Zuiker’s Level 26: Dark Origin – Swierczynski ‘getting digi with it’
Books, News | Jay Tomio | May 12, 2009 at 2:08 amAccording to USA Today, BSC favorite Duane Swierczynski will be helming Anthony Zuiker’s (creator of CSI) Level 26: Dark Origin. Zuiker says of the project: will launch a “revolution in publishing for the YouTube generation.”
Level 26: Dark Origin will be published by Dutton in September (written by Swierczynski) and will be accompanied with:
20 videos, or “cyber-bridges,” featuring actors playing characters from the novel. – USA Today
It will be interesting to see if it will take, and how the novel functions without the videos (I’d imagine it would just like any other book). The article also states that the plot of the novels revolves around a rogue investigator who hunts serial killers. I guess it could be labeled as gimmicky, but it’s a fine line as it could easily be ‘progress’ depending on how well it’s done. I very did every much enjoy a project Swierczynski wrote called Batman: Murder At Wayne Manor that used (physical) supplements.
Make sure you check out the BSC file on Swierczynski.
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Related Entries Tags: Anthony Zuiker, Digi-Novel, Duane Swierczynski, Dutton, Level 26: Dark Origin, Mystery
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Back in August Sara “no H” Weinman posted something about this story when the basics hit Variety. At that point Duane hadn’t been named as the actual writer behind the project.
It was a fucking dogpile. Most everyone and their brother went out of their way to shit all over the project.
The really fun part is going to be watching all of the hurt necks caused by whiplash from doing a 180 so quickly.
http://www.sarahweinman.com/confessions/2008/08/anthony-zuikers.html
When we saw Duane a couple months ago he told us about the project but they were holding the public announcement for Book Expo.
One of the things about Duane that really impresses me is his ability to detach from all the commentary and put his nose down to the grindstone and do the work. And he’s doing a lot these days. I don’t think anyone in the crime fiction community really knows just how busy he is, because he’s insanely busy with comics, writing screenplays, doing this project, and his own novels. I’m sure he’ll do a great job.
I can’t fathom one reason why anybody would shit on the project, and after reading that thread I am still not aware of a good one.
Fear
Jealousy? Stupidity? Boredom? –noo, no, I have it. Petty meanness.
None of those are good. Honestly (and I don’t know the make-up of the people posting) if I was a writer, specifically a a crime/mystery writer, I think I’d want to be o nthe short list of writer in consideration for such a project, and consider it a loss if I wasn’t chosen.
Because you know . . who would want to be working with the creator behind one of most popular shows in history? Sounds like a lot of people who can never admit to being cool.
The initial announcement bugged me, but not because of the concept. It was the way Zuiker phrased things, his expressed disdain for the idea of reading an actual book. Nothing about the idea of the interactive mediums bothers me – just the notion that people can’t pay attention to a book for a prolonged period of time.
I think it made people, as readers, feel dismissed. Like dinosaurs. And it put a lot of backs up. I absolutely, 100% guarantee this project isn’t going to replace reading for me. And I think it’s sad that we live in a time when people are very open with a lack of respect for avid readers. Of course, we live in a time when every other person seems to have ADD and so why would we expect anyone to pay attention to anything for very long? That bugs the educator in me a lot.
But I’m not the target audience for this product. People who are choosing video games and movies over books are part of the target audience. There’s a demographic there, a group of people who would be more open to the idea of reading if there are other aspects to the story as a whole. The media component may bridge that gap for them. And if it does, then kudos, because Duane may very well find himself with new readers for his work. I don’t see this as reducing books, I see it as potentially expanding the readership.
But I do think Zuiker could have chosen his words a bit better when he made the announcement. Still, it’s like I said on my blog – it’s like Abrams saying he’s not a Trek fan. Zuiker was speaking the non-reader language. It just doesn’t sit well with readers.
It is very interesting to revisit the Zuiker news several months later because quite a lot has changed in publishing – no need to list the litany of bad news, but all that combined with the fact that e-reading is very much here to stay and growing at an exponential rate means that there’s more fear in the air, but there’s also more of a sense that approaches that once seemed novel or heretical are now more commonplace.
Zuiker’s mistake last year was in directing his comments to the “traditional” crime fiction reader – someone who adheres to a very conservative reading experience and engages in plenty of debate about what is crime fiction/what is noir/what is cozy blah blah blah. Someone who reads lots of books in a year, and isn’t just going to restrict his or herself to one or two annual purchases. Someone who is suspicious of anything technological, and thinks reading electronically is akin to devilry.
I exaggerage, of course, but ultimately reaching the crime fiction community only matters in a limited way. And while I freely admit to being suspicious of the project, once I found out Duane was on board that suspicion lessened, just as I remain curious about Chuck Hogan’s collaboration with Guillermo Del Toro in THE STRAIN, or Michael Ledwidge signing on with James Patterson (until I read the first book, after which I realized the Patterson brand carried more weight in the writing, and thus less with me.) Because ultimately it does always come down to the work, and whether it’s good or crap.
To address Jay’s question, as much as writers must find creative ways to survive professionally, not everyone wants to, or should, give up working alone and the solo brand they might have to work with someone else. Depends if the terms and contracts and conditions dwarf the potential for exposure.
Sarah (always with an ‘h’)