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(Fictional) books which include Geocaching


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Okay, someone started a thread to compile a canonical list of movies that include Geocaching so I though one about books might me interesting as well, but surprisingly I can't think of any "fiction" that includes geocaching.

 

The closest I can come up with is something I'm reading right now. It's called "Spiral" by Paul McKuen. It's a techno-thriller that just happens to take place in town in which I live and the author is a Physics professor at the university where I work. As it also turns out, one of the main characters is based on a woman (a mycologist at the same university) that I know fairly well. I know that there are more than a few readers of this forum that are into mushrooms and even more that are into letterboxing. Both topics feature prominently into the story. The letterboxing theme in particular could lead to a very elaborate puzzle cache involving mycology, DNA, and a few other aspects that could produce a really interesting cache. In fact, I'm considering contacting my mycologist friend to see if she'd be interested in construction a puzzle cache partially based upon the book.

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Okay, someone started a thread to compile a canonical list of movies that include Geocaching so I though one about books might me interesting as well, but surprisingly I can't think of any "fiction" that includes geocaching.

 

The closest I can come up with is something I'm reading right now. It's called "Spiral" by Paul McKuen. It's a techno-thriller that just happens to take place in town in which I live and the author is a Physics professor at the university where I work. As it also turns out, one of the main characters is based on a woman (a mycologist at the same university) that I know fairly well. I know that there are more than a few readers of this forum that are into mushrooms and even more that are into letterboxing. Both topics feature prominently into the story. The letterboxing theme in particular could lead to a very elaborate puzzle cache involving mycology, DNA, and a few other aspects that could produce a really interesting cache. In fact, I'm considering contacting my mycologist friend to see if she'd be interested in construction a puzzle cache partially based upon the book.

See a recent thread

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=296369&view=findpost&p=5048686&hl=andronicus&fromsearch=1

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Okay, someone started a thread to compile a canonical list of movies that include Geocaching so I though one about books might me interesting as well, but surprisingly I can't think of any "fiction" that includes geocaching.

 

The closest I can come up with is something I'm reading right now. It's called "Spiral" by Paul McKuen. It's a techno-thriller that just happens to take place in town in which I live and the author is a Physics professor at the university where I work. As it also turns out, one of the main characters is based on a woman (a mycologist at the same university) that I know fairly well. I know that there are more than a few readers of this forum that are into mushrooms and even more that are into letterboxing. Both topics feature prominently into the story. The letterboxing theme in particular could lead to a very elaborate puzzle cache involving mycology, DNA, and a few other aspects that could produce a really interesting cache. In fact, I'm considering contacting my mycologist friend to see if she'd be interested in construction a puzzle cache partially based upon the book.

See a recent thread

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=296369&view=findpost&p=5048686&hl=andronicus&fromsearch=1

 

Here is the list from that thread

 

Serial Finder by IceCreamMan

Cell-out by Peter Armstrong

Hide and Seek (A Novel) by Katy Grant

 

I started reading Cell-out. I am almost 1/3 of the way through it, and so far very boring. I have just got to the part where I can tell what the real story is going to be about. I can report back when I am finnished...

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First to Find by Mark Gessner aka Lowracer

 

51trpkLy61L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-62,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

 

Folks this is a great read and I recommend it. It's set primarily in Austin and knowing the Austin set from back in the day, I can picture a face and a personality to go along with most of the characters even though the author took great pains to make them generic to the types of personalities you will find in ANY geocaching community... And he's right about that since I have sampled many geocaching communities all over the country. It makes the book that much better that anyone could read it and apply the geocaching personalities they know to the book.

 

BTW I was driving the boat in real life. (You'll understand when you get there) Oh and the Author told me that the Character of Martello is a cross between ME and Grajek which I thought was pretty cool.

 

Also

 

Serial Finder by David Klug aka IceCreamMan

 

This one I haven't read entirely, but I have one of the only 50 Serial Finder coins that were made.

51zwBgX9SQL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA318_PIkin4,BottomRight,-18,18_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Edited by Snoogans
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Okay, someone started a thread to compile a canonical list of movies that include Geocaching so I though one about books might me interesting as well, but surprisingly I can't think of any "fiction" that includes geocaching.

 

The closest I can come up with is something I'm reading right now. It's called "Spiral" by Paul McKuen. It's a techno-thriller that just happens to take place in town in which I live and the author is a Physics professor at the university where I work. As it also turns out, one of the main characters is based on a woman (a mycologist at the same university) that I know fairly well. I know that there are more than a few readers of this forum that are into mushrooms and even more that are into letterboxing. Both topics feature prominently into the story. The letterboxing theme in particular could lead to a very elaborate puzzle cache involving mycology, DNA, and a few other aspects that could produce a really interesting cache. In fact, I'm considering contacting my mycologist friend to see if she'd be interested in construction a puzzle cache partially based upon the book.

See a recent thread

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=296369&view=findpost&p=5048686&hl=andronicus&fromsearch=1

 

Here is the list from that thread

 

Serial Finder by IceCreamMan

Cell-out by Peter Armstrong

Hide and Seek (A Novel) by Katy Grant

 

I started reading Cell-out. I am almost 1/3 of the way through it, and so far very boring. I have just got to the part where I can tell what the real story is going to be about. I can report back when I am finnished...

 

Sorry, I missed that thread. So far, the book I'm reading is anything but boring. Perhaps that's because it not about that tries to be about geocaching, but is more of a techo-thriller that includes letterboxing as an important theme to the store, and I could see an elaborate puzzle cache created based upon the book. One of my favorite puzzle caches was based upon a book though, if I recall, the location where the cache was hidden was never mentioned in the book. In the case of "Spiral" it mostly takes place in Ithaca, and an elaborate unknown/multi could be constructed which takes people to some of the locations specifically mentioned in the book.

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Oh, loving this thread! My two favorite pastimes - geocaching and reading! I can't wait to read some of these.

 

My sister gave me a box of geocaching related gifts for Christmas. One was a non-fiction book with photographs of beautiful places where geocaches are hidden. Another was a book, Abomination, by Colleen Coble. I haven't read it yet (the weather has been too good to read about caching instead of doing it!), but it is a mystery thriller. 'Somewhere in the wilderness, in a secret geocache near where the wild swans gather, lies the unspeakable clue that links them all together....'

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Oh, loving this thread! My two favorite pastimes - geocaching and reading! I can't wait to read some of these.

 

My sister gave me a box of geocaching related gifts for Christmas. One was a non-fiction book with photographs of beautiful places where geocaches are hidden. Another was a book, Abomination, by Colleen Coble. I haven't read it yet (the weather has been too good to read about caching instead of doing it!), but it is a mystery thriller. 'Somewhere in the wilderness, in a secret geocache near where the wild swans gather, lies the unspeakable clue that links them all together....'

 

If you haven't read it, "Mapheads", by Ken Jennings (yes, the guy from jeopardy) is quite good with a full chapter about geocaching. He's posted a few times in the forums and it's pretty obvious from reading the book that he's a geocacher, not just someone that did a little research and is writing about geocaching.

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Oh, loving this thread! My two favorite pastimes - geocaching and reading! I can't wait to read some of these.

 

My sister gave me a box of geocaching related gifts for Christmas. One was a non-fiction book with photographs of beautiful places where geocaches are hidden. Another was a book, Abomination, by Colleen Coble. I haven't read it yet (the weather has been too good to read about caching instead of doing it!), but it is a mystery thriller. 'Somewhere in the wilderness, in a secret geocache near where the wild swans gather, lies the unspeakable clue that links them all together....'

 

If you haven't read it, "Mapheads", by Ken Jennings (yes, the guy from jeopardy) is quite good with a full chapter about geocaching. He's posted a few times in the forums and it's pretty obvious from reading the book that he's a geocacher, not just someone that did a little research and is writing about geocaching.

I haven't read it, but I have Ken's book Brainiac - I'm a Jeopardy fan. I'm glad you mentioned this - I wasn't aware of it and it sounds just like my cup of tea!

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First to Find by Mark Gessner aka Lowracer

 

51trpkLy61L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-62,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

 

Folks this is a great read and I recommend it. It's set primarily in Austin and knowing the Austin set from back in the day, I can picture a face and a personality to go along with most of the characters even though the author took great pains to make them generic to the types of personalities you will find in ANY geocaching community... And he's right about that since I have sampled many geocaching communities all over the country. It makes the book that much better that anyone could read it and apply the geocaching personalities they know to the book.

 

BTW I was driving the boat in real life. (You'll understand when you get there) Oh and the Author told me that the Character of Martello is a cross between ME and Grajek which I thought was pretty cool.

Yes, but his last posts about 7 years ago were particularly nasty to Jeremy, and he canceled his account..

The leagues are gathering to bring on the demise of you
Plus, his Hugh Jazz sock wasnt really that entertaining. I suppose he was attempting to create more material. :rolleyes:
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There was a passing remark about geocaching in Reamde by Neal Stephenson, though no actual geocaching, and not in a flattering way. It's the most mainstream book I've read that mentioned geocaching.

Sorry to bump this old-ish thread... Reamde huh. Maybe I will make that my next book. I am reading Quicksilver now, and read Cryptonomicon last fall.

 

The book I had originaly mentioned, "Cell-Out", was not good. The dialog did not flow, the author spilled out his hadred of the USA everywere, and kept up a constant passive aggressive rant about global warming. And the protaganist, much like Hunger Games, was a hopeless twit.

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There was a passing remark about geocaching in Reamde by Neal Stephenson, though no actual geocaching, and not in a flattering way. It's the most mainstream book I've read that mentioned geocaching.

 

Neal Stephenson is mainstream?

 

Of course, his book called "Cryptonomicon" was the basis for one of the best puzzle caches of all time (GCXBFC)

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There was a passing remark about geocaching in Reamde by Neal Stephenson, though no actual geocaching, and not in a flattering way. It's the most mainstream book I've read that mentioned geocaching.

Neal Stephenson is mainstream?

 

Of course, his book called "Cryptonomicon" was the basis for one of the best puzzle caches of all time (GCXBFC)

More mainstream than anything else I've read that mentioned geocaching anyway :) Though I'm pretty sure there's more now, and I usually stick to sci-fi so I wouldn't know about mainstream.

 

That looks like an awesome puzzle. I think I've already found the Golden Buddha of Yamas***a's gold though :)

471748829_NmbmF-S.jpg

 

To my amusement a WW II Japanese general's name is censored by Groundspeak. I have to admit that his name is used as an expletive by many under Japanese occupation during WW II.

Edited by Chrysalides
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In a shameless act of self-promotion I'll post a link to my new novel, Cached Out: Cached Out, a geocaching novel.

 

This is the second in the Cliff Knowles Mysteries series. It's not a novel about geocaching per se. It's a traditional murder mystery with the usual sleuthing, murder, and a love interest, with some action scenes. There's also several puzzle caches to be solved by the main character. The solutions appear in the text if you keep reading, so you don't have to solve them to follow the plot, but if you're into puzzles you have a chance. The puzzles are all puzzles that appeared on caches that are now archived, so there are no spoilers of existing puzzle caches. There's also plenty of descriptions of finding other types of caches, and of the beauty of the trails, wildlife, etc. one encounters when geocaching. Knowledge of geocaching plays a big part in solving the mystery, but I don't want to put any spoilers here. It's pretty tame by murder mystery standards, with some salty language, but no gore or graphic sex. It's a PG-13 book at most, maybe PG.

 

COcover.JPG

Edited by The Rat
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First to Find by Mark Gessner aka Lowracer

 

51trpkLy61L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-62,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

 

Folks this is a great read and I recommend it. It's set primarily in Austin and knowing the Austin set from back in the day, I can picture a face and a personality to go along with most of the characters even though the author took great pains to make them generic to the types of personalities you will find in ANY geocaching community... And he's right about that since I have sampled many geocaching communities all over the country. It makes the book that much better that anyone could read it and apply the geocaching personalities they know to the book.

 

BTW I was driving the boat in real life. (You'll understand when you get there) Oh and the Author told me that the Character of Martello is a cross between ME and Grajek which I thought was pretty cool.

Yes, but his last posts about 7 years ago were particularly nasty to Jeremy, and he canceled his account..

The leagues are gathering to bring on the demise of you
Plus, his Hugh Jazz sock wasnt really that entertaining. I suppose he was attempting to create more material. :rolleyes:

 

Yeah, Lowracer probably cancelled his account, and was a big name in Terracaching. Haven't seen him around there in years either though. Who knows, maybe he's sticker hunting? :laughing:

 

Icecreamman isn't without controversy. I seem to remember a Members only event in Florida, and when a thread was started here about it, he and many of the attendees came here and trolled us. :unsure:

 

I had never seen this thread, or knew about any of these books though. Interesting, to say the least. Oh, and yes, I clicked the picture to look inside. Don't do that, it doesn't work.

Edited by Mr.Yuck
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In a shameless act of self-promotion I'll post a link to my new novel, Cached Out: Cached Out, a geocaching novel.

 

This is the second in the Cliff Knowles Mysteries series. It's not a novel about geocaching per se. It's a traditional murder mystery with the usual sleuthing, murder, and a love interest, with some action scenes. There's also several puzzle caches to be solved by the main character. The solutions appear in the text if you keep reading, so you don't have to solve them to follow the plot, but if you're into puzzles you have a chance. The puzzles are all puzzles that appeared on caches that are now archived, so there are no spoilers of existing puzzle caches. There's also plenty of descriptions of finding other types of caches, and of the beauty of the trails, wildlife, etc. one encounters when geocaching. Knowledge of geocaching plays a big part in solving the mystery, but I don't want to put any spoilers here. It's pretty tame by murder mystery standards, with some salty language, but no gore or graphic sex. It's a PG-13 book at most, maybe PG.

I just bough the Kindel addition of that book. So far it is quite compelling. Will give a more thourough review once I am done.

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In a shameless act of self-promotion I'll post a link to my new novel, Cached Out: Cached Out, a geocaching novel.

 

This is the second in the Cliff Knowles Mysteries series. It's not a novel about geocaching per se. It's a traditional murder mystery with the usual sleuthing, murder, and a love interest, with some action scenes. There's also several puzzle caches to be solved by the main character. The solutions appear in the text if you keep reading, so you don't have to solve them to follow the plot, but if you're into puzzles you have a chance. The puzzles are all puzzles that appeared on caches that are now archived, so there are no spoilers of existing puzzle caches. There's also plenty of descriptions of finding other types of caches, and of the beauty of the trails, wildlife, etc. one encounters when geocaching. Knowledge of geocaching plays a big part in solving the mystery, but I don't want to put any spoilers here. It's pretty tame by murder mystery standards, with some salty language, but no gore or graphic sex. It's a PG-13 book at most, maybe PG.

 

COcover.JPG

 

People here can help me out. I wrote this originally for print, and used some special characters. For example, the degree symbol on coordinates, and the playing card suit symbols in the puzzle at the beginning of chapter 4. This was no problem because when uploaded to the print publisher it is done in pdf format and Adobe can embed fonts. But when I uploaded the .doc version to Kindle, these symbols did not all convert correctly. I had to change the playing card suits to the letters SHDC, but some degree symbols converted just fine and others didn't. I discovered that even though they were the same font, the font size in the .doc version made the difference. I edited the text to fix that, and in the Kindle previewer they all looked correct to me, but I'd be interested in knowing if they render correctly in all Kindle readers or Kindle apps for other devices (e.g. Nook or Apple), especially if you change the font size.

Link to comment

In a shameless act of self-promotion I'll post a link to my new novel, Cached Out: Cached Out, a geocaching novel.

 

This is the second in the Cliff Knowles Mysteries series. It's not a novel about geocaching per se. It's a traditional murder mystery with the usual sleuthing, murder, and a love interest, with some action scenes. There's also several puzzle caches to be solved by the main character. The solutions appear in the text if you keep reading, so you don't have to solve them to follow the plot, but if you're into puzzles you have a chance. The puzzles are all puzzles that appeared on caches that are now archived, so there are no spoilers of existing puzzle caches. There's also plenty of descriptions of finding other types of caches, and of the beauty of the trails, wildlife, etc. one encounters when geocaching. Knowledge of geocaching plays a big part in solving the mystery, but I don't want to put any spoilers here. It's pretty tame by murder mystery standards, with some salty language, but no gore or graphic sex. It's a PG-13 book at most, maybe PG.

 

COcover.JPG

 

People here can help me out. I wrote this originally for print, and used some special characters. For example, the degree symbol on coordinates, and the playing card suit symbols in the puzzle at the beginning of chapter 4. This was no problem because when uploaded to the print publisher it is done in pdf format and Adobe can embed fonts. But when I uploaded the .doc version to Kindle, these symbols did not all convert correctly. I had to change the playing card suits to the letters SHDC, but some degree symbols converted just fine and others didn't. I discovered that even though they were the same font, the font size in the .doc version made the difference. I edited the text to fix that, and in the Kindle previewer they all looked correct to me, but I'd be interested in knowing if they render correctly in all Kindle readers or Kindle apps for other devices (e.g. Nook or Apple), especially if you change the font size.

 

I just downloaded the Kindle version last night but need to finish up another version I'm reading before start reading Cached Out. I'll let you know what I find.

Link to comment

In a shameless act of self-promotion I'll post a link to my new novel, Cached Out: Cached Out, a geocaching novel.

 

This is the second in the Cliff Knowles Mysteries series. It's not a novel about geocaching per se. It's a traditional murder mystery with the usual sleuthing, murder, and a love interest, with some action scenes. There's also several puzzle caches to be solved by the main character. The solutions appear in the text if you keep reading, so you don't have to solve them to follow the plot, but if you're into puzzles you have a chance. The puzzles are all puzzles that appeared on caches that are now archived, so there are no spoilers of existing puzzle caches. There's also plenty of descriptions of finding other types of caches, and of the beauty of the trails, wildlife, etc. one encounters when geocaching. Knowledge of geocaching plays a big part in solving the mystery, but I don't want to put any spoilers here. It's pretty tame by murder mystery standards, with some salty language, but no gore or graphic sex. It's a PG-13 book at most, maybe PG.

 

COcover.JPG

 

People here can help me out. I wrote this originally for print, and used some special characters. For example, the degree symbol on coordinates, and the playing card suit symbols in the puzzle at the beginning of chapter 4. This was no problem because when uploaded to the print publisher it is done in pdf format and Adobe can embed fonts. But when I uploaded the .doc version to Kindle, these symbols did not all convert correctly. I had to change the playing card suits to the letters SHDC, but some degree symbols converted just fine and others didn't. I discovered that even though they were the same font, the font size in the .doc version made the difference. I edited the text to fix that, and in the Kindle previewer they all looked correct to me, but I'd be interested in knowing if they render correctly in all Kindle readers or Kindle apps for other devices (e.g. Nook or Apple), especially if you change the font size.

I have the Kindle app on my Android phone (Samsung Gallaxy SII HD LTE, if that matters). I went back to the puzzle on chapter 4, and the ° symbols work fine on all font size settings. It is a shame you couldn't get the dimonds, spades etc. to work though...

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...

I have the Kindle app on my Android phone (Samsung Gallaxy SII HD LTE, if that matters). I went back to the puzzle on chapter 4, and the ° symbols work fine on all font size settings. It is a shame you couldn't get the dimonds, spades etc. to work though...

 

The degree symbol also looks fine on the iPhone version of the Kindle app.

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