Is it a book? Is it a movie? Is it a website?

Actually it's all three.

Anthony Zuiker, creator of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation US television series, is releasing what he calls a "digi-novel" combining all three media - and giving a jolt to traditional book publishing.

Zuiker has created Level 26, a crime novel that also invites readers to log on to a website about every 20 pages using a special code to watch a "cyber-bridge" - a three-minute film clip tied to the story.

Starting next Tuesday, readers can buy the book, visit the website, log in to watch the "cyber-bridges," read, discuss and contribute to the story.

"Just doing one thing great is not going to sustain business," he said. "The future of business in terms of entertainment will have to be the convergence of different mediums. So we did that - publishing, movies and a website."

Zuiker put together a 60-page outline for the novel, which was written by Duane Swierczynski, and wrote and directed the "cyber-bridges". He said the book could be read without watching the "cyber-bridges".

"I wanted to bring all the best in publishing, in a motion picture, in a website and converge all three into one experience," he said.

(China Daily/Reuters September 4, 2009)