Introduction

A NOVEL OF MYSTERY, VIDEOGAMES, AND THE PEOPLE WHO CREATE THEM, BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SOON I WILL BE INVINCIBLE.

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, the strangest and most gifted friend he ever lost, who died under mysterious circumstances soon after Black Arts' breakout hit.

Then Black Arts' revolutionary next-gen game is threatened by a mysterious software glitch, and Russell finds himself in a race to save his job, Black Arts' legacy, and the people he has grown to care about. The bug is the first clue in a mystery leading back twenty years, through real and virtual worlds, corporate boardrooms and high school computer camp, to a secret that changed a friendship and the history of gaming. 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.

Austin Grossman's debut novel Soon I Will Invincible announced the arrival of a singular, genre-defying talent "sure to please fans of Lethem and Chabon" (Playboy). With YOU, Grossman offers his most daring and most personal novel yet-a thrilling, hilarious, authentic portrait of the world of professional game makers; and the story of how learning to play can save your life.

Editorial 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

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