Last Thursday saw the launch of a new small press publisher entering the field of horror. Underland Press books’ website went live on May 29th.
Underland Press itself has several authors already under contract with the first book expected in the winter of 2009. However, you don’t want to wait until then before you visit their website because, if you hurry, you just might catch the first chapter of their wovel.
“What is a wovel?”
“Well it’s . . . different. Yeah, it is different. It’s a web-novel.”
Ohio author Kealan Patrick Burke is the author of a very different kind of undead story titled The Living. Each week he delivers an installment of the novel and at the end of the installment, we get to vote on what happens in an element of the story. This week’s installment, the first one, is a simple vote. But be warned . . . our votes will shape the direction of the story.
It’s like the old choose your own adventure stories except that we all get a vote and you can’t back-up to a previous chapter in order to get an ending you like. Whatever we vote for, we’re stuck with and so is Kealan. For more information on this exciting project, check out their information page.
In the meantime, after you’ve read this week’s installment of The Living, check out the The Underland Press mission statement and then take a look at the first books they’ve got lined up for publication.
Now excuse me, I have to go vote.
Update:
I read the first installment of The Living and cast my vote.
When I prepared the original part of this post, I glanced at the story and the choices we had at the end. I thought it would be an easy decision — the equivalent of: does he open the door or walk away?
Today I read the first installment of The Living and boy was I wrong. The first choice makes a profound impact on the wovel and on the main character. I can’t say more without spoiling the story but trust me when I say it took me fifteen minutes to make my decision.
I got to see how the voting is going (read the story and vote if you want to find out — I’m not giving anything away here). Underland Press is holding the voting open for an extra long period of time to give people a chance to discover the wovel. You have until July 16th to read the installment and cast your vote.
Go. Read The Living. Cast your vote. You’ll be glad you did.
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