Ernest Cline has worked as a short-order cook, fish gutter, plasma donor, elitist video store clerk and tech support drone. He eventually threw aside those promising career paths to express his love of pop culture full time as a spoken-word artist and screenwriter. His 2009 film Fanboys, much to his surprise, became a cult phenomenon. Cline lives in Austin, Tex., with his wife, daughter and a large collection of classic video games. Ready Player One (Crown, August 16, 2011) is his first novel.
On your nightstand now: The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood by Nicholas Meyer. Mr. Meyer is one of my heroes.
Favorite book when you were a child:
James and the Giant Peach. Or maybe Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I devoured everything I could find by Roald Dahl.
Your top five authors:
Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, Neal Stephenson, Richard K. Morgan and Jonathan Tropper. They all astound and inspire me.
Book you've faked reading:
The Bible. That's how I survived so many years of Sunday School.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Old Man's War by John Scalzi.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Amazing Spider-Man #408 with the variant cover. Very rare.
Book that changed your life:
The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook. Profoundly.
Favorite line from a book:
"They would take their software out and race it in the black desert of the electronic night." --Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Replay by Ken Grimwood. I found it impossible to put down.