2023 Philip K. Dick Award Winner In her latest exciting technothriller, acclaimed author Kimberly Unger (Nucleation) delivers a badass, futuristic heroine in a vivid whodunit that careens between our world and the virtual one. Gaming expert Unger creates a vastly entertaining future where the rich still play by different rules, but technology is still the wildcard. "A thriller that kept me occupied for days." —Lightspeed Magazine on Nucleation Underground hacker Eliza McKay is one of the best in the virtual space where people create personas that can interact as data. When rich or important people get stuck in the Swim—for reasons that are sleazy, illegal, or merely unlucky—it's McKay's job to extract them. And McKay's job just got a lot more dangerous. While on an assignment in Singapore, McKay is flagged by an investigative outfit led by Ellie Brighton. Brighton desperately needs her corporate superior extracted from the Swim. The brute-force hacking tactics of Brighton's tech Rose have already failed. The executive's personality remains trapped and fragmented; if left for much longer, he won't survive. But the job is turning out to be more dangerous than McKay initially thought: her house is broken into, her target is surprisingly reluctant to be extracted, and something is menacing her informational AI sprite, Spike. Something big.
Author
Kimberly Unger has been a games industry professional for over 20 years, both as a freelancer and full-time employee. She writes tech-driven science fiction informed by these experiences. She likes fast robots, big explosions and stabby things. Kimberly holds degrees from both UC Davis and the Art Center College of Design. She currently works as a producer for Playchemy developing narrative adventure games, and lectures for the UCSC Baskin School of Engineering’s Masters degree in Games and Playable Media.
