John Scalzi’s new book will be released episodically.
The Human Division is a sci-fi thriller from bestselling novelist John Scalzi, set in his Old Man’s War universe. However, it’s not just any novel, but rather an experiment in publishing. Not only is the novel being released episodically, each stand-alone episode will be published as an audiobook through audible and as an ebook via Kindle. Each episode will reveal a new aspect of the story through different points of view, while following different characters.
The episodes will be released weekly until all 13 parts of the story are live. At that time, the book is slated to be sold as a collected audiobook or as a single ebook. Each episode will cost about a dollar, except for the first one, which is free if you want the audio version. To obtain the episode, you have to ‘like’ Audible’s facebook page, then sign up for Audible if you don’t already have an account.
The episode is called The B-Team, and tells the story of an ambassadorial team who get in a bit over their heads when they’re found to be the only team available for an important mission.
The official synopsis is thus:
Colonial Union Ambassador Ode Abumwe and her team are used to life on the lower end of the diplomatic ladder. But when a high-profile diplomat goes missing, Abumwe and her team are last minute replacements on a mission critical to the Colonial Union’s future. As the team works to pull off their task, CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson discovers there’s more to the story of the missing diplomats than anyone expected…a secret that could spell war for humanity
There is no synopsis on what the full sytory of The Human Division will be about, so I suppose we’ll have to see the overarching plot unfold as it arrives.
“I am really excited about the launch of The B-Team and about presenting The Human Division to you in this episodic way,” Scalzi wrote on his blog. “Doing a novel like this was something that I had been thinking about for a while now, and one of the genuinely excellent things about this process is that Tor and Macmillan not only liked the idea but have been full partners with me in making this idea work — I’ve had really astounding support from everyone there for it.”
The first two episodes of The Human Division are available now on Audible and Amazon. The remaining episodes will follow weekly on Tuesdays until April 9, 2013.
