Anthony Zuiker, the creative mastermind behind the incredibly successful CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) television franchise, has just made literary history! With the release of Level 26: Dark Origins, the first digi-novel ever and Book 1 of the Level 26 trilogy, Zuiker has merged the written word, digital cinema and an active cyber community into an innovative work of creative genius. With the literary assistance of Duane Swierczynski and artistic touch of pop culture illustrator Marc Ecko, Anthony Zuiker has released an innovative novel whose impact upon common perceptions of what it means to read a book in the digital era will transform the process of story-telling. This new step in the evolution of writing has opened a new realm for aspiring authors as they determine the future of literature for following generations. Level 26: Dark Origins is a historical work in this context and Anthony Zuiker the inventor of a new and brilliant method of narration.
The digi-novel concept is the creative merging of the written word with digital motion pictures (cyber-bridges), which enhance the "reading" experience. While engrossed within the pages of Dark Origins, the reader is presented with codes that can be submitted on Level26.com to unlock a new cyber-bridge every twenty or so pages. While the book can be read without watching any of the cyber-bridges, these cyber-bridges work to visually "fill-in" and enhance the story as well as attribute a professional cast with the persona of the main characters. They furthermore raise the reader's awareness of the digi-novel as an interactive experience with brilliantly executed footage featuring a compelling soundtrack, stunning costume and set design, and established actors from film and television. The cyber-bridges, created under the visionary eye of Anthony Zuiker, are comparable in quality to some of the more innovative and memorable sequences in feature-length television and cinema.
Level 26: Dark Origins introduces the reader to the most nefarious serial killer in CIA history. As a level 26 killer, 'Sqweegel', is in a class of killers all by himself (when reading the book, you will soon learn the disturbing story behind the name 'Sqweegel'). The authorities of several countries seem helpless in tracking down a serial killer who wears a forensic-proof full-body suit and who can contort his body to hide in the smallest and most impossible of places (in the cyber-bridges, Sqweegel is brilliantly portrayed by 'Rubberboy' Daniel Browning Smith, also known as 'the most flexible man alive'). Only one agent, Steve Dark, has ever come close to catching Sqweegel, and the experience and its aftermath nearly destroyed him. This first novel masterfully introduces Sqweegel, his heinous murderous beginnings and his brilliantly wicked plan to force Steve Dark out of his retirement. Through well-crafted riddles, gut-wrenchingly disturbing acts of violence, nail-biting suspense, and pulse-pounding intensity, Anthony Zuiker draws us into the madness as Steve races to catch Sqweegel before he can strike again.
The entire experience is extraordinary as readers are pulled into the genius that is Anthony Zuiker's imagination. From the first page, to the last scene of the last cyber bridge, to the detailed discussions in the forums on Level26.com, the sensation of Level 26 is a triumph of creativity, and the newdigi-novel concept a gift to the literary world that is hopefully here to stay.
I submitted the review to Amazon.com but it has not shown up yet. This is where it should appear within the next 48 hours.
Review on BarnesandNobles.com.
*This review was written by Lestat and edited by Kingi.
There are now over 18,000 people who have created a user account on Level26.com. However, only a small fraction of these people actively participates in the forums, teams, and contests. The majority of users sign up to watch the cyber-bridges without expanding their experience by getting involved with the rest of the Level 26 community. One way to combat this behavior and increase involvement in the community is to create an interactive dialogue between community members and their favorite Level 26 characters. And how might you do that?
How about an interactive hunt across the Level 26 community for an elusive killer that is stalking the boards of Level 26? Old and new members are transformed into Dark, Constance and Riggins, and join together to hunt down the most recent psychopath to make it onto the Level 26 list - Black Sqweegel!
"The Hunt for Black Sqweegel" is a not only a deputy, team, and new member challenge - it’s also an opportunity for the deputies to recruit new members who may have otherwise never engaged in the contests.
Every two weeks, AZ will randomly select a Level 26 deputy to transform into Black Sqweegel. The selected deputy will be notified by AZ or Jason via PM, and will be given the passwords to the “Black Sqweegel” accounts (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Level 26). The Black Sqweegel accounts will be managed by Jason and the elected deputy. They will have an avatar of Black Sqweegel, and the account password will be changed after each hunt. There will be no private messages between the Black Sqweegel accounts and members of the community, nor will Black Sqweegel be allowed to befriend any members. The account will be solely used to enter chat, post messages, clues, videos and pictures.
ALL INTERACTION WITH BLACK SQWEEGEL MUST BE PUBLIC!
Once the deputy is given the account information, they will have three days to plan their attacks, clues, and strategy before the hunt begins. On the 4th day, the hunt is on. Black Sqweegel will begin stalking the Level 26 community and interacting with new and old members. How Black Sqweegel interacts is up to the deputy. Are you going to rein havoc? Leave hidden clues? Scare the community? Be creative! But remember that the goal of this challenge is to increase user numbers and activity in the Level 26 community! It is hoped that by posting on the cyber-bridge threads, twitter and facebook, new members will become actively involved and join the deputies’ teams to participate in this contest.
Black Sqweegel can post as much or as little as he wants to. The only requirement is that Black Sqweegel has to post at least one clue to his identity per day. Clues can be hidden in different areas of Level26.com, the Level 26 Facebook page, Twitter, comments on users’ pictures and/or blogs. Clues can be given interactively via board messages, youtube videos, pictures, or posters- anything that is open to all members of Level 26. It’s completely up to the deputy playing Black Sqweegel! The contest will be judged on creativity, feasibility, and broadness of exposure to the Level 26 community. An example: Deputy Jade could post – “I’m a precious stone”, or a picture of a precious stone! (This is an example of a rather obvious clue, by the way). Black Sqweegel should not post clues that intentionally point to another deputy.
The key is that Black Sqweegel can post anywhere at any time, so members must be watching all threads and Level 26 websites to catch the clues!
There will be two threads dedicated to "The Hunt for Black Sqweegel". The first thread will be where members can gather and share the clues Sqweegel has left, but also their interactions with Black Sqweegel. Here members can discuss and interpret what Black Sqweegel has left behind, and try and come up with his identity. The second thread will be the official “Guess Black Sqweegel’s Identity”. Here teams as well as new members who have not joined a team yet will be able to post their guess on Sqweegel’s identity. But please remember that each team (as well as each participating new member) only gets ONE guess at Sqweegel’s identity.
The deputy elected as Black Sqweegel has a choice of leaving his or her team in the dark, allowing select members know, or having their entire team participate in fooling the Level 26 community. But remember, if your team members know, they must continue to play along! Teams and deputies still have to guess, interact, and discuss the identity of Black Sqweegel- otherwise they will fail at keeping their identity unknown.
Black Sqweegel will be hunted for 2 + 6 = 8 consecutive days, and on the 12th day over the two week period, his identity will be revealed. (The remaining two days will be used for selecting the winner, announcing the winner, and selecting the next deputy. Then the process starts over again).
If the deputy has fooled everybody and no one guessed Black Sqweegel’s identity, then that deputy will win the contest and receive points. However, if the identity was guessed, then the winning team or the winning new member will receive all the points. A winning team or individual new member is the one who first posts the correct identity on the “Guess Black Sqweegel’s Identity” thread. It is therefore important that teams and individuals do not wait until the last minute to guess, because although they may be right, they will lose if a team has posted a correct guess before them! If a new member is the first to correctly guess Black Sqweegel's identity and subsequently joins one of the teams, his points will be transferred to the team. All teams will therefore have a strong incentive to recruit this person.
Creating or using fake accounts to impersonate a new member is strictly prohibited in this game.
Should anybody be caught posing as a new member, his or her team will lose 25 points and cannot participate in the next round of the game.
ADDITIONAL POINTS OF INTEREST
To give users an added incentive to participate in the Sqweegel hunt, especially creative and interactive Dark Sqweegels will received a virtual medal by AZ! Designing this medal could be an additional team/individual challenge. We furthermore suggest a bi-monthly draw in which one of the successful finishers (i.e., a winning Black Sqweegel, or the most deserving or all members of the winning Level 26 team or the winning new member) wins a Level 26 T-shirt! To encourage new members to return to the website regularly, the winner should be announced on an unknown day on the Level26 home page (maybe hidden inside the daily blog). The winner has to claim his prize (e.g. by responding to Jason or Z) within 24 hours of being declared the winner or another name will be drawn and announced, who then has 24 hours to respond.
Before the launch of book 2, all winning teams will have the chance to win an additional prize- a signed copy of the second book, for example, or perhaps even a fly-out to LA or NY for the first official book signing ;-).
