that warp perception when...

Bluescreen is a stunning deluge of imagination, filled with suspense and twists and unforgettable characters. This book is just plain awesome. -James Dashner, bestselling author of The Maze Runner From Dan Wells, author of the New York Times bestselling Partials Sequence, comes the first book in a new sci-fi-noir series. Los Angeles in 2050 is a city of open doors, as long as you have the right connections. That connection is a djinni-a smart device...