Neverending Stories

The Popular Emergence of Digital Fiction

R. Lyle Skains (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)

$59.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Bloomsbury Publishing USA
25 July 2024

Literary theory; Media studies; Graphical & digital media applications

Winner of the 2023 N. Katherine Hayles Award for Criticism of Electronic Literature

Digital fiction has long been perceived as an experimental niche of electronic literature. Yet born-digital narratives thrive in mainstream culture, as communities of practice create and share digital fiction, filling in the gaps between the media they are given and the stories they seek.

Neverending Stories explores the influences of literature and computing on digital fiction and how the practices and cultures of each have impacted who makes and plays digital fiction. Popular creativity emerges from subordinated groups often excluded from producing cultural resources, accepting the materials of capitalism and inverting them for their own carnivalesque uses. Popular digital fiction goes by many different names: webnovels, adventure games, visual novels, Twitter fiction, webcomics, Twine games, walking sims, alternate reality games, virtual reality films, interactive movies, enhanced books, transmedia universes, and many more.

The book establishes digital fiction in a foundation of innovation, tracing its emergence in various guises around the world. It examines Infocom, whose commercial success with interactive fiction crumbled, in no small part, because of its failure to consider women as creators or consumers. It takes note of the brief flourish of commercial book apps and literary games. It connects practices of cognitive and conceptual interactivity, and textual multiplicity—dating to the origins of the print novel—to the feminine. It pushes into the technological future of narrative in immersive and mixed realities. It posits the transmedia franchises and the practices of fanfiction as examples of digital fiction that will continue indefinitely, regardless of academic notice or approval.

By: R. Lyle Skains (Manchester Metropolitan University UK)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9798765100790
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 25 July 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

R. Lyle Skains conducts practice-based research into creating and publishing interactive digital narratives, manages Wonderbox Digital, and organizes the annual New Media Writing Prize, UK.

Reviews for Neverending Stories: The Popular Emergence of Digital Fiction

"""In Neverending Stories, R. Lyle Skains charts out the expanding and flexible category of digital fiction, rejecting historical genre divides to draw out essential connections between popular digital forms as varied as games, webcomics, and fanfiction. By putting the work of authors historically marginalized in discussions of the ""computational"" at the forefront, she offers an alternative history of digital fiction that points to an exciting and expansive future."" --Anastasia Salter, Associate Professor of English, University of Central Florida, USA ""Neverending Stories explores the current watershed cultural moment by examining the depth and breadth of digital fiction in the popular consciousness, mapping its evolution and proliferation from mainstream to niche. Unlike many exclusionary scholarly works in the field, Neverending Stories celebrates inclusiveness and diversity by tracing the emergence and development of digital fiction variations in various languages and cultures around the world. As foundational and comprehensive, this book is indispensable for scholars and students interested in perceiving the creativity and versatility of popular culture and fiction in digital environments."" --Reham Hosny, Digital Creative Writer and Assistant Professor of Literary Theory and Criticism, Minia University, Egypt"