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Local Authors => Stephanie Fowers => Topic started by: House of Mustard on April 17, 2006, 11:44:15 AM

Title: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on April 17, 2006, 11:44:15 AM
So, for reasons which you will all be aware of later, I'd just like to say that Stephanie is awesome.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Spriggan on April 17, 2006, 12:29:22 PM
So we finally know who Mustard's ghost writer is eh?
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Fellfrosch on April 17, 2006, 12:30:57 PM
Being well acquainted with said reasons, I heartily agree with Mustard's assessment.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Nessa on April 17, 2006, 12:35:17 PM
Please don't leave us in the dark, here, people!
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Tage on April 17, 2006, 02:35:44 PM
I'm not sure how much we're even allowed to say, but it was very fun and Stephanie is an excellent coordinator.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: guitarbabe on April 18, 2006, 10:46:42 AM
No, YOU'RE awesome!!!

That seriously was a lot of fun, and for those wondering, I'm sure you'll know pretty darn soon. It's really cool and I can hardly wait. Man, that sounds so secretive. It's not really supposed to be.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on April 18, 2006, 10:54:24 AM
then you could, y'know, tell us or something.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Faster Master St. Pastor on April 18, 2006, 12:41:20 PM
Yes, that is alweys appriciated.

Help! I'm turning into Sprigg!!!
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on April 23, 2006, 09:03:27 PM
I guess we're not cool enough to not be left in the dark.  :-[
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: guitarbabe on April 23, 2006, 11:21:24 PM
Ooh, you're absolutely killing me here!!! You know I break under such pressure...make Rob tell you!
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Nessa on April 23, 2006, 11:28:09 PM
I have no problem with you braggin' on yourself if it means explaining Mustard's vague references.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on April 24, 2006, 12:17:03 AM
Wait till May 1st.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on May 01, 2006, 02:38:21 AM
So it's gonna be May 1st in Utah in like...22 minutes. Spill.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Faster Master St. Pastor on May 01, 2006, 03:29:22 AM
Correction, it has been May 1st in Utah for like 29 minutes. So, yeah, spill.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 01, 2006, 09:58:08 AM
I would strongly suggest you visit these links:

http://trialofthecentury.blogspot.com
http://www.theunknownpatriot.com
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Spriggan on May 01, 2006, 11:07:08 AM
Wow, all this build up for that?  Lame.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Fellfrosch on May 01, 2006, 12:28:28 PM
It's actually pretty cool, I think. He's essentially got two different things going: the first is an Internet game (similar to I Love Bees, but on a necessarily much smaller scale), and the second is a serialized novella written in blog format.  Both are designed to advertise his novel, and both are very new to his market. I think that if people get into it, it will be a huge boost to his next book once it comes out.

Question to Rob: I'm not sure if the two sites are, story-wise, supposed to be linked together yet. Do they "know" about each other at this point?
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on May 01, 2006, 12:30:08 PM
This is a public discussion forum, y'know.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 01, 2006, 12:36:30 PM
The two are not currently aware of each other.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Spriggan on May 01, 2006, 01:11:03 PM
Eh, I doubt it will get much of a boost from it.  People are getting really sick of viral marketing like this, there are so many things like this now that it's not unique or fun anymore but annoying and unoriginal.  Kudos to Mustard if it works, but I don't think the effort he'll put into it will pay off.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Fellfrosch on May 01, 2006, 02:14:40 PM
This is old hat to us because it's been used in gaming for years, but no one has ever done this to market a Mormon novel--the typical Covenant shopper has never in her life seen something like this. I really think it could work. Mustard, you should post that flyer Covenant made.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 01, 2006, 02:21:02 PM
Supposedly, this will get tucked into every book that leaves Seagull Book.

Quote
The First Ever Interactive LDS Suspense Novel![/u]

Do you like reading suspense and mystery novels? Do you think you're good at figuring out the clues? If so, this is the thing for you!

Find The Counterfeit!

You won't know where fiction ends and reality begins.  In a blend of serialized novel and multi-state treasure hunt, you'll enter a world of conspiracies and intrigue, solving puzzles and digging for clues.

Hailed as the LDS Dan Brown, Robison Wells has weaved an online mystery where you interact with the characters and crack the codes--and when the secrets unravel, it's you who'll win the prizes.

Join characters from the new novel coming out this summer The Counterfeit, and help them figure out the clues they need to survive!

Help NOW by going to www.TheUnknownPatriot.com and http://TrialOfTheCentury.blogspot.com

Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Nessa on May 01, 2006, 02:48:29 PM
Hm. So you're marketing the websites. Clever.

I just want more pictures on your fake blog.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 01, 2006, 03:08:53 PM
There will be many, many more.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Fellfrosch on May 01, 2006, 03:38:54 PM
I'm even in one, but Stephanie's is better. Tage was, of course, a bigger star than any of us.

Mustard, how much do you want us to talk about this in "behind the scenes" terms? I don't know how many of your readers will wander over here and see it, but they might, but it's not like they think it's real anyway...so anyway. I think we're fine, but let me know.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 01, 2006, 03:43:29 PM
As long as there are no spoilers, I'm fine.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 01, 2006, 03:44:07 PM
Also, if people want to speculate, it'd be rad if you do so on the Unknown Patriot forum.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Tage on May 01, 2006, 05:13:05 PM
You know, Fell, that the blog is being written by fictional characters from the books, right? I think that *might* clue people to the fact that it's a game. Also, the flyer states it directly.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on May 01, 2006, 08:26:27 PM
So...are these blogs going to be mentioned in book 2? Like, "I just got done posting some more to my blog about what happened yesterday..."
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 02, 2006, 09:30:12 AM
I arranged the dates of the book so that they correlate exactly with the blog, meaning that the book starts June 23rd, and the events on the blog match exactly (though from a different POV).  The blog ends July 1.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Nessa on May 02, 2006, 10:37:32 AM
So my question is, what role did Stephanie play in all of this? You still didn't clarify.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: guitarbabe on May 02, 2006, 10:48:48 AM
Oh, I can answer that. Rob asked me to help him cast the people in his book and so I got a hold of some of my friends and my sister (she's in the purple scrubs for a cameo), and we spent a whole Saturday shooting pictures with Rob and friends. It was a lot of fun. My car barely survived crawling from one scene to the next, but it was worth it.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on May 02, 2006, 01:19:58 PM
Quote
I arranged the dates of the book so that they correlate exactly with the blog, meaning that the book starts June 23rd, and the events on the blog match exactly (though from a different POV).  The blog ends July 1.

That doesn't answer my question...

The blogs are written by people in the books, right? But in the books, are the in-book versions of those same characters actually bloggers? Or is this only marketing?
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Spriggan on May 02, 2006, 01:22:00 PM
From what I can tell marketing.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 02, 2006, 01:32:35 PM
The blog is not mentioned in the book, no.  But, that makes more sense when you read the book -- there'd be no opportunity for us to see a scene like that.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 02, 2006, 01:34:16 PM
However, Covenant is sponsoring some prizes, and the final clue for those is contained within the book.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on May 02, 2006, 02:46:08 PM
Oh. That's too bad. I mean, sure, it's a clever marketing campaign, but if it was actually a cross-media story where both parts acknowledged each other, that could be even more interesting.

But it's kind of like the Princess Diaries books, where everything is a journal entry, but there's parts of it where she's like escaping from the Prom to go write in her journal in the bathroom, and then someone comes and knocks on the door, and she's writing like "She wants me to come out...she really does care about me as a friend..." blah blah blah, while any normal person would put the pen down...it just stretches believeability too much.

If the blogs talk about things that the blogger would obviously have no time to blog about, then it makes verisimilitude very difficult.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 03, 2006, 09:55:05 AM
The first clue is up: http://www.theunknownpatriot.com/clue1.php
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: guitarbabe on May 08, 2006, 05:01:25 PM
I just went to the blogs and I really like how the plot is going. I'm super excited to read the book. Oh, and I went ahead and forwarded the links to all my friends. They're having an awesome time star spotting, well, friend spotting. How are the hits on it so far, Rob? Is it going well?
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 08, 2006, 07:20:55 PM
As expected, the hits were awesome on the first day, and they've slowed down.  Even so, there seems to be a small group of people who have latched on, and I'm hoping it will grow.

(I stopped by a Seagull Book today, and they hadn't been handing out the flyers about it.  So I explained all about it, and hopefully they'll start doing it again.)
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 10, 2006, 12:06:47 PM
The second clue is up.

www.theunknownpatriot.com/clue2.php
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: guitarbabe on May 11, 2006, 12:41:31 AM
Okay, so we went across the street from the Marriott and searched the pay phone. We found an empty envelope like thing taped inside...so, uh...which one of you got to it first??? I explained to my friends that when this happens in the movies, the good guys generally find the clue first, but if the bad guys beat them...then you have to find that bad guy and steal it from them in some crazy heist, soooooooo who done it?
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: House of Mustard on May 11, 2006, 11:22:06 AM
Sorry Mario, but our princess is in another castle!

Go back and read the clue.  Actually, I'll post it here.  Read the bold stuff.
Quote
Week Two


They're after me and I've traveled several hours north of my last stop. I don't know how long I'll be able to stay here.


It is nice to have some good weather, though it's not summer yet.


At any rate, here's the clue. And keep in mind: the evidence will not be found on the internet this time -- you'll have to go out and look for it. Like last week, it will be available Saturday at noon.


Near a faded general,
Hear me as I will speak;
A famed motel,
A seaworthy tumor,
A phoney twist.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: guitarbabe on May 11, 2006, 04:36:55 PM
Doh! I'm not one for minor details...and I should be because it gets me into trouble frequently.

So, you're saying there's a chance?
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: guitarbabe on May 13, 2006, 02:39:09 PM
So, last night I tried to start my car and the key wouldn't turn in the ignition...and so of course, I'm blaming this on the bad guys SINCE of course they would know that I was planning on clue hunting today...AND NOW I'm stuck here!!! Guys, go check in Springville. I totally think there has to be some faded statue there of a general. That's what we WOULD HAVE looked for. Of course maybe I'm way off, but then why would my car be having troubles? Coincidence? I think not.
Title: Re: Stephanie is rad to the MAX, baby!
Post by: guitarbabe on May 18, 2006, 02:30:36 AM
Okay, the third clue has been posted. I'm way getting into this! And this one is close to BYU...which means I don't need a car to get to it...