Omnitopia #1: Omnitopia Dawn
Click to order the hardcover edition
E-book editions: Sony Reader | Kindle
Audiobook: iTunes Store
Audio CD & MP3-CD edition: Tantor Media
E-book editions: Sony Reader | Kindle
Audiobook: iTunes Store
Audio CD & MP3-CD edition: Tantor Media
A new near-future technothriller from the author Kirkus Reviews describes as "one of the finest current writers of speculative fiction."
It's the first quarter of the twenty-first century, and "massively multiplayer" online games have been around for a couple of decades. In an increasingly wired and computer-friendly world they've become a form of entertainment so popular they're giving television and films a run for their money. And the most popular gaming universe of all is Omnitopia, created by genius programmer Dev Logan.
For millions of people around the world, Omnitopia is an obsession, a passionate pastime, almost a way of life. Omnitopia is a virtual place where dreams come true -- players can create their own universes within the game's structure, and participate in the profits if their piece of the universe is a hit. Fifty million players routinely play in Omnitopia, and at any given time, nearly a million of them are online, living in a world more real to them then their own.
Worldwide, Omnitopia is now as much a culture as a game. Participants can become involved in it in a hundred different ways. Some game as if their lives depended on it, spending thousands of hours or thousands of dollars, or both, on quests in search of "game glory" among their fellow players. Some game only to acquire sufficient in-game "value" to become entitled to become subcreators themselves, able to build new levels and start raking in the so-called "one percent of infinity" which is the leveler's share of the profits. Some people do nothing but design online weapons and other items for Omnitopia gamers, and sell them -- or act as brokers, buying and selling game artifacts to order. Some subcreators, "unreal estate" dealers, do the same kind of design and creation, but for tailored Microcosms or slices of them. Some players speculate in game "gold" on the success or popularity of Microcosms, rather than actually playing in them. And of course there are thieves and swindlers, cheaters who live to find the loophole in the game that will make them rich in the real world.
Now Dev and his people are preparing to roll out a major new expansion to the Omnitopia system. And even as players, staff, the media, and the heavy hitters on the world financial scene wait eagerly for this fast-approaching and momentous event, others are preparing to play a very different game: one meant to strike at the heart of Omnitopia and bring the entire system crashing down....
Coming in 2011 from DAW Books: Omnitopia: East Wind
The "Tale of the Five" / Middle Kingdoms novels now in ebook format!
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This is the series that marked Diane Duane's entry into the fantasy field, and brought her her first award nominations (for the John W. Campbell Award for best new SF/fantasy writer). Since then the Tale of the Five has been hailed for its groundbreaking approach to sword and sorcery, as relevant now as when the books made their debut.
The three "Middle Kingdoms" novels are now available as ebooks in all the major formats. Click on the cover images for download / purchase info.
Young Wizards book 9: A Wizard of Mars
Wizardry rises on the Red Planet...
Young wizards Kit Rodriguez and Nita Callahan become part of an elite team investigating the mysterious, long-sought "message in a bottle" that holds the first clues to the secrets of the long-lost inhabitants of Mars. But not even wizardry is enough to cope with the strange events that start to unfold when the "bottle" is uncorked and life emerges once more to shake the Red Planet with its own perilous and baffling brand of magic.
The good news is that the Martians seem friendly. The bad news is that now they're free to pick up where they left off on a long-dormant plan that could change the shape of more than one world… and they don't mind using their well-intentioned rescuers to achieve their goals. Kit’s long-standing fascination with all things Martian unexpectedly enmeshes him in a terrible, age-old conflict -- turning him into both a possible key to its solution, and a tool that in the wrong hands shortly threatens the whole human race.
Only Kit has a shot at defusing the threat. But when he vanishes unexpectedly from the Mars of here and now, his fellow wizards are left uncertain of where his true loyalties lie. Nita’s determination to find the truth – and Kit – soon sends her into battle against an implacable enemy who may not be conquerable except by violating wizardry’s most basic tenets. As the shadow of interplanetary war stretches ever more darkly over both worlds, Kit and Nita must fight to understand and master the strange and ancient synergy binding them to Mars and its last inhabitants… or the history that left Mars lifeless will repeat itself on Earth.
Kirkus Reviews says: "One of the finest current writers of speculative fiction pays loving homage to its Golden Age in this ninth title in the Young Wizards series. ...Duane's worldbuilding gleams with crystalline precision, a-glitter with lapidary characterization. Mundane dilemmas integrate smoothly with world-shaking crises, shot through with sparkling humor, and space-opera adventures resolve upon the subtle ethical interplay between right choices for wrong reasons, wrong choices for right reasons and all the shades of gray in between. ...For [the series's] many fans, an eminently satisfying addition. Best of all, unresolved subplots promise number ten is on the way."
Order from Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble
Kindle version of A Wizard of Mars now available
The first e-book version of A Wizard of Mars is now available from the Kindle store at Amazon.com.
Click here for the Kindle version!
