Archie Bland
Interstellar Kredit
Fun Inc.: Why Games Are the 21st Century’s Most Serious Business
By Tom Chatfield
Virgin Books 258pp £12.99
The greatest heist in the history of the universe took about a year to pull off, and when it was finished, things were never quite the same again. There was corporate espionage on an epic scale, a co-ordinated attack that saw nimble, ruthless spies infiltrate every nook of a bloated corporation led by a CEO whose paranoia, arising from a string of bitter personal rivalries, turned out to be not nearly neurotic enough. After months of preparation, the leader of the cryptically named Guiding Hand Social Club gave a signal, and the goods in every single one of the target organisation’s warehouses were swiftly loaded up and taken away. The corporate coffers were instantly emptied. And that twitchy Chief Executive was murdered. No more ruthlessly effective con had ever been executed. The losses ran to billions.
If the details of this impossibly ambitious swindle are unfamiliar, that is possibly because those billions are not in pounds or dollars, but in a currency with the moderately silly name of Interstellar Kredit. This was an intergalactic heist, carried out within the limitations of an online fantasy
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Are iPhones ruining children's lives? A prominent American psychologist thinks so.
@tiffanyjenkins is not so sure:
Tiffany Jenkins - The Smartphone Pandemic
Tiffany Jenkins: The Smartphone Pandemic - The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an...
literaryreview.co.uk
India's 'festival of democracy', or general election, begins next month. Like every good festival, it looks likely to have its fair share of murders and arrests.
@OwenBennettJon probes the state of democracy in India:
Owen Bennett-Jones - New Delhi Confidential
Owen Bennett-Jones: New Delhi Confidential - The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India by Alpa Shah
literaryreview.co.uk
Where is the world's newest narcostate and why is it thriving?
@AdamBrookesWord investigates Asia's meth mecca.
Adam Brookes - Meth Comes to Myanmar
Adam Brookes: Meth Comes to Myanmar - Narcotopia: In Search of the Asian Drug Cartel That Outwitted the CIA by Patrick Winn
literaryreview.co.uk