Backers get gruesomely murdered in crowdfunded Elite novel

Cory Doctorow 9:00 pm Tue Jun 10, 2014

BBC presenter Kate Russell's first science fiction novel is Elite: Mostly Harmless, a novelization of the classic video game Elite, whose production was successfully kickstarted last year. One of the backer rewards was to have yourself gruesomely murdered in the pages of the book, and six lucky fans are now enjoying their deaths:

Neither Dan nor Kate will give anything away about the revenge killings but Dan gives me a big grin as he says, ‘There will be jaws hitting the floor as people see what they got for their money.’

How did the book come about? Kate, a TV regular reporting on technology issues, has long been a fan of Elite, a space trading game that was bigger than Star Wars in the 1980s. ‘Elite was very important to me growing up,’ says Kate. ‘It gave me a reason to be interested in computers.’

Elite: Mostly Harmless, launched as an ebook, will be available later this year in paperback, hardback and audio. The audio version is read by Kate herself with a cameo from the Elite game’s creator, David Braben. All formats can be pre-ordered now from the Fantastic Bookstore.

Mostly Harmless? No way! BBC’s Kate Russell Puts Revenge on the Market

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