Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual: It’s Live!

Filed under Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual, Works in Progress

Item 1: In which I make an announcement

After nine months of work, the Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual web site has opened its doors to the public. By which I mean you.

The first story is Trapped in the Tower of the Brain Thieves – that’s Part One of The Toaster With TWO BRAINS.

If you’ve been following my blog you’ll already know that the Thrilling Tales project includes the web site, where you can view the illustrated and interactive stories for free, and also the full color book versions of the same stories. Which may be easier to read on the porch, or in the tub, or wherever else you might like to read them.

The books, like the web versions, are interactive. You can choose which character you’d like to follow and influence what that character will do in the course of the tale.

Back at the web site, you can view embiggified version of the illustrations. You can bring up an inventory panel with close-ups and information about the objects you encounter in the story. You can also save and restore your place within the story. It’s a pretty neat system, and I’m glad I made it.

You can see the trailer for The Toaster With TWO BRAINS by clicking here, and then I hope you’ll visit the Thrilling Tales web site. Don’t miss the other areas of the site… most especially the Pulp Sci Fi Title-O-Tron in the Derange-O-Lab. In the downloads section there’s even a smaller version of the Title-O-Tron you can use at your own blog or web site.

Item 2: In Which I Ramble On

Don’t mind me. I’m going to keep rambling here, but there’s no reason you have to stick around. I hear there’s drinks in the lobby!

The only thing missing that I’d meant to include in the launch is a way to buy a signed book directly from me – my big box o’ books still hasn’t arrived. That type of ordering should go live next week.

And there will eventually be another type of story at the site: illustrated but non-interactive stories. That’s because the Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual site is almost exactly like a web comic site… except that it’s going to go for months between updates.

Due to the nonlinear nature of the stories I can’t just post the "next" page, because that one may not be the "next" page for you. So in order to get regular updates at the site I’ll need to create some linear stories, too. With updates once or twice a week the Thrilling Tales site will have a better chance to build its readership. Anyway… that’s for the future.

I’m still working on related merchandise: Thrilling Tales T-shirts are available but posters are still in the works. Those should go up over the weekend, I think.

So… it’s been a really long haul for me. I hope you enjoy it!

Update: hey, my box o’ books arrived this afternoon, after all! So the “buy from me” link works now, too.

[tags]thrilling tales of the downright unusual,retropolis,retro future,interactive fiction,art,illustration,pilp,science fiction,sci fi,retro,dieselpunk,retro futuristic,stories,book trailer[/tags]