Ian Tregillis' novel Bitter Seeds is coming in April!  And to celebrate, we've come up with a puzzler of a game based on the book.  You can check it out over at Ian's site but let me explain a little first.  You're not going to win this game.  It's fiendishly difficult.  It may not even look like a game at first, that's how fiendishly difficult it is.  But I assure you, the game exists if you're clever (or lucky) enough to find it.  

When Ian and I first built his website years ago, we built it with this game in mind.  All of the pieces we'd need were eventually put into place, and over the last few months or so we've finally achieved our goal.  We wanted a puzzle game that would tell a story, and this story that Ian wrote is set in his Bitter Seeds universe as a prologue to the novel.  It introduces you to the world, lets you wander around in it, gives you a taste of it that leaves you wanting more. 

Luckily you can pre-order the book right from stephensonsdesk.com while you're cursing the fiendish difficulty of the game.  Did I mention that it's fiendishly difficult?  I feel very fortunate to have the chance to work on this project.  There's no way I would be able to solve the puzzle, I'm just not that smart.  But maybe you can.  In fact, there's a clue somewhere in this very blog post!

The game weaves the clues throughout the story and across Ian's site.  The reward is unlocking the DVD extras for the novel contained in Stephenson's Desk.  I've seen the extras, it's worth it.  Hours of director's commentary, deleted scenes, interviews with the actors, and trailers for the upcoming movies.  Don't believe me?  Solve the puzzle and prove me wrong!

Once you solve the puzzle, don't forget to enter your email address to claim your grand prize.  I don't even know what the grand prize is, we're so sure that nobody will solve it.

Just kidding.  I know what it is.  But because I'm so mysterious (and fiendishly difficult), I'm not telling you.