Blood Over Water (novel)

The following is about a book in The Gerosha Chronicles''. For the miniseries it's based on, see Blood Over Water (miniseries). For the similarly-named book and film by James and David Livingtston, or any other uses, see Blood Over Water (disambiguation).'' Blood Over Water is the novelization and remake of a miniseries that was first produced for the Ferris Access Channel by DozerfleetTV in the fall of 2009 at Ferris State University. This version is set in the Dozerfleet Comics world of Cataclysmic Gerosha, and expands significantly on the miniseries' original plot. Unlike the miniseries, events in the novel happen over the course of four months. The original miniseries happened in about a week of story time.

On May 10th of 2013, two different versions of a teaser trailer for the book were released to YouTube, one in native 3D anaglyph format. The story bears some structures of a reverse-whodunnit, but with emphasis on drama. Aaron is depicted as a near-clueless amateur detective who gets caught up in the drama, with the reveal delivering itself to him right before he gets the chance to actually crack the case. This is a near reversal of the miniseries, where Aaron didn't even know for certain that Mark was dead, let alone who was responsible. While he is shocked in both versions to learn that Chris is the killer, the novel makes it no secret to the reader. The miniseries tried (however poorly) to mask it from the audience as well as Aaron.

Plot
With Bob Lusital retiring from being the CEO at water bottling plant Sleet Mountain, Clyde Spendelworth has become a viable candidate for the new CEO. The two of them celebrate at a cabin owned by fellow Sleet Mountain employee Mark Stefflin, who's also invited over his twin brother Aaron Stefflin and coworker Chris Kennal. While Aaron objects to the girls that Mark and Chris want to mess around with, they ignore his warnings. Meanwhile, Clyde tries to give everyone the impression that all is well. However, Bob decides he has to leave early. Sleet Mountain newcomer George Lawence starts following Bob. He is never seen or heard from again.

As the fall approaches, Aaron says goodbye to his girlfriend, Meredith Celestine. She leaves for work in another state, telling him she'll wait for him to finish his studies and join her. Meanwhile, Mark becomes very close friends with Ashley Phillips at work. Clyde decides that drastic measures are needed to turn things around at Sleet Mountain and make it more profitable. He lures in several men that he initially trusts to help him cover up a plot to commit cleanup fraud: Vance Lingolin, Kyle Tugrass, George, Chris, and Mark. Vance, however, becomes outraged at Clyde's economic irresponsibility and quits; threatening to expose the company. Vance is then chased down after hours by George, and is never seen again.

Mark grows suspicious when both Bob and Vance are gone for good, so he begins doing some investigation - even against Chris' wishes. Mark discovers that Clyde is part of an underground illegal sex ring calling itself "Gleeful-N-Young." When he fails to get a hold on incriminating evidence about Clyde's sex trafficking ring, he instead steals a manilla envelope from the office, containing inside a folder filled with files documenting details about the pond water cleanup fraud that Clyde authorized. With the "confidential folder" in hand, Mark sets to work hiding it under the carpet in his apartment bedroom. Clyde decides to set a trap for Mark to get the folder back, while pretending not to notice that anything is missing. Behind everyone's back, he has George and Kyle break into Ashley's house and find incriminating evidence that she was involved in a steamy affair with a married preacher a few years ago. He blackmails Ashley into going over to Mark's house to persuade him into surrendering the folder. She goes over to his house, and seduces him. She begins to consider running away with him, when he reveals to her how dangerous Clyde is. However, Clyde secretly blackmails Chris into breaking into the house. Chris, in spite his conflicting feelings of loyalty, proceeds with the plan given to him by Clyde. He waits until Ashley is on top of Mark and has him completely distracted, then he swings around rapidly and blows Mark's head off with a pistol. A shocked and heartbroken Ashley is then manipulated at gunpoint into helping Chris dispose of Mark's body and of the evidence.

However, Mark promised Aaron a fishing trip the following day. Aaron goes over to the apartment in town to investigate when he doesn't hear back. At the apartment, he quickly hides when Sleet Mountain cleanup crews arrive to scan for the folder. As they leave, Aaron notices under the bed that a portion of the carpet doesn't look right. He peels it away to reveal the folder that was being discussed. He flees the scene in his SUV right as Kyle and George arrive. Having been informed by Chris that the job was "handled," Kyle and George spot Aaron fleeing the scene with the folder. Believing Aaron is Mark, they try to give pursuit. However, Aaron is able to escape from their notice.

Chris meanwhile takes Ashley to Clyde, who then tricks Chris and reveals that he intends to have Ashley inducted into one of the illegal brothels of Gleeful-N-Young. He also reveals that Gleeful-N-Young is getting rid of its under-18 prisoners, and is becoming part of the Hebbleskin Gang. He allows Chris to watch a video with him depicting what is done to the girls inside, with Clyde breathing in as if it were fresh air. Chris tries hard while watching to hide how repulsive he finds the treatment of those girls. He also begins to suspect that Aaron knows too much about Sleet Mountain, and is soon to learn more.

When Aaron tries to get some help form local law enforcement, he is ignored and generally turned down. Unable to afford a private detective, he takes on the investigation himself. He takes the paperwork to a friend named Monica Shelly for processing, and to see if she can uncover what Clyde tried to redact haphazardly. Monica is able to recover only a few words, but just enough to alert Aaron that something is really wrong.

After about a month, Chris tries to feign innocence and lead Aaron off the trail. However, their meeting at a coffee shop only renews Aaron's interest in the case. By revealing that two men gave him chase, however, he alerts Chris inadvertently that George and Kyle are on his trail. Chris sneaks into Clyde's video stash and manages to steal a video with incriminating evidence concerning Gleeful-N-Young. He alerts Clyde that Mark has a curious twin brother, in order to win Clyde's trust. Clyde informs Chris that if Aaron prods around any further, Chris may have to kill the other Stefflin brother.

Research leads to Aaron going to a warehouse away from the company in the hopes of learning more about what George might be hiding, as he finds George's business cards for both Sleet Mountain and Gleeful-N-Young hidden amongst the paperwork. However, he is soon ambushed by Kyle and George. They tie him up to taunt him, but then learn the truth that they caught Aaron rather than Mark. They threaten to kill him anyway, but are soon forced into a confrontation with a security guard. Aaron uses the distraction to untie his hands and run away. Having learned about the cleanup fraud scandal, he begins gathering water samples from the pond near Sleet Mountain.

He heads in disguise to Chris' office, and claims to have been abducted by two guys. Chris again feigns innocence, all the while taking notes. Aaron is careful not to say where he is going, but Chris deduces that Aaron is dependent on the university. Aaron is spotted leaving Sleet Mountain by Kyle, who tries to give pursuit. However, Aaron escapes yet again. Aaron heads to Monica's lab, and they are able to test one of the water samples for its chemical prints. However, they are intercepted by Chris and Kyle, then taken back to the same warehouse as before.

As Aaron and Monica beg for mercy, Chris explains to Aaron why he had to betray him. Kyle and George taunt Aaron and Monica, threatening to go after their extended family as well. However, Chris waits for an opportune moment and then betrays Kyle and George. With both of them dead, and the initially-intended victims knocked out, he leaves Aaron behind with a letter explaining his real plans. He drops Monica off in the woods about half a mile away, then flees on foot.

Monica makes it back to her family safely, then tells Aaron he is on his own to stop Chris. Aaron takes what he has to the police, letting Monica aid him in testify to having been abducted. Aaron thinks the investigation will be simple. However, new Gleeful-N-Young associates arrive to avenge George Lawence. Aaron finds himself in a daring escape to Meredith's home to take cover, where the Celestine family aids him in laying low while working with the FBI to expose Clyde.

After collecting his money, Chris decides not to come into work. A confused Clyde calls up Chris and demands an explanation. Chris instead tells Clyde off, then vanishes. Clyde soon finds himself receiving harassing phone calls from the police, FBI, and EPA. He too vanishes, leaving the remaining employees at Sleet Mountain very confused.

Chris begins reading through the materials that came with the stolen video and determines the brothel where Ashley is being detained. He raids the brothel with guns blazing, killing most of the employees and rescuing a very confused Ashley. After that, he vows to disappear from all their lives. He is never apprehended by authorities. Ashley eventually learns of where Aaron is when the scandal at Sleet Mountain hits national news. She heads straight to Meredith's house, and joins Aaron and the Celestines in bringing down Sleet Mountain. Clyde, however, flees to safety with the Hebbleskin Gang. Meredith eventually assures Aaron that he won the battle, when Gleeful-N-Young and Sleet Mountain are both disbanded. However, Chris finds that the war between him and Clyde has only just begun.

Characters
The following is a list of major characters to appear and be mentioned by name:


 * Bob Lusital: The former CEO and Chairman at Sleet Mountain's bottling plant in northern lower Michigan. A benevolent and kind man, he is oblivious to a lot of discontent from some of his underlings.  He is also in poor health and struggles to keep the company profitable.  He becomes convinced that Clyde Spendelworth will make an adequate replacement for him.  However, he vanishes after the party at Mark Stefflin's cabin - and is never heard from again.


 * Clyde Spendelworth: Bob's successor. Few at Sleet Mountain are aware that he is also the top pimp in charge of operations for Gleeful-N-Young Ladies, an escort service that is itself a front for illegal sex trafficking.  In order to keep his real plans, which involve abducting female workers at the plant and imprisoning them at Gleeful-N-Young; Clyde sets things up to look like his real plan is to come up with a get rich quick scheme to save the company millions of dollars.  This eventually leads to cleanup fraud, involving polluting a pond while collecting the benefits due for not doing so.  He enlists the most easily-corrupted employees to aid him in keeping this scandal from spreading - even if that means murder.  A master at blackmail, he tends to read his underlings like a book and strives to stay one step ahead of them at all times.


 * Mark Stefflin: Office Manager at Sleet Mountain. He is initially lured into being a part of the grand scheme, being greedy.  However, he begins having second thoughts when he learns of what is involved in the money.  When he learns about Clyde's other hobbies, he realizes that he can no longer be a part of the plan.  Unable to secure the necessary incriminating evidence against Clyde for the sexual slavery ring, he contents himself with making off with incriminating evidence about the cleanup fraud and pond pollution.  He is corruptible and has trouble saying no to women who make advances on him.  He has a crush on Ashley, though not as big as the one she has on him.


 * Aaron Stefflin, A student at Ferris studying for a Music Industry Management degree. He is the twin brother of Mark Stefflin, who used his connections to skip a lot of schooling and go straight into business.  Aaron is more cautious, moral, religious, and a bit of an instinctual detective.  While not entirely invincible, he does tend to exercise a little more common sense in his actions than Mark.


 * Meredith Celestine: Aaron's love interest. A kindhearted and very religious woman, she seems almost too virtuous to be real.  However, her family and academic pursuits take her elsewhere.  This means that Aaron has to content himself with her being a long-distance relationship until he is able to graduate and move closer to her.


 * Wanda Celestine: Meredith's mother, who thinks Aaron is beneath her daughter and that Meredith can do better. Even so, she knows a thing or two about how to help friends disappear into witness protection.  When Aaron finally convinces her that Clyde will stop at nothing to harm both him and Meredith, she gets on board with Aaron's plan to expose and destroy Clyde's entire operation.


 * Monica Shelly: A nurse's assistant at the local hospital. She is also a student at Ferris, learning a few of the in-and-outs of how to perform autopsies.  She met Aaron in one of the biology classes she needed to take for her program, and they became good friends afterward.  She has a niece that she sometimes watches when her brother and his wife are too busy.  In the original miniseries, she was described as "having a family," without it being specified what was meant by that.  At one point, the original script listed her as having two children.  However, that explanation didn't seem likely; since she made no mention of a husband or boyfriend - and showed no concern about being on campus late to help Aaron.  In the book, she dated Vance briefly.


 * Ashley Phillips: Secondary Marketing Assistant at Sleet Mountain Lower Northern. She is a fairly new recruit, but quickly falls for Mark.  Clyde is quick to take notice, and exploits the situation to blackmail her.  She has little idea she is about to be used as bait for a death trap, with Mark the intended victim.


 * Eric Phillips: Ashley's father. He calls her on the phone one day while she is dating Mark, and wonders why there is a man in the background.  He is very concerned about his daughter, but knows nothing of the dirty secrets she keeps.  He is married to Trista, Ashley's equally clueless mother.  Clyde threatens Ashley with letting Eric and Trista know about Ashley's past affair with Harry Campelli, as a way to blackmail Ashley into visiting Mark and seducing him in an effort to get back the "Confidential" envelope.


 * Rev. Harry Campelli: A minister at a growing megachurch in Iowa. He used to be in a relationship with Ashley that he fears his wife finding out about.  Occasionally, he calls up Ashley to make sure that their secret affair of years ago is still under wraps.  He is convinced that if she squeals, it'll be the end of his career in the ministry.  However, Ashley keeps evidence in her file cabinet at home of her conversations with Campelli.  Clyde, on a hunch, decides to have George and Kyle raid Ashley's home and uncover any evidence they can use to blackmail her with.  They do that very thing.  It becomes Campelli's old letters to Ashley that become the basis for getting Ashley to seduce Mark.


 * Rev. Steve Barnel: A friend of both Aaron and Meredith. He offers moral support where he can, but is only slightly more helpful to Aaron in terms of solving the mystery of Mark's disappearance than the police are.  Needless to say, he becomes another source of frustration when Aaron cannot convince anyone that Mark's vanishing is a matter of serious importance.


 * George Lawence: An enforcer from Gleeful-N-Young Ladies, Inc. Hired by Clyde to keep his elect at Sleet Mountain in line for protecting his use of Sleet Mountain as a front for his real operations.  George is also the de-facto hitman when other employees get out of line.


 * Kyle Tugrass: Sleet Mountain's Warehouse Supervisor. He is initially reluctant about getting involved in knowing too much about Clyde's operations; but George talks him into it, tempting him with greed.  Kyle, unlike George, does not entirely trust Chris.  He is very strict about keeping things a secret.  He's also very insecure and hot-tempered towards those who are beneath him in power structure.  As a hitman for Clyde, Kyle is often very nervous and paranoid.  This makes him a contrast with George, who lives for killing.


 * Chris Kennal: Area Account Representative at the company. He is a tad hedonistic, but likes to live his life for "the cool of it all."  He is usually quite friendly, but is also very self-centered and greedy.


 * Vance Lingolin: The Accounts Receivable department head at Sleet Mountain. Unlike Mark, who at least tries to be discreet in the beginning about exposing Clyde, Vance denounces Clyde immediately.  George is sent after him to make sure he never talks.  Mark begins to grow suspicious of why George leaves the meeting so soon after Vance; and even more so when Vance is never heard from again.  He essentially becomes one of the major inspirations behind Mark betraying the company - which later becomes Chris' inspiration behind doing the same.


 * Kylie Drimmon: One of the many women partying on the lake with Chris and Mark near the story's beginning. She ends up sleeping with Chris at one point, and even tries to become his girlfriend.  However, Chris rejects her advances when he realizes that what's going to be necessary for him to undo Clyde's schemes would put both himself and Kylie in danger.


 * Vanessa Fogsdorn: One of Kylie's friends, who is also drinking and partying the lake. She tries to seduce Mark, but Aaron talks him out of listening to her.

Development
The notion of a novelization of Blood Over Water had been floating around for a long time at Dozerfleet, but was not actively pursued until the months of February-April of 2013. Pursuit of it came on the heels of a re-release to The Dozerfleet Channel of the 2009 miniseries, containing 3D options and closed captions. Contact was established with the AMCl, an actress in the original, to discuss the expansion of the role of Ashley beyond her portrayal. She seemed enthusiastic about the prospect of reading the class tale revised. In late March of 2013, around August, full time work began on preparing for the writing of a novel version.

Character interpretations
One of the first concerns coming to the forefront involved characterization. New characters that had been alluded to from almost the beginning, like Vance, were finally included in the novel's plans. The novel also canonized Clyde Spendelworth as the Sleet Mountain CEO's name, whereas he previously hadn't had one in the miniseries. Ashley's name also gets addressed by name this time, whereas she was a bit part in 2009. Aaron's academic and love life were only ever implied to exist in the original. The novel expands on both and attempts to make them relevant to the plot.

Since Mark fills up much of the early plot, giving him flaws and keeping him interesting was imperative. Even Chris, the most developed of all characters in the original, gets some expansion into his past and motives. Kyle Tugrass and George Lawence are given some development also, since their roles are central to the plot. The most improved character by far is Ashley, who went from having almost no characterization to having an elaborate and colorful past that leads to her developing one set of feelings or another with the entire cast. The least altered is Monica Shelly, though her claims of having a family are elaborated on.

Marketing
The marketing for a Blood Over Water novel initially consisted of mentions on TVTropes. It expanded to include DeviantArt sketches, and mentions on Facebook.

YouTube
On May 10th of 2013, two versions of a teaser trailer for the book were released. The 3D version consisted of a native 3D anaglyph still collection that scrolled from left-to-right while interspersed with one-word descriptions of what each scene means. Unlike its 2D counterpart, the 3D version had the unique challenge of trying to force-convert those elements that would have been near-impossible to record in native 3D, and intersperse them with the native footage. The introductory video from Sims 3 of Mark walking down a Sleet Mountain hallway was converted from 2D, whereas the stills of cast characters were all in native 3D. Description cards were left in 2D, and the Dozerfleet logo was given a slight 3D conversion. The 2D version was given some 3D conversion option treatment via YouTube's built-in features, allowing viewers to watch it in conversion 3D with the viewing method of their choosing. The native 3D version, however, requires red-cyan glasses. In either version, the video introduces the first instance of Clyde Spendelworth in a video to be depicted from the front. Before that, all video depiction of Clyde was from behind; in a Dr. Claw fashion. The model used for Clyde in this video set looks very similar to the Cataclysmic Gerosha version of Victor Nanale.

As a way to censor the final shot of teaser/spoiler footage, only the upper half of Ashley's bare back is visible from behind. The original scene called for a shot of Ashley preparing to reach down and kiss Mark, with the emphasis being on Chris sneaking up on the two and carrying out the assassination. However, when the poses for Sims proved impossible to work with while maintaining an upper-PG/lower PG-13 safe zone, the shot was abandoned in favor of a toplessness-implied shot of Ashley reacting to the murder, while Chris threatens her with his gun. The notepaper filters in Photoshop, however, nearly destroyed all detail depicting Mark's legs on the bed, footage there also carefully angled to censor out excess detail.

Music for the teaser trailer consisted of the track "Highlight Reel" by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com, chosen due to some similarity of note progression in parts with the original miniseries' ending theme tune "Cheddarman." It was also chosen due to its eerie tone, reminiscent of the theme tune for Men in Black: The Series. Mark's walking sequence at the beginning was also inspired by the opening theme of MiB: The Series.

Utterly Sims
Main article: Utterly Sims

When Utterly Sims was revived in January of 2014, a Blood Over Water: The Novel pack was released specifically for The Sims 3 on the 18th around 2:33 PM EST. The pack required that World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Supernatural, and University Life be installed. This made it the first time in the history of Utterly Sims that University Life was explicitly required for one of its character packages to run. It featured heavy redesigns of characters that employed new expansion pack material, leading to an even-tougher-yet-looking George and a more-authentic Chris. This is because Chris's gray jacket was upgraded to a University Life hoodie, consistent with what actor Chris Wilson wore in later episodes of the miniseries.

Meredith Celestine, Wanda Celestine, Vance Lingolin, and Bob Lusital were added to this package, whereas the miniseries versions that were released in 2010 only featured the original eight characters. To ensure that any required concept art for the novel's promotion that might need to be made was as complete and weather-accurate as possible; the Seasons expansion was purchased on Friday, January 24th at a Target store on the south side of Lansing. However, the characters submitted to Utterly Sims' Tumblog still do not require the Seasons expansion to work in the game.

Writing
A draft of the first chapter began on January 25th of 2014 around 12:15 AM EST, and focused on a time skip forward to Ashley as she sought to warn Harry that her folder was stolen and house burgled. Efforts to collaborate with The AMCl were made later on the 25th.