2012 marks the end of the world in the Mayan calendar, and, in Lost Souls: Burning Sky, 13-year-old Nathan Richards must play the Game of Lost Souls to win mankind a place in the new world cycle. But apparently, Nathan is barely passing the 7th grade and doesn’t know how to play this game. To make matters worse, lost souls keep bothering Nathan with their pesky demands for revenge and redemption . . . but they’re the ones with the key knowledge that Nathan needs. Oh, and did I mention Nathan has to beat the Mayan god Kukulkan at the Game of Lost Souls, or else humanity is doomed? Yes, that’s right . . . doomed.
Lost Souls: Burning Sky is the latest book-plus offering created by game designer, author, and Smith & Tinker founder Jordan Weisman, well-known in the ARG community for his involvement on The Beast and, more recently, for his work in transmedia publishing with the Nanovor universe, Personal Effects: Dark Arts with J.C. Hutchins, and the Cathy’s Book series with Sean Stewart. Written by science fiction and fantasy writer Mel Odom and published by Running Press Book Publishers, Lost Souls: Burning Sky features an original board game, which can be played online through Game Table Online. The object of the game is to get more pieces/points than your opponent into the center of the stylized Mayan calendar, and the straightforward gameplay is something like the African game mancala. To play, look for the “Play Now!” buttons on the Lost Souls website. You will need to download and run a browser pop-up application using Java WebStart to play.
It is not clear if there is a full transmedia experience planned for the Lost Souls trilogy. However, the website for the game seems to have some placeholders for future updates, and, there are few hidden extras to be found on the site.
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Click Here for our coverage of Nanovor.
Click Here for our coverage of the Cathy’s Book series.
Click Here for our coverage of Personal Effects: Dark Art.
The idea of cross-media convergence is anything but a new concept. In the introduction to Rethinking Media Change, media studies scholar Henry Jenkins noted that in the 11th century, the Bayeux tapestry “combined both text and images, and was explicated in spoken sermons–a multi-media bridge between the oral culture of the peasants and the learned culture of the monasteries.” Many novelists are rediscovering the joys of crafting stories that go beyond the book in some form. 
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