An online game and a "universe" of character integration websites are part of publisher Doubleday's campaign to promote today's release of John Twelve Hawks' new science fiction thriller, The Traveler, writes the New York Times. Incongruously, the author - who may himself be fictional - is said to live (like two of the central characters) "off the grid" - that is, "invisible to the real-life surveillance networks that monitor people in our modern society."

The websites include the protagonist's blog, the evil corporation's homepage, and two other sites tangentially related to the book: judithstrand.blogspot.com, www.evergreen-foundation.com, www.resurrectionautoparts.com, and www.hollismartialarts.com. According to a Doubleday rep, "Savvy hackers might be interested to know that it's possible to break into the evil corporation's website to uncover secret documents."

The Internet campaign is being run by Doubleday's Lauren Chinn, who used to work for movie studio Miramax. Such campaigns have been frequently used for movies but are rare in publishing (though Doubleday dabbled with its Da Vinci Code). "The industry is really still trying to figure out the Internet," Chinn is quoted as saying.