Upcoming: ARMADA by Ernest Cline (Crown)

Anyone who’s been following Civilian Reader for a while, should have spotted my glowing, gushing review of Ernest Cline’s debut novel, Ready Player One. Ever since I read that novel (devoured, it really), I have been on the look-out for information on his next fiction project. The other week, I stumbled across the information for Armada over on excellent The Book Smugglers website. So I’m going to shamelessly pinch the info from them, and share it here. Here’s the synopsis…

Lightman is daydreaming through another dull math class when the high-tech dropship lands in his school’s courtyard-and when the men in the dark suits and sunglasses leap out of the ship and start calling his name, he’s sure he’s still dreaming.

But the dream is all too real; the people of Earth need him. As Zack soon discovers, the videogame he’s been playing obsessively for years isn’t just a game; it’s part of a massive, top-secret government training program, designed to teach gamers the skills they’ll need to defend Earth from a possible alien invasion. And now…that invasion is coming.

As he and his companions prepare to enter their ships and do battle, Zack learns that the father he thought was dead is actually a key player in this secret war. And together with his father, he’ll uncover the truth about the alien threat, race to prevent a genocide, and discover a mysterious third player in the interplanetary chess game he’s been thrown into.

Armada is due to be published by Crown Publishing in the US (July 2014) – no news yet on the UK or other international publishers. Be sure to follow Cline on Twitter, too, for more up-to-the-minute news. I was also able to find the following image on Forces of Geek, which was categorised as “Poster”, but it was cool enough that I thought I’d share it here as well…