The Game is Altered

Smart techno-fiction about alternate-reality gaming and people-trafficking. Cory Doctorow by way of Jennifer Egan

Sometime in the near future, Lionel, a computer nerd, lives alone with his sick cat, Buddha. Although when Lionel puts his headset on, and enters CoreQuest he becomes Ludi, a fighter, a lover. He's free. Here he doesn't need to face his past, bullied by his adoptive brothers, and the shocking childhood event he refuses to remember. Still, the 'real' world won't go away. Soon nothing adds up.

Why are people beginning to look at him nervously? Why do the outcasts at work suddenly want to be his friend? Has his sister finally disappeared for good? As reality and the game blur, Lionel and Ludi are assaulted on all sides. As Lionel struggles to unravel what's happening to him, Ludi tries to rescue the people he loves before the game is altered forever..