Austin Seth Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American author and

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...

. He has contributed to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and has written for a number of

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s, most notably '' Deus Ex'' and '' Dishonored''.

Life

Grossman was born in

Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. In the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is n ...

. He graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1991 and pursued a graduate degree in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. He is the twin brother of writer Lev Grossman and brother of sculptor Bathsheba Grossman, and the son of the poet Allen Grossman and the novelist Judith Grossman. Grossman's father was born

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and his mother was raised

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

. Grossman started his career in the game industry by replying to a classified ad in ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' in May 1992 that led him to Looking Glass Studios, where in ''

System Shock ''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game ...

'' he pioneered the audio log technique for storytelling in narrative games. Grossman has worked with DreamWorks Interactive, Ion Storm, and

Crystal Dynamics Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California. The studio is best known for its games in the ''Tomb Raider'', '' Legacy of Kain'', and '' Gex'' series. Madeline Canepa, Judy Lange, and Dave Morse ...

, and served as Director of Game Design and Interactive Story at

Magic Leap Magic Leap, Inc. is an American technology company that released a head-mounted augmented reality display, called ''Magic Leap One'', which superimposes 3D computer-generated imagery over real world objects. It is attempting to construct a lig ...

until April 2020. He currently teaches writing and narrative design at

New York University Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

Novels

Grossman is the author of the novel ''

Soon I Will Be Invincible ''Soon I Will Be Invincible'' is a novel by Austin Grossman, published by Pantheon Books and released on June 5, 2007. The novel uses two alternating first person narratives—the first told from the point of view of Fatale, a female cyborg rec ...

'', which was published by

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint. Founded in 1942 as an independent publishing house in New York City by Kurt and Helen Wolff, it specialized in introducing progressive European works to American readers. In 1961, it was ...

in 2007. His second book, entitled ''

YOU In Modern English, the word "''you''" is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from ...

'', debuted in April 2013. His third novel, '' Crooked'', came out in July 2015. In 2021, he co-wrote an original audiobook for

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

called ''New Found Land: The Long Haul'' with

Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and baroque. Stephenson's work explores mathemati ...

and

Sean Stewart Sean Stewart (born June 2, 1965) is an American-Canadian science fiction and fantasy author. Biography Born in Lubbock, Texas, Sean Stewart moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1968. After stints in Houston, Texas, Vancouver, British Colum ...

, which the trio had developed as a story for AR company

. In June 2024, Grossman published his fourth novel, '' Fight Me''.

Works

Books

* ''

'' (2007) * ''

You In Modern English, the word "''you''" is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from ...

'' (2013) * '' Crooked'' (2015) * '' Fight Me'' (2024)

Audio Original

* ''New Found Land: The Long Haul'' (2021), co-written with

and

Short stories

* "The River Gods of Mars" in '' Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom'' (2012) * "Professor Incognito Apologizes: an Itemized List" in '' The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination'' (2013) * "The Fresh Prince of Gamma World" in '' Press Start to Play'' (2015)

Games

References

External links

Profile of Austin Grossman from Wired.com

''The New York Times'' editorial on death of Captain America
1998 Editorial on Interactivity and Content

Short story, "Top Secret", at Granta
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grossman, Austin 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American video game designers American video game writers 20th-century American Jews Harvard Advocate alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Living people Place of birth missing (living people) American twins 1969 births 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American Jews People from Concord, Massachusetts