Game of the Gods final cover.jpg

Game of the Gods

Max Cone wants to be an ordinary citizen. He wants to leave his past—a life of bloody wars and backstabbing politics—behind. But Max is too important. He’s too powerful for others to just let him be.

When Max is handed a revolutionary device that predicts the future, he refuses to believe its chilling prophecy. The world will soon end, and he is to blame. Max’s wife and children are then taken. His friends are falsely imprisoned. His closest allies are killed. As his life descends into chaos, so too does the world. A cataclysmic global war appears on the horizon and Max is pulled in.

To find his family, free his friends, and stop the war, Max must return to his past. He must once again be the leader he so desperately wanted to leave behind. Throughout his journeys, Max picks up a band of outcasts—a 13-year-old girl with special powers, a mathematical genius, a religious zealot blinded by faith, and a former revolutionary turned drug addict. Together, they must bring the world back from the brink of destruction.

 

Press & Praise

"Clever plot twists and fast-paced action bring a bleak futuristic world to life, right before fractured contingents attempt to destroy it. The challenges and secrets Max and his team meet along the way only enhance the excitement of their journey. VERDICT Schiffman's absorbing sf adventure debut will satisfy all kinds of speculative readers." —Library Journal (Starred Review)

"Schiffman combines human drama with high-stakes political intrigue in a daring debut." —Publishers Weekly

“Game of Gods” combines the dark visions of Philip K. Dick and William Gibson with the more hopeful view of Ray Bradbury in fashioning a dimly elegant portrait of a not-too-distant future not so different than the present. That’s the point, of course, one Schiffman chillingly makes it with skill and aplomb. —Providence Journal

“Clever and brisk. The X-Men in an exotic futuristic setting. Great adventure with many layers.”
—New York Times bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson

“A powerful judge and skilled military commander is given the ability to glimpse the future—and it’s bad. Like, apocalypse bad. Soon, he’s in a race against time to rescue his kidnapped family and lead a team of highly unconventional warriors in a fight to save the planet.” —io9/Gizmodo

In the dark future of Jay Schiffman’s Game of the Gods, military commander Max Cone has had enough of war and politics and wants to leave it all behind. But when war breaks out, he becomes the leader every nation wants him to be. One nation gives him a device that predicts the future; specifically, that Max will be responsible for the end of the world. To save his family and friends (not to mention the world), he leads a ragtag team of warriors to set things right.” —Kirkus, Books to Read for July

“Schiffman’s GAME OF THE GODS takes us a step further by dropping a political thriller into a dystopian novel setting with stunning effect. … This dark future tale centers on Max Cone, who wants to be an ordinary citizen … and leave war and politics behind. In Cone, Schiffman has created a complex, and conflicted, yet likeable protagonist caught in a terrible corner. … Part of the fun of this novel is that Cone must navigate a world that is different from our own, but one that is filled with many of the same political problems. … Schiffman has done a masterful job of world building here.” —The Big Thrill

“The dystopian novel is alive and well in the blisteringly effective Game of the Gods. Jay Schiffman breathes life into a moribund genre and ends up crafting a sly, shrewd and stunning take on a darkly depraved future that is every bit the equal of The Hunger Game, The Maze Runner, and the Divergent series. Schiffman's striking vision serves up a cloud-riddle tomorrow featuring just enough silver linings to provide hope to an otherwise bleak landscape. A must read for fans of classics like Judge Dredd and Doc Savage.” —Jon Land, USA Today bestselling author of the Caitlin Strong series

“Jay Schiffman has written an entertaining and quirkily original book in which he has thrown out many of the standard tropes of Science Fiction and recognised hierarchies of post-apocalyptic worlds. It has the feel of something that is Dune-like but hyped up into something a whole lot more anarchic.” —SFcrowsnest

“Jay Schiffman’s Game of the Gods is a riveting adventure through futuristic chaos as one man risks it all to save the people he loves.” —The Fandom Net

"Game of the Gods is an entertaining journey … A Judge in the far-future nation called the Federacy takes an action-packed adventure across an intriguing world." —Shelf Awareness

 

President X

Centuries have passed since America’s founding. Violence, greed, and corruption rule. The last president, neutered and disgraced, has been taken from the Oval Office in handcuffs.

Cancer, fueled by hate, has spread to every American institution. Extremist politicians stoke fear and foster rage. Prisons boil with rage. Race contaminates every public debate. Democracy has withered and a ruthless group of crime syndicates—the Varden Cartel—dominates the political landscape. Led by racist bosses with insatiable appetites, these crime syndicates fight for control of America.

As the crisis in Washington deepens and America’s most powerful institutions crumble, sophisticated syndicates fill the void. In their thirst for power, as well as revenge, these syndicates will do anything, including hijacking the presidency.

There’s only one hope—FBI Agent Julia Stone. A damaged operative with demons real and imagined, Agent Stone is the one person with enough courage and determination to prevent these crime syndicates from destroying America’s democracy and plunging the country into chaos. With corrupt politicians and scheming crimes bosses challenging her every move, Agent Stone must find a way to save America from itself.