New Crack for Old-Skool Gamers
I was not aware that the genre already needed saving, but Annalee Newitz at io9 explains how “Neal Stephenson and Friends Fight for the Future of EBooks with The Mongoliad“:
While the publishing industry fights to survive, a group of scifi writers and software developers have struck out on their own. Led by Neal Stephenson, author of Cryptonomicon, the group built an ebook that could make reading truly interactive.
The project was born out of swordfighting. Stephenson, an avid swordfighter, practices this martial art with a small group in Seattle which includes software developer Jeremy Bornstein and others. Over time, and after a lot of input from martial arts experts, Stephenson realized that the descriptions of swordfighting in his novels would have been much better if they’d been shaped by knowledge contributed by people reading the books. And so the idea for a collectively written novel was born. With the help of authors Greg Bear, Nicole Galland, and Mark Teppo, along with Bornstein and others, Stephenson began to outline a book called The Mongoliad – a medieval adventure full of swordfighting and mysticism.
The team formed a small company called Subutai, and here’s what they have to say about their first book:
[The Mongoliad is] about a time when Europe thought that the Mongol Horde was about to destroy their world, and the exploits of a small band of mystics and warriors as they attempt to turn the tide of history.
And though I keep calling it a “book,” The Mongoliad is actually an app written for mobile devices (currently iPhone and iPad)...
[...]
While Stephenson, Bear, and others worked on the text, Bornstein developed the app backend, focusing on collaborative software. The group dubbed the result the “personal ubiquitous literature platform,” or PULP.
Though interactive novels have had snippets of movies and images in them since the mid-1990s, PULP is what makes The Mongoliad stand out as a possible way forward for post-print publishing. PULP makes this book into something that’s truly the product of our collective imaginations. When you’re reading a chapter of the book, you always have the option to pull up a an interactive discussion window and leave a note or enter a discussion about the book. You can write your own additional storyline. Or add to the pedia to explain more about the historical setting. You can also rate every aspect of the book, rating any page on a scale of one to five stars.
[...]
Subutai is devoted to selling this book without DRM. You’ll get it in an app store, and you’ll pay what Bornstein calls “a relatively low price” for it as a six-month service, where you get new content every week. At the end of those six months you can renew for “a lower price.” Bornstein hinted that the book will eventually contain “a few games too.”
“This is our solution to the ebook question,” Bornstein adds. “You have to think of something else to do to get around copying. So you make it a service that people want to belong to and contribute to. So there are artistic and economic reasons for making it a service. [On the artistic side,] having the reader feedback we’ll get good information about how the historical period worked.”
Stephenson, Bear, and the writers have about three months worth of text written so far. Some is edited, and some isn’t. Once the book launches and people start contributing, Bornstein says, “We’ll be willing to revise up to and after the publication. We’re taking audience feedback really seriously – if people point out problems with fights we’ll change it.”
Ready to download The Mongoliad and get medieval? Subutai plans to launch before the end of the year. Sign up for updates on the project via their official website.
I wrote some fanfic back before that was even a legitimate word, but I’ve never been a gamer, or gone further into medieval re-enactment than hanging around with hardcore SCAdians. Nor does The Mongoliad reference a history I’ve got much interest in—I didn’t even remember that Subutai was the son of Genghis Khan who almost succeeded in conquering Europe. But the Spousal Unit, who’s been an FRP geek since that involved hex paper and 12-sided dice and knows much more about military and Asian history, has already signed up for Subutai notifications even though we don’t own an iPhone much less an iPad.
May 29, 2010 4:27 pm
Posted in: Daydream Believers, Media, Popular Culture, Science and Technology
48 Comments
48 Responses
Walker - May 29, 2010 | 4:56 pm · Link
The problem with this is that user-created content suffers heavily from Sturgeon’s Law. The fact that is gaming does not
make any of the user content less crap.
Batocchio - May 29, 2010 | 5:05 pm · Link
Personally, I’m quite interested in the history, but regardless, best of luck to them.
Kevin Phillips Bong - May 29, 2010 | 5:15 pm · Link
nerd boner.
malraux - May 29, 2010 | 5:15 pm · Link
Really what I’ve always thought reading a Stephenson book is “How can this have even more exposition?”
LB - May 29, 2010 | 5:15 pm · Link
Subutai was in fact not related to Genghis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subutai
Walker - May 29, 2010 | 5:30 pm · Link
Actually this could greatly improve Stephenson’s work. We know he always falls apart in his endings, and now the book never needs to end.
Mnemosyne - May 29, 2010 | 5:35 pm · Link
The problem with e-books is that they’re too goddamned expensive. If I can buy the hardcover at Amazon for $20, why am I supposed to pay you $30 for an electronic version that will eventually be obsolete?
At a minimum, an e-book should save you 30% off the cover price, which is generally as high as bookstores will discount it.
dmsilev - May 29, 2010 | 5:43 pm · Link
@Mnemosyne: My hope is that Apple and Amazon will engage in a price war to capture customers.
Pipe dreams aside, Amazon seems to be selling Kindle versions for about 20 or 30% less than the hardback version. That’s not too bad.
dms
Stroszek - May 29, 2010 | 5:46 pm · Link
Still does if you’re doing it right.
Socrates - May 29, 2010 | 5:54 pm · Link
Books are just fine as they are, and have been, for hundreds of years. They don’t need to be improved.
Would interactive pop-up thingies improve “Leaves of Grass”?
No.
Leaves of Grass, Walden, On The Road, 100 Years of Solitude – they’re already essentially perfect. Leave them the fuck alone.
Mnemosyne - May 29, 2010 | 5:58 pm · Link
@dmsilev:
It depends on the publisher. Some of them are willing to do discounts for Amazon and others aren’t. And then you have the ones who won’t sell through Amazon (or B&N) and expect you to pay list price.
I’m tempted by two e-books because the paper versions are just so gigantic: Nixonland and Wolf Hall. I got about halfway through the trade paperback of Nixonland and the damn thing was so heavy it was making my carpal tunnels act up, so it would be worth it to me to have the e-book instead.
ETA: At Amazon, I can get the Kindle edition of “Nixonland” for $14.99 and the hardcover for under $10. Even the paperback is a few cents less than the Kindle edition. See what I mean?
robertdsc - May 29, 2010 | 5:59 pm · Link
Of the books of Stephenson’s I’ve read, he does all right. Zodiac and Snow Crash are my favorites.
Jon H - May 29, 2010 | 6:02 pm · Link
@Mnemosyne: “If I can buy the hardcover at Amazon for $20, why am I supposed to pay you $30 for an electronic version that will eventually be obsolete?”
Examples?
Mnemosyne - May 29, 2010 | 6:12 pm · Link
@Jon H:
I updated with one: I can get the remainder hardcover of Nixonland for $9.89 but the Kindle price is $14.99.
Wolf Hall—the hardcover is down to $14.50 (less if you buy from the Marketplace) and the Kindle edition is … $14.99. When the trade paperback comes out in August, it will be $10.80 and I guarantee you that the Kindle price will still be $14.99.
It’s not Amazon’s decision, it’s the publisher’s.
Mnemosyne - May 29, 2010 | 6:15 pm · Link
@Mnemosyne:
Nixonland is the same price at Barnes & Noble for the electronic edition, but Wolf Hall is $12.99.
Svensker - May 29, 2010 | 6:26 pm · Link
@Socrates:
Speak it, friend.
Real books are entering into a parlous state. A major NY agent just advised her clients who are writing fiction to go for graphic novels rather than actual books. She also advised writers that they would need a “platform” (read television show, successful blog, etc.) and should not bother writing anything unless they could guarantee it could sell above 30,000 copies (most non-best sellers sell in the range of 10-15K copies). They also, of course, need to be good on television. By her criteria writers such as Orwell, Joyce, J.D. Salinger, Faulkner, etc., would all have been failures before they even started.
The “interactive novel” may be fun and it may have a place in encouraging reading—like comics/graphic novels—but it is not a real book.
dmsilev - May 29, 2010 | 6:32 pm · Link
@Mnemosyne: Ick. Yeah, that’s pretty bad. Hard to see the rationale for that beyond “because we can”.
dms
eco2geek - May 29, 2010 | 6:48 pm · Link
@robertdsc: Ditto. Snow Crash was a lot of fun. Greg Bear’s a really good hard sci fi writer, so this project sounds promising, at least.
For Anne Laurie: In case you didn’t see it already, here’s another YouTube video of a doggie dancing with a human.
HE Pennypacker, Wealthy Industrialist - May 29, 2010 | 7:00 pm · Link
Sorry if this is slightly off-topic, but I just finished Red Dead Redemption and it gets my vote for best narrative in a console game. And great to finally see someone make a successful game with an old west theme…
scarshapedstar - May 29, 2010 | 7:19 pm · Link
Wait, you mean there’s a sequel to Demon’s Souls?!
Short Bus Bully - May 29, 2010 | 7:26 pm · Link
@Socrates:
Easy there oldster.
No one is talking about redoing Walden or The Republic. But those “perfect” books (whatever the fuck that means) do not even make a fart in the windstorm that is the shit books that get published by the zillion every year. Don’t even begin to tell me that all the mediocre and downright hackery masquerading as novel writing couldn’t use some collective embellishments to make them more historically accurate, funny, or just plain readable.
You’re right when you say that we don’t need to reinvent the wheel here, but how about we re-invent the Segway?
Yutsano - May 29, 2010 | 7:39 pm · Link
The books need more kung fu bears if you ask me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEI6lH1QDSk
Violet - May 29, 2010 | 7:42 pm · Link
OT… This may have already been discussed here, but it caught my eye. Given the love for “Red Dawn” on this blog, I thought there might be some interest in this: Red Dawn is being remade, but this time the Chinese are the enemy.
Interesting article discussing America’s fear about loss of influence in the world, etc.
Alex K - May 29, 2010 | 7:45 pm · Link
@Short Bus Bully:
“Don’t even begin to tell me that all the mediocre and downright hackery masquerading as novel writing couldn’t use some collective embellishments to make them more historically accurate, funny, or just plain readable.”
Opening the writing of a book up to anyone with an iPad or iPhone will make it better? That’s an interesting theory.
Alex K - May 29, 2010 | 7:46 pm · Link
@Violet:
WOLVERINES!PANDAS!Nutella - May 29, 2010 | 7:51 pm · Link
@Svensker:
In the short run book publishing is a crazy mess but that’s because it’s starting a transition from the old model where a big publisher controls editing, typesetting, printing, promotion, and access to retail stores.
All those functions are still necessary and need to be carried out to a professional standard but the big publishers are not necessary. Writers can get access to editing, typesetting, printing, promotion, and retail sales over the internet now. Big publishers will be gone soon.
I don’t know how the new market in publishing services will end up but change is coming and it will probably be good for writers and readers of real books.
After a difficult period of adjustment, that is.
HE Pennypacker, Wealthy Industrialist - May 29, 2010 | 7:53 pm · Link
@Violet: Totally agree about the interpretation re: America’s growing fear of China. But the premise for this remake will be as absurdly unbelievable as the first Red Dawn. I mean, how are the Chinese supposed to invade America? Form a human land bridge across the Pacific to drive their tanks over? Oy….
Short Bus Bully - May 29, 2010 | 8:22 pm · Link
@Alex K:
Have you ever heard of “Wikipedia”? Google it. It’s teh kewl.
I would imagine that the same collaborative effort that makes Wiki-anything work is the same idea that’s fueling Stephenson’s Soshulist Writer’s Guild.
Either that or it’s the end of the novel as we know it.
/cue dramatic music
Walker - May 29, 2010 | 8:40 pm · Link
Some will be gone, sure. But the idea that everyone is going to self-publish to Amazon is crazy talk.
Larger game publishers do well on the App store; better than individuals. Why? Because they have the ability to make their game stick out above the 99% crap on the store. For some game companies, people buy a game from them simply because their previous games are so good. The publisher becomes a brand which consumers use to filter their choices.
And the same will be true of books. I am much more likely to try an unknown fantasy author published by Tor than a self-published one.
Darkrose - May 29, 2010 | 9:17 pm · Link
@Mnemosyne:
Wolf Hall is actually why I got a Kindle recently. I literally get tired holding the hardcover. Of course, I got the Kindle during the middle of the big dust-up where Amazon pulled a bunch of titles. Still, I really do love my Kindle. The iPad is less useful for me because it’s heavier, and it’s too hard to hold for someone with small hands.
Nutella - May 29, 2010 | 9:41 pm · Link
@Walker:
Branding/marketing is an important part of publishing and always will be. It’s extremely unlikely that individual writers will be free agents, but the combinations of people/resources used to get a book or game from an idea to an actual product won’t be monolithic giants like Random House either.
Of course there will be other giants who try to take over big chunks of the market like Apple did with iTunes.
It’s going to be very interesting to watch it all unfold.
Ellid - May 29, 2010 | 9:43 pm · Link
I bought a Nook in February and haven’t yet purchased an e-book that was comparable in price to the hardcover. My most recent purchase was Kathryn Joyce’s Quiverfull for $12.46, which is about $8 less than the hardcover and $2 less than the trade paperback. I’ve also downloaded a lot of old books that are out of print and out of copyright from Project Gutenberg, plus books from the Baen Free Library.
I still love real, physical books and always will. I can’t see e-books replacing academic, scholarly or art books any time soon, especially ones with lots of pictures. But for paperbacks and light reading? Bring on the e-versions. It saves me money, storage space, and having to replace old favorites every couple of years. E-readers are cool.
Cataphract - May 29, 2010 | 9:46 pm · Link
@LB:
Thanks for correcting. As one with an extreme interest in the Lord of All Who Live in Felt Tents (Chingis Khan), that error immediately got my attention.
Yeah, I’m nerdy, so what—you wanna fight about it?
Alex K - May 29, 2010 | 9:54 pm · Link
@Short Bus Bully:
Well, editing an encyclopedia is a bit different than writing a book. Facts are facts, and people who care about factual accuracy know that, but artistic differences can be endlessly fought over, leading to the sort of compromises that please neither author nor audience.
Anne Laurie - May 29, 2010 | 10:10 pm · Link
@Yutsano: Sugoi!
sherifffruitfly - May 29, 2010 | 10:31 pm · Link
Meh. Play EVE. Be somebody. Because internet spaceships iz serious bisness! :P
MNPundit - May 30, 2010 | 12:03 am · Link
WTF? Subutai was one of the Dogs of War, the God-Generals of the Mongols who out-thought and out-fought Chinese, SE Asians, Indians (raid), Persians, Turks, Russians, Arabs. HE WAS NOT a son of Genghis. In the end, he got so fat they had to tote him around on a cart and set him up on a hilltop where he directed the battles… and he continued to win.
The King of France famously said “I am going to fight the Mongols and either I will send them to hell or they will send me to heaven.”
At the time of Ogedei’s death, Mongol scouts were reaching eastern France, the Poles were hiding in mountains terrified, and the Hungarians were well, all dead. It’s not out of the realm of possibly to postulate that the west beat the Muslims technologically because the Mongols stomped all over them and Europe got spared. Though of course the Mongols were eventually conquered by Islam (Golden Horde, Ilkhans and even the Chagati) in the end.
Had Ogedai not died when he did, North Italy would have gone down next—it’s REALLY likely that N. Italy would have been a great place to winter the army (the pastures) and then where would the Renaissance have gone? HRE might have been spared like Moscow because of the forests and hills, but who knows.
Btw, I am currently writing an online alternate history The Raptor of Spain (that asks: What if Abd ar-Rahman the last Umayyad who founded the Emirate of Cordoba became a King of Christian Spain instead?) so I guess this is my bag.
Mnemosyne - May 30, 2010 | 12:39 am · Link
@Darkrose:
I haven’t tried to read anything very long on it, but I’ve been pretty happy reading books on my iPod Touch (aka iPhone with no phone or camera). Stanza’s really great, and both Amazon and B&N have free readers that you can download to.
Which reminds me of something else that drives me nuts about e-books. I read the first Dorothy Sayers mystery with Lord Peter Wimsey, Whose Body? and really liked it. Hey, I wonder if Amazon or B&N has any more of her books?
Nope. Not a one. Come on, people, put them up for 99 cents and it’s free money for you!
Boney Baloney - May 30, 2010 | 1:10 am · Link
Several years ago, a convention organizer told me it was pointless to write a great novel when one could just as easily script a graphic novel, provide a toy-friendly back-story, sign away rights to a video game, etc. The idea was that you should aim at Japan and let North America pick up the sloppy seconds. I tried to change the subject and asked where all the jailbait costume bunnies were, and he said exactly, feed the beast, minus the dot-cum queens and the M.R.S. majors, who (like the poor) are always with us. Talk about a depressing weekend. Everything he told me checked out.
Stephenson’s co-magnum opus, “Interface,” is a brilliant vivisection of Presidential elections with many creepy parallels to the most recent contest, and became damn hard to find when Hill and Barry first squared off for real. It’s better than “Snow Crash” by half, but the last three times I checked it was only for sale in Russian pirated editions. I’m sure that means something, but it’s probably also depressing, so fuck it.
“Dude, this is the part in ‘Interface’ where the—”
“Fucking shut up already! I read ‘Diamond Age’ and it sucked ass!”
“Well yeah, true, but… yeah, I’m shutting up. Oh, but the deja vu is thick as treacle.”
Steeplejack - May 30, 2010 | 1:20 am · Link
@Kevin Phillips Bong:
Win. And great name for a band (or at least an album).
Steeplejack - May 30, 2010 | 1:21 am · Link
@malraux:
Also win.
Steeplejack - May 30, 2010 | 1:24 am · Link
@Mnemosyne:
Don’t know about Kindle, but on Barnes & Noble’s Nook the e-books are almost all about $10, which is a good discount from the hardcover price.
Note: Not a recommendation of Nook. If I were going to go the e-book route—which I have not, and have no plans to do in the near future—I would probably get an iPad and download the Kindle app and/or the (just-announced) Nook app. Best of all worlds (in theory).
Anne Laurie - May 30, 2010 | 4:16 am · Link
@Steeplejack: I have actually held & touched an iPad now—under the careful supervision of the nine-year-old who’d commandeered her dad’s “I need it for work” model for the afternoon—and if a freebie were to fall into my lap I’d certainly find a way to use it. Odds are against that happening in the foreseeable future, though.
Walker - May 30, 2010 | 7:15 am · Link
Huh? Interface was reprinted by Bantam Spectra in 2005 (before Gaiman’s praise in 2007), and is readily available from Amazon.
khead - May 30, 2010 | 9:18 am · Link
West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.
Pococurante - May 30, 2010 | 10:59 am · Link
Dudes, I am so there.
N. N. U. GET EGG. D. S. E. OPEN WINDOW. W. OPEN SACK…
Scary the things a person can summon from their pre-PayTheMortgage life…
matoko_chan - May 30, 2010 | 11:45 am · Link
wow, shukran jazeelan AL
i’m in.
a stephenson book that never ends.
<3
i want the takeshi kovacs endless book next.
i just read morgans new book, Steel Remains….super lore for a squad based pvp game….its like its written to be a game!
i can't wait to be a dwenda storm-caller.
matoko_chan - May 30, 2010 | 12:06 pm · Link
my comments are going in the spam filter again.
i said the forbidden word…....Warcraft.