BURN ZONE at the 2024 Nebula Awards:

Christopher McMillan no longer holds his gaming skills in high regard. It’s not like he’s fighting in real wars like his father did before disappearing with the rest of his special forces unit in Afghanistan. Leading his friends in multiplayer game “missions” is just a way of escaping reality for a while. 

Until the aliens attack. 

In less than twenty-four hours, an armada from another world wipes out  99 percent of Earth’s population and vaporizes our infrastructure. Now, a reluctant Chris must assume a crucial leadership role in a survivor camp, scavenging for food and supplies while evading alien drones programmed to hunt those left alive. But the aliens aren’t his only problem. His former gaming rival and camp nemesis, Zane Hacker, plots revenge for numerous imagined wrongs. This time, their next battle won’t unfold on a computer screen.

Can Chris stop his adversary, exploit a weakness discovered in the aliens’ defenses, and unravel the mystery surrounding his M.I.A. father’s disappearance? With human survival at stake, the answers may only be found in space.