THE MANGA MAN
A Novel Set in the Neuro Future
By Alexander Besher
THE FIRST EVER MULTIMEDIA QR/2D CODED NOVEL ON A T-SHIRT
The world's first meta-multimedia platform featuring the Philip K. Dick Award nominated author Alexander Besher's new futuristic thriller MANGA MAN, with original music soundtrack, neo-silent short film, .mp4 anthology of Butoh dance performances with commentary about this post-Zen Japanese philosophy, plus excerpts from graphic novel-in-progress, and audio book reading.
On October 31, 2008 author ALEXANDER BESHER will launch his latest novel THE MANGA MAN through a non-traditional medium that will revolutionize the conventional publishing industry.
The QR/2D (quick response/2 dimensional) barcode is a groundbreaking technology that can be used by anyone with a camera smartphone and easily downloaded QR reader software. The consumer simply takes a photo of the barcode on the T-shirt then they are connected instantly to a server that delivers cell phone screen-formatted narrative right into the palm of their hand.
MANGA MAN is set in San Francisco and Neo-Tokio in the year 2062. Thanks to the latest advances in meta-technology, the collective dreams of the entire planet have become privatized. The entertainment industry's dream-malls are filled with bio-networked Sleepers who are hooked to its pipeline of Rapid Eye Movement ?REM' sitcoms, adventure serials, and sleep-soaps. The trouble starts when bio-animé writer Jake Hill's popular "Tao" Smith serial in the dream venue of Mangaspace becomes the hiding place for Johnny Hara, a half-digital, half-human Butoh dancer-assassin who has been picking off the warlords of a remilitarized Imperial New Nippon who are planning a Pearl Harbor-type strike against the rest of the world by digitizing it. If they succeed with this diabolical scheme, their next step is to clone the entire universe. Jake joins forces with the Butoh, the "Ninja of the Future," to thwart the conspiracy before human history is changed forever.
Wildly imaginative, wickedly funny, and devilishly suspenseful, MANGA MAN follows in the Grand Guignol tradition of Besher's celebrated RIM Trilogy (RIM, MIR, and CHI; HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster) which have been hailed as pioneers in the world of contemporary science fiction. MANGA MAN is the first title in Besher's "Dance of Darkness" trilogy of alternative noir fantasy novels to be followed by THE BLACK TAO.
"All my novels have been about erasing the interface between the human being and the outside world." says Besher. "In Mir, I envisioned the advent of epidermal programming when sentient tattoos were able to move around from body to body in forbidden techno-pagan rituals. It wasn't a great leap for me to conceive of the idea of a sentient T-shirt that people can actually wear today in real life. That's what led me to the medium of QR/2D code as the link between the reader and the living world of multimedia."
Notes Besher, "I'm convinced that the media platform of the future lies in mobile phone technology. It's a market that's growing by leaps and bounds. Just witness the advances represented by Apple's iPhone and companies like Nokia which is bringing out its multimedia monster, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone. Not to mention the first handheld projectors that are due out this year, and the advent of A4-size screens. I can only say that we've truly entered the post-Gutenberg, post-McLuhan age. My credo is that finally, longlast ?You are the Media.'"
What's on Besher's horizon for the future? "Eventually, I plan for MANGA MAN to develop into a two-legged mobile social networking site complete with interactive fashion wear and accessories that will instantly connect people wherever they go in the world. That's in the works right now. Stay tuned."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALEXANDER BESHER was born in China, raised and educated in Japan. He is a San Francisco-based author, journalist and novelist. He is the author of The Pacific Rim Almanac (HarperCollins, '91), and the Rim trilogy of futuristic thrillers including the Philip K. Dick Award-nominated Rim (HarperCollins '94; HarperPrism, '95); Mir, and Chi (Simon & Schuster, '98 and '99).
He served as editor of the Chicago Review literary quarterly at the University of Chicago, was contributing editor to InfoWorld magazine, and wrote Pacific Rim (Chronicle Features), an internationally syndicated weekly column covering business, technology and social trends in the Asia-Pacific region.
His current novel The Manga Man is the first title in his new "Dance of Darkness" trilogy of alternative noir fantasy novels. His novels have been translated into over a dozen languages and film-optioned. Recently, he has been writing screenplays and television scripts.
For Further Information Please Visit:
www.newmancom.com/mangaman
www.mangaman.mobi (debuting October 31, 2008)
www.alexanderbesher.tv
Download a QR Code Reader for your phone by visiting:
http://www.readqr.com
ABOUT WINKSITE, THE PUBLISHER OF MANGA MAN
Winksite is a leading mobile content management and social networking software company whose solutions connect publishers to their audiences and audience members to each other. For more information visit winksite.com
