Tuesday 27 August 2013

The Mystery Of S.

The mystery of S. PostcardA new blog has appeared, but what's it all about ?

If I said we don't know I'd be lying, but only slightly !

I'll try and explain what is happening from the information that is available, mostly gathered by other people admittedly, but hopefully we can use this blog as a forum to search for new clues and updates as they appear.

What we are talking about is a novel conceived and written by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst, more than just a novel though that hopefully you will see by reading on.

So as far as I can tell the timeline for this starts back in 2011, an article on the New York Times Arts Beat section announces a new novel that will be created by JJ Abrams and written by Doug Dorst, planned for an autumn 2012 release.

Well that deadline came and went, so we'll fast forward to May 2013 and a Huffington Post article. During the Book Bloggers Conference in Book Expo America, Joshua Kendell of publisher Little Brown started talking about the project again.

We now get a title for the novel, or at least a clue to the title, it is simply "S." the article also mentions "20 to 22 pieces of ephemera in the 'real world'"

So from those two pieces of information you can hopefully see where our blog title comes from !

The novel is described on the Mulholland books website as -

"At the core of this multilayered literary puzzle of love and adventure is a book of mysterious provenance. In the margins, another tale unfolds—through the hand-scribbled notes, questions, and confrontations of two readers. Between the pages, online, and in the real world, you’ll find evidence of their interaction, ephemera that bring this tale vividly to life"

The Mulholland books website also now gives us a date for publication of the 29th of October, plus a link to places where you can pre-order the book - Other Retailers



At the event detailed in the Huffington Post article, as well as the promotional poster displayed, which is the first image above, there was also a postcard handed out you can see the images of the postcard here, but these are from the Huffington Post article.

The front is obviously of Brazil, and the real appears to confirm this as it says it is Rio De Janeiro.

The text of the card, all in uppercase letters, says this -

19 APRIL
-----------
IBIRAPITANGA

FELLOW BIRDERS:

SOUTH THRU SMALL COASTAL TOWNS.
THE LOCALS HAVE LESS ENGLISH + I HAVE MY SAME PORTUGESE. MY HOSTS TONIGHT:
A FAMILY WHO OPENED THEIR HOME TO ME.
I TOLD THEM ABOUT THE BOOK WE ARE WRITING TOGETHER. THEY SAID (I THINK) THERE IS A VERY OLD NIGHTINGALE NEAR MARAU + PEOPLE ARE VERY PROTECTIVE OF HER. THEY UNDERSTAND MY GOOD INTENTIONS (I THINK) + OFFERED TO TAKE ME THERE TOMORROW + TRY TO MAKE INTRODUCTIONS. I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO SLEEP EVEN IF I HADN'T HAD THE COFFEE.

I WISH YOU WERE HERE - THOUGH IN A WAY, YOU ARE.

xO.
E-


I'm not sure if we can infer or learn anything too startling from this, but it may become important later on.

One thing that is possibly significant is that the place name mentioned in the hand written note "IBIRAPITANGA" is in Brazil but it is around 1300 miles away from Rio. It could just be a general tourist postcard of course, and as someone once said don't mistake coincidence for fate.

If you have any news or updates for us please let us know, either in the comments below or why not send us a tweet and follow us of course - @SFiles22

15 comments:

  1. Hi Zort! Think this will be fun! I was trying to figure out a time frame for the post card, as it only says April. Picture looks like maybe 60S? Tried to look up postmark type and amount of postage for post card awhile ago- no conclusion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I did find this postmark which is similar, although not exactly the same -

      Delcampe.net

      Delete
    2. Mmm- I had some idea that the amount of postage would tell when the card was sent. Your stamp seems to say zero postage! The card is 1.00 somethings. So I really don't know how to read them.

      Delete
    3. I was able to find the mark back in May but forgot to bookmark. It was exact except for state or postal city name missing here. It referenced years in use also. Dang. Well , if I find again, I'll post. I didn't see it as anything out of the ordinary.

      Delete
    4. Just a thought. Looking closer at address, maybe to "J" and a post office box ending in 6, to Canada. "...n." looked up where English and Portugese might be spoken and found Ontario. Just a guess.

      Delete
  2. Hello :-)

    I just found a little info out about the place name on the postcard, so I'll update the post.

    Also I have some more info, although nothing too new, but it deserves it's own main blog post.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Except for the S's and that it seems to be in the jungle-not sure how the card and book tie to the video-that looks like a horror story!

    Think there is a typo in the card Zort- for "N"ightingale?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well spotted, corrected now

    ReplyDelete
  5. One more thought- seems like the bird watching must be a cover for something else the two writers are doing. And the Nightingale is described more like a person I think- so maybe an old sage type they want to talk to?

    ReplyDelete
  6. E writes to "Fellow Birders" and is talked into going to see a nightingale. There are no species of nightingale in S. America. Something lost in translation, or locals referring to Florence. But then, there is no reference to Florence in S. America. Portuguese for nightingale is rouxinol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There being no real Nightingales does seem to support it being a person. Besides Florence, I find Nightingale shows up in the skyrim games as armor and such. And the bird is known for amazing songs of course.

      I am wondering how the whole hunt is going to work for us, as the book will present the story and the side notes all at once. Will be interesting to see how the still can spread out the game.

      Delete
    2. I thought Nightingale represented FXC because they did figure out her last known location and as you read the two postcards, and when Eric realizes that she is alive, he use the birds the same way that Straka did to represent the people he or she knew.

      Delete
    3. You are correct. Those previous comments were made based on the trailers and one promotional postcard a couple of months before the book was released.

      Delete
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