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ENCORE

The Curator will see you now.

There is a theatre that is never in the same place twice, and the marquee outside never announces the same show. Inside, the Curator is waiting. The Company, seven souls who have been dead longer than they can remember, is recast into every production, recognisable only by the tells they cannot help. And every night the house needs one more player. Tonight it found you.

ENCORE is a choose-your-path horror anthology, twenty books and counting, and every one of them is playable free in your browser right now. You build a character once and carry them through the whole anthology: you decide where to step, what to pick up, and what you are willing to set down, and every production remembers what you carry. The way out, the ending the Curator calls winning, always costs the one thing you came to keep.

▶ Browse the full programme and play free. Each book stands alone, so start anywhere. New to the theatre? Book One is The Haunt: a house built out of grief, 193 sections, 44 endings, about an hour a path. Ebooks and paperbacks are coming to Amazon; the interactive audiobooks follow.

Not sure you are ready to go in? First find out which member of the Company you are. The Curator recasts the same seven souls into every production. He will tell you which one is yours.

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Book One· 193 sections · 44 endings

The Haunt

Wake in a cold parlour with no memory of dying. A house built out of one soul's grief, and the way out, the ending the Curator calls winning, costs you the memory of who you lost.

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ALL 21 BOOKS · READING ORDER

Book Two The Vigil

189 sections · 39 endings

A warm house where nobody is allowed to die. Sit the long vigil at the centre of a coven, and the way out asks whether love can finally let the beloved end.

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Book Three The Understudy

174 sections · 38 endings

A theatre that has already cast you as someone else, an Understudy who plays you better than you do. The way out asks whether you can walk off the stage as your own unremarkable self.

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Book Four The Crossing

181 sections · 38 endings

A great ocean liner held forever at the last night of her sinking, where the morning never comes. The way out asks whether you can let her finish and surface alone into the cold morning and all the years after it.

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Book Five The Gallery

176 sections · 38 endings

A museum of effigies that keeps every soul who feared to be forgotten behind glass, labelled and numbered and admired forever. The way out asks whether you can let yourself be forgotten utterly, leave no likeness, and walk out into the cold street alive.

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Book Six The Betrothed

166 sections · 37 endings

An endless candlelit wedding that adores you, lays a chair with your name, and chooses you forever so no one ever has to pick you again. The way out asks whether you can walk away unchosen, leaving no ring and no vow and no place at the table, and go into the cold street alive.

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Book Seven The Confessor

166 sections · 40 endings

A hushed cathedral of confession that hears you to the bottom, keeps a booth warm with your name in the book, and absolves you forever so you never have to carry yourself unheard again. The way out asks whether you can walk away unknown, leaving no confession and no entry in the register, and go into the cold street a closed book, alive.

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Book Eight The Mourners

151 sections · 32 endings

A cold house of mourning that weeps for you to the last, lays you out in the warm candle-light among the lilies, keeps a grave open with your name in the book, and grieves you forever so you never have to go unwept. The way out asks whether you can walk away unmourned, leaving no grave and no entry in the register, and go out into the cold a death that is wholly your own, alive.

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Book Nine The Assize

158 sections · 34 endings

A cold court of assize that tries you to the last and pardons you forever, weighs every wrong in the warm chambers, strikes your account clean, and clears you so beautifully you never have to go unforgiven. The way out asks whether you can walk away unforgiven, leaving no verdict and no entry in the register, and go out into the cold carrying a wrong that is wholly your own, alive.

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Book Ten The Terminus

164 sections · 40 endings

A cold railway terminus where the last train never leaves, that meets you on the platform and keeps your place for ever, calls your name glad over the board, and welcomes you so beautifully you never have to come in to a dark platform again. The way out asks whether you can walk away un-awaited, leaving no place kept and no name on the board, and go out into the rain to a homecoming that is wholly your own, alive.

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Book Eleven The Exchange

147 sections · 35 endings

A cold telephone exchange of the dead where no line is ever let to ring off, that answers your call and keeps you on the line for ever, calls your number glad over the boards, and picks up so warmly you never have to hear your own ring go out into the dark again. The way out asks whether you can walk away un-answered, placing no call and leaving no docket, and go out into the rain to a death that is wholly your own, alive.

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Book Twelve The Ward

135 sections · 31 endings

A cold night infirmary of the dead where no one is ever let to die alone, that sits with you and keeps you at the bedside for ever, draws the chair up close and puts a warm hand in yours so you never have to make the crossing with no one in the room. The way out asks whether you can walk away alone, taking no bed and leaving no name, and go out into the cold to a death that is wholly your own, alive.

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Book Thirteen The Line

137 sections · 36 endings

A great ancestral house of the dead where no name is ever let to die out, that takes you up into the line and keeps you hung among the portraits for ever, cuts your name into the brass and draws the whole pedigree close around you so you never have to be the last of yourself. The way out asks whether you can walk away the last of your line, taking no place on the wall and leaving no name in the descent, and go out the outer door into the cold to an ending that is wholly your own, alive.

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Book Fourteen The Light

140 sections · 41 endings

A lone rock-lighthouse of the dead far out on a drowned reef, that lets no light go dark and needs every hand at the watch, that puts the lamp in your hand and leans the whole black sea on you so you never have to be the spare again. The way out asks whether you can walk off the rock needed by no one, keeping no light and leaving no watch that depends on you, and let a light go dark one last time with no vessel steering by it, an ending that is wholly your own, and free.

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Book Fifteen The Colours

134 sections · 36 endings

A lone border fort of the dead that never stands down, where the colours go up and a whole column falls in behind whoever takes them, so you need never again be the one no one follows. The way out asks whether you can walk off the wall leading no column and followed by no one, ground the colours with no man at your back, and give one last order to no one, an ending that is wholly your own, and free.

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Book Sixteen The Séance

134 sections · 37 endings

A cold mourning-house of the dead where a circle that never breaks up takes the word of whoever speaks for the dead, so you need never again be the one no one believes. The way out asks whether you can take back every word, walk out believed by no one, and speak one true thing to nobody, an ending that is wholly your own, doubted and real and free.

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Book Seventeen The Surety

123 sections · 31 endings

A cold private guaranty house whose books never close, where a firm takes your bare word as good and lays the whole account in your hands, so you need never again be the one no one will rely on. The way out asks whether you can cancel every bond, walk out relied on by no one, and give one good word to nobody, an ending that is wholly your own, untrusted and real and free.

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Book Eighteen The Reliquary

132 sections · 38 endings

A great shrine-house, the precinct of a cause for sainthood, where on the last night the acts are sealed, the relics translated, and your name raised to the altars, so you need never again be the one no one would ever hold sacred. The way out asks whether you can let your name be struck from the calendar, your relics deposed, and walk out held sacred by no one, an ending that is wholly your own, mortal and real and free.

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Book Nineteen The Godhead

133 sections · 39 endings

A great temple-house, the place where a god is made, where on the last night the idol is consecrated, the name raised to the god-roll, and the first prayer said, so you need never again be the one no one would ever pray to. The way out asks whether you can let your name be struck from the god-roll, your idol broken, and walk out prayed to by no one, an ending that is wholly your own, mortal and real and free.

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Book Twenty The Sovereign

133 sections · 39 endings

A great palace-house, the seat where a sovereign is made, where on the last night the crown is set, the name raised to the roll of rulers, and the first command obeyed, so you need never again be the one no one would ever obey. The way out asks whether you can let your name be struck from the roll of rulers, your crown broken, and walk out obeyed by no one, an ending that is wholly your own, mortal and real and free.

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Book 21 The Scourge

133 sections · 39 endings

A great citadel-house, the seat where a terror is made, where on the last night the black cap is set, the name raised to the roll of the dreaded, and the first fear struck, so you need never again be the one no one would ever fear. The way out asks whether you can let your name be struck from the roll of the dreaded, your black cap broken and burned, and walk out feared by no one, an ending that is wholly your own, mortal and real and free.

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