You -- Austin Grossman

Remember text-based computer games? How about Role Playing Games?  I'm a little old for most of that, but I do have an old copy of Zork and one of Leather Goddesses of Phobos around here somewhere.  Maybe even Leisure Suit Larry.  But You is about hardcore gamers, four of them: Russell, Simon, Lisa, and Darren, three of whom go on to make gaming (or making games) their lives.  Russell takes the more conventional path, but eventually he finds himself at Darren's company, Black Arts, looking for a job.  Simon, the most brilliant of them all, is long dead.

Russell gets the job, but soon afterward Darren leaves to set up another company, taking most of the best people with him.  To keep Black Arts going, Russell, Lisa, and the others who are left will have to develop a great game. But there's a mysterious glitch.  Russell travels through generations of the game trying to find it and its meaning, not to mention the meaning of his own life.

Flashbacks in the novel tell the story of the four friends as they grow up.  It feels right to me, as if Grossman has really captured what it was like to be young and nerdy and brilliant in the '80s.  There's a fine computer camp episode, for example.

Gamers and brilliant nerds are probably going to love this book.  An old geezer like me can only sit on the sidelines and look on in wonder.  And maybe learn something.  Check it out.