Ready Player One author teases plans for a prequel book

Ready Player One is out, Ready Player Two is right around the corner, and now, author Ernest Cline teases Ready Player Zero.

In only a matter of days, readers around the world will get to once again visit the ’80s nostalgic virtual reality world of the OASIS in Ready Player Two when the book lands on shelves on November 24. The sequel comes almost a decade after Ernest Cline’s classic “LitRPG” novel Ready Player One, a huge success that Steven Spielberg adapted for the big screen in 2016.

But with hype for the sequel running high, Cline has also revealed his plans to write a prequel, teasing the title: Ready Player Zero. Imaginative as always.

But first, Ready Player Two will bring us another story about a masterfully hidden easter egg somewhere in the OASIS that can be found by solving a series of cryptic riddles. This one will bring with it the potential to destroy the entire virtual world. It sounds a lot like the plot of the first book, but amplified!

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Cline revealed exactly when and where the book will be set. “The sequel picks up a little over a week after the first book ends,” he said. “Then there’s a gap of time, but it all kind of flows out of the first story.”

"It’s that trick of a sequel where you don’t want to tell the same exact story again, but you want to give fans similar elements that made the first story a success. I think I successfully did that in a very different story that takes place over a different time span than the first book, but it has all the same characters, and some new characters and I also built on the characters’ backstories, and it also builds on the technology and the world."

So if the sequel follows Wade Watts shortly after the events of the first book, who will the prequel follow? “I’d always envisioned it as a trilogy of stories,” Cline said. “One is a sequel, which I’ve just written and then another other one being a prequel about [OASIS creator] James Halliday and [business partner] Ogden Morrow in Ohio.”

"It’s a coming of age story. It won’t be called ‘Ready Player Three’ it’ll be more like ‘Ready Player Zero.’ I do plan to take a break, but someday I’ll write that book too, which is more based on my own childhood – growing up, playing Dungeons and Dragons and video games as a kid. It’s like Stand By Me. It’s a huge part of my childhood being immersed in all the escapism so that I could write Ready Player One."

After that, it sounds like Cline is more than happy to close down the OASIS for good, although nothing is ever for certain. “There might be a Ready Player Seven from my daughter, but probably not,” he joked.

You can read Ready Player Two when it comes out on November 24! An audiobook narrated by Wil Wheaton will also release at the same time.

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