'Ready Player One' author Ernest Cline comes to Naperville
Best-selling author Ernest Cline, who wrote "Ready Player One," comes to Naperville today to promote his new book, "Armada."
Cline will meet with fans at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 21, at North Central College's Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Ave. Cline is best known for his first novel, "Ready Player One," a New York Times and USA Today best-seller in 2012. The film version of "Ready Player One" will be directed by Steven Spielberg. Now Cline returns with "Armada," a suspenseful thriller.
Cline's event will open with a video game challenge beginning at 6 p.m. Join in and play Pac-Man in Wentz Concert Hall's lobby with a prize going to the highest scorer.
At 7 p.m., Cline will discuss "Armada" and answer audience questions before signing copies of the book. Tickets are required and available with the purchase of "Armada" at Anderson's Bookshop, 123 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville. For information, call (630) 355-2665.
In the book, Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies and video games he's spent his life consuming. He dreams that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.
Zack tells himself there's nothing wrong with a little escapism and that he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don't get chosen to save the universe. And then he sees the flying saucer.
Even stranger, the alien ship he's staring at is straight out of the video game he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called "Armada" - in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.
As impossible as it seems, what Zack's seeing is all too real. His skills - and those of millions of gamers worldwide - are needed to save Earth from what's about to befall it.
It's Zack's chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can't help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn't something about this scenario seem a little … familiar?
At once embracing and subverting science-fiction conventions, "Armada" is a surprising thriller, a classic coming-of-age adventure, and an alien invasion tale. Every page is infused with the pop-culture savvy that has helped make "Ready Player One" a phenomenon.
A novelist, screenwriter, father and full-time geek, Cline lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, a time-traveling DeLorean, and a large collection of classic video games.
If you go
What: Author Ernest Cline talk and book-signing
When: Video game challenge at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 21; author event at 7 p.m.
Where: North Central College's Wentz Concert Hall lobby, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville
Cost: Tickets available with purchase of Cline's "Armada" at Anderson's Bookshop
Info: (630) 355-2665 or andersonsbookshop.com