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In the Net of Dreams
New York: Popular Library Questar, ©1990
ISBN: 0-445-21016-8
"These days, with all the interest in cyberspace and virtual reality, and the ever-increasing popularity of computer and role-playing games, it seems inevitable they would begin to mix in sf. In the Net of Dreams by Wm. Mark Simmons isn't the first such novel to reach the bookshelves, but it's one of the best, mixing serious ethical considerations with humorous, fast-paced fantasy action...In general, Simmons uses humor and irony without getting too preachy, though it's hard to miss some of his messages. For a first novel - a humorous novel about gaming, at that - In the Net of Dreams is particularly well done."
Carolyn Cushman - LOCUS, December 1990 p.25-26
When Dreams Collide
New York: Warner Questar,
©1992
ISBN: 0-446-36154-2
"Dreamworld, a cross between a lifesize computer game and a deluxe theme park, has been closed ever since one of its complexes "locked up," trapping Dreamwalkers inside. (Dreamwalkers park their bodies and occupy personalized avatars in a computer-generated fantasy world). The machine's superego has escaped, hijacking the body of Sen. Walter Hanson. Robert Remington Ripley III, whose novels inspired Dreamworld, must sneak inside and rescue the real Hanson before the fake one becomes president and "does something Freudian with all of those missiles." When Ripley enters the game he--for unknown reasons--splits into multiple avatars, which themselves undergo shapeshifting. The Fantasyworld sector is also inhabited by avatars of his ex-wife, an old flame and some hackers, as well as enough Computer Constructs (machine-generated characters) to fill a Hollywood blockbluster. Simmons (In the Net of Dreams) doesn't throw in a rule book for his computer game, so readers have to pick things up on the fly. The off-the-wall result is sometimes frenetic and undisciplined but frequently fun. Just watch out for groaningly bad puns."
Publishers Weekly, Jan 13, 1992 v239 n3 p52(1)
