Measuring THE JULIAN YEAR Before It Measures You

June is the current release date for my next novel, The Julian Year, and this time it appears likely to happen as planned.  For anyone new to the concept, TJY is the first TREEbook (Timed Reading Experience E-book), an innovative new e-book platform developed by Medallion Press.  Readers download the Medallion Media Group Sidekick app for free from iTunes, then purchase TJY through the app, and use the app to read the book on an iPad.  The app measures each reader's individual average reading pace, and when that pace changes at predetermined story points, the novel branches off in different directions.  The story actually changes, placing the characters in different situations with different outcomes.  Characters will live, characters will die, characters will find themselves in different dangerous situations depending on the reader's reading habits.  The branching is organic and seamless, so the reader will be unaware the story has changed on him; it's a passive experience, unlike the Choose Your Own Adventure books so many people remember.  When the reader has completed the novel, a graphic will appear showing which branches he followed.  At that point, the reader is free to explore the other branches at will, or he can simply start over; each time, his reading habits are likely to change, and he'll get a new story experience.  There's never been anything like it before, and I'm proud TJY is the first book of its kind.  As you can imagine, the technology involved in making all of this feasible is complicated and sophisticated, and some bugs had to be worked out, dictating two previous release date postponements.  This is a brand new product, and everything has to run smoothly.  A lot of people have worked long and hard to make this launch a success.





Technology and story variations aside, TJY is an apocalyptic novel about global demonic possession.  Films like The Exorcist, The Evil Dead and Demons have told stories about small groups of characters battling possession in isolated settings: a Georgetown townhouse, a cabin in the woods, and a mysterious movie theater.  In my story, every person on earth becomes possessed on his birthday.  Each day, twenty million people become homicidal maniacs.  At the end of 365 days, everyone on earth should be possessed.  The doomsday clock has been set, and is ticking furiously away.  How would the governments of the world deal with such a catastrophic predicament? How would society cope?  In my world, drastic steps are taken: detainment camps are created with men, women and children turning themselves in days before their birthday.  As in Logan's Run, one's birthday comes to symbolize death.  Many people abide by new laws, but others go underground.  Every person is a "sleeper agent" for hellish forces determined to create chaos.





The main character in TJY - that is, in some branches - is Julian Weizak.  Unlike my heroes Jake Helman, Tony Mace, Boone and Walker, Julian is anything but an action hero.  Chubby and single, he's given up on his dreams of becoming a muckraking journalist and has settled for being an obituary writer for a daily Manhattan newspaper.  When anarchy erupts at the strike of twelve on New Year's Day, Julian is the first to notice a pattern: every person who committed murder or an act of destruction was born that day.  Julian's discovery positions him to realize his career ambitions, but what's the point if anyone on earth will be dead or possessed in one year's time?  Because Julian was born December 31st, he has a front row seat in the theater of the apocalypse.





Rachel Konigsberg and Steve Morelli are street cops on the front line when TJY begins. Unlike Julian, Rachel evolves into the biggest bad ass I've ever written, and by the end of some branches, she could swat my aforementioned male characters away like flies.  Every character in TJY suffers tremendous loss, that's the price of surviving in this terrifying world.  Rachel becomes an unstoppable force who offers a shred of hope for mankind which you'll have to read to learn.  Morelli is a tough cookie too, and different from some of my other action heroes: he's a blue collar guy rooted in family and friends.  There's nothing he likes more than being a cop, and unlike Rachel, he follows the rules.





Each one of these characters comes with his own supporting cast and agenda.  Sometimes they cross paths and become friends or lovers, sometimes they maintain adversarial positions.  The branch variations allowed me to explore the characters in as much depth as I could in an entire series. The canvas became much larger than I anticipated even though the goal was always that each branch path should read like a complete novel.  There's action and gore galore: I was influenced by both James Herbert and Nigel Kneale, and I can't wait to spring Armageddon on everyone.





I imagine we'll begin with a "soft launch," and the release will be in full swing by the time I appear at FanExpo Canada in August.  A few months later, in October, The Frenzy Wolves, the final book in my werewolf trilogy The Frenzy Cycle will be published.




Check out The Julian Year's dedicated website, which features preview chapters from the novel, and sign up for TREEbook updates: http://thejulianyear.com/