I'm currently three days in to an interesting reading experiment. Sci-Fi writer Max Barry is publishing his new book, Machine Man, via RSS. 
This is how it works: you sign up for free and then get to read the book one page per day through your feed reader. This is actually a very interesting concept--Barry is basically writing a serial novel as you read it and, because he's blogging it, you can actually provide him with real-time feedback. Who knows--maybe some of the user feedback will even work its way into the book. It's kind of fun and it's also interesting to see how Berry plays with the idea--the pages remind me a little of the old-time daily comic strips: short snippets with a reminder of what's going on, a revelation, and then a cliff-hanger to bring you back the next day.
Mar 20, 2009
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3 sucka ass fools had something to say:
Very cool idea. But it seems like it would be difficult to get immersed into the narrative by reading only one page a day.
That's the challenge, I think. But he seems to be doing a pretty good job with it so far: it really is like the old-style serials, where you get something tasty each time and are left wanting to find out more. You can't really think of it in the same terms as a regular book.
Just a little side note:
If you are a robot and you have feelings and you want people to be nice to you, you should probably wear some clothes when you go out in public.
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