Somehow, I gathered that the book development was going to be for Elemental, so this wasn't too surprising. Great concept, though. I'm sure the book ideas have really translated well into the game as you've said, and since Brad is doing the AI, that's even more possibilities for AI personality showing through. Coolness.
The Alpha walk-through will be great. I don't know how all of this is juggled (book writing, game development, running a business, working on other projects, etc.), but it's amazing.
I'm really, really pumped for Elemental and the opportunities to contribute/analyze/suggest that go along with the upcoming Beta. I'll also be interested in hearing what the Alpha testers say about it all.