Here is a gem for my game-playing readers and friends - a story by Yoon Ha Lee, titled The Knight of Chains, the Deuce of Stars.
It's about games, or, to be precise, about a world where all the Universe's games are mined from, and access to which is guarded by a tower and its warden (or is it the other way round?), who you have to pass to go and mine a game. Which can, and usually does, mean a challenge, and a game, and potentially consequences of losing said game.
I will not spill (and spoil) more of the story - go and ready it for yourself, it's available for free on Lightspeed Magazine. Yes, it has echoes of Ian M. Banks' Player of Games, but in a good and, in my opinion, non-derivative way.
It's also eligible for the 2014 Hugos, and has been recommended for such by Aliette de Bodard - I can heartily second that endorsement. Good stuff!
The Illustration is by Galen Dara
