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Pif Magazine
ISSN: 1094-2726
Published by:
Pif, LLC
PMB 248
4820 Yelm Hwy SE
Suite B
Lacey, WA 98503-4903
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Born Magazine's prose is generally less interesting than its poetry. Many of the prose pieces are merely text with static images to the side or in the background. As such they resemble illustrated children's books, less didactic and more surrealistic perhaps, but no more interactive. "Pick Me: An Adoption Story" is a pleasant exception. With bugs crawling around, text crinkling, and other forms of slight visual decay, the piece assumes a youth-gone-by/Paradise Lost vibe. Such design embellishments take an otherwise obvious (albeit heartfelt) essay about the desire to be chosen and transform it into something sad and valid.
For an even more advanced interactive prose piece, dig through the archives and check out "FUEL," again designed by Entropy8. Although the subject matter is a little psychotic for my tastes, the use of floating frame technology lends itself well to this horror piece. I caught myself thinking, "Do I really want to click here? What strange event will I invoke next?" As I click further and things get worse, is my complicit curiosity causing these horrible events to transpire? Why am I so curious, anyway?
Sure, flipping the pages of a Stephen King novel has a similar effect, but the page flips of a book are not perfectly timed to the explosive events of the book's plot. In a book, the text just marches across the page as it occurs. In "FUEL," the text and graphics are revealed bit by bit, as dictated by the events of the plot. Think of it as an e.e. cummings poem on steroids.
AND NOW I WILL SHOW YOU THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY
According to many pundits, "non-linear" writing represents the future of Web-centric literature. But Born Magazine's writing is all linear – rising action, climax, falling action, the same old bit. The poems and stories at Born often contain links, but there is only one correct order in which to follow them. Leave it to graphic designers to realize that the coolest thing about the Web isn't that it lets you link stuff, but that it lets you enhance meaning via design and multimedia. To involve your reader, you need not let him control your story. Instead, control your story in a way that involves your reader.
Mere writers will never be the stars of the Web as an artistic medium; just as mere songwriters have never been the stars of top-40 radio. Graphic designers are already and increasingly will be the stars. If you want in on the action, hand your experimental Web-bound words over to them, step back, and hope they interpret you right. Otherwise, experiment with plain text, non-linear Web literature to your heart's content, maintain complete creative control of your vast online labyrinth, and watch the rest of the wired world click you by.
Born Magazine is like Neil Young's "A Man Needs a Maid." The lyrics to "A Man Needs a Maid" might give you a good chuckle, but Neil's recording of the song itself is no laughing matter. Many of Born's pieces are the same way. I find myself continually impacted by writing I would have probably deleted had I received it in a forwarded email. If hypermedia can enhance the sometimes mediocre stories at Born Magazine, how much more can it enhance excellent literature? Granted, the pure meaning of the original text will probably get diluted, perhaps even corrupted. But you can't have the 12-inch "down n' dirty" dance remix without tweaking the original 7-inch radio version. And if I ever yearn for the days when bare words alone were the writer's only means of expression, I can always log-off and read a book.
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Curt Cloninger writes his own biographical information in the third person, just like every other author. He's writing this right now. The convention of writing personal biographical information in the third person is a big joke to Cloninger, but that's the way you're supposed to do it.
Far be it from Curt to break the mold.