by Blogbot

On October 14th, CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker will unleash a new Level 26 serial killer. Picking up where his first digi-novel*, Dark Origins, left off, Dark Prophecy follows Special Circs investigator Steve Dark, who this time finds his destiny entwined with that of the Tarot Card Killer.



In the run up to the book’s release, the SuicideGirls community has been invited to participate in a very special mystery. Follow the clues (pictured), and visit this link, and fate may lead you to what Zuiker promises will be “some kind of cool surprise.”





Pssst! Need a hint? Zuiker says we should be “thinking about other sites like DreadCentral and CSIFiles.com.”



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[Dark Prophecy - Part 1 - The Reading/Hanged Man]

*Bringing the novel into the digital age, Level 26 connects the printed word with motion picture elements and an interactive web-based social community. Crime fiction fans can consume the Dark Origins and Dark Prophecy thrillers via the familiar left to right, cover to cover route, or take a less linear approach. Readers of the books are encouraged to visit Level26.com to view cinematic “cyber-bridges” and participate in the site’s social and interactive areas. In advance of Dark Prophecy’s release, the associated cyber-bridges will be available to view at a rate of one per day on Youtube. The first one is posted above. For the latest info and TCK developments follow Level_26 on Twitter, and check in next week for an exclusive Q&A with Zuiker in the interview section of SuicideGirls.com.

Today Anthony E. Zuiker unleashes a new level of evil into the world. The creator and executive producer of the CSI franchise hopes that Sqweegel, the diabolical monster at the heart of his new multi-media project, Level 26, will slash through the boundaries of traditional crime classification and beyond the confines of the traditional publishing world. Bringing the novel into the digital age, Level 26 connects the printed word with motion picture elements and an interactive web-based social community. "I wanted to tell a story 'too hot' for television while at the same time giving the existing crime reader a different experience," says Zuiker. To this end Zuiker and SuicideGirls have teamed up to create some killer images (shot by SG co-founder Missy) to celebrate the launch of Level 26.

Dark Origins, which goes on sale today, is the first of three planned Level 26 "digi-novels," which will be released at a rate of one a year thru 2011. Crime fiction fans can consume the thrillers via the familiar left to right, cover to cover route, or take a less linear approach, logging on to view cinematic "cyber-bridges" using special access codes when prompted every 20 pages or so. Zuiker ultimately hopes the audience will be immersed enough in the dark world he's created to be motivated to participate in Level26.com's social and interactive areas which were built by the creators of hit faux vlogger Lonelygirl 15. (Full disclosure: Zuiker also worked with SG founder Sean Suhl to give the Level26.com community "stickiness" - be warned, once you enter you may find yourself unable to leave!)

Inspiration for Level 26 came to Zuiker while he was vacationing in Tokyo, Japan. "I caught a BBC documentary about serial killers which explored how law enforcement experts around the world define the barometer for serial killer criterion," says Zuiker. "Over decades, organizations such as Interpol, the DOD, the NSA, the CIA and the FBI have ranked serial killers from level 1 to 25. A level 1 killer might qualify if they murdered a neighbor. A level 25 serial killer would earn his classification depending on manner of death, intelligence, number of kills, vindictive motive, signature, popularity, etc. Charles Manson might qualify."

Going beyond Manson, Zuiker claims Sqweegel is "the scariest killer in the world." In part he says this is because he is "forensic proof" -- his signature being a full body latex "condom" suit which he wears while perpetrating his bloody crimes to foil crime scene investigators. But what drives Sqweegel to kill?

"Sqweegel is motivated by sinners who sin, liars who lie, cowards who act cowardly. For all the people we come across in every day life who piss us off, there is a bit of Sqweegel inside all of us," warns Zuiker. "If you have sinned, he will carry out your sentence. He loathes injustice."

This ultimate serial killer was fleshed out with the help of co-writer Duane Swierczynski. "Duane's voice was unique and aggressive and I liked that for this type of novel," says Zuiker, who was introduced to his Level 26 collaborator by his publishers Duttons.

"I was responsible for a 60-page outline and 20 motion picture scenes," says Zuiker. "He would then write a 400 page novel around the outline and then contort the manuscript around the scenes I would shoot. It was a different way of working for him, but then again it is a different kind of concept."

The video bridges, which Zuiker says are not merely recaps of the preceding text but a continuation of it, feature some familiar faces including Michael Ironside (Terminator Salvation), Bill Duke (Menace II Society), Kevin Weisman (Alias) and Glen Morshower (24). "It was always my intent to work with A-List actors on this project,' says Zuiker. "We also have a former Oscar winner attached to do books two and three."

Though shooting outside the confines of network television meant he could push the envelope content-wise, interestingly Zuiker, who has never been shy of mixing sex with violence in his CSI shows, ultimately decided to impose certain limits upon himself. "I actually pulled the footage back from its original conception. I thought I would be shooting X-rated footage," reveals Zuiker. "After giving it some deeper thought, I decided that I would pull it back and make the footage hard R. Without giving too much away, the first cyber bridge is a snuff film."

Despite self-censoring to some extent, Zuiker still exploited the freedoms his new medium allowed. "I think you can call the digi-novel the anti-television experience," he says. "It pushes the envelope off of the table while still trying to be respectfully commercial."

After successfully collaborating with SuicideGirls on an episode of CSI: NY (which to date is the franchise's highest rated show in the 18-45 demographic), to mark the release of Dark Origins, SG and Zuiker decided to join forces again and produce a special Level 26-inspired photoset (which will go live on SuicideGirls.com at 6 PM today).

In the super sexy set, which was shot last month in a room at The Standard hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, a negligee-clad Coley meets her fate at the hands of Chloe, who's wearing Sqweegel's tight, custom made, white latex suit.

"Sean, Missy, and I are all friends. Sean thought it’d be fun to have an SG come out of the murder suit in a multi-set. My wife, Jennifer Zuiker, art directed the shoot and we had a blast," says Zuiker (read his account of the shoot here). The photographs were taken by Missy, who also shot the image that was used for the Dark Origins book cover during an earlier cyber-bridge set visit.

When asked why he reached out to SuicideGirls to collaborate on Level 26 Zuiker explains, "I thought the SG community would love the dark nature of the project. Plus, I'm a nerdy kid from Vegas who has a diabolical mind who's not approaching this project like a commercial CSI. This is 100% Zuiker and all of his twisted nature. I just wanted to write a book that would scare the shit out of you while at the same time give publishing a shot in the arm. I've always considered SG to be American royalty. It's this type of close-knit loyal community that I want for Level 26, so why not start at community that's already done it and done it well."



The complete Level 26 / Sqweegel photoset can be viewed HERE.

Photographs by Missy. Additional photography by Sean and Sawa.

Dark Origins is available at Amazon.com and all fine book stores.

SuicideGirls members and fans are invited to join the Level 26 community, create profile pages, chat, read interviews with and blogs by Level 26 creators, characters and celebs, and get access to Anthony E. Zuiker at Level26.com. "I'm on the website all day, every day. I respond to every message, and am all over the site," says Zuiker. "It's a lot of fun!"

Friend of SG, CSI creator, executive producer and writer Anthony E. Zuiker will be at Comic Con this year to promote his latest project, Level 26. Termed a digi-novel, the book at the hearth of an ancillary web-based experience will be published by Dutton on Sept 8.

The title of the novel, which was co-written by Zuiker and Duane Swierczynski, refers to a classification hierarchy used by law enforcement agencies to grade serial killers. That system goes up to 25 -- but Zuiker hopes to break new ground and bust through boundaries with Level 26.

"It's gonna be like an interactive Silence of the Lambs or CSI," says Zuiker's partner in crime, Miles Beckett, whose company, EQAL, is responsible for many of the project's interactive elements.

To augment the traditional text experience, Zucker has produced and directed what he terms cyber-bridges, which are essentially cinematic shorts that are hosted online, the links to which will be embedded in the book every 20-pages or so.

Beckett, who was part of the team behind YouTube sensation LonlyGirl15, the spin-off vlog KateModern, and the interactive elements of the CBS show Harpers Island, has created the web world for Level 26. The website, created by Beckett's company EQAL, will feature a blog for news and behind the scenes footage, and Wiki's that fans can help curate. In the community areas, members will be able to create profiles and characters, enter into discussions, and post their own fan fiction. Beckett promises that "Anthony will be hanging out on the site too."

The full Level 26.com site will go live, sans cyber-bridges, in advance of the book's release to coincide with a special Comic Con panel. In the meantime mystery fans who like their crime fiction "really dark and kind of twisted" can enter their emails via a splash page to get the inside scoop on the launch and updates.



Anthony E. Zuiker and EQAL's Miles Beckett, along with Level 26 actors actors Daniel Buran (CSI) and Michael Ironside (Terminator Salvation), will be speaking on the panel "Introducing The World's First Digi-Novel - Level 26: Dark Origins" at Comic Con 2009 on Saturday July 25 at 4:30pm in Room 5AB. The panel will give audience members a sneak-peak at the digi-novel and will feature an exclusive preview of one of the cyber-bridges. Additionally, designer Marc Ecko has created limited-edition Level 26 T-shirts that will be given exclusively to panel attendees. Audience members will receive a password that they can exchange for a shirt at the Dutton/Penguin booth. The garments will be hand-signed by Anthony E. Zuiker or Marc Ecko, and promise to be one of the best freebies on offer at the convention.