Ian Donald Keeling is a professional author, actor and public speaker. His short fiction and poetry have previously appeared in Realms of Fantasy, On Spec, and Grain. He's on the faculty for sketch and improv at The Second City in Toronto. His first novel, The Skids, won the Copper Cylinder Award and was short-listed for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic.
“SKIDS was special. In the sequel, THE THREAD WAR, Keeling raises the stakes, but don’t be fooled. Brilliant imagination? That hold-onto-your-seat action? There’s that yet so much more here. This story and these characters will fill your heart and grab your mind. This isn’t just a present-day outstanding adventure. It’s a future classic to treasure. True words.”
– Julie E. Czerneda, author of the Clan Chronicles from DAW Books
“Like The Princess Bride, this book has everything—love, grief, envy, revenge, monsters, heroism, battles, self-sacrifice, sports, and shopping. It does not matter that the characters exist inside a computer game and look like bowling balls on tank treads; the reader’s empathy engages immediately, and the story grips to the end. Along the way, we see an imaginative realization of a virtual multiverse from the inside, and an alien culture that is both poignant and credible. The Skids is truly a tale for the 21st century young.”
- Sunburst Award
“Wow! Just wow! It’s not as it is described on the back cover: “Part Hunger Games, part Ready Player One…”. It is something new. It is something fresh and original and it’s the kind of fiction that will be used in the future for reference. When you’ll read “Book (insert name here) is The Skids meets Matrix”, then you’ll know I’m right. Is the kind of story other stories are based on, not the other way around.
I don’t want to reveal plot or concept, I usually don’t like it when others do it. And it’s hard to write of The Skids without revealing anything and ruining future readers experience.
But what I can still say—it’s a superbly conceived new world with its own glossary of terms, unique culture and reality, and yet it’s a thrill ride. It’s tensed and it’s fast, and it’s complex. You’ll love it! Teen or adult, you won’t be able to let it go. And then you’ll talk about it with your friends and colleagues, and they’ll love it. And it will spread like a plague. A benefic one, mind you."
- Costi Gurgu author of “Recipearium”