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Friday, 27 April 2012

Frankenstein's monster is on the loose

If you've been dropping in on this blog recently, you can hardly have missed the news about my reboot of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Is it an app? Well, yes, but "enhanced ebook" might be just as good a term. This is not a thing with sound effects and pop-up play with tricky lighting and swirling fonts. It's a book. A literary experience. You read it, interacting in a choose-your-own type way, only instead of picking which door to open or which dragon to fight, you're having a dialogue with Victor Frankenstein.

What's it like? You don't need to go by my opinion - here's what others have been saying:
"Stunning." - Tim Harford
"Very clever." - Professor John Sutherland
"Nicely done." - Stephen Fry
"A nuanced take on monstrosity... Extremely poignant." - Dr Dale Townshend
But why take their word for it? Anyone with $4.99 and an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch can see for themselves. And quite a few have already: it's at #2 in UK books and #13 in the USA today. You can get Frankenstein from the App Store in the UK here and US here.

9 comments:

  1. Not on Android market? Any plans to?

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  2. If it were up to me, yes, and Kindle Fire too. Unfortunately it's not.

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  3. I hope future plans will be more "up to you"... :)

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  4. If I ran a publisher *and* had an unlimited budget, certainly. Of course, then you'd be looking at a movie, videogame, the lot. :-)

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  5. Just would like to chime in and announce I already bought my copy. I'm certain this is one of the most important pieces of interactive fiction ever written.

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  6. Thank you, Guillermo. This book is the culmination of the last ten years for me in thinking through a number of ways that interactive fiction can be made more emotionally gripping. I am aware that many fans of traditional gamebooks may not think it's for them, but I hope they'll give it a try.

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  7. half of your awsome coolbooks and products go to iOS
    system please try android once.

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  8. i wish to buy the fabled lands full book set.
    i live in India and once in my 9th standard played the first part-the war torn kingdom.i love it.
    can you tell me just where in india or the world wide web do i get it for a minimalised rate

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    1. Hmm, other than going to Amazon I don't know what to suggest, Advait. Amazon US also delivers to India, but I imagine they add a lot for postage. Hopefully we will get some app versions out soon for Android - though I know I've been promising that for almost two years and in fact the contract with the developer has now lapsed :-(

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