When J.J. Abrams teaser hit the Internet a few weeks back, we all began wondering what the heck it could be. It was soon revealed that the teaser was not for a film or television series but rather Abrams upcoming novel S. cowritten with Doug Dorst.
The new trailer gives more detail than the first but still keeps things vague and mysterious. luckily, Entertainment Weekly has some more details for the meta-fictional work:
S. is basically about the relationship between a grad student named Eric and a college senior named Jennifer. They trade notes in the margins of a (fictional) 1949 novel by a mysterious author named V.M. Straka. S. contains the novel within the novel; copious handwritten notes between Jennifer and Eric (“a conversation that plunges them into the unknown,” according to the book jacket); and dozens of pieces of ephemera between the pages like newspaper clippings and a napkin with a map drawn on it. (S. will come shrink-wrapped so none of this extra material falls out.)
While some may think this is another brilliant new idea from Abrams, the idea of this type of multi-format storytelling is not new to the publishing world. Check out the novels HOUSE OF LEAVES or ONLY REVOLUTIONS by Mark Z. Danielewski as a starting point. But Abrams’ novel would definitely be the most mainstream attempt at a work like this and will definitely be hard to read in an e-book format.
S. will be a big deal when it comes out as it should be. This is definitely shaping up to be a nice season for the book readers out there. Between this and Stephen King‘s sequel to THE SHINING, my reading shelf is going to be full.
S. hits stores on October 29th.