Roads to Withered Hill

I really was going to make the next one of these irregular updates about making art. Never mind though.

I spent the summer (How was yours? Did you go anywhere nice?) working on a new Ambient Literature project, which launched today. It’s out in the world and is totally free to experience. Link following a brief contextual note.

Roads to Withered Hill is a companion piece to David Barnett’s novel Withered Hill, which, is published on Thursday (26th Sept). Described by Laird Barron as “the ultimate nightmare destination”, it’s a folk horror novel with a contemporary twist, and a dual timeline. Which is to say that it’s in the tradition of The Wicker Man, but knows that Black Mirror is a thing too.

Roads to Withered Hill began life as a proposal to Canelo (the book’s publisher) and David, to explore how an immersive experience sitting alongside the book might work. Could we build something that brought readers to the book without giving away the twist? How would the work we’ve done to develop an Ambient framework work in a commercial context? What could it tell us about readers? (something that publishers know very little about…)

Eight and a half months later, here we are.

As ever, all you need is a phone, a set of headphones (or earbuds), and twenty minutes or so to spare. It runs anywhere in the world, and I hope you enjoy it.

(Promo video for social media, featuring the hair and hands of Jeni Clack)