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The man behind Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption is about to become a novelist, thanks to a game gone wrong
Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser is bringing his A Better Paradise podcast to prose later this year
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Dan Houser might not be a name known to everyone, but to gamers, his work is famous: the co-founder of Rockstar Games, Houser is the creative director behind both Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption — and very soon, novelist, with his debut novel released later this year.
Fans of Houser will already be familiar with the story behind his first book — A Better Paradise Volume One: An Aftermath is, after all, an adaptation of Houser’s award-winning podcast series A Better Paradise, which launched in June 2024. The series, set in the near future, follows the development (and subsequent abandonment) of an experimental video game that… goes on to become something else.
Curiously, the publisher for the novel is Houser’s own company, Absurd Ventures, which also publishes the podcast; it’ll be the first release from the new publishing imprint of Absurd, and distributed by Simon & Schuster.
Jason Bartholomew, CEO of PR company Midas Group is overseeing the publishing imprint; in a statement to Publisher’s Weekly, he said, “Having collaborated with countless authors and publishing houses in my career, I knew instantly what a sensational opportunity this would be. We all know from Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto and other ground-breaking projects what a renowned and important storyteller Dan Houser is. To have Dan’s first novel as the inaugural release for the Absurd Ventures imprint will set the tone for our aims to explore thrilling, fun and surprising new universes and we can’t wait to share more about it all."
A Better Paradise Volume One: An Aftermath will be released later in 2025.
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