Free (iTunes & web) Vanishing Game by William Boyd [Literary Advertising Adventure]

[ATDrake]

The Vanishing Game by acclaimed multiple literary award-winning British novelist, playwright, screenwriter, & director William Boyd, OBE (IMDB, Wikipedia), is his literary action adventure suspense thriller which is basically a glorified advert for the line of Land Rover vehicles, free courtesy of publisher Jaguar Land Rover North America.

This is a supplementary featured Free Book in the iTunes Canada store and available in a very nice online reading web version with added music and full-story audio narration.

For all that we like to pretend that literature and other forms of highbrow cultural art are made out of pure skill and love and dedication to the craft from a possibly-starving artist who struggles until they deservedly achieve recognition and success, at least in their immediate circles, actually for much of human history it really didn't work that way.

The great artists of the past mostly had a) rich patrons who paid the bills, or were b) themselves from leisurely and relatively wealthy and privileged backgrounds that allowed them to devote their time to not-obviously-productive forms of labour, or c) some combination of both.

So ultimately, many of them had to do a fair amount of their actual output for what TV Tropes likes to call "Money, Dear Boy", and in the case of lowly underprivileged peons a) who were supported by patronage, were expected to occasionally come up with works praising and promoting and enhancing the sophisticated cultural patron image of said patrons, in a suitably sophisticated and artistic (though not necessarily subtle) fashion, of course.

And thus, I'm both amused by and curious about this effort by William Boyd, some of whose works I've encountered in the past and enjoyed (The Trench (IMDB, Wikipedia) is a fairly nifty stylized set piece of a WWI film with a great performance by Bond actor Daniel Craig and a decent supporting role for Julian Rhind-Tutt, one of my favourite semi-obscure British actors who doesn't get enough decent work, IMHO).

Maybe he really can turn a crassly commercial sow's ear into a serviceable silk purse, literarily speaking.

In any case, it's a very nifty presentation, with an online version that includes moving images and music and sound effects and full narration which basically turns it into a web-based multimedia read-along audiobook.

The iTunes version is a Made for iBooks edition which will require a certain level of compatible iDevice/Mac to read, please check product page for details.

Currently free, likely for quite some time since Land Rover probably really wants to push this @ iTunes (available to Canadians and likely worldwide; I spot-checked random countries like Denmark and it's also free there) and on the web at its own dedicated site: The Vanishing Game (available worldwide, of course, and with considerably nicer extras than the iTunes version which doesn't seem to include the audio narration).

ETA: the audio narration is now available separately as an audiobook @ Audible, and non-multimedia versions of the ebook are out @ Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK) & iTunes again (available to Canadians and probably worldwide).

And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Because experimental literary fiction is my very favourite kind, and experimental literary fiction with multimedia components is doubleplusgood.

Enjoy!

Description
The Vanishing Game pairs a down-on-his luck actor with a weather-battered Land Rover Defender on a seemingly innocuous courier job. But some things are too good to be true and this innocent journey quickly unfolds into a dangerous plot with a shadowy cast of characters.

With twists, turns and treachery, readers will be drawn into Boyd’s latest thrilling adventure.

[ATDrake]

Now also free @ Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK), and also now in a "regular" non-Made-for-iBooks edition @ iTunes as well.

Best way to experience it is via the website with the narration turned on, IMHO.

[ATDrake]

Now also free in an audiobook edition collecting the narration from the website @ Audible (available to Canadians and probably all the other regions the ebook can be gotten in).

Hat tip to skinmaan for finding this in the Audiobook Deals megathread.