CSI creator Anthony Zuiker recently debuted his first Digi-Novel, Level 26: Dark Origins, at Comic-Con in San Diego, California.

Zuiker has been blogging on Level26.com, the website created to accompany the Level 26 series. The first novel in the series, Dark Origins, will be released on September 8 by Dutton Publishing. As CSI Files previously reported, the man behind the brand new Digi-Novel concept did a panel at Comic-Con on Saturday, July 25. "After two tough years of writing an insane book, haggling with the publisher, courting major players, and endless nights of thinking and selling, the time has come to share with my new community the 'next big thing.' The Digi-Novel. What no one knew was, I was scared," Zuiker shared in one of his blog entries.

The man behind CSI and Level 26 attended panels and watched trailers with other fans at the convention. After seeing some of the other offerings, Zuiker started to wonder if his Digi-Novel concept could compete. "I didn't have CSI to hide behind this time around," he explained. "Level 26 was 100% me. No CBS media machine. No Jerry Bruckheimer. No powerful Executive Producers. I was just a kid with an idea hoping to change the face of publishing." In fact, Zuiker put $1 million of his own money into making the Digi-Novel a reality.

As Zuiker prepared for the Level 26 panel on Saturday, he made an unscheduled stop at the Dutton booth to hand out t-shirts and encourage convention-goers to attend the panel. By the time the panel got started, the room was filled to capacity. "Fact is, the t-shirts, pitching, and networking actually made a difference," Zuiker shared. "People genuinely wanted to know what the 'Digi-Novel' was. I was relieved."

"Next thing I knew," he continued, "I was introduced and my esteemed panel of Marc Ecko, Greg Goodfried, Miles Beckett, and Daniel Buran took the stage with me." Buran stars as Steve Dark in the "cyber bridges" that link Dark Origins with Level26.com before sending readers back to the novel to continue the story. Goodfried and Beckett are the co-founders of the social entertainment company EQAL, which created Level26.com. Ecko was the art-director for the project. He created the cover for Dark Origins, designed the t-shirts Zuiker handed out and drew 20 illustrations to go inside the novel.

"I nervously introduced the concept for the 'Digi-Novel' and showed the promo clip. When it was over, the crowd burst into a loud ovation. They loved it! It was all I could do not to bust a tear right there. I couldn't stop shaking," Zuiker said. Afterwards, "The fans asked really smart questions. Those who attended were really inspired and 'got it.' When we concluded, we handed out 100 books and 250 more shirts. They went in about six minutes. I signed autographs for an hour afterwards in the hallway. People shook my hand, patted me on the back, and were excited to read the book. I thanked my team who worked day and night to make the Level 26 panel a success."

Zuiker's blog post about the Comic-Con panel can be found here. More of his blog posts can be read by visiting Level26.com. For even more information about Level 26, check out Zuiker's most recent interview with CSI Files. You can pre-order Dark Origins at Amazon and other online retailers.

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