Lucky Wander Boy

D.B Weiss's new novel, Lucky Wander Boy, may be the first novel to tap into Generation X's long, convoluted and emotional relationship with video games.

The following day, my mother took my grandmother to Presbyterian St. Luke's Hospital for a checkup, where the doctor told her that the chemo was working. Her cancer had not retreated, but it had not advanced either. My mother seemed hopeful, which lifted my father's spirits, and mine. Making the connections I could hardly expect anyone else to make, I retreated to the basement for more Microsurgeon, hitting Reset on the Intellivision until it delivered patient #23. As I got better at the game, I was able to bring all of #23's systems up to good condition, and once a body region was in good shape, it stayed that way and never got bad again. In Microsurgeon, health was forever. Once, when my mother came down to check on me as I sat cross-legged on my orange vinyl cushion, I told her what I was doing.
I'm killing Grammy's tumor cells," I said.
Thinking I was being metaphorical, she kissed me on the head.

Read the full excerpt here.