About Post-High School Reality Quest
by Meg Eden
California Coldblood / Rare Bird Books
Purchase
“Entertaining yet thoughtful look at figuring out who you are. The format and concept behind this book is refreshingly unique. It’s told as a command-based video game, but the story is a contemporary coming of age tale. Definitely a must-read for gamers and really for YA readers in general!”
—T. E. Carter, author of I Stop Somewhere
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“This may be one of the most wildly original YA entries for 2017—the only book I can think to compare it to (for sheer originality, outrageous & clever humor, and sly irreverence) is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (it’s that good—it’s worthy of the comparison). Our MC, Buffy, finds herself navigating post-high school life & love while stuck inside a text-adventure video game. I am not a gamer, but you don’t have to be to quickly catch on to the format (with saved lives/do-overs, etc.) and to rapidly become hooked and thoroughly strapped into this roller-coaster of a novel. I found myself laughing out loud many, many times while reading this (while shaking my head in awe “Meg Eden did NOT just pull that off…”). READ THIS BOOK.”
—Laurie Forest, author of The Black Witch
“There’s so much emotion in these pages and, amazingly, none of it overwhelms the reader. Pain is countered by joy, grief with understanding, the loss of innocence with the mixed gift of knowledge. Meg Eden has written a novel that’s both captivating and funny, one that follows a beautifully-flawed young woman and her friends as they try to understand the complexities of a confusing age. But Post High School Reality Quest is more than a lovely and unsentimental coming-of-age story; it’s the kind of book that’s destined to stand out in your memory, one you quietly, lovingly, think about long after it’s finished.”
—E. A. Aymar, author of You’re Good As Dead
Buffy is playing a game. But the game is her life, and there are no cheat codes for how to win.
After graduating high school, a voice called “the text parser” emerges in Buffy’s head, narrating her life as a classic text adventure game. Buffy figures this is just a manifestation of her shy, awkward, nerdy nature—until the voice doesn’t go away, and instead starts telling her how to life her life.
While the text parser tries to give Buffy advice on how “to win the game,” Buffy decides to pursue her own game-plan: start over, make new friends, and win the heart of her longtime crush, Tristan/But even when Buffy gets the guy of her dreams, the game doesn’t stop. In fact, it gets worse than she could’ve ever imagined: her crumbling group of friends falls apart, her roommate turns against her, and Buffy finds herself trying to survive a game built from her worst nightmares.
Combining equal parts Judy Blume, Ernest Cline, and Douglas Coupland, POST-HIGH SCHOOL REALITY QUEST is the debut title from poet and instructor Meg Eden. Purchase Post-High School Reality Quest.
About Meg Eden
Meg Eden’s work has been published in various magazines, including Rattle, Drunken Boat, Poet Lore, RHINO and Gargoyle. She teaches creative writing at the University of Maryland. She has five poetry chapbooks, and her novel “Post-High School Reality Quest” is published with California Coldblood, an imprint of Rare Bird Books. Find her online at www.megedenbooks.com or on Twitter at @ConfusedNarwhal.