Author to release book via blog
Author Mark Leslie is not publishing his latest thriller in print format, Leslie will be giving it to fans for free starting in January 2006 via a blog.
“I wanted to pay homage to a literary master like Dickens,” Leslie says. “Stephen King did it in the six part publication of his novel ‘The Green Mile’ and I thought it was time to bring serialized fiction to a phenomenon that is currently hot and exciting for readers today.”
Leslie’s online novella is entitled “I, Death” and follows the tragic tale of a frustrated teenager trying to come to terms with a unique curse. “It’s based on a story I’d originally written in ‘journal entry’ format when I was a teen. At the time I was attempting to write a story using the style Bram Stoker used in his novel ‘Dracula.’ When I recently went to re-write it, I naturally started thinking that my character, a teenager in today’s society, would likely use a blog to vent his frustration.” And the rest came naturally.
The forthcoming “I, Death” story will be available for free, told in real time in blog format by a fictitious teen named Peter O’Mallick and will appear at www.this-mortal-coil.blogspot.com starting January 18th, 2006. The story will continue to unroll as a series of online entries until some time in April or May. “The story-line and basic plot are already mapped out,” Leslie says. “But within the actual tale itself there’s room for divergences, the addition of last minute details and actions taken. Blogs are, after all, interactive, allowing for reader comments and they unfold slowly over time; they evolve as characters evolve. It’s entirely possible Peter might react to a comment left by a random reader which might alter specific details of the plot.”
Hate to be cynical, but it’s probably the one his publisher didn’t want.
Hi John — I certainly understand the cynical comment but the truth is that “I, Death” was never sent out to any publisher.
When I started to re-write the original story I purposely skipped the traditional format and wrote it into a “blog post” format specifically for this media.
LOL, if I wanted to start posting all of the rejected stories and novels in my filing cabinet at home, I’d certainly never run out of things to post. :)
Mark