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Richard Dansky

Vaporware Paperback – May 24, 2013

by Richard Dansky (Author)

23 ratings

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Video game projects get shut down all the time, but when the one Ryan Colter and his team have poured their hearts into gets cut, something different happens: the game refuses to go away. Now Blue Lightning is alive, and it wants something from Ryan - something only he can give it. And everybody knows how addictive video games can be...

Print length

346 pages
Language

English
Publisher

JournalStone
Publication date

May 24, 2013
Dimensions

5.98 x 0.77 x 9.02 inches
ISBN-10

1936564777
ISBN-13

978-1936564774
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Video game designer and novelist Dansky (Snowbird Gothic) uses his intimate knowledge of the gaming industry to create a believable background for his Frankenstein-like tale of creation gone awry....Dansky's story of virtual horror is laced with quick wit and thoroughly grounded in the world of today. Sure to attract gaming and horror fans."
- Library Journal

"Vaporware is life in the world of games, raw and real from a writer who did his time in the trenches - with a supernatural twist that'll make you think twice about late night log-ons and who is really lurking behind the avatar on your screen..."
- New York Times bestselling author James Swallow

"A meticulous image of the real games industry so detailed that you'll just assume the supernatural must be part of it. So immersive it makes you want to go check on that video game your spouse is spending so much time with..."
- Mur Lafferty, author of THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY

"Imagine you're sitting at a bar, surrounded by videogame industry veterans. They're telling war stories about their past projects, the kind of stories you'd never see repeated in interviews or online magazines, the kind that are insider legends. Everyone's laughing out of shock or horror at some of the stuff we go through to release a game before Richard Dansky launches into his tale. That's when everyone shuts up, because Rich is telling a story, and when Rich starts talking, you know it's going to be a hell of a ride...."
- Lucien Soulban, writer, FAR CRY: BLOOD DRAGON

"Richard Dansky uses his background in video games to breathe realism into his characters, concepts, and environments. The result is a 21st Century techno horror story that manages the near-impossible: to be both geektastic and incredibly cool."
- Rio Youers, author of WESTLAKE SOUL.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ JournalStone (May 24, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 346 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1936564777
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1936564774
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.12 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 0.77 x 9.02 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #11,378,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #48,294 in Occult Fiction

Customer Reviews:
23 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		54%
4 star		27%
3 star		14%
2 star		6%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from the United States

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LauraH213

Fun read for anybody who enjoys playing online games or loves a good "ghost story"

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2018

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The book Vaporware by Richard Dansky is a fun story about a game designer and how his creation comes to life. It's almost like the game is a form of a ghost, haunting him and his co-workers and others.
I am not a big gamer, but I do enjoy them from time to time, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew anybody who has had such a great professional history as Dansky in both fiction, gaming, and role-playing that it had to be a fun. Read. I won't go into much of the plot, but I could tell Dansky worked a great story with all kinds of emotions from a subject that not everybody would be interested in.
I have read Dansky's shorts and I loved them, I hope you all give him a shot. He's a great writer, his characters come to life and haunt you after you finish the stories.

Helpful

William A. Ronke

Yes, Your Work Might Be Trying to Destroy You

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2013

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Richard Dansky's supernatural novel "Vaporware" is a solid ghost story, with entertaining and believable characters thrown into a situation they can only barely deal with. While more suspenseful than his previous novel, Firefly Rain (Discoveries) , this is similarly a tale where the main character is haunted by otherworldly manifestations of otherwise worldly problems.

The first act of the novel, while not exactly biographical, is a relatively accurate depiction of an all-too-common event in the game development industry: a beloved project's cancellation by your corporate overlords. Richard Dansky's long tenure at Red Storm Entertainment has surely provided one or many experiences of this sort. It's quite fascinating to read about the stresses such an event can cause (albeit through a lens of fiction, with the names of the games changed to diffuse the blame).

The further acts portray a much less realistic, though definitely entertaining, side effect of such cancellation... what if that cancelled project never quite went away? And what if it was a vengeful, jealous being?

I thoroughly enjoyed "Vaporware" and can highly recommend it. My chief criticism of the book is more one for the publisher. This edition of the novel contains numerous errors that should have been caught by the publisher's proofreaders. Words are periodically missing, and they tend to interrupt the flow of the language. I hope that a later edition will correct these issues.

Helpful

Clayton J. Dreslough

Perfect Depiction of Game Industry / Brilliant Metaphor for Addiction and "Work-Life" Balance

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2013

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This is a great story with deep, realistic characters and spot-on details. As a long-time game developer, what impressed me most was the flawless, accurate and amusing depiction of the industry. The cover art and jacket blurb led me to believe it would primarily be a "horror" tale about supernatural events. But it turned out to be much more than that -- an engaging story about work, life, relationships, and the delicate balance between them.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Madison Maria Roberts

Weird people, weird situations

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2013

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I'm actually going with a five instead of a four because I got everything I wanted out of this. I don't know anything about game developers, but I love catty coworkers, relationship triangles, and over-sexed glowy people seducing nerds. I didn't think too hard about the supernatural elements; it was way more fun to just roll with it like the characters do (sort of). The main character's struggle with work-life balance and utter haplessness with the women in the book really heightens the impending sense of dread. I kept thinking, "There's no way this can end well. No way." I enjoyed Dansky's previous novel, FIREFLY RAIN, but found Ryan a much appealing narrator. Have already recommended this to friends and gamer friends alike!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

C. R. Hatty

"True", weird, entertaining, a little harrowing at times

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2014

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This is a good book. A few reasons why:

- The interpersonal relationships and dialogue feel real. Other than the IM chats (do people really IM like that? Am I doing it wrong?). That's essential to making weird fiction work.

- The setting feels real. Dansky's experience in the video game industry allows him to include technical details that, if glossed over or handled by someone without actual knowledge, would have detracted and distracted from the story.

- The "horror" scenes, of which there are just enough, are pretty alarming, primarily because I believe in the characters and, in spite of the fact that they're all flawed, I kinda liked them. Run on sentence. Sorry.

- There's more to the story than the story. I won't go so far as to call the book an allegory (even though it probably is), but it pretty clearly illustrates that there are consequences to not keeping in mind that old adage about work and one's death bed. It also compels the reader to approach relationships with a little more care. I like being able to take more away from a story than how scary or weird it is, but it's rare that it happens.

Oh I should probably disclaim this: I know Dansky personally. If I didn't like the book, I would have just not reviewed it.

Helpful

T. Gulley

A must read for anyone who aspires to be a creative professional

Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2013

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While no doubt exaggerated a little for artistry, the slice of our world captured by video game industry veteran R. Dansky is, from what I've heard, pretty accurate in terms of office politics, workload, and stress caused at home (reanimated dead projects, on the other hand, are still up for debate). This is definitely an adult novel--no, not that kind of adult, the kind of adult that might not have grown up but does realize that the craziness of it's twenties isn't a tenable lifestyle. Very much not a starry eyed look at a world many consider to be a prospective heaven, but a peeling back of that veneer to the painful reality that is strained relationships, awkward meetings, and long nights at the office.

The narrative's pretty good as well. Well plotted and executed, the drama that unfolds will keep you reading as oddity after oddity brings the puzzle of Blue Lightning into focus.

Helpful

Stephen martin

gamers should read this book

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2013

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Great story and great read, just didnt get some of the gaming lingo but i am by no means a gamer

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Xomex

Good but not great!

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2014

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An intriguing look into the world of professional games programmers. Some nice characters and storyline but I guess I couldn't really come at the idea of a ghost! It wasn't really clear what powers the ghost had or why it ended up the way it did. Still, an enjoyable read.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Jason Langlois

Solid and interesting horror

Reviewed in Canada on May 28, 2013

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Anyone picking this up expecting a simple monster mash story is going to be disappointed. This is a novel that builds a slow dread, and creates horror from the day to day routine of work, and the toll it takes. It pulls you into it's reality, before twisting things on their head and giving us a pay off.
Dansky's experience as a game writer and in the industry gives this real authenticity, while his background in horror lends this book a real M.R.James ghost story feel. The pace seems slow at times, but the lulls have payoffs later on and I really found the relationships and characters rang true.
This really builds off the work done in FIREFLY RAIN, which had a similar pace and dread. Happy I made this my first Kindle purchase.

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