Personal Effects: Dark Art

There's this author named J.C. Hutchins. I've mentioned him before for his podcast novel trilogy 7th Son which is soon to be available in print. He has a new book out called Personal Effects: Dark Art which is about an art therapist named Zach Taylor who works for Brinkvale Psychiatric Hospital. It's a supernatural thriller with a twist:

The book is a gateway into an Alternate Reality Game or ARG.

Huh? Follow the Wikipedia link. Find out what and ARG is and come back. I'll wait.

Done? Good.

So the book actually comes with clues to the associated ARG. Some are in the text of the novel. Some are in the illustrations in the novel. Some are in a pocket in the front of the book including things like birth certificates, a drivers license, and photographs.

The book is pretty cool but I was initially on the fence about it. This isn't a reflection of J.C.'s ability at his craft just a simple matter of time. While I have time to listen to podiobooks when working out, driving, and pretending to work, it's a lot harder to find time to read anything that isn't on a screen. And I knew, just knew, that the ARG would suck me in and consume my time. So, I resisted the urge to dive in.

And then the Hutch released the podcast prequel, Personal Effects: Sword of Blood. I listened. Idiot. A website was mentioned. Zach's girl, Rachel has a gaming blog. I checked the URL. It, of course, existed. From there I find that she has a twitter account, works for the New York Journal Ledger, and that her boyfriend has a MySpace page.

Dammit! I'm hooked.

I pre-ordered the book from Amazon. Then I proceed to check out the remaining sites and call the number on the front of the book (that's 212.629.1951 for those so inclined). I get Zach's voicemail greeting. Cool! I try to hack into the Staff Login section of Brinkvale's site with no luck. The password hint is obvious but I have trouble with the username. I'll try again later.

So, I'm fully engaged in the ARG and at the time of this writing have actually finished the book and explored much further into the game. I plan to blog all of my discoveries here but need to play a little catch up over the next couple of days. Expect more posts.

Luke's Artwork

Originally uploaded by groyse.

My son was inspired by Guitar Hero to create this drawing. I like the skulls and the variety of hair styles. Rock on Luke!

A Small Sample

Here's a little bit of what I am working on. It's very rough so keep that in mind if you want to comment but constructive criticism is still welcome. This scene is somewhere in the middle of the book.

---

“These things are everywhere. What’re we gonna do?” Gills paced about the room, the most animated anyone had ever seen him. Behind the hatch Floyd they could hear scratching sounds. They were clawing at the door, trying to get them.

“We gotta get outta here. That’s what we have to do. We’ll go to the shuttle and just leave.”
Roger glared at Gills. “Are you fucking stupid? We can’t leave. We can’t even pilot the shuttle because they killed Penn.”

Floyd found himself speaking. “We need to figure out what is going on, get that object off of the ship. It’s causing this.”

“No! We need to get off the ship. I can fly it. I can fly a shuttle. I used to be a pilot when I was in the navy.”

“That was a fucking hovercraft! It didn’t even raise six feet above the ground!” Roger’s frustration boiled over into rage. “You’re talking about flying a goddamned shuttle! You fly that thing and you’ll get us all killed before we even leave the fucking ship.”

“We’re taking the shuttle off this ship and you all are coming. That’s an order!” Was Gills angry? Floyd didn’t think he had ever seen Gills angry before. But there he stood with flared nostrils, his bald head during a bright shade or read. The carotid artery in his throat throbbed menacingly like it was ready to jump out of his neck and strangle Roger.

Roger snorted, either oblivious to or unconcerned with just how angry Gills was. His words slowed and took on an incredulous tone. “Order? You’re ordering us to go with you?”
“No. Fuck you.” Roger said flatly. “You’re own your own fly boy.” Roger turned his back on Gills. Gills stared at Floyd who shook his head.

“Bad plan Gills. The shuttle wasn’t designed to operate for such a long duration. We’re only half-way through our trip. Even if we hooked up some cryo modules in the shuttle the power systems would fail before we met up with the other colony ships in Gamma Pavonis. Besides, I’m not sure I’d want to go into cryo with that thing in our ship. Look what it did to everyone else in cryo.”

“We have to take the chance. If we stay here we’re screwed.”

Floyd felt calm and his voice was smooth and placid. “No Gills. I’m not going. If you do this, you’re on your own.”

“Fine. If you all change your minds, I’ll be prepping the shuttle.”

“Don’t crash” said Roger, his back still turned to Gills.

It's Alive!

I exist. I know that to many this might come as quite a surprise. Mostly, people have just looked at the photo of Mr. Davala and wondered who the hell that guy is. Well, I was simply demonstrating to a co-worker how Blogger would allow me to take a mobile photo and post if to me blog lickety-split. This was part of a conversation on how ubiquitous cameras in the hands of the public that can post things in seconds to the Internet will make police more accountable and news instantaneous or some rhetoric like that.

So what have I been up to? Well I've decided to get my geek on and do something creative in my allegedly free time. So, I'm writing a novel. Well, maybe it'll be more like a novella. We'll see how long it ends up. So what kinds of novel, you ask? Well, I am a geek so it would have to be science fiction. But not just any science fiction. Put it this way:

It takes place in space.

There are zombies.

How fun is that? As it turns out, not too much for the characters. It's alive indeed.

Arrr!

My pirate name is:

Mad Tom Kidd

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
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A close one ...

Originally uploaded by aixcracker.

Amazing lightning strike.

"Are You The Singing Telsa Coil?"

This is probably one of the coolest Tesla coil "stunts" that I have ever seen.