Game Over

by Jonathan Green, Tim Major

In the cavern-like darkness of the arcade, the neon phosphor-glow of the screen beckons you close. Drawn to the dancing pixels like a moth to a flame, digging deep in your pocket you pull out a shiny coin and thumb it into the slot as the electronic siren sings the fanfare that marks your arrival. One hand on the joystick, the other splayed across the control buttons, your pulse begins to quicken. Ready Player One
Press StartYou’ve barely begun but suddenly the discordant bleeps are trumpeting your failure as your 8-bit adventure comes to an abrupt end. At least in the world of the video arcade you get a second chance. But what is the true price you pay when you make a pact with the digital demon? There’s always another coin, an extra life to be earned, a second chance… Isn’t there?GAME OVERA dozen stories of creeping dread and savage horror inspired by the humble amusement arcade and the classic coin-ops of yesteryear. Twelve tales to chill your blood by twelve masters of the malevolent and the macabre.Just keep reminding yourself, it’s only a game… Isn’t it?

Genres: Anthologies

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 11, 2015

About the author

Jonathan Green is a writer of speculative fiction, with more than seventy books to his name. Well known for his contributions to the Fighting Fantasy range of adventure gamebooks, he has also written fiction for such diverse properties as Doctor Who, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, Sonic the Hedgehog, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Moshi Monsters, LEGO, Judge Dredd and Robin of Sherwood.

He is the creator of the Pax Britannia series for Abaddon Books and has written eight novels, and numerous short stories, set within this steampunk universe, featuring the debonair dandy adventurer Ulysses Quicksilver. He is also the author of an increasing number of non-fiction titles, including the award-winning YOU ARE THE HERO – A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.

He has recently taken to editing and compiling short story anthologies, including the critically-acclaimed GAME OVER and SHARKPUNK, published by Snowbooks, and the forthcoming Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu.

To find out more about his current projects visit www.JonathanGreenAuthor.com and follow him on Twitter @jonathangreen.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a total 80's nerd and love stories about gaming. I am not normally a fan of short stories. I liked a few of these stories but some of them I failed to see a connection to gaming AT ALL and some just seemed to stop short (no pun intended).

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I realized this book was a dodgy proposition when I picked it up, because while I love both video games and horror, I was worried that horror based on existing video games might be trying too hard. But it was like, six bucks at Half-Price Books, so I bit the bullet...and found out I was largely right.

There are essentially two types of stories here: ones about kids playing video games, and ones obliquely inspired by existing video games. The former almost always stand just a half-step away from the "Satanic panic" sort of hysteria surrounding D&D in the '80s. The focal characters in these stories are uniformly burnouts and losers who are obsessed with whatever game the story centers on, to the point of descending into madness. And considering that gamers are likely this book's target audience, it's downright insulting--it's amazing none of these characters still live in their mothers' basements.

The latter type of stories have problems of their own. If they're not flat-out dull, then they feel like edgy Syfy Channel reboots of their source material. "You know what would make Donkey Kong relevant? Let's have him be a cybernetic war machine! Oh! And what if we made Frogger about hyper-intelligent, genetically modified super frogs?" Yeeeaah...

There are a handful of exceptions that keep this book from being only one star: the one about Polybius had a decent setup, and the one about Paper Boy was a little weird, but I actually rather liked it. Aside from these two though, there's really not much here that's worthwhile. I'm not surprised, because I knew this would be a long shot, but I'm still a little disappointed.

[Alexander Gent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am afraid this just didn't fly for me. The overall theme of the anthology was only weakly reflected in the stories. Some of the writing was passable, but nothing dragged me in kicking and screaming. I finished it, but without much enthusiasm.

I can recommend Jonathan Green's Sharkpunk anthology completely and with great fervour, but this, this just did not excite me.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the concept. A collection of short horror stories inspired by video games. Unfortunately most of the stories were underwhelming and felt pointless. Some had a very vague video game reference, and others I didn't spot the reference at all.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally great collection of gaming-related horror short stories

There are a lot of different styles of horror stories contained within this collection, and generally they do a great job that also happen to treat gaming and its culture with respect. It also helps that there are a lot of people immersed within the culture, which helps with the quality and respect afforded.