Levels: The Host: Volume 1 - Tapa blanda

In the near-future country of Manhattan the poor First-Levelers barely survive on the old streets, sealed beneath a fifth-story ceiling. Far above in the sunlight, rich Second-Levelers thrive in boring opulence. They get their kicks by projecting their minds into the bodies of First-Levelers in an ultra-real game called Hosting. Desperate to earn enough cash to have a child, First Leveler Watly Caiper becomes a Host. But instead of using his body for sordid fun, the anonymous Second-Level Donor commits the perfect crime. On the run from the police and on the hook for murder, Watly must find the mysterious killer before time runs out.Originally published by Bantam Spectra as The Host, this is the 25th Anniversary edition of the cyberpunk classic.

Back in the roaring eighties, Peter "Stoney" Emshwiller lived in the East Village of Manhattan, right around the corner from CBGBs. Did he spend his days punk-rocking out? Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll? Nah, he was way too nerdy and introverted for all that. Instead he worked as the managing editor of a buncha international magazines (including Rod Serling's Twilight Zone Magazine, Night Cry, and Gallery Magazine). Since those years he's had two science fiction Bantam Books novels published (The Host and its sequel, Short Blade), an original TV sitcom pilot produced, and numerous movie options taken out on his work by the likes of Jerry Bruckheimer. When he's not writing, he's acting -- particularly as a voiceover artist. Yes, that's Stoney you hear resonating mellifluously in radio ads, making goofy voices in cartoons, and dying a thousand horrible deaths in video games. (Hey, it beats working for a living.) Stoney recently finished a romantic, silly, deeply smutty, hopefully funny novel designed to offend anyone who has even the tiniest smidgen of good taste... and now is finally knuckling down to write the third book in the Levels series.