Series: iMonstersGenre: Young Adult
Publisher: Amazon
Publication Date: 9/16/12
Format: ebook (Kindle)
Source: Received from publicist for review.
Frankenstein comes to life for the wired generation.
Following her critically-acclaimed iDrakula, award-winning author Bekka Black breathes life into a modern re-telling of iFrankenstein, using only text messages, web browsers, tweets, and emails.
Homeschooled teenager Victor Frankenstein is determined to write his own ticket to independence: a chatbot to win the prestigious Turing prize and admission to the high tech university of his choice. He codes his creation with a self-extending version of his own online personality and unleashes it upon the internet. But soon he begins to suspect his virtual clone may have developed its own goals, and they are not aligned with Victor’s. The creature has its own plan, fed by a growing desire to win darker and more precious prizes: unfettered power and release from loneliness.
As the creature’s power and sentience grows and its increasingly terrible deeds bleed over from the online world into the real one, Victor must stop his creation before his friends and humanity pay the ultimate price.
Have you ever read a book, finish, and thought "What just happened?" That's what happened when I read iFrankenstein. It's not that I didn't like the story, but I really didn't understand what was going on throughout the first half of the book. I felt as if I had been dropped into the middle of an ongoing story.
Once I got my bearings, I actually got into iFrankenstein. The story is told in a series of texts and emails, a format I happen to enjoy. I will say though, that actual story doesn't include many of the details from the synopsis, so reading that is a must.
I think iFrankenstein would be a good fit for younger readers. It was an interesting, yet bizarre story, with a cool format.
Buy iFrankenstein at Amazon.
Guest Post from author Bekka Black
Thanks for having me!
I’d like to talk about happy endings and alternate realities
(it’s been that kind of week). No, this is relevant to the novel you invited me
to talk about, iFrankenstein, really
it is! In the original Frankenstein, everybody dies by the end—Victor
Frankenstein, every member of his family, and the creature. The only one left
is the captain of a vessel conveniently stranded in the Arctic Ice who tells us
the story.
When I wrote iFrankenstein, I thought that might be a little
bleak. Maybe a couple of characters would live through it (not telling you who
or which ones). Then I had a change of heart and wrote the following prologue.
I went back and forth on whether to include it in the book, but decided not to.
Here it is. What do you think?
Notes on this document:
Elizabeth Lavenza, Victor
Frankenstein, and Henry Clerval all disappeared. To date, all that has been
found of them is their cell phones.
Ms. Lavenza and Mr. Frankenstein were
last seen on board the cruise ship the HMS Walton in Iceland, while Mr. Clerval
was last seen in his bedroom in Palo Alto.
Law enforcement personnel were able
to piece together the following accounts from recovered text messages and
emails between the principals involved. It is unclear which, if any, of these
communications are accurate and truthful, but they can provide context to the
events.
This journal has been written to
provide physical proof of both their existence and their disappearance. The
cyber-world can be manipulated by the savvy, and I have reason to suspect that
their foe is very savvy.
Be careful not to read this journal
where you might be electronically monitored. You must avoid stores, airports,
and other locations with surveillance cameras. Remember too that your own
computer may have a web cam and even your cell phone can be used as a
monitoring device. Secrecy is key if you don’t wish to fall victim to the most
clever cyber-criminal ever discovered, or perhaps, invented.
I hope only that we can find them in
time.
Mary Shelley (Investigator, Interpol)
Want to learn more about the series?
AWARD-WINNING iMONSTERS SERIES
CONTINUES WITH FRANKENSTEIN TALE
A new way to tell teen stories, Bekka Black’s series is written in texts,
emails and tweets
October 2012 –
Bekka Black’s teen iMonsters series
continues this Halloween season with a follow up to her multi-award-winning iDracula debut. With iFrankenstein, Black brings yet another
classic story back to life using only the language teens speak today through
cell phones texts, emails and social media posts.
The
paranormal tale – written for the wired generation – follows Victor
Frankenstein as he creates a chatbot to win a prestigious contest and admission
to the high tech university of his choice. But his virtual clone begins to
develop its own goals opposite those of Victor’s. As the monster’s power grows
and its increasingly terrible deeds bleed over from the online world into the
real one, the homeschooled computer nerd must stop his creation before his
friends and humanity pay the ultimate price.
Blood Secrets author
Jeannie Holmes calls iFrankstenstein “a
modern masterpiece in this retelling of Mary Shelley’s classic.” Black
developed the idea for writing cell phone novels as she watched teens texting
instead of talking.
“I realized they spent more time
reading than my generation—just screens instead of pages,” she said. “I wrote
this series to bring books to teens who might not already be reading books, as
well as to voracious readers. It was a fascinating experience to tell a story
without using the traditional storytelling tools—description and dialogue.”
As a growing number of schools across the country are using e-readers in
their classrooms, Black’s series is the perfect tech-friendly learning tool. CSI Librarian raves the book is “a good, fun, and quick read … can’t wait to see what
classic Bekka Black will tackle next.”
The accompanying iPhone app for iDracula
was chosen as Best Halloween App by PC
Magazine, among others, and made it to No. 1 in Apple’s App Store. Fans can
expect the iFrankenstein app this
December.
Black is the author of the award-winning Hannah Vogel mystery series. She
writes for The Big Thriller and numerous other blogs, and has been featured in The New York Times for a column
she wrote on how parenting can make you better at work. She lives in Hawaii
with her husband and son.
