This is the first display we have done for this board, and WOW is it a big one! Samma sent along plenty of book options to put up, but the after picture is not the complete board.
Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1 – Bryan Lee O’Malley
Scott Pilgrim’s life is totally sweet. He’s 23 years old, he’s in a rockband, he’s “between jobs” and he’s dating a cute high school girl. Nothing could possibly go wrong, unless a seriously mind-blowing, dangerously fashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruising through his dreams and sailing by him at parties. Will Scott’s awesome life get turned upside-down? Will he have to face Ramona’s seven evil ex-boyfriends in battle? The short answer is yes. The long answer is Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life
Ready Player One – Ernest Cline
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win—and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
Dennis Ouyang has always struggled in the shadow of his parents’ expectations. His path is laid out for him: stay focused in high school, become a gastroenterologist. It may be hard work, but it isn’t complicated … until suddenly it is.
Between his father’s death, his academic burnout, and his deep (and distracting) love of video games, Dennis is nowhere near where his family wanted him to be. In fact, he’s just been kicked out of college.
And that’s when things get … weird.
Four adorable—and bossy–angels, straight out of a sappy greeting card, appear and take charge of Dennis’s life. And so Dennis finds himself herded back onto the straight and narrow: the path to gastroenterology. But nothing is ever what it seems when life, magic and video games collide.
The Eye of Minds – James Dashner
Michael spends most of his time on VirtNet; a total mind and body immersion, which is very addictive. Thanks to technology, anyone with enough money can experience fantasy worlds, risk their life without the chance of death, or just hang around with Virt-friends. And the more hacking skills you have, the more fun. But, some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And recent reports claim that one gamer is going beyond what any gamer has done before: he’s holding players hostage inside the VirtNet. The effects are horrific—the hostages have all been declared brain-dead. Yet the gamer’s motives are a mystery. The government knows to catch a hacker, you need one and they’ve been watching Michael.
Cure for the Common Universe – McKay Heidicker
Jaxon meets the girl of his dreams on the same day that his father ships him off to video game rehab. Now he must earn 1 million therapy points in a week, if he wants to be released from rehab in time for his date.
Console Wars –Blake Harris
Console Wars chronicles how Sega, a small, scrappy gaming company led by an unlikely visionary and a team of rebels, took on the juggernaut Nintendo and revolutionized the video game industry.
Based on over two hundred interviews with former Sega and Nintendo employees, this is the underdog tale of how Kalinske miraculously turned an industry punchline into a market leader. It’s the story of how a humble family man, with an extraordinary imagination and a gift for turning problems into competitive advantages, inspired a team of underdogs to slay a giant and, as a result, birth a $60 billion dollar industry.
Guy in Real Life –Steve Brezenoff
This is a story of two people who do not belong in each other’s lives, who find each other at a time when they desperately need someone who doesn’t belong in their lives. A story of those moments when we act like people we aren’t in order to figure out who we are. A story of the roles we all play—at school, at home, with our friends, and without our friends—and the one person who might show us what lies underneath it all.
Press Play to Start – Daniel Wilson
PRESS START TO PLAY is an anthology of stories inspired by video games: stories that attempt to recreate the feel of a video game in prose form; stories that play with the concepts common (or exclusive) to video games; and stories about the creation of video games and/or about the video games—or the gamers—themselves.
Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly — Conrad Wesselhoeft
Seventeen year-old dirt-bike daredevil Arlo Santiago catches the eye of the U.S. military with his first-place ranking on a video game featuring drone warfare, and must reconcile the work they want him to do with the emotional scars he has suffered following a violent death in his family.
Ascending the Boneyard – C.J. Watson
Sometimes life gets too real, and Caleb Tosh has taken one hit too many. First, there was the accident that changed everything for Tosh’s younger brother. Now his mom has left. All the pain, the grief and loss, have finally pushed Tosh over the edge.
If only he could have a do-over. Wipe his reality. Start fresh. Maybe he could fix all of his mistakes and everything would be different. Tosh immerses himself in the complex missions from the game he obsessively plays, The Boneyard. The game bleeds into the dark nature of his everyday life, folding reality into surrealism until it’s impossible to separate one from the other. Tosh is desperate to Ascend, to reach the next level, to become Worthy.
Press Start (Queens of Cyberspace #1) – Clancy Teitelbaum
Suzanne Thurston spends all her free time working on her video game. This isn’t an ordinary game instead of using a normal controller, Suzanne designs the Total Immersion Interface, a virtual reality helmet that puts the player right in the game. Now Suzanne’s ready to test the game out, along with her two best friends, Brit and Mikayla. At first everything seems to go right as they fight monsters and take on a quest from King Ramses. But Suzanne’s about to learn that it isn’t exactly how she programmed it.
Slacker – Gordon Korman
Cameron Boxer is very happy to spend his life avoiding homework, hanging out with his friends, and gaming for hours in his basement. It’s not too hard for him to get away with it . . . until he gets so caught up in one game that he almost lets his house burn down around him (Oops!).
It’s time for some serious damage control–so Cameron and his friends invent a fake school club that will make it seem like they’re doing good deeds instead of slacking off. The problem? Some kids think the club is real–and Cameron is stuck being president.
Sword Art Online: Progressive No. 1 – Reki Kawahara
Yuuki Asuna was a top student who spent her days at cram school and preparing for her high school entrance exams–but that was before she borrowed her brother’s virtual reality game system and wound up trapped in Sword Art Online with 10,000 other frightened players. As time passes, Asuna fears what will become of her life outside the fantasy realm. Unwilling to wait on the sidelines for more experienced gamers to beat the game, Asuna employs her study habits to learn the mechanics of the game–and swordplay. Her swiftness impresses Kirito, a pro gamer who invites Asuna to join the best players on the front lines. Is Asuna ready to swap class rankings for player rankings and join Kirito?
Pokemon Adventures – Hidenori Kusaka
Red doesn’t just want to train Pokémon, he wants to be their friend too. Bulbasaur and Poliwhirl seem game. But independent Pikachu won’t be so easy to win over!
And watch out for Team Rocket, Red… They only want to be your enemy!
My Life as a Gamer – Janet Tashjian
Derek Fallon gets the chance of a lifetime—to participate in a gaming company focus group and to test out a new video game called “Arctic Ninja.” Together with his friends Carly, Matt, and Umberto, Derek thinks his gaming talents will be showcased. But he soon realizes that everyone has got him beat, including whiz kid El Cid. On top of that, school reading tests have begun and Derek feels doubly off his game. Isn’t there anything he’s good at?
Game Over, Pete Watson – Joe Schreiber
When videogame obsessed Pete Watson discovers his dad is not only a super-spy but has been kidnapped and is now trapped inside a video game, he has to use his super gaming skills and enter the game to rescue him. Will he be able to save his friends and family and the entire world from giant mechanical cockroaches and a massive cyber attack set to take down the world’s network? And if he succeeds, who will save Pete from his massive crush on Callie Midwood?
The Nerdy Dozen – Jeff Miller
When Neil Andertol and eleven other video-gaming whizzes download classified military training software, they are recruited by the Air Force to complete a mission gone wrong. Suddenly the nerdy dozen aren’t playing for points-they’re playing to save the world!
Game World – Christopher John Farley
Dylan Rudee’s life is an epic fail. He’s bullied at school and plagued by seizures, until his videogame skills unlock a real-life fantasy world inside a new game. But now actual monsters are trying to kill him. In order to save his sister and his friends, Dylan must solve the game’s dangerous mystery in three days.
Click Here to Start – Denis Markell
Ted Gerson has spent most of his summer playing video games. So when his great-uncle dies and bequeaths him the all so-called treasure in his overstuffed junk shop of an apartment, Ted explores it like it’s another level to beat. And to his shock, he finds that eccentric Great-Uncle Ted actually has set the place up like a real-life escape-the-room game!
Using his specially honed skills, Ted sets off to win the greatest game he’s ever played, with help from his two best friends. Together they discover that Uncle Ted’s “treasure” might be exactly that—real gold and jewels found by a Japanese American unit that served in World War II. With each puzzle Ted and his friends solve, they get closer to unraveling the mystery—but someone dangerous is hot on their heels, and he’s not about to let them get away with the fortune.
Mindwar – Andrew Klavan
An accident that killed his father has left Rick Dial paralyzed. The former football star hides away in his bedroom playing video games rather than facing life. When he achieves the highest scores, he is approached by a government agency claiming to be trying to thwart a cyber attack on America that would destroy the technological infrastructure of the country. The problem is, there are no extra lives and this isn’t just a game. Entering The Realm gives Rick the one thing he never thought he’d have again –a body as fast and as strong as he ever was before his accident. But the more time he spends there, the more questions he has. What secrets are these agents keeping from him? What really happened to his father? How many others have gone into the Realm already…and didn’t come back? And possibly most important: is he really the hero they think he is?
Insignia – S.J. Kincaid
The planet’s natural resources are almost gone, and war is being fought to control the assets of the solar system. The enemy is winning. The salvation may be Tom Raines. Tom doesn’t seem like a hero. He’s a short fourteen-year-old with bad skin. But he has the virtual-reality gaming skills that make him a phenom behind the controls of the battle drones. As a new member of the Intrasolar Forces, Tom’s life completely changes. Suddenly, he’s someone important. He has new opportunities, friends, and a shot at having a girlfriend. But there’s a price to pay…
The Leveller – Julia Durango
Nixy Bauer is a self-made Leveller. Her job? Dragging kids out of virtual reality and back to their parents in the real world. It’s normally easy cash, but Nixy’s latest mission is fraught with real danger, intrigue, and romance. The developer of MEEP has lost track of his son and hires Nixy to find him –but Wyn does not want to be found. Nixy takes the job –and finds that he isn’t hiding. Wyn is being held captive inside the game against his will. Who is holding him and why? And can the two of them make it out of the game?
Epic – Connor Kostick
Generations ago, violence was banned on New Earth. Society is governed and conflicts are resolved in the arena of a fantasy computer game, Epic. Everyone plays. If you win, you have the chance to go to university, get more supplies for your community, and fulfill your dreams; if you lose, your life both in and out of the game is worth nothing.
Elementia Chronicles No. 1) – Sean Fay Wolfe
Dark forces are at work on the Elementia server, and when new players Stan, Kat, and Charlie arrive on the scene, they quickly find themselves in peril. Targeted by more experienced players, the noobs must band together against the king, battle the natural forces of the game, and unravel the mysteries of Elementia in the name of justice.
Raiders’ Ransom – Emily Diamand
It’s the 22nd century and, because of climate change, much of England is underwater. Poor Lilly is out fishing with her trusty sea-cat when greedy raiders pillage the town–and kidnap the prime minister’s daughter. Her village blamed, Lilly decides to find the girl. Off she sails, in secret. And with a ransom: a mysterious talking jewel that everyone is convinced is a War Machine. Little do they know that the device is merely a remnant of video games before technology was washed away.
Z. Rex — Steve Cole
On a journey from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Edinburgh, Scotland –thirteen year old Adam Adlar must elude police while being hunted by a dinosaur-come-to-life from a virtual reality game invented by his father who has been kidnapped.