Cline is otherwise best known for penning the 2015 sci-fi novel Armada, which follows another teenage gamer who discovers that the alien-invasion-themed game he’s been playing is actually a simulator to prepare humanity for a real-world invasion.

In Bridge to Bat City, inspired by stories he would tell his kids at bedtime, Ernie Cline has crafted an enchanting tale that weaves together fact and fiction set against the incredible backdrop of 1980s Austin, filled with a vibrant cast of characters, rich music history, activism and environmentalism, and bats!

But with people afraid of the bats and determined to get rid of them, it’ll take a whole lot of courage to prove that this is where the bats—and Opal—belong. The Austin author has just announced the release date for his debut children's novel, The Bridge to Bat City, set in Austin in the 1980s.

But just as the farm is starting to feel like home, the bats’ cave is destroyed by a big mining company that has its sights on the family’s land, as well. There, Opal bonds with Unclue Roscoe over music and befriends a group of orphaned, music-loving bats. Said Little, Brown Books’ Editor-in-Chief Alvina Ling, “In Bridge to Bat City, inspired by stories he would tell his kids at bedtime, Ernie Cline has crafted an enchanting tale that weaves together fact and fiction set against the incredible backdrop of 1980s Austin, filled with a vibrant cast of characters, rich music history, activism and environmentalism, and bats! The publishing deal for The Bridge to Bat City was brokered by Cline's longtime representatives, manager/producing partner, Dan Farah, and literary agent Yfat Reiss Gendell. After losing her mother, 13-year-old Opal moves in with her uncle Roscoe on the family farm, and it’s there that she befriends a group of orphaned bats.There, Opal bonds with Uncle Roscoe over music and befriends a group of orphaned, music-loving bats.

Cline earned his laurels as part of Austin's geek elite in the '90s with his buzzy script, Fanboys, which finally made it to the screen in 2009 in a version starring starring Jay Baruchel, Kristen Bell, Seth Rogen, and Danny Trejo. But with people afraid of the bats and determined to get rid of them, it’ll take a whole lot of courage to prove that this is where the bats – and Opal – belong.His book deal was brokered by manager and producing partner Dan Farah and literary agent Yfat Reiss Gendell. Inspiration for the novel stemmed from Cline’s longtime residency in Austin, TX, which is home to the world’s largest urban bat colony.

The book appears to mark something of a departure for Cline from the work in the sci-fi realm for which he’s best known. But with people afraid of the bats and determined to get rid of them, it'll take a whole lot of courage to prove that this is where the bats--and Opal--belong. This is an enchanting tale that weaves together fact and fiction set against the incredible backdrop of 1980s Austin, filled with a vibrant cast of characters, rich music history, activism and environmentalism, and bats!He lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, a time-traveling DeLorean, and a large collection of classic video games. This is a weird and wonderful “mostly true tall tale” about how a recently orphaned girl named Opal B Flats helped a family of displaced bats find a new home under the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. In the meantime, he busied himself as a star of Austin's slam poetry scene, collecting some of his verses into a chapbook, The Importance of Being Ernest, in 2001, However, it was his debut novel Ready Player One that made him a household name, and it was adapted by Steven Spielberg in 2018.