217 Babel St: An Evolving Web of Stories is an ongoing collaborative hypertext fiction by 4 authors following the tenants and events of an apartment builing.  Each part of the story is conneted by hyperlinks to other parts of the story related by characters, objects, and events.  Each character has a brief bio page with links to segments in which they appear, and is related to a specific residence in the building. 

Access to the story begins by first choosing one of the four authors, then which apartment (and thus which characters) the reader wishes to start with.  Each link takes the reader to a small chunk of story, which then provides links within the text and at the end fo the segment to related parts of the story, though some of the 'related' segments seem disconnected in content. 

The collaborative aspect of the story is how each author can appropriate the storylines and characters of the other authors and take them in a new direction.  This does not change what the others have already contributed, it just means potentially different storylines for the same characters.  An interesting aspect of the story is the willingness of the authors to work in such an open-ended manner. 

In addition, it is remarkable how, even with only a few authors in the project, there is still an element of "hijacked" narrative.  When considered together with the inherently fractured impression of the interface and the incomplete feel of each storyline, the werewolves, dead bodies, ghosts, magical boxes, and kinky romantic trysts begin to smack of the absurd.  It will be interesting to see how these wildly varied story elements play out over the course of the project.

Authors of 217 Babel St:

Susanna Jones

William Shaw

Alison MacLeod

Jeff Noon