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Reading through one of my favorite blogs, Boing Boing I found a link to the Penguin books digital fiction series We Tell Stories.

The concept here is that Penguin enlisted 6 contemporary authors to create stories enhanced with web-technologies, graphic design concepts, and / or other multimedia tools and techniques. There stories were released one a week, for 6 weeks. (note: All have now been released).

I spent a couple lunch breaks going through a few of the stories. Hard Times is a quick read, which presents some interesting, concrete facts about the changing nature of how people consume media and information. The 21 Steps is a thriller-type store, which follows the protagonist’s physical location through the story using Google maps. I started in on Fairy Tales, which asks the reader for direction in selecting character traits and plot elements, among many other things. I can’t tell if these choices direct the plot of the story or not, or just set the tone of various scenes, but I’ve only spent a little time with the story. Figuring these things out is half the fun in a way. there are 3 other stories I’ve not read through yet: Your Place and Mine, Slice, and The (Former) General in his Labrinth.

This series is a commercial as opposed to academic venture; All the authors a presumable under contract with Penguin. All 6 stories released also appear to be tied to a “classic” novel, which can be purchased through the website. The website is also hosting a weekly drawing for readers of the stories for a collection of 1300 Penguin Classics titles. Unfortunately for those of us in the States, the drawing appears to be limited to UK residents :-(.

Commercial motivations aside, the stories I’ve had time to review so far seem like a lot of fun, and I look forward to reading (if it can be called that) the rest. I recommend that everyone spend some free time playing around with some of these stores. They all present interesting new concepts in how to present a story, how interaction from the reader, and media that appeals to multiple sense can all enhance the experience.