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Any books with virtual reality as a theme?
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I haven't read either of those books but The Big Crunch (e-book at amzn.to/1rM3p5L is the story of a video games inventor whose life starts to resemble one of the games he invents - and unwelcome (but necessary) images from his own life start to intrude when he's debugging one of the games. VR encroaching on life and vice versa. And he decides, reality kills. Check out the sample - download the book, hope you enjoy it. Find it on the first page of Lad Lit at Kindle e-books, 2nd page of Urban Noir and go to Shady Deeds to see it there! (Shameless self-promotion I know.) Hope you enjoy it - if so, please leave a review.
Medeas, Amazon gave me an error saying 'Only available to UK users.' The premise sounds very interesting, though.
That's strange because it is supposed to have world-wide distribution rights - but that's really interesting information - I'll try and get onto them about that. In the meantime, I'll send you a free copy as an attachment if you let me have your e-mail address (tho' I'd like you to give me a review, if that's OK.)
There was one by Piers Anthony, but I can't remember the name...
My book: 'The Preponderant Factor' takes place mostly inside virtual worlds of outmost reality. The players have brain interfaces. http://alpha0books.com/thepreponderan...
Sure, it'd be my first book review. I'd be glad to read it.Email - prestonorrick@yahoo.com
Neuromancer is the originator of the cyber punk genre, in which characters are plugged into a machine environment inside a computer system - The Matrix trilogy took this theme. So these people are in a virtual reality. The Otherland series by Tad Williams follows characters between one VR world and others.
I've been looking for Neuromancer at my local library. I'll check out The Otherland series as well, thanks!
Preston wrote: "Medeas, Amazon gave me an error saying 'Only available to UK users.' The premise sounds very interesting, though."This will get you to the US site:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JMSPAFQ
I read Luckbane recently and it was really good. It has a spin on virtual reality though. It starts off virtual and then becomes real. Not sure if it's what you're looking for but figured it was worth sharing.
Clare wrote: "Neuromancer is the originator of the cyber punk genre, in which characters are plugged into a machine environment inside a computer system..."Widely held to be the original cyber punk genre read but by no means the first book with VR at its core. For example (discounting short stories), A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick, published in 1970, 14 years before Neuromancer.
Preston wrote: "I've been looking for Neuromancer at my local library. I'll check out The Otherland series as well, thanks!"I'd think really, really hard about Otherland before starting in on it. Each book is like 800 - 1,200 pages and there are 4 books total.
I really liked the overall concept and world of that work, HOWEVER, I actively advocate people not reading it because it is the biggest overblown story I've ever read. He goes on for chapters doing literally nothing to advance the plot...all he ends up doing throughout most of the story is try to wow you with how creative he can get with virtual worlds.
...and he's not all that creative when it comes to that. For example, you've got whole chapters or more dedicated to putting the main characters into Alice in Wonderland, War of the Worlds, The Wizard of Oz and (literally) retelling the whole story of the Iliad.
Someone needed to slap him and force him to cut at least 1/3rd of the whole book. Plenty of other good stuff in there, but he kills the whole project with his egregious padding out of everything.
Thanks Preston for getting back to me - I did send a message to Amazon but they haven't replied - I'll still send you an e-mail attachment of The Big Crunch if you'd like. Just let me know
Medeas, Al's message took me to the correct site.
Hi Preston - Amazon KDP just got back to me and gave me the same link you have. Must be the bitly
Medeas wrote: "Hi Preston - Amazon KDP just got back to me and gave me the same link you have. Must be the bitly"The bit.ly link pointed to the UK site (ends in "co.uk"). The US site ends in ".com". Everything before that is the same from site to site. Amazon has a number of local sites to serve various countries in their local currency and with local reviews and "popularity" ratings.
A book that does well in the UK and appears on page one for a category may tank in the U.S. and not be in the top 100 for the same category (and conversely). It's often a matter of local tastes.
Thanks Al for the information - that's good to know. (I am such a noob to all of this.)
A way to prevent this kind of mixup is to use SmartURLs (http://manage.smarturl.it/). You set up a SmartURL with the country-specific destinations; when users click on it, the plumbing behind the SmartURL figures out what country they're in and delivers them to the appropriate site. You need only put up one URL for all a company's territory-specific storefronts. I use them for Amazon (one for Kindle, one for trade paperback), B&N and iTunes.
Hi LanceThat's really useful - I clicked to that link and it was very easy to use, free as well and does the job as you say. You can also check your click-throughs by using it so that's helpful. Thanks again
NP. Make sure you set up an account with them so you can update your SmartURLs. It's free.
Can't say I have ever thought of or come across any such books but now that I think about it, it would make for a good read. I would want something along the lines of a Total Recall type premise but with a bit more conservative storyline and a strong main character.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Snow Crash (other topics)A Maze of Death (other topics)
Luckbane (other topics)
Daemon (other topics)
Any related books like that? Thanks.