SUMMARY:
#Begin <Ailuros>
In the < present // future >, Alex and Josh must face < their own // a > monster if they are to salvage < their relationship // Ailuros Unit 23 > ;
These < are not > separate stories.
Award-winning UK author Matt Doyle’s new experimental sci-fi horror novel, Ailuros, is coming soon! Described as House of Leaves meets Alien, the book features a unique layout that allows the reader to choose how they wish to read the story.
If you only read the right-hand pages (physical edition) or core text (digital edition), the story follows Alex Holden and Josh Byrne as they lead a group of salvagers in a mission to an abandoned microgravity resort. The holiday unit had been jettisoned into space due to a biological incident, and the crew expect it to have been viral in nature. Soon, however, they find themselves in a fight for their lives against a hostile alien lifeform.
If you also read the left-hand pages (physical edition) or pop-up endnotes (digital edition), you learn that the right-hand pages are a report on a VR sim. Here, the Government is attempting to reduce crime by vaccinating people against negative emotional responses and allowing them to let them out in a monthly simulation. Alex believes they caught Josh cheating on them and is making notes on Josh’s VR sim. They hope that, through a loose-Freudian analysis, they can find out if their relationship can be saved.
The book also features several hidden passages that alter the events of both stories.
The book will be released by Fractured Mirror Publishing on 7th September 2021. You can purchase it at the links below:
Paperback/Hardback: https://www.fracturedmirrorpublishing.com/product-page/ailuros
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B2YTZPP/
You can find out more about Matt Doyle on the website sci-fi: Taking A Positive Look At Pop Culture Since 2015: https://mattdoylemedia.com/ and Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattdoylemedia