Experimental Novels (part 2)

A book that follows a tube train from Embankment to Elephant and Castle. 252 passengers and the driver, all sat down. Each of the 253 people has a page describing them and what they are thinking in 253 words exactly.

This book was originally (1996) released on-line and is still there. The on-line version has hyperlinks throughout so that you can jump through the carriages, from person to person, following their connectedness in a god-like way.

In or around 1996 I had the thought that I'd better write the first e-mail novel, before everyone else did. Naturally, I started out with verve and gusto and no doubt the first chapter of brilliance is festering a box upstairs somewhere. Remarkably, as far as I'm aware, the world is still awaiting the great e-mail novel . This is a much more ambitious idea. I didn't like it much when I first found it on-line. However, the book is brilliant. On the internet the tricks get in the way.

On paper the repetition has rhythm and the pen portraits are terrific. After all, who doesn't sit on the tube thinking about the other people around them. In fact if I was going to criticise him it would be for the astonishing range of his portraits. I've done the relevant studies and using regression analysis on the data I can assure you that at any single time on any given tube train 100% of the men are thinking about sex 110% of the time.