Synopsis:

 

"'Blade Runner' meets William Gibson meets Douglas Adams."
--Entertainment Weekly (in an A- review)

"Besher has delivered a rippingly good yarn that also defines a new genre--cyber noir. (Rim) is a book destined to become a classic."
--Paul Saffo, Director, Institute for the Future

It's 2027. Tokyo has survived the Mega-Quake of the Millennium and Satori Corporation, the owner of a virtual reality entertainment empire, is embroiled in cutthroat corporate warfare to preserve its market share, and, incidentally, save the lives of thousands of users trapped inside its virtual worlds. All of this seems far away to professor Frank Gobi as he strolls across the placid Berkeley, California, campus--until he gets home to find his perpetually on-line ten-year-old son stuck inside Satori's virtual Gametime and literally fighting for his life.

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Type of Work:

Novel

Publishers:

Harper Collins HarperPrism Orbit UK

Awards:

Besher's first novel

Original Published Source:

Serialized in entirety in Japanese by MacPower magazine in Japan, Kyoto magazine (excerpt), the first novel ever to be serialized online in interactive form by Wired magazine

Original Publish Date:

1994-01-13

Reading Guides:

Numerous academic books, articles, and popular references

Publishing Notes:

I wrote the original ms. in English for serialization in the Japanese tech magazine MacPower. I rewrote the entire novel and sold it to HarperCollinsSF to the world's greatest editor, Joann Moschella (who left HarperCollins to become an attorney in Santa Cruz). Upon signing the book contract, I rewrote the entire novel again from scratch in three months. I wrote "Rim" in Paris, the south of France, and finished it up in San Francisco.

Formats:

Trade paper, mass market paper, online