The Pickle Index

Zloty Kornblatt — clown, instigator, revolutionary — has been arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced to death. Ten days from now he will be executed in some gruesome fashion — unless his dysfunctional gang of circus performers can break him free. You can help!

An innovative new novel from the creators of The Silent History, one of Apple’s Best Apps of the Year. The Pickle Index is the story of an incompetent circus troupe attempting an unlikely prison break. Thrills, chills, spills, & dills!

"The Pickle Index is full of life and everything else--it's rowdy and sweaty and heartbreaking, and by heartbreaking I mean funny, and by funny I mean laugh-until-you're-exhausted-and-leaking-and-hungry."
--Miranda July

A hapless circus troupe tours the countryside of a downtrodden nation, trying to earn a living the best way they know — even though their best isn't very good at all: a morose contortionist, a strongman who'd rather be miming, a lion tamer paired with an elderly dog, etc. Toward the end of a typically glum performance, Zloty Kornblatt, the troupe's ringmaster, accidentally blunders into a mockery of the nation's glorious leader. He doesn't even know why the sparse crowd is laughing, but they are — and so he continues with the inadvertent satire, ending the show on a rare triumphant note.

The confused ringmaster is quickly captured, thrown into prison, and sentenced to death. The troupe must design an intricate prison-break built around their unique (and possibly useless) skills. Hijinks ensue, recounted with deadpan humor and flickering hope by Flora Bialy, Zloty’s understudy and our shy narrator.

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.