Second Life Novel Coming to Amazon.com?
Second Life resident Dalian Hansen sends word that he will soon publish ANIMA, a novel set largely in the virtual world itself. From Dalian’s description:
Ben Tao is the avatar of a fired programmer who hacks Second Life. His goal is to profit from a false intellectual property claim. However, instead of changing the creation date for the items he has stolen, he is actually sending them back in time to the creation of the 3D world. This software exploit opens a wormhole of conflicting realities that unfold in a disjointed nightmare. Ben quickly finds himself controlled by an entity who robs him of all free will. Or is he just going insane? As the digital and real worlds merge in his mental interchange, he uncovers a secret that affects all of humanity. From this bleak future, Ben has only one chance to escape.
Cool! Dalian says preview editions will be published as a prim book in SL and as a paperback available from CafePress.com, both due July 7, with a hardcover edition available on Amazon.com as of July 27. That said, I couldn’t find listings on either CafePress or Amazon, hence the question mark in the title of this post. Looking forward to getting my review copy either way. I don’t know of another complete novel that’s been written in/around SL, so this should be a milestone of sorts. Can’t wait.
Feeds
Sounds like a familiar plot with SecondLife replacing ‘Virtual Reality’. Of course, most books are just a rehash of the same plot(s), so I’ll look for it.
You should then read the ‘Met a Stranger’ series from Mygdala! All set in SL and an awesome read.
http://mygdala.com/2007/05/31/swear-i-didnt-mean-it-met-a-stranger-32-season-1-finale/ is the url to the final episode of season one. (Use the navigation on the end of the post to read it all.)
I’m involved in “Alternate Virtual Reality”, which is a digital, cyberspacey sort of take on the parallel timelines explored with the offline world. I’m glad to see fiction like this rising, I know there are a few SL publications which have deliberately gotten into more of a “fictional take on an online world” mode.
I also like art exploring such possibilities — BTW, the cover art for ANIMA is serious ass-kickery! Reminiscent of depthCORE quality… http://www.depthcore.com/
Disclaimer: I’m a time travel lover. Dalian graciously gave me a heads-up on this text, and apparently there is an alternate Torley in the book too? *anticipates*
People may be interested to know that I have an interview with Dalian about the forthcoming novel over at VCTB; feel free to check it out.
Second Life Novel Coming to Amazon.com?
And the answer is… Yes!
http://amazon.com/dp/0976316897