According to Publishers Weekly, there’s a new kind of book on the way, and Cathy’s Book is the first of its kind. Jordan Weisman and Sean Stewart showed me a mock-up of this book at the BEA show in Chicago two years back. It’s essentially a hardcopy take on the kind of ARGs that Jordan and Sean invented (or at least brought to national prominence) with the Beast (a game of which I wrote a number of small bits).
Cathy’s Book is a mystery story about a girl investigating why her boyfriend dumped her, but it spins wildly from there. It includes web addresses and phone numbers as part of the clues, and these are all live and working for the reader to follow up on, enriching the whole experience.
I’m looking forward to seeing if this grand experience works. Knowing Jordan and Sean, I have high hopes for it.
