Steven Hall and the Great (Virtual) Shark Hunt

Steven Hall
Steven Hall began wondering about all the water metaphors used to describe language, like "stream of consciousness." Then he began wondering about the animals which might live in those waters. He spent five years thinking and writing, and ended up with "The Raw Shark Texts."
MPR Photo/Euan Kerr

In Steven Hall's new novel "The Raw Shark Texts," a young man wakes up in a room he doesn't recognize. He gets nervous when he realizes doesn't know where he is.

He gets scared when he realizes he doesn't know who he is.

The man does learn who he is, but his story only becomes stranger and scarier. He gets help from a psychologist but he also begins receiving mysterious letters, which he has apparently mailed to himself in the event that he loses his memory. In them he learns he's a hunted man.

"The Raw Shark Texts" is a hot literary property. It's being translated into 26 languages and has sparked a intense bidding war for the film rights. It's been described as "Moby Dick" meets "The Matrix," with elements of a thriller, science fiction, and more than a little horror. Steven Hall told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr he wrote the book so it could be interpreted in a number of different ways, and so he's reluctant to say much on what the book's about.

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