Showing results by author "D. B. Goodin" in All Categories

Nigel Watson is a clever teenage hacker who uses his skills to make extra spending money. But, after someone plunders his mother’s bank account and drains the funds, Nigel realizes his hacking could save the family. Soon, Nigel’s online expertise is noticed by the billionaire founder of the Colossal Machine, a virtual game played by millions of people around the planet. When Nigel is given a chance to show his prowess, his skills outshine the work of the current developers. But Nigel doesn’t realize that his sudden success has made enemies who want him dead.

Cassidy Delgado's anger burns with the fire of a thousand virtual suns. Forced out of her dream job, the architect of Interstellar Online resorts to sneaking into her own gaming software to find her old crewmates. But when a crucial millionaire investor at her new gig goes missing in-game, she launches after him to save her own future. Using each spare minute to hunt through the digital world, the hair on the back of her neck raises when AIs begin contacting her IRL.

Cassidy Delgado needs the newest MMO launch from Lush Games to be fantastic. It isn’t just the future of the company and a lot of money on the line, it’s her career as a product manager. The hype is enormous. Someone has hacked the project code already, but the R&D heads have assured Cassidy they’ve fixed the error.

When cyborg Treeka wakes from an interrupted cryogenic sleep in a genetics lab, she does so in a brave new world - one where immortality is no longer a concept but a construction. Now, the consciousness of a person can live on in a body that can outperform the limits of human ability. This “miracle” soon becomes personal to Treeka: She was once a living woman, and someone has brought her mind back from the dead.

Treeka escapes her imprisonment to find New York City in chaos. Cyborgs with every kind of ability imaginable roam the streets, looking to unleash pent-up fury against the masses. Treeka forms alliances with an old friend, and as they delve deep into the underground, she crosses paths with her would-be savior. She uncovers a sinister plot that threatens to shred the rest of humanity and the remains of her soul.

Soon after his high school graduation, Nigel Watson opens his cybersecurity investigative business. Trade is lucrative until he discovers some mysterious rouge code lurking on one of his client’s computers. On investigating, he finds clues leading to a sinister plot. A clandestine organization known as the Cabal learns of his involvement and makes Nigel an offer that he cannot refuse.

Cassidy Delgado’s digital world is on fire; only she can extinguish the blaze. In this sequel to the Interstellar Online series, Cassidy’s fury is more intense after being torn from her dream job and creation—a binary-code baby with a potentially fatal flaw. Now working a new job but haunted by her past, Cassidy infiltrates her gaming software to reconnect with old allies. Her mission takes a dramatic turn when she must rescue a key investor lost in the game, putting her future on the line.

When Alice Parsons goes missing on the way to her new job in Nashville. Her best friend hires Jamie Henderson, Alice’s ex-boyfriend, to track her down across a hostile post-apocalyptic wasteland. But as he gains clues to her whereabouts, denizens, raiders, and marauders come out of nowhere to thwart his every move.

When Cassidy Delgado’s latest MMO threatens to be a flop and a sizzling spectacle, her career is on the line. As the chief orchestrator behind the game, she’s among the first to dive into the sultry sensations of the new cutting-edge sensual suit. However, when hackers sneak into her in-game spacecraft, she’s saddled with more than just a virus—a heady cocktail of forbidden allure.

Treeka can’t tell friend from foe. As New York lies in battle-ravaged ruin, the desperate cyborg struggles to evade murderous hordes of humans infected by a maniacal doctor’s neurotoxin. And though an elite group of assassins invites her to join their underground institution, the severely injured fugitive refuses to accept the role of a paid killer.

Cybersecurity expert Nigel Watson is consumed with guilt. The top-tier hacker is obsessed with atoning for the infrastructure-crippling online attack he executed under duress. But when the young man gladly accepts a dangerous mission to drain the coffers of the callous cabal who forced his hand, he’s shocked to be beaten to the punch by a second cunning coder.

Enter a world where technology becomes a lethal weapon, threatening to reshape humanity itself. In the heart-stopping finale of the Cyber Teen Project series, Ashes of Sagacity, Nigel Watson is hurled into a harrowing battle against a relentless army of homicidal cyborgs hell-bent on eradicating mankind.

In the bustling heart of New York, twelve-year-old Aiko Takahashi’s world is shattered when she returns home one evening to find her parents brutally murdered. Her uncle Hiroto steps in to care for her, being the only family she has left. However, just as Aiko begins to settle into life with her uncle, a fierce custody battle erupts with her mother’s best friend. The court deems Hiroto’s troubled past unfit for raising a child, forcing Aiko to live with a strict family friend.

Soon after realizing her ex-lover was killed by her alter ego, Alice Parsons awakens to a new reality forever changed by the growing desolation that is the Appalachian Wasteland. If you like complex character studies, gritty worlds, and shocking twists, then you’ll love this dystopia.

In a world where machines create most music, Alice Parsons is fed up, but what can she do? When she loses the only job she’s ever liked, she stumbles on a club that caters only to humans. She’s intrigued, and decides to inquire within. She discovers a group of rebels whose values align with her own. The president of MuseFam, the largest supplier of AI-generated music, takes an interest in the group of rebels and wants them stopped. When someone from Alice’s past reenters her life, suddenly her world is turned upside down, and she’s forced to come to terms with her situation.

After the AI Copyright Act is repealed, megacorporations such as MuseFam increase the production of AI-generated music more than ever before. Robot production kicks into top gear, and they manufacture thousands each day. Recent legislation requires owners of all-human clubs to accept all patrons, including robots. Outraged Alice Parsons unites several all-human club owners. Soon Alice finds herself in a plot to eliminate the MuseFam problem once and for all.

Why did we let the machines assimilate our musical culture? In a world where machines create most music, Alice Parsons is fed up, but what can she do? When she loses the only job she’d ever liked, she stumbles on a club that caters only to humans. She’s intrigued, and decides to inquire within. She discovers a group of rebels who’s values align with her own. The president of MuseFam, the largest supplier of AI generated music takes an interest in the group of rebels and wants them stopped.

After a massive trade war, the US lies in financial ruin. Fewer than 20 states remain. New power structures are formed; most locals revert to the barter system. Lonn Peters, a former detective for the Honolulu Police and a bounty hunter, is unemployed and is desperate to provide for his family. When an enticing offer lures him to the mainland, Lonn is unprepared for what he finds. When a veteran detective goes missing, Lonn is tasked to investigate. What he finds threatens to unravel all he knows about law enforcement, people, and culture.

Josephine “Jet” Smith needs an escape. Stuck as an isolated wheelchair-user whose boyfriend is MIA, the once-highly ranked gamer resets as a new character in her favorite virtual world. And when the Dungeon Master is attacked and shadowy external powers close in, the talented player logs right into a battle to protect the realm from destruction. With magical attacks targeting key PCs, Jet doubles down and activates a quest to find the six pillars that hold the cyber universe together.

Cassidy Delgado knows every lurid inch of Interstellar Online. But the brilliant software architect behind it all bristles at an update forcing her to respec as an unfamiliar class. And when a rogue AI bot goes on a rampage, she’d better master her new abilities or die trying.