While the excitement has been building for the December 29 release of my new novel, The 13th Hour, and with the screenplay done and a movie version getting closer to reality, people have asked me what I’ve been doing in the meantime to keep busy.  Well, I give them a one word answer:  Vook.

Vook? They think they misheard me. I tell them again, Vook.

So what is a Vook?  Actually it's a whole new concept of combining the intimate experience of reading with the visual sensation of sight and sound. A Vook combines the best parts of a book with video vignettes that illustrate the story in visceral, exciting clips that take reading to a whole new level.

I wrote a novella called Embassy and in a partnership between my publisher Atria Books and Vook they created an amazing product which you can download on your iPod, your computer, your smart phone, etc...that allows you to experience reading in a whole new way.

What TV was to radio, the Vook is to a book. It is the next step in storytelling. You get to read an exciting new story but on top of the reading you get these little scenes, these small montages that help to illustrate the story, help to bring it to life, all the while adding to the overall thrill of the tale.

Embassy is fast paced thriller that kicks off with a woman being taken hostage in the Greek Embassy but, as with all of my stories, a lot more is going on than first meets the eye. From high stakes stand-offs to hidden agendas, from magic and mystery to a woman and her children sailing into a disaster, from hidden mysteries beneath the embassy to an ancient artifact shrouded in myth. 

 
So while you're waiting for The 13th Hour to arrive, I hope you get a chance to check out Embassy in this new format which is arriving on September 22.


Get more on Richard Doetsch at SimonandSchuster.com