A virtual version of New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz will be giving a virtual reading of his upcoming novel "The Good Guy" in the huge virtual world of Second Life. The virtual reading will take place in Bantam Dell Publishing's new virtual store in Second Life, the Bantam Dell Book Shop and Cafe.

That's five times that you've read the word "virtual" in this post, six if you count that last one. Just wanted to see if you still know your arithmetic.

Anyway, the actual location of the reading can support only 40 people. Any more can cause computer glitches in Second Life, so the reading will also be simulcast in several other Second Life destinations and an audio feed will also be broadcast on Koontz's Web site and on Bantam Dell's.

Koontz's avatar will be assisted by two Bantam Dell employee avatars, one of which is Betsy Hulsebosch, senior vice president and director of creative marketing for Bantam Dell. According to Bloomberg, she will field audience questions via instant and text messaging and relay them to the author, who will answer in his real voice via an audio feed. We're thinking that the other employee avatar will be there to field flying appendages or something.