This is a project that started as a web series where readers got to choose which path the main character should take after ever chapter.
On Suvudu’s site it says:
What if I told you that some of the biggest names in paranormal fiction are collaborating on a wholly original new project? What if I then said that you, the reader, will help guide the story along and tell these fantastic authors what you want to read? How can this be any better? Well, it starts today!
A Glimpse of Darkness is Random House Publishing Group’s first fan-driven, multi-authored, chain story, where readers have the chance to decide the outcome of a wholly original paranormal story by Lara Adrian, Harry Connolly, Kelly Meding, Stacia Kane, and Lucy A. Snyder.
Because A Glimpse of Darkness is now available as an e-book, Suvudu have taken down the chapters from their site.
You can still read a few small excerpts on the Suvudu blog. Lara Adrian begins and closes the story.
Here is an excerpt from Lara Adrian’s first chapter, Chapter 1, from Suvudu:
By the time Munira bint Azhar stepped out of her street-level apartment that Monday morning, she had two good reasons to turn around and crawl right back into bed. The migraine jackhammering behind her eyelids had her feeling like one of the undead, but it was the near collision with a rickshaw full of tourists on their way to one of Port Nightfall’s many casinos that had really put the icing on her can-this-day-be-over-already morning.
It had also cost her a perfectly good cup of coffee, not to mention her favorite mug. She glared down at the shattered green zombie face and the cheap ceramic shards that used to proclaim Great Minds Taste Alike.
“Bloody tourists,” she grumbled, as she swept the broken pieces into the gutter grate at the curb. “Can’t live with ‘em, can’t pack ‘em up and send ‘em Below.”
This is an excerpt from Harry Connolly’s chapter, Chapter 2, from the Suvudu website:
The ball of energy—and the image inside it—shrank, vanishing like water going down a drain. When Munira was sure it was truly gone, her ramrod-straight posture turned wobbly. She grabbed the edge of her desk to hold herself steady. …
Excerpt from Lucy A. Snyder’s chapter, Chapter 3, from the Suvudu website:
Munira bit her lip, stared down at the iPad and considered her cash-limited options. Soledad’s undead guards would be a problem no matter the path she chose…but ugh, the ambush spiders. The creepy chittering noises the monsters made never failed to wreck her nerves. Even with a very strong potion—which she doubted Joe was selling— she wasn’t sure she could convincingly pretend to be something she despised so thoroughly.
Excerpt from Kelly Meding’s chapter, Chapter 4, from the Suvudu website:
Indecision was not a place Munira liked to be, but it had rooted her to the floor of Soledad’s undead laboratory, a flock of winged monsters screeching overhead. She’d completed the job, in the sense that she now held the Light of Ta’lab in her hands. All she had to do was get safely out of El Sòtano with the prize, hand it over to Temesis, and get her father back safely.
And here is a small excerpt from Stacia’s chapter, Chapter 5, taken from Suvudu’s website:
Of course, it would be foolish to expect what followed her to be a regular rattlesnake. This was El Sòtano; the odds of a normal snake, one she could reasonably stomp on or use her fast Retriever reflexes to grab behind the head and throw away, were slim to none. Munira could only imagine the sort of snake-beast she would face, a revolting fusion of gods-only-knew how many once-living creatures. The only thing she knew for sure was that every one of its mismatched parts would want to kill her. Which meant she needed to get the hell out of there before it had a chance.
Here is the excerpt from Lara Adrian’s final chapter, Chapter 6, the final chapter, taken from Suvudu’s website:
Munira hurried through the nighttime shadows of Port Nightfall, the backpack containing the Light of Ta’lab slung over her aching shoulders, her stomach pitching a serious revolt in her gut. Behind her in the darkness, she could still hear Soledad’s menagerie of undead pets clambering after her in the distance. The crab-beasts, crocodile-dogs, and snake-things were bad enough, but it was the zombie moans of Tariq and his reanimated pals that made her ifrit blood run cold as ice in her veins.
The book is now available to purchase, but only in e-format.
Read the comments on Stacia’s chapter to find out what people thought about it. This is Stacia’s response to some of the comments:
Thanks everyone! Hee, I did have a lot of fun writing this one.
And you know, I never thought of that before, but I guess I do rather enjoy beating them up, don’t I? I wonder what that says about me. Probably something a psychiatrist would want a lot of money to fix.
In a blog post from Suvudu, they talk about Kindle Daily, where you can find something really interesting: The authors of A Glimpse of Darkness talking about the creative process in this kind of collaboration
A quote from Stacia’s blog post, where she talks about the difference between writing this chapter, and writing her own books:
I hadn’t created the world, not really, and I’d only read the chapters before mine. I remember my books like they’re part of me, the names of characters, the way things look, the way they talk, where things are. I remember the heroine’s feelings and thoughts; what bothers her, what sticks in her mind, what she wants to forget.
And then we have Lara Adrian’s final blog post.