Cline’s tricked out car incorporates elements from his favorite movie vehicles, including “Back to the Future,” “Knight Rider,” “Buckaroo Banzai” and “Ghostbusters.” He’s even got an “ECTO 88” personalized license plate.ĬNN spoke to Cline recently about his debut novel. How serious is Cline’s geek cred? He has spent the last few weeks driving cross-country to promote his book in a souped-up DeLorean. He wrote the 2009 cult classic movie “Fan Boys,” an ode to obsessed “Star Wars” fans. He’s a self-described geek, a fan of video games, manga and Monty Python. “Ready Player One” came naturally to author Cline. The book has become a best-seller and a movie is in the works. Hidden somewhere deep inside this virtual utopia is the ultimate golden ticket, the key to unlimited fortune and power, but to find it, players will have to unlock an increasingly difficult series of pop culture puzzles.

People escape their grim surroundings by accessing the OASIS, kind of like the Internet on steroids. The year is 2044 and the real world is an ugly place.

Packed with ’80s nostalgia, it is part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance and all heart, a love-letter to growing up geek.ĭescribed as “Willy Wonka meets the Matrix” the book takes place in a dystopian future. From Pac-Man to “Pretty in Pink,” Dungeons and Dragons to Devo, Rush to “School House Rock”: If this pop culture laundry list brings back fond memories, then do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Ernest Cline’s new novel, “Ready Player One.”

Ernest cline