Five hackers. One game. Ten thousand Infected Undead. EPISODE 1: Deep Into The Game
When Zpocalypto gamer Jessica Daniels and her gang of code jackers decide to break into Gameland, a sprawling virtual reality complex located in the wastes of an abandoned Long Island, they never truly believe they'll see any of the mythical undead walkers of a decades-old outbreak. Not up close and personal, anyway. After all, nothing lasts that long without feeding. And besides, aren't there more imminent dangers to worry about, like getting arrested and conscripted early into Life Service, a civil obligation normally fulfilled after death?
They couldn't be more wrong.
All too soon after succeeding, the dangers they so brazenly dismissed become all too real. They don't plan to stay a moment longer. But if breaking into The Game was easy, getting back out is a killer.
Deep Into the Game is the first book in the hi-tech thriller series GAMELAND, a blend of cyberpunk, biopunk, action and horror. The series consists of eight episodes.
SERIES DESCRIPTION:
In the center of Long Island's forbidden wasteland, overseen by a powerful corporation known as Arc Properties, is GAMELAND, a massive virtual reality arcade where the rich and privileged act out their brutal fantasies. Using cybernetic links and holographic setups, Operators pit their Undead Players against each other in a high stakes game of violence, money and power, while the poor are left to watch the horrifying and powerfully addictive contests on State-controlled media streams.
Volunteering to become a Player is illegal, but the promise of fame and money can be a powerful lure, despite the ultimate sacrifice. Sometimes, the motivation is a lot simpler: revenge.
First published monthly from May through December 2012 in digital format, all episodes and omnibus editions are now also available in print. In addition to individual episodes, multi-episode packages are available in electronic format. Full series completely revised and updated on February 7, 2013
Not recommended for readers under 15.
About the Author: eFiction magazine calls Saul an author armed with "a PhD and a whacked out sense of humor." Saul spent his formative years in a leaky century-old house overlooking the Erie Canal in Upstate New York. His bedroom was a refurbished attic, which he shared with all manner of creatures, not all, he is convinced, flesh and blood. After bouncing around the US and Europe for several years, he settled down to pursue a career in the sciences, opting to study the mysteries of human molecular genetics. But even positions as an experimental biologist, teacher, manager and biotech entrepreneur couldn't keep him from his true passion as a storyteller. He now writes speculative fiction full time from his home in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although his house is now attic-less and waterproof, he continues to be haunted by a variety of creatures, including a wife, kids, four dogs, three cats, six chickens, a wayward rooster, and one very grumpy possum. They are all flesh and blood. Except, maybe, for the possum, which he's convinced is the reincarnated spirit of Jack Torrance.
