PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Interesting Books to Your Attention

I'm an old guy, so now and then I get a little jolt of future shock like I did when I got into Simon Wood's Lowlifes. First of all, it's a book. You can buy it and hold it and all that. It's got one of my favorite kinds of stories: the guy who wakes up with amnesia and can't remember if he's killed somebody or not. The guy in this case is druggie cop Larry Hayes, and to find out if he done it, he has to disappear into San Francisco's homeless community. It's a ripping good yarn.

So you read the book and that's that, right? Wrong, Old Guy! You can, if you want to, read the book and say, "That's that," but you don't have to. Wood and filmmaker Robert Pratten have created a whole transmedia experience here. After you read the book, you can go to this site and start clicking around. There are two series of videos that show the story from two more perspectives. There's an interactive game. You can order a DVD. And you can get all this on your phone if you want to. See what I mean about future shock? Maybe you whippersnappers think this is all old hat, but it's not to me. Check it out.