Ernest Cline reads from his new novel "Armada"

The author of the bestselling Ready Player One returns with a rollicking new novel.

It’s just another day of high school for Zack Lightman. He’s daydreaming through another boring math class, with just one more month to go until graduation and freedom--if he can make it that long without getting suspended again. Then he glances out his classroom window and spots the flying saucer.  

At first, Zack thinks he’s going crazy. A minute later, he’s sure of it. Because the UFO he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame 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.  

But what Zack’s seeing is all too real. And his skills--as well as those of millions of gamers across the world--are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

Yet even as Zack and his new comrades scramble to prepare for the alien onslaught, Zack can’t help thinking of all the science-fiction books, TV shows, and movies he grew up reading and watching, and wonder: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little too… familiar?

Armada is at once a surprising thriller, a classic coming of age adventure, and an alien-invasion tale like nothing you’ve ever read before--one whose every page is infused with author Ernest Cline’s trademark pop-culture savvy.

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Ernest Cline has worked as a short-order cook, fish gutter, plasma donor, elitist video store clerk, and tech support drone. His primary occupation, however, has always been geeking out, and he eventually threw aside those other promising career paths to express his love of pop culture fulltime as a spoken word artist and screenwriter. His 2009 film Fanboys, much to his surprise, became a cult phenomenon. His first novel Ready Player One was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller and appeared on numerous “best of the year” lists. These days Ernie lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, their daughter, and a large collection of classic video games.