Today‘Deadline’ screams sequel; full of twists
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Remember, way back in the day (the ’90s) when Goosebumps books were all the rage? Fellow twenty-somethings know what I’m talking about.
Well, some of my favorites of the Goosebumps series were the ones where you created your own story. The reader would begin with Chapter 1, obviously, but at the end of the chapter you were give two or more options of what you wanted to happen. Like should Timmy open the door to the creepy house or should he run away and tell his mommy? Based on which course of action you wanted to take, you would go to a different page. The story continued in this manner, with each chapter ending involving a critical decision that you had to make for the plot to continue.
It was great. You could read the book five times and get a different story each time.
“Deadline” from BookHitch.com reminds me of those Goosebumps gems with all the excitement of crazy twists and turns.
“Deadline” is unique from other books in many ways. It is a community book with a different author penning each chapter. The initial chapter was written by Anne K. Edwards, a southern Pennsylvanian and published mystery author. That chapter was posted on BookHitch.com and then writers from around the country submitted their entries for the second chapter. Readers voted, the second chapter was published and more submissions were sent until the final chapter came around. The final chapter, and twist, wasn’t published until the book itself was published, leaving readers following the project in limbo. Other authors who contributed are Brian Rouff, Shirley Cheng, Wanda C. Keesey (a local! — she’s from Highspire), B.V. Bear, Rich Archer and Marie Ragland.
Other unique attributes of the book are the inclusion of radio frequency identification tags or RFID tags, quick response codes and advertisements/sponsorships, as well as its environmentally friendly publishing methods.
In short, RFID tags are included in a book to provide a certain amount of information readable by an RFID tag reader. Its uses vary, but right now basic information includes a book’s ISBN number and price. Quick response codes are like bar codes in the book that are read with a special program found on certain models of camera phones. With the program, a cell phone will read the code and the information embedded in it, which is often a URL. The program will then read that URL and automatically take your phone to the Web site indicated. It’s a way for publishers and authors to provide interesting links throughout the book on a topic readers might want to delve into further.
As for the environmental aspects of the book, it was printed on a digital press. A digital press offers a lot of benefits, including less set-up time and paper waste, uses environmentally friendly toner and doesn’t have the toxic waste of offset, and it allows for printing on demand, or printing the exact amount of books needed. It cuts down on the waste of unsold books being destroyed or sitting in warehouses. For more information on the technologies used in “Deadline” or its environmental stance, visit www.bookhitch.com/sneakpeek.aspx
The best part about “Deadline,” though, is the story itself.
Annie Anderson is an author with writer’s block. She’s working on her second novel after the grand success of her first. Not only does she have pressure to write another book just as good as the first, but she has a looming deadline and can’t get past this one chapter. To make things worse, Annie starts having nightmares with a ghostly figure telling her she’s going to die the next day.
Then things start to get really weird.
To get her mind off things, Annie’s not-so-friendly best friend, Sophie, takes her to a party where she meets Rich and his Uncle Jessie. At the party, Annie sees the ghostly image from her dreams, faints and is subsequently thrown into a world of underground witchery.
The crazy part about this book is just how much of a twist and turn each chapter takes. You never know what to expect. As I was reading it, I thought it would start off as a ghost story — wrong! Then I thought Sophie was a sweet best friend trying to take care of Annie — couldn’t be further from the truth. Finally, I thought I knew who the good guys were and the bad guys — negative.
If you’re like me and hate when any book, movie or television show is overly predictable, then this book is for you.
The only downfall, which is to be expected, are small continuity errors between chapters and a slightly anticlimactic ending.
But it does leave quite a bit of room for a sequel, which I’d love to read.
Heck, if there is a sequel, maybe I’ll even try to throw in my own twists and turns ... maybe something involving a giant stuffed kangaroo, jelly beans and a serrated knife.
How’s that for a twist?
