Z - Hardcover

Ford, Michael Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060737581 ISBN 13: 9780060737580

Publisher: HarperTeen, 2010

Synopsis

The First Rule of Torching: Cleanse with fire.

Josh is by far the best zombie Torcher around—at least, he is in his virtual-reality zombie-hunting game. Josh has quickly risen through the player ranks, relying on the skill, cunning, and agility of a real Torcher.

The Second Rule of Torching: Save all humans.

But luckily for Josh, zombies exist only in the virtual world. The real zombie war is now more than fifteen years in the past, and the battle to defeat the deadly epidemic that devastated his family—and millions of others—is the stuff of history lessons.

The Third Rule of Torching: You can't bring them back.

Charlie is the top-ranked player in the game. Since all the players are shrouded in anonymity, Josh never expects Charlie to be a girl—and he never expects the offer she makes him: to join the underground gaming league that takes the virtual-reality game off the screen and into the streets. Josh is thrilled. But the more involved he gets, the more he realizes that not everything is what it seems. Real blood is spilling, members of the team are disappearing, and the zombies in the game are acting strange. And then there's the matter of a mysterious drug called Z. . . .

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Thomas Ford is the author of the teen novels Suicide Notes and Love & Other Curses. His numerous other works for both adults and teens include some of the earliest books about the HIV/AIDS crisis and several books about the LGBTQ community. His novel Lily was a Tiptree Award long list title and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. He also authors a series of novellas starring some of the most popular contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race, including Sharon Needles, Manila Luzon, and Jinkx Monsoon. He has a lot of tattoos and dogs and a beard.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 7 Up–It is the year 2032 and Josh and his buddy Firecracker spend every spare minute playing their favorite computer video game fighting zombies. Josh's parents disapprove of the game; his aunt had been one of the unfortunates in the last generation who caught a terrible virus that actually turned people into real zombies. That tragedy seems a distant reality to Josh and his friend, and when one of the cyber-game players contacts him to see if he wants to play a reality-based version, he jumps at the chance. Charlie turns out to be an avant-garde girl who introduces him to the zombie game that at first seems something akin to today's paintball wars. However, the “kills” seem very real. Josh is a good player, and when Charlie introduces him to the drug “Z” that makes it all so much cooler, Josh starts ditching his friend and his responsibilities to play the game with Charlie and the other worrisome players like Scrawl and Clatter. As the games progress in various parts of the underbelly of the town and Josh takes more and more of the drug, things start ebooking out of control and the game gets more dangerous and a little too real. This book is a thriller, and the clever plot and characters will have readers hoping for more.–Jake Pettit, Thompson Valley High School, Loveland, COα(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperTeen
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0060737581
• ISBN 13: 9780060737580
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288