StoryCream

Apparently I’ve missed a “cultural phenomenon” that’s “sweeping America.” Sadly, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Today, on CNN, I saw a brief vignette about a website called Get Mortified where people have given up their diaries, love letters and hateful scrawlings from when they were awkward teens. It’s a stage show (seems that’s how it started out) and also a book series (Mortified: Real Words. Real People. Real Pathetic. and Mortified: Love is a Battlefield). Of course, if you’re not in the market for books, then the website’s offerings are free and equally amusing. Or sad. Or vaguely terrifying. It all depends on your perspective, you see.
Now this got me thinking. We’ve seen reality TV cropping up, Myspace and its spinoffs, not to even mention blogs (of the more personal type) where people vent their ‘inner thoughts’ to the whole world. But everything’s edited, isn’t it? When it comes to entertainment and the capitalistic way of life. Hell, we even self-edit to a large extent, I’d imagine - without even being entirely conscious of the process.
So the book’s touted as a great thing for adolescents who’re going through the ‘awkward phase of life’ that people go through. I wonder, though, if it’s all as ‘fresh and honest’ as it’s touted to be.
Am I slamming the concept? Absolutely not. It’s surely pure genius. I’m just offering up a little food for thought.

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I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this news. I enjoyed the Star Wars films a great deal, the toys even more and absolutely savored the books I read (mostly by Timothy Zahn). The way the Star Wars universe expands when you read the licensed fiction just blew my mind. I even bought up the Star Wars RPG book.

When I saw Alexander Turcic’s posting over at www.MobileRead.com I just knew I had to share it here. You’ll want to hurry, though. The offer’s only good until May 13th, 2008 at midnight. Del Rey decided to run the promotion to get the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force Betrayal (book one of the series) into the hands (or rather, onto the hard drives!) of a wider audience of fans who might be interested in their new 9 book series which will feature several authors.

So rush your digital personas on over to http://www.legacyoftheforce.com/ right now and download that puppy!

Oh, and you’re free to not only read it, but send it to friends or even print it out! What an awesome way spread the Star Wars love.

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I’ve been reading stories online for a long time now. I started out with newsgroups way back in the day and now I’ve progressed to checking
the web for good fiction. There are so many promising authors out there
that I’d like to take a moment to spotlight one of them.

Unfortunately, I don’t know his (or her?) name. As far as I can tell, the author has appeared online only as ’storyslinger’. Along the side menu, where the chapters are listed, there’s a link to The Hole by Aaron Ross Powell. While
he might be the author of Heavy Future, I don’t believe he is at this
time.

So why am I choosing to spotlight Heavy Future? Well, for one thing
it’s not finished being written! That’s right, it’s a serial novel being written online a section at a time. Its first post went live on September 25, 2007 and at the time of this article’s publication its last post went up on March 31st, 2008.

I really stumbled upon this novel by accident. I didn’t expect much
because with so much fiction available online, there’s an awful lot of
boring stuff. Heavy Future tells a story set in in the not-so-distant
future where the world is beginning to crumble and fall apart.

Environmental and economic disasters are taking place at an alarming
rate. Through the lead character’s eyes, we get to see our reality come
unraveled - and it’s a genuinely alarming experience.

See, Heavy Future’s main character is a net savvy guy. He got so
absorbed in following RSS feeds and online news sites that he wound up
recognizing patterns. It’s like a creepy special ability for him, but
it’s also the reason this apocalypse caught him so unprepared. Spending
that much time online mining data meant he didn’t actually DO anything
about the horrors headed his way.

I don’t want to give away too much of the story. Mainly, I want to
encourage you to go and not only read it, but leave some encouraging
comments if you enjoy it. After all, it’s not just great writing, it’s
free reading!

You can find the serial novel here: Heavy Future

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I suppose all these posts will look silly later, but oh well!

I’ve got a video player and a chat room installed now!

If anyone’s reading, I’d very much appreciate any feedback!

Thanks for stopping by and we should have some actual, you know, CONTENT on the site soon!

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