The Lurker Files
What’s happening Internet? For day 27 of #WeblogPoMo2024 I want to know if any other millennials read the Lurker Files books back in the mid ninties?
The Lurker Files was a series of books written by Scott Ciencin and published by Random House between 1996 and 1997. The first three books, Faceless, Know Fear, and Nemesis, were published online and later received physical releases. The fourth book, also written by Scott, Incarnate, was only available online.
Books 5-7, Apparition, Triad, and Clandestine, were written by a new author, Marc Cerasini and were only available online.
I am trying to remember if I read the first three books, but I definitely read the first one. I remember picking it up at a local bookstore. The first book, Faceless, came with the Lurker Tracker Disk, an actual floppy disk that contained information on the main characters, etc., and was meant to help you track down who the Lurker is. I never figured out who the Lurker was.
Here’s the summary of the first book, Nameless
Gia Gibson isn’t sorority material, so she’s thrilled to be accepted into the Rathskeller, Wintervale’s exclusive on-line chat room. She’s only a freshman, but little does she know that the Lurker has already plotted the course of her entire college career. His chief operatives, sophomores Jenny and Darren, are waiting for her at every turn. Only Adrian, her on-line protector, can be trusted . . . or can he?
Like many teens at the time, I was coming online for the first time. I couldn’t get enough of anything to do with the net, so this book really grabbed my attention as it played out across message boards and chatrooms.
I’ve been thinking about these books recently; this would make for a great tribute/fan site. At least one other person is also thinking about the books during the last decade. A comprehensive wiki exists where someone has put a lot of effort into providing the only source of information about the books online. I don’t know if they’re the same person from the Stack Exchange link.
A copy of the website exists on the Way Back Machine, and you can go and read the stories, which I intend to do soon.
So, does anyone remember these books? Did anyone else read them way back when? Let me know.
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