Filmmaker & Author Unveil Cinematic Book MONSOON TIDE

If it were a run of the mill debut novel, Monsoon Tide [Gatekeeper Press, October 12, 2017], would be the kind of debut that makes people stand up and pay attention. An expertly woven story of suspense, romance, and secrets dredged up, it's that work of fiction that's hard to put down.

Monsoon Tide is not, however, simply a debut novel in the sense that we know them. It is the world's first cinematic book: a fusion of film and the written word that takes the best parts of the two mediums to form an exciting new concept. A cinematic book - or cBook - combines a book's ability to reveal a character's innermost thoughts and motivations with film's power to pull you right into the action and visually experience the sights, sounds and backdrop of the story.

Monsoon Tide is the story of Anni, a young aid worker of Anglo-Indian descent who, in 2004, finds herself returning to her beautiful, tropical birthplace, Kerala, India in the wake of the Asian tsunami. Anni hasn't been to India since the death of her mother sixteen years before, and is unprepared for what she'll find. In addition to her relief work, Anni must contend with her seemingly haunted stepfather in his isolated beachside house, and soon discovers that her mother's death was not the accidental drowning she had been led to believe. And, in fact, there are a number of people who are invested in what happened. Armed with her mother's diary, her new unexpected friendships, and her instincts, Anni must untangle the lies from the truth and find out the real story of what happened to her mother all those years before.

The book's setting in Kerala, and specifically Anni's stepfather's home on the ocean, are hugely important, and are revolutionized by the cinematic book format, in which readers can see the beautiful and haunted spaces with their own eyes.

Different from an enhanced ebook, a cinematic book relies on both the film and the text to tell the story-one doesn't make sense without the other. The story is told both through the novel's prose, and through screenwriting in the film clips. It is both a fusion of medium and of voices, as Fletcher (the screenwriter), and Evripidou (the creative author), come together.

"Monsoon Tide began as just a screenplay," says Fletcher, "When I was writing the original screenplay, and especially when I was discussing the back stories of the characters with the actors, I started to wish for a way to uniquely convey additional background. I had a bit of a eureka moment when I realized that ebook technology could make combining a book and film a possibility."

Evripidou adds, "Obviously the original screenplay was the basis for the narrative and I got to imagine the rest! I also drew on my experience of visiting India, watching Kerelan fisherman and other everyday observations to add authenticity to the book."

The fusion of Fletcher and Evripidou's work, and of the film and book mediums, have resulted in a revolutionary finished product. Monsoon Tide sweeps you up and immerses you in its carefully rendered world and tells a story that will stay with you long past the final page (or scene).

About the Authors:

Elsa Evripidou was born in London, England and went on to study foreign languages at university. She has worked in a variety of fields including human resources, teaching and tourism but mainly in the film industry over the last decade. She has written screenplays, worked as a script editor, and is a producer for Laid Back Films. Evripidou has always had a passion for writing and wrote the narrative of the debut cBook, Monsoon Tide. She is currently studying for a Masters degree in creative writing.

Nick Fletcher is an award-winning photographer, who traveled the world putting on exhibitions of his photo journalistic work. In the 1990's, he got involved in the toy and game industry, inventing and designing products for Manik Games and Seven Towns Ltd (best known for bringing the Rubik Cube to the world). In the last 20 years, Fletcher has also worked as a producer, writer and director in the film industry, creatively involved in projects such as 'Tales of the Fourth Dimension' with Richard O'Brien and 'Monsoon Tide' the film. He wrote the original screenplay and invented the concept of the cBook whilst in pre-production of Monsoon Tide.

For more information visit www.monsoon-tide.co or www.cbooks.co, and connect on facebook.com/cbooksco and Twitter @cbooksco.

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