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When We Were Real: A Novel book cover by Daryl Gregory
Paperback

When We Were Real: A Novel

by Daryl Gregory

$11.80 / copy at 25+ copies As low as $9.80 at 1,000+Your best volume price

Total $295.00

Paperback · 464 pages S&S/Saga Press · 2026

Format

Paperback
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About the book

When We Were Real

Finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novel

From multiple award-winning author Daryl Gregory comes a madcap adventure following two friends on a cross-country bus tour through the mind-boggling glitches in their simulated world as they grapple with love, family, secrets, and the very nature of reality in a simulation.

JP and Dulin have been the best of friends for decades. When JP finds out his cancer has aggressively returned, Dulin decides it’s the perfect time for one last adventure: a week-long bus tour of North America’s Impossibles, the physics-defying glitches and geographic miracles that started cropping up seven years earlier—right after the Announcement that revealed our world to be merely a digital simulacrum. The outing, courtesy of Canterbury Trails Tours, promises the trip of a (not completely real) lifetime in a (not completely deluxe) coach.

Their fellow passengers are 21st-century pilgrims, each of them on the tour for their own reasons. There’s a nun hunting for an absent God, a pregnant influencer determined to make her child too famous to be deleted, a crew of horny octogenarians living each day like it’s their last, and a professor on the run from leather-clad sociopaths who take The Matrix as scripture. Each stop on this trip is stranger than the last—a Tunnel outside of time, a zero gravity Geyser, the compound of motivational-speaking avatar—with everyone barreling toward the tour’s iconic final stop Ghost City, where unbeknownst to our travelers the answer to who is running the simulation may await.

When We Were Real is “an addictive thriller packed with winning characters and big, brilliant ideas” (Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author of The Bright Sword and The Magicians trilogy) and an exploration of what really matters, even in an artificial world.

The book, When We Were Real: A Novel [Bulk, Wholesale, Quantity] ISBN#9781668060056 in Paperback by Daryl Gregory may be ordered in bulk quantities. Minimum starts at 25 copies. Availability based on publisher status and quantity being ordered.

Details

Publisher
S&S/Saga Press
Author
Daryl Gregory
Format
Paperback
Published
Mar 17, 2026
ISBN-13
9781668060056
ISBN-10
1668060051
Pages
464
Carton quantity
20 copies
Buying for a group

When We Were Real for groups: pricing

Volume pricing applies automatically in your cart. No codes, no account needed.

CopiesPrice per copyYou save
25 – 99 $11.80 41% off list
100 – 249 $11.20 44% off list
250 – 499 $10.60 47% off list
500 – 999 $10.20 49% off list
1,000+ $9.80 51% off list
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Where can I buy 100 copies of When We Were Real?

BookPal sells When We Were Real in quantity. At 100 copies the price is $11.20 a copy, against a list price of $20.00, and the cart applies the volume tier automatically. Free shipping on most orders over $95 in the contiguous US. A specialist can quote a larger or mixed order.

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What does When We Were Real cost when I buy for a group?

Volume pricing applies automatically in your cart, with no code needed. Price per copy: 25 to 99 copies, $11.80 (41% off list); 100 to 249 copies, $11.20 (44% off list); 250 to 499 copies, $10.60 (47% off list); 500 to 999 copies, $10.20 (49% off list); 1,000+ copies, $9.80 (51% off list). Need a different quantity, or a quote to forward for approval? Ask a specialist and we will confirm pricing before you pay.

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