Steve Zio was educated at Loyola High School in Montreal, the University of Guelph (B.A.) in Ontario, and the School for International Training (M.A.) in Brattleboro, Vt., USA. He is the former Managing Director of Oxford University Press, Japan, and now runs TransPac Education Services, an educational consulting company in Sidney, BC, near Victoria. Besides the above places, he has lived in Toronto and Trenton, Ontario; Kaioshung, Taiwan; London, England and a number of other places. Steve is the author, editor or translator of eight other books and the husband of the talented Japanese painter, Kimiko, whose work is featured on the Hot Springs website.

The iNovel Concept – Hot Springs

McArthur & Co, 2006

HOT SPRINGS is perhaps the world’s first iNovel of its kind. The “i” in iNovel stands for “interactive” and Hot Springs integrates traditional fiction publishing with the dynamic platform of the Internet. It is a marriage between book and the WWW that embraces the salient characteristics of each to create a whole new entity.

Although Hot Springs is foremost a traditional bound book, this companion website adds meaning, depth and color to the story, characters, and settings. This website is not just about reviews or interviews but is instead a place where readers can find new aspects of the story, locales, and characters – and even add some themselves. Where novels are black and white, the Hot Springs website is about music, color, sounds, sights, and contributions from the reading community.

As you click on Chapter One’s iNovel Link you’ll hear a downloadable song written and recorded by the protagonist, Jason. On another you’ll see full-color paintings (available for purchase) done by the mysterious Japanese painter, Kiriko.

Find Out More about Hot Springs and the iNovel Concept

The Mystery of the Missing Sudoku Masters

Read the proposal for The Mystery of the Missing Sudoku Masters