Hypertext is a beautiful thing. Never have humans ever been able to connect knowledge together through language using a simple point and click interface. The ability (and tendency) to go off on tangents is what keeps the user engaged in progressive learning by successively following relevant links. Early web experiments like fUSION Anomaly, The Deoxyribonucleic Hyperdimension, and Temple of the Screaming Electron showed us the power of hypertext before Wikis were even invented. I was making my first websites in the mid 90s on Angelfire and Geocities free webhosts. These aforementioned websites had a huge influence on me.
Hypertext fiction is a new experiment for me, as I could see the need for a hypertext version of Soul Proprietor while I was writing it. Seeing how one could fully begin to appreciate the depth and complexity of a work like Gravity's Rainbow or Finnegans Wake through hypertext inspired me to wikify my novel. This project is still in progress, but the initial results are very exciting and encouraging. As it becomes more complete, I will open up the web version of the novel to the public and invite them to explore the story as never before. Stay tuned.
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