Omnitopia Dawn

Realistically weaving together video gaming and back-alley corporate intrigue, Duane (A Wizard of Mars) takes readers to the near future, where new technologies like RealFeel allow players to smell, touch, and taste their game worlds. Today's gamers will fantasize about playing Omnitopia, an all-immersive 3D massive multiplayer online game with 200 million players which spans thousands of Microcosms: first-person shooters, cooking competitions, historical recreations, and more. But behind the curtain are two rival companies with some slight resemblances to Apple and Microsoft: one headed by laid-back, jeans-wearing Dev Logan and the other by his former friend and partner, corporate maven Phil Sorensen, who plots to topple Dev's Omnitopia empire by any means necessary. Neatly set up for a sequel, this outstanding speculative novel is action-packed and fast-moving, and Duane's lavish, expansive world building already seems eerily prescient. (Aug.)