SOLVED. sci-fi/dystopian main char. was male set in LA in the future. Most people live in the city and all reside in one giant building. The main character decides to be a contestant on a reality game show where they are just trying to not be killed [s]

[Jo]

I read this book in 2010 I believe. It was new or published no earlier than 2008.

The main character was male and it was set in LA in the future. Most people live in the city and all reside in one giant building. The main character decides to be a contestant on a reality game show where they are just trying to not be killed. I don't think they kill each other, I think the tv show has guns?? And they try to kill the contestants? And they have explosives rigged in certain buildings. I know they shoot the tv footage from helicopters.

It's all I remember but it's really been bugging me. Thanks.

[Cassandra]

The Running Man by Stephen King/Richard Bachman?

[Jo]

No but thanks

[Kate]

The Seventh Victim is a short story in Is That What People Do? Short Stories by Robert Sheckley.

Here's a blurb about the story: "The Seventh Victim" (1953) was a short story by science fiction author Robert Sheckley that depicted a futuristic game in which one player gets to hunt down another player and kill him. The first player who can score ten kills wins the grand prize. This story was the basis for the film The 10th Victim (1965), also known by its Italian title, La decima vittima.

Some other possibilities:
* You're Another, a 1955 short story by Damon Knight, is about a man who discovers that he is an actor in a "livie", a live-action show that is viewed by billions of people in the future.

* "The Prize of Peril"[70] (1958), another Robert Sheckley story, was about a television show in which a contestant volunteers to be hunted for a week by trained killers, with a large cash prize if he survives. It was adapted in 1970 as the TV movie Das Millionenspiel, and again in 1983 as the movie Le Prix du Danger.

* "It Could Be You" (1964), a short story by Australian Frank Roberts, features a day-in-day-out televised blood sport.

* Survivor (1965), a science fiction story by Walter F. Moudy, depicted the 2050 "Olympic War Games" between Russia and the United States. The games are fought to show the world the futility of war and thus deter further conflict. Each side has one hundred soldiers who fight with rifles, mortars, and machine guns in a large natural arena. The goal is for one side to wipe out the other; the few who survive the battle become heroes. The games are televised, complete with color commentary discussing tactics, soldiers' personal backgrounds, and slow-motion replays of their deaths.

[Jo]

Thanks but this was a newly published book, no earlier than 2009.

[Fresno Bob]

is it "The Extra" by Michael Shea?

The Extra

[Jo]

Oh my god, yes. Thanks, you rock! How do we move this thread to "solved"?