The Traveler Returns?

In December of 2004, we told you about some interesting web activity surrounding the then-upcoming novel The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks. Links were found to multiple websites that looked very much like a new alternate reality game. Players scoured websites for the Evergreen Foundation, Resurrection Auto Parts, Hollis Martial Arts and Judith Strand, where thye found many hidden goodies, including memos about something escaping from a Genetic Research Center. Everything looked pretty promising, and further investigation led to……nothing. A dead end. A few cool sites that made for a nice internet marketing campaign, but that’s all.

Or was it?

Fast forward to May 27th, 2005. A new Unfiction member stopped by the forums there and gave everyone a little poke in the eye. Taking a second look at things, it seems that blogs and in-game message boards that had been stagnant for six months have become active again. There are new entries, details and links, including this new site that we’ve never seen. Is what was thought to be a dead game coming to life after all?

There are a couple of interesting things worth mentioning, here. It turns out that Unfiction’s eye-poker is the very same person on whose blog the original references to The Traveler were made back in December (here and here). Is he real, an in-game character, or a little of both? Difficult to say, but it definitely seems like someone’s trying to get the attention of the alternate reality gaming community with all of this.

Additionally, I was interviewed a while back by a reporter for a magazine in California, who wanted to know my thoughts on the cool new alternate reality game that Random House was producing for The Traveler. Sometimes it was a little awkward as, at the time, it seemed to me as though everything about this ARG had ground to a halt.

So, what can be concluded about all this? Was there a game that was put on hold? Is there something more extensive planned? All we can say is that something definitely seems to be struggling to breathe here. Exactly what remains to be seen.

Discussion on Unfiction
Gabe’s Blog
Random House Book Page (links at the bottom)