New Novel by Local Journalist Lets Readers Help Shape the Story

Laird Harrison, an Oakland journalist who sometimes filled in as a guest editor on Piedmont Patch last year, has published his first novel – with an Internet-age twist.

Fallen Lake, published this month by Verdant Press, explores the lives of two couples who join together in a group marriage, a situation Harrison experienced himself when his parents became part of a group marriage household for two years.

The traditional printed book is accompanied by an interactive online blog that follows some of the characters' lives decades later. And the blog is truly interactive, because readers' comments help to shape and alter the story line.

Read an interview with Harrison published Tuesday on the Oakland Local website, which includes a link to the Fallen Lake blog, and learn more about him at the author's own website.