You

When Russell joins Black Arts games, brainchild of two visionary designers who were once his closest friends, he reunites with an eccentric crew of nerds hacking the frontiers of both technology and entertainment. In part, he's finally given up chasing the conventional path that has always seemed just out of reach. But mostly, he needs to know what happened to Simon, his strangest and most gifted friend, who died under mysterious circumstances soon after Black Arts' breakout hit. As the company's revolutionary next-gen game is threatened by a software glitch, Russell finds himself in a race to save his job, Black Arts' legacy, and the people he has grown to care about. The deeper Russell digs, the more dangerous the glitch appears -- and soon, Russell comes to realize there's much more is at stake than just one software company's bottom line.

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, April 2013: In Austin Grossman's You, Russell joins Black Arts, a mid-tier developer at risk of closing its doors if their next title isn't a hit. At the center of the company is WAFFLE, a brilliant game engine designed by Russell's late childhood friend Simon, whose mysterious death haunts Russell and his friends. When an unsquashable, game-breaking bug is discovered in WAFFLE, Russell quickly learns that it may be a deliberate feature programmed in by Simon. Or better put, there is literally a ghost in the machine.You draws upon Grossman's experience as a game developer in the '90s, providing a frank and often funny portrait of a maturing video game industry (the depiction of E3, a large trade conference, is particularly delightful). But You isn't just for nostalgic gamers: beneath the techno-mystery is a story about friendship imbued with heart and compassion, a soul that surfaces like a secret glitch from the depths of its code. --Kevin Nguyen

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Grossman, author of the delightful Soon I Will Be Invincible (2007), here draws on his own experience as a video-game designer to take us behind the scenes at Black Arts Games, a (fictional) video-game company poised to release a new version of one of its biggest hits. Russell, a new hire at the company (but an old friend of the company’s founders), is thrown in at the deep end when a software bug is discovered that threatens to sink the new game. To find the source of the bug, Russell explores the history of the company, its founders, and his complicated relationships with them. Although it’s structured as a mystery—Russell tries to track down the source of the bug the way a detective might pursue an unknown perp—the book is really a celebration of video games and their creators. It’s full of terminology and dialogue that might seem like another language to the uninitiated reader (we do pick it up as we go along), but, mostly, due to his boundless enthusiasm for his story, Grossman never makes readers feel uninformed or left out in the cold. He invites us into the world of video games, introduces us to the people whose lives revolve around them, and makes us feel right at home. This is only Grossman’s second novel, but, given the strength of this and his first book, we can only await his next offering with keen anticipation. --David Pitt

Boston Globe

"A razor-sharp comedy ... a smart meditation on the nature of gaming. Grossman, who has designed video games, brings experience but more importantly abundant affection to describing this world--the welcome recognition of the one Dungeon and Dragons enthusiast for another, the surreal happiness that comes from mastery, the semi-ironic clinging to juvenile aesthetics."

Tom Bissell, Harper's

"Some of the most startling, acute writing on video games yet essayed."

Kansas City Star

"Combines videogames, advanced technology, and suspense into one crazy pageturner."

Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

"You confirms Grossman's status as a major talent. Grossman isn't just chronicling the rise and fall of a company, or of a character, or even an industry. Rather, he uses YOU as a tool to prise open the mystical center of what art is, what games are, what fun is, and how they all mix together. A novel that both uplifts and entertains, and reframes the world we live in and the things we do in it. Easily one of the best books I've read this year."

Booklist, starred review

"A celebration of videogames and their creators."

The Millions

"Genuine energy. A terrific book."

Charles Yu, author of How to Life Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

"YOU is every bit as fun as you hope it's going to be, and also much more. Grossman draws you in with his clever premise, but then as you progress through the levels, you understand the complexity of the world he has built. Full of wit, ingenuity, and nostalgia -- a meditation on what it means to be the hero of the game."

Max Barry, author of Jennifer Government and Machine Man

"A brilliant, incisive, and very funny journey through the adolescence of the computer game industry, delving with wit and charm into the fascinating question of exactly whose story is being told."

About the Author

Austin Grossman is a video game design consultant and the author of You and Soon I Will Be Invincible, which was nominated for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. His writing has appeared in Granta, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. He lives in Berkeley, California.

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