THIS IS NOT A GAME - B/WOD

You have got to love this book's first paragraphs:

Plush dolls of Pinky and the Brain overhung Charlie's monitor, their bottoms fixed in place with Velcro tabs, toes dangling over the video screen. Pinky's face was set in an expression of befuddled surprise, and the Brain looked out at the world with red-rimmed, calculating eyes.

"What are going to do tonight, Brain?" Charlie asked.

Pickups caught his words; software analyzed and recognized his speech; and the big plasma screen winked on. The Brain's jutting, intent face took on a sinister, underlit cast.

"What we do every night, Pinky," said the computer in the Brain's voice.

Welcome, Charlie, to your lair.

This is the opening to THIS IS NOT A GAME by Walter Jon Williams. Anybody who starts with Pinky and the Brain is super cool. They are just in a different class from the get-go. Here's the description by Publisher's Weekly:

Williams (The Rift) weaves intriguing questions about games, gamers and their relationships with real life into this well-paced near-future thriller. Game designer Dagmar specializes in creating alternate reality games that muddle the line between fantasy and reality. Trapped in riot-torn Jakarta, she reaches out to the gamer community for help. Once back in Los Angeles, Dagmar is caught up in a web of murders and financial manipulation that she begins to blend into her latest game, using the community of players to solve clues and sift through large amounts of data.

And here is from the inside flap:

Once upon a time, there were four of them. And though each was good at a number of things, all of them were very good at games...
Dagmar is a game designer trapped in Jakarta in the middle of a revolution. The city is tearing itself apart around her and she needs to get out.
Her boss Charlie has his own problems -- 4.3 billion of them, to be precise, hidden in an off-shore account.
Austin is the businessman -- the VC. He's the one with the plan and the one to keep the geeks in line.
BJ was there from the start, but while Charlie's star rose, BJ sank into the depths of customer service. He pads his hours at the call-center slaying on-line orcs, stealing your loot, and selling it on the internet.
But when one of them is gunned down in a parking lot, the survivors become players in a very different kind of game. Caught between the dangerous worlds of the Russian Mafia and international finance, Dagmar must draw on all her resources -- not least millions of online gamers-- to track down the killer. In this near-future thriller, Walter Jon Williams weaves a pulse-pounding tale of intrigue, murder, and games where you don't get an extra life.

So I don't know if it will hold up but it is my current about-to-be-read. This was published last month and has 384 pages. His publisher's page can be found at http://www.thisisnotagame.net/us/index.html. It has an excerpt available and bio.

Today's Blog/Website of the Day belongs to Lee Goldberg called A Writer's Life. It can be found at http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/. He talks about his life as an author and pop culture. I check this out about every other day; very interesting inside the studio and writing world.

It's snowing a little bit this morning. I don't think I MUST go anywhere today so it may be a stay at home day. I've got some research to do before walking Tug later.

Have a wonderful Thursday...

Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster