Friday July 18, 2008 at 10:08

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Are you interested in stories? Are you interested in literary fiction and its transposition to the web? Are you interested in the new forms of literature the Internet is making possible? These are rhetorical questions. The implicit suggestion here is that any reasonable person is interested in these things.Fiction Volante completed its run yesterday. For one year, a new shortform story was posted every weekday. A blog format was used to contain the stories. They are of exceptional quality.I am going to give you a gift. I have hand-selected five of my favourite pieces for you to read. This was not an easy task.  Once you read these you will get a sense (I hope) of the value of this website. I Discuss Iranian Homosexuality over Lunch Poet Laureate of Kitrell, North Carolina The Wedding Cake UFO Sighted over Stephenville, TX, January 8, 2008 The Quantum Physicist in Love There are dozens more. I will not offer another recommendation so unequivocally this year. It saddens me that people are more interested in talking about computer products and Gawker celebrities than the incredibly exciting artistic avenues that the web is opening up. Perhaps it’s the standard blog format, perhaps it’s that people aren’t really as interested in creativity on the web as they claim, but the site passed its year in relative obscurity.  Hopefully that doesn’t mean it can’t become famous after it’s dead.

Are you interested in stories? Are you interested in literary fiction and its transposition to the web? Are you interested in the new forms of literature the Internet is making possible? These are rhetorical questions. The implicit suggestion here is that any reasonable person is interested in these things.

Fiction Volante completed its run yesterday. For one year, a new shortform story was posted every weekday. A blog format was used to contain the stories. They are of exceptional quality.

I am going to give you a gift. I have hand-selected five of my favourite pieces for you to read. This was not an easy task.  Once you read these you will get a sense (I hope) of the value of this website.

  1. I Discuss Iranian Homosexuality over Lunch
  2. Poet Laureate of Kitrell, North Carolina
  3. The Wedding Cake
  4. UFO Sighted over Stephenville, TX, January 8, 2008
  5. The Quantum Physicist in Love

There are dozens more. I will not offer another recommendation so unequivocally this year.

It saddens me that people are more interested in talking about computer products and Gawker celebrities than the incredibly exciting artistic avenues that the web is opening up. Perhaps it’s the standard blog format, perhaps it’s that people aren’t really as interested in creativity on the web as they claim, but the site passed its year in relative obscurity.  Hopefully that doesn’t mean it can’t become famous after it’s dead.