S.

One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace, and desire. A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown. The book: Ship of Theseus, the final novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V.M. Straka, in which a man with no past is shanghaied onto a strange ship with a monstrous crew and launched onto a disorienting and perilous journey. The writer: Straka, the incendiary and secretive subject of one of the world's greatest mysteries, a revolutionary about whom the world knows nothing apart from the words he wrote and the rumors that swirl around him. The readers: Jennifer and Eric, a college senior and a disgraced grad student, both facing crucial decisions about who they are, who they might become, and how much they're willing to trust another person with their passions, hurts, and fears. S., conceived by filmmaker J. J. Abrams and written by award-winning novelist Doug Dorst, is the chronicle of two readers finding each other in the margins of a book and enmeshing themselves in a deadly struggle between forces they don't understand, and it is also Abrams and Dorst's love letter to the written word.

JJ亞伯拉罕 J. J. Abrams 美國知名鬼才編導，活躍於電影、電影圈，代表作包括《LOST檔案》《星際爭霸》《不可能的任務III》等。JJ筆下的故事以鋪陳奇巧、令人上癮的風格而聞名，他自小熱愛「神秘」事物，曾以「神秘魔法盒」(The mystery box)為題受邀至TED演講，大方分享他自幼的創作靈感源頭：一個他永遠不會打開的神祕盒子。他熱愛在故事中帶給觀眾/讀者「亟欲解開真相」的渴求，同時也著迷於擁有無限可能的謎團。他喜歡挖掘日常生活中為人所忽略的小細節，認為一切事物都有潛力成為「神秘盒子」，只要保有「尚未打開」的未知，就能讓創作者繼續織夢，永不間斷地變化出更為曲折離奇的精采橋段。2011年，JJ在忙碌的拍片行程中邂逅了一本陌生旅人所留下的書，書的扉頁寫著這句話：「看完請留給下一個讀者。」他的創意腦袋深受啟發，開始想像一本書能透過何種形式，連結起兩個素未謀面的讀者，於是《S.》這本書的大膽構想於焉誕生。 道格．道斯特 Doug Dorst 美國知名小說家，畢業於愛荷華大學「作家工作室」、史丹佛大學創意寫作班，並獲美國國家文藝基金會資助創作。長篇小說代表作《古墓漂流》（Alive in Necropolis）曾獲紐約時報書評編輯選書、亞馬遜書店年度好書、2009舊金山一城一書讀者票選獎，並同時入圍2009美國筆會/海明威獎、雪莉‧傑克森文學獎、國際幻想藝術協會威廉‧L‧克勞福德獎等殊榮。他的短篇小說集《衝浪導師》（The Surf Guru）亦備受好評，除了再次獲得品味嚴苛的紐約時報書評編輯選書，故事的多變想像與原創性也備受推崇，獲得了「來自北加州的村上春樹」美譽。2011年，導演J. J.亞伯拉漢帶著《S.》一書的靈感骨架，找上了他心目中的「天才作家」道斯特，兩人立刻決定攜手挑戰這場前所未見、絕對原創的寫作冒險，顛覆紙本書的「手寫留言」敘事手法出自J.J. 的創意，而熱愛文學的男女主角性格設定，則歸功於長年耕耘創作圈的道斯特。除了個人創作，道斯特也在大學教授創意寫作課程，並服務於推廣兒童寫作的非營利機構「奥斯汀蝙蝠洞（Austin Bat Cave）」。