Subgenre: Interactive digital fiction, mystery
Release date: July 21, 2016
About the real pleasure in life:
"I started imaginary books as a way of exploring the creative potential of digital
storytelling. The Real Pleasure in Life, our first title, is a formal revolution: it rejects standardized
language, animates the text, and blurs the line between text and
image in order to tell a story that couldn't be told any other way.
The technique was developed especially for this novel. The novel is
a mystery, and the formal innovations are part of the mystery."
Imaginary Books Releases World’s First Digital Novel Written in
Interactive, Animated Text for Free Online
“Dynamic typography” ebook offers mysterious misadventure into
Athens, Georgia
The creative innovators at imaginary books are about to unveil the
world’s first digital novel written in “dynamic typography,” or
animated text, in which the text moves and transforms on screen to
correspond with the plot. Releasing the novel online and via a
custom app for free in June 2016, the real pleasure in life is a funny, moving, and possibly magical story of a guy trying to
navigate his life when it takes a turn for the strange, aided in
that quest by a group of larger-than-life eccentrics in America's
most legendary college town, Athens, Georgia.
The next read for music fans of Neutral Milk Hotel and REM, as well
as literary lovers of Eli Horowitz’s interactive digital novels The New World, The Silent History, and The Pickle Index, the real pleasure in life packs the literary punch of a classic novel but is more fun than a
conventional, static e-book. The book takes advantage of the
possibilities of digital storytelling, asthe movement of every word reveals an intriguing clue, plot twist,
or compelling insight.
At just over 100 pages (with episodic chapters that take about ten
minutes each to read), the real pleasure in life was written with HTML and Javascript, and will be available for
free on RealPleasureinLife.com, iBook, Amazon, and Kobo. The
novel’s intentional misspellings and textual animation are
intrinsic to the plot, along with images that interplay with the
text to make a one-of-a-kind reading experience.
the real pleasure in life: After receiving a mysterious communication from a long-extinct
coffee shop in Athens, Georgia, Al Dixon leaves his pregnant
wife in Texas to investigate the surreal summons. Drawn into the
heart of the musical incubator town that birthed REM and Neutral
Milk Hotel, the mystery becomes even more bizarre. Why, at ten
o’clock in the morning, are bars the only thing open? Why are all
the street signs misspelled? Why does everyone assume he’s moving
there? Why can’t he get in touch with his wife? On top of
everything, when he finally finds the impossible coffee shop, the
enigmatic man behind the counter greets him with an accusation:
“You’re late.”
After an unforgettable night spent in the company of larger-than-life eccentrics and new friends, Al comes to a shocking realization that will change his life
forever. By turns philosophical and slapstick, wry yet heartfelt, the real pleasure in life offers a funny, moving confrontation with eternal truths that can
only be revealed through a raucous night in America’s most
legendary college town.
Get your free copy here.
About Al Dixon:
imaginary books are a team of literary engineers on a mission to redefine the way
books are read and experienced. Al Dixon is an English professor at the University of Georgia, Athens, and
is a self-taught programmer and textual animator.
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