The Pickle Index is a short novel published in two simultaneous, stand-alone editions: a crazy, innovative slipcased double-hardcover, and an immersive, serialized app for iPhone/iPad.

"In a glum nation ruled by a stylish dictator, all citizens are required by law to participate in the Pickle Index, a fermentation-based recipe exchange. From within this network, an incompetent circus attempts an unlikely uprising. Thrills, chills, spills, and dills!"

A self-initiated project by Eli Horowitz and Russell Quinn (collectively "Sudden Oak") to create a unique novel that comes in two forms: a hardcover book and an iOS app.

Both editions include the full story and are designed as stand-alone experiences. Each form does only things that form can do — the book-iest book and the app-iest app. The story and the technology were written and built alongside each other, each informing the other — a true collaboration. This isn't an existing novel with digital bells and whistles attached, nor was it created inside a generic technology platform that defines the constraints of the work.

The two experiences:

Outside-in: Read the book — two lavishly illustrated hardcovers nestled together in a gold-encrusted slipcase, plus an unprecedented feat of interactive book design.

Inside-out: The app is the actual eponymous recipe-sharing index. Experience the unfolding story (and disgusting recipes) in realtime alongside the citizens and amateur revolutionaries. Along the way, the app plays with serialization, mini-games, reader participation, upvoting, and even network overloads — all in service of the storytelling, a caper through ominous fortresses, angry mimes, and festivals of snacking. The result is an immersive, exploratory ten-day experience, a groundbreaking interplay of form and content. (The design and user experience is supposedly created by the slightly looney government that you learn more about as the narrative progresses.)