Gollancz pre-empts virtual reality thriller The God Game

Gollancz has pre-empted rights to publish science-fiction thriller The God Game by Danny Tobey. The book is about a virtual reality (VR) game in which the stakes are: win and learn the meaning of life; die in the game, and die in real life.

Rachel Winterbottom, commissioning editor at Gollancz, pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) rights from Macmillan US, to publish the book in summer 2019 in hardback.

Winterbottom said of the book: "It is not only fast-paced, suspenseful and electrifyingly current, it is full of deliciously agonizing moral dilemmas and characters that will linger with you for days."

Tobey, the book's author, grew up in Texas and is the author of thriller The Faculty Club (Simon & Schuster). He has been a successful software entrepreneur and founded a legal education software company in his law school dorm room. Using his legal, software, and medical backgrounds, he has been a speaker on Artificial Intelligence (AI) at companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100.