Storyspace

Bernstein's revisioning of Storyspace in its 3rd version functions as a bridge between the previous hypertexts that Eastgate Systems, Inc. published and experimental interactive works readers encounter today on storytelling platforms like Twine or as apps on their phones. The result is that Those Trojan Girls remains constant in his approach to publishing “serious hypertext” embraced in the 1990s while at the same time contemporizes its aesthetic and functionality for readers today.

Shipwrecks, train wrecks, and wrecked hearts permeate Tim McLaughlin’s Notes Toward Absolute Zero (NTAZ), a hypertext narrative produced with Storyspace in 1993 and published by Eastgate Systems, Inc. in 1995 on 3.5-inch floppy disk and in 1996 on CD-ROM. As the title suggests, it is a story about cold so absolute that order and predictability are lost. As Rob Kendall points out in his study of the work, “Parsing the Cold: McLaughlin’s Notes Toward Absolute Zero,” the overarching theme of the narrative is the power of cold to both destroy and preserve. 

This essay looks at the complexity and structure in Richard Holeton's absurdist hypertext novel, Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, published by Eastgate Systems, Inc. in 2001. 

An exercise in reclaiming electronic literary works on inaccessible platforms, examining four works as both artifacts and operations.

Many pioneering works of electronic literature are now largely inaccessible because of changes in hardware, software, and platforms. The virtual disappearance of these works—created on floppy disks, in Apple's defunct HyperCard, and on other early systems and platforms—not only puts important electronic literary work out of reach but also signals the fragility of most works of culture in the digital age. In response, Dene Grigar and Stuart Moulthrop have been working to document and preserve electronic literature, work that has culminated in the Pathfinders project and its series of “Traversals”—video and audio recordings of demonstrations performed on historically appropriate platforms, with participation and commentary by the authors of the works. 

In Traversals, Moulthrop and Grigar mine this material to examine four influential early works: Judy Malloy's Uncle Roger (1986), John McDaid's Uncle Buddy's Phantom Funhouse (1993), Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl (1995) and Bill Bly's We Descend (1997), offering “deep readings” that consider the works as both literary artifacts and computational constructs. For each work, Moulthrop and Grigar explore the interplay between the text's material circumstances and the patterns of meaning it engages and creates, paying attention both to specificities of media and purposes of expression.

(Source: The MIT Press catalog copy)

This essay explores David Kolb's "Socrates in the Labyrinth" from the perspective of its experimental approach to the philosophical writing. It also provides detailed information about the production of the work and accompanies the Live Stream Traversal of his work and other contents associated with it. 

This chapter analyzes the hypertext narrative poem "Lust" by Mary-Kim Arnold from the perspective of repetition, focusing on lexias, words, and sounds. It accompanies other information useful to scholars: a brief biography of the author, a recounting of how the poem came to be written, a list of critical references, and links to:

• Live Stream Traversal on YouTube of "Lust" by Dene Grigar
• Social media content generated during the Live Stream Traversal
• Photos of the work's packaging
• Scholarly Resources

This essay offers an in-depth analysis of the themes that dominate the work, "I Have Said Nothing." It also provides reference materials, both creative and critical, instrumental for a better understanding of the work.