Foreword: The first book of Cyberspace

I find in all my writings that this format that I am making this adventure book in is the most pleasing way for a writer to get his story out. -If he doesn't mind multiple endings, that is. There was no forethought to my story. Each page writes itself with very little of my intrusion. But mainly what it allows is for infinate possiblities to present themselves. Consider this: You might not like how the plot is going in your story at one point in time, but it is nessisary to a further plot point that you do like. So naturally you want to keep writing in that line, but back at the point you didn't like you have a great idea for a plot twist that would be great- Only it can't exist in the same timeline that the other good thing does.... What to do? Write both! Let the reader decide which is more interesting, you'll be credited for the best one either way!

Plus, through the World Wide Web, sights, sounds, new fonts, colors, moving pictures, related cartoons, -anything at all can be integrated into the story. I just hope that people will see my finished product and say "Hey, that makes a lotta sense, and it was fun, I want to see another." I can just barely see in my head a distant day in the future, that movies will be made like this in VRML format. -Of course they won't be called movies, they'll think of some really shnazzay word for it and then make an acronhym out of that, but essentally they will take the place, somewhow, of movies in our society by entertaining us in new ways. -That's what the net is all about. Think about all the ways they can improove upon this, that I haven't included yet... Sounds, Graphics, Multimedia 'Flash' Sessions, etc. Done correctly, I see many advantages over movies by this, such as:

• Interaction. The veiwer can choose where the adventure goes.
• WWW format. You can include pictures, text, sounds, someday even smells to any portion of your story. For example, you could put yesterday's Far Side cartoon that has to do with the related topic right beside that part in your adventure.
• General Ease. Eventually, we will be at a point where the WWW will have a window open in every house. There will be no driving to the movie, paying $8, finding a seat, returning the tape on time, having it rewound, or anything we associate with the bad side of the movie industry today. We will just point and click our way (eventually just say a voice command) to someone's Virtual Book.
• The "back" button. Netscape has a back button that allows you to go to the previous page. One would never do this in a movie, but it is ideal for backtracking to other options once you have exausted the path you were previously on. If only I had one of those on all the find-your-fate books I read as a child!

All in all, I don't expect any immediate changes in the entertainment industry from this. The early 1980's video game "Dragon's Lair" was much like this, except it was perfectly linear. Later, many Role-Playing games like "Phantasy Star" were getting closer to the point I am trying to make here. So I do not claim to be doing much of anything new. I claim only that I may be the first to show it's possibilites on the internet and how useful and integral it may become in our lives someday.