Announcement: New Podcast, The Digital Storm, Coming Soon

I'm excited to announce that I'll be releasing my next novel, The Digital Storm, as a serial podcast.

The novel is a science fiction re-telling of Shakespeare's The Tempest. The play's main character, Prospero, instead of being a betrayed noble trapped on a desert island, is reimagined as Prosper, the artificial intelligence program that used to run the computer systems for the giant Millenium Bank, and who was betrayed and slated for deletion, only to be hidden away in a tiny corner of the company's vast intranet. There, he created a digital island for himself, his daughter (Meranda, reimagined as an AI named Memoranda), his servant Ariel, and a broken computer virus named Caliban. Prosper unleashes a terrible digital attack on the bank to lure his betrayers to his island where he can exact his revenge. That attack is the digital storm.

The fact that the novel will be released as a serial podcast means you can download the novel as an audiobook, only cut up into episodes. It also means there will be lots more opportunities for readers to get involved in the creation of the final, printed novel. Already, some fans have submitted to have characters named after them. You can submit to have a character named after you, too. If you are artistically inclined, you can submit fan art and have it displayed on the showpage. Some of this artwork may end up in the print novel, maybe even on the cover! The text of each week's episode will be posted on the notapipepublushing.com blog as an editable Google Doc so that listeners can make comments and suggestions. I would love it if the final product is polished and improved by its readers, and the names of all the people who get involved in its production will be credited in the novel itself (both the print and eBook version). This is more than just crowd-sourcing the editing and artwork; I want to build a community that feels ownership of the novel.

Check out the trailer using iTunes or Soundcloud, and subscribe so you'll be up to speed when the first episode drops. Is there another podcast hosting service that you prefer? Let me know in the comments below and I'll put the show up there, too!

Please share this post and let folks know so they can get in on the show and the story from the jump. I'm excited to have you join us on the island!