Running Press Signs Two Interactive YA Series
By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 3/18/2009 1:28:00 PM
Jordan Weisman, the author/game developer behind Running Press's 2006 YA hit Cathy's Book, has inked a deal for two intricate multiplatform series with his publisher. Cathy's Book, a mystery about a high schooler's disappearance that sent readers off the page to phone recordings and Web sites, served as the spawning ground for these two ambitious new projects, which are being rolled out as ready-made brands. The first series, Nanovor, will be linked to a handheld game (created for a customized device), while the second series, Lost Souls, will run alongside a multi-layered online backstory and will be packaged with a game board.
Nanovor will bow with the paperback Hacked in December 2009, and will link a story about high schoolers who discover a violent ancient life form within their computers to a game on a handheld device that's being created by Weisman's gaming company, Smith & Tinker. (Within the construct of the series, Nanovors are the world's first intelligent life form; Running Press's Craig Herman said the creatures are akin to "dust mites in silicon.") The handheld gaming device, which will be rolled out in beta in July, will be sold separately from the books for $49.99 and the first booster pack for the device will be available for $14.99, with additional tokens selling for $7.99--both the booster pack and the tokens allow players to advance in the game. Nanovor will also be tied to a PC game; software for that game will be sold exclusively at Game Stop and Best Buy for $10.As with Cathy's Book, Nanovor readers will be able to follow the story without playing the game. Gamers will also be able to play within the Nanovor world and bypass the books. Running Press will not be involved with the manufacturing or sale of the handheld devices. Deepening the house's involvement with the series, RP is publishing middle-grade readers about the Nanovor world. Nanovor graphic novels, which will feature separate storylines from the book, are also planned and will be published by IDW; four graphic novels have been slated, with the first sceduled to drop in May 2009. The first middle grade reader, Welcome to the Nanosphere: A Nanovor Field Guide, has been timed to drop the same month as Hacked.
Because of the expected press for--and as Herman put it, "awareness of--the handheld gaming device, RP is planning a first printing for Hacked of 100,000 copies. A second, currently untitled book in the Nanovor series is set for spring 2010.
Running Press has also committed to publish three books in Weisman's Lost Souls series. Lost Souls, which RP describes as a "multimedia adventure," will send readers to interactive Web sites and will also feature a play-along physical game; a game board and game pieces will be packaged with the books. The story follows a 13-year-old boy trying to save the world before the ancient Mayan doomsday, December 21, 2012. The first title in the series, Burning Sky, is slated for spring 2010; two more, Dead Lands and Nameless Days, have been scheduled for fall 2010 and fall 2011, respectively. Herman said he expects RP to do a first printing of 75,000 copies for Burning Sky.
