This article was first published in the August 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
Ernest Cline is mortified. In 2011 he wrote his debut novel, Ready Player One, a pop-culture-drenched dystopia about virtual reality, which became a New York Times bestseller. Then, in March, Steven Spielberg signed on to direct a film adaptation. The awkward part? Cline's book makes fun of the director's work. "A character refers to Indiana Jones as one of the holy trilogies and then he clarifies that by saying he doesn't recognise [the franchise's less than stellar fourth film] The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," recalls Austin-based Cline, 43. "I never imagined in a million years Spielberg would read it!"
Ready Player One's runaway success made Cline's second novel Armada, a daunting task. "I'd joke that it was called Sophomore Slump, with A Lacklustre Follow-up as its subtitle." The book's plot centres on small-town schoolboy, Zack Lightman, who discovers that his favourite video game is in fact a secret government initiative to train pilots for fighting off an impending alien invasion. The premise was inspired by Cline's own childhood desire for adventure. "I grew up in rural Ohio," recalls Cline. "Arcade games were like portals into different worlds."
When Ready Player One came out, some criticised its nostalgia -- yet it also anticipated the impending wave of virtual-reality technology. "It makes me feel like Arthur C Clarke predicting satellites," he says. (Employees at Oculus Rift are told to read Cline's debut; the company even named a meeting room after the book's virtual world.) "The fact that Spielberg is making the film is going to change the course of virtual reality and how quickly it gets adopted, as so many people see what he does."
So how is he going to handle the Crystal Skull situation when he meets the director? "I'll claim separation from the character," he says. "I still might get banished -- we'll see."
Armada is out on July 16
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
