The Book of Immersion kicked off in lockdown as a full-blown musical—well, in my head anyway. Picture a band on stage: neon lights, synths screaming, bodies moving in sync with beats that hit like heartbeats. That band? Tale Teller Club. They weren’t just a vibe—they were the story.
The book’s characters were born on stage. Flex and iServalan—two glitchy, glamorous leads in a dystopian fever dream. iServalan barely shows up in Volume 1, but her presence was always looming. Then there’s Vapor Punk, the AI narrator who opens each chapter like a spoken-word prophet, dissecting the weirdness of humans and machines alike.
Lockdown cracked something open. I went all in—sci-fi, fantasy, experimental audio. I wanted to build a world you didn’t just read—you felt it. Visually, sonically, emotionally. I tried everything: 3D apps, music videos, virtual stages. But the tech was clunky, expensive, and sucked the soul right out. It was like throwing glitter at a ghost and hoping it stuck.
Eventually, I stepped back. Turns out, books were already immersive. The moment you read a sentence, your brain hears it. The narrator speaks. The scene breathes. Writers have always been the OG sound designers.
But I couldn’t kill the music completely. I’m a musician. The characters had already started performing IRL—each with their own robotic voice, thanks to voice plugins and experimental sound design. The music morphed into something deeper, full of weird frequencies and brain-hacking beats. The dream was still alive—just mutating.
Now? I’ve stripped it all back. No more overdesigned platforms or overpriced streaming. Just the story, raw and ready. Volume 1 drops this April in book form—clean, sharp, full of chaos and feeling.
The immersive version? That’s coming too. Think: interactive PDF with soundscapes, film clips, illustrations, and all the broken-glass beauty I was chasing from day one. There’s even a coffee table edition with all the artwork if you're into that.
Wanna dip your toes? The chapters (aka “strata”) are up for free on Kindle.
This isn’t just a book. It’s a multi-reality experience dressed as fiction.
See you in the story.
Sarnia de la Maré FRSA
