The Neddiad Online

 

I’ve known about it since it started, but haven’t had time to read it properly till this weekend, it being Daniel Pinkwater’s online serialization of his new novel, The Neddiad . And let me tell you, it is very, very cool. I love the mix of text, image, and oral storytelling, but most of all I love the readers’ forum. The exchanges there between Pinkwater and his readers are just the sort that I would imagine would occur if we were all sitting at his feet listening to him tell the story. We’d comment, interrupt perhaps, and make references as the story went on. Terrific idea to use an ancient form (the Homerian epic) in the telling and then present it initially in a 21st century way.

Here’s a sample October 15th post to give you a taste (chosen because of the recent Christmas present from Ms. Rowling):

A reader inquires:

Dear Mr. Pinkwater,

Did you use the name the “Hermione Hotel” for all those “Harry Potter” fans out there, or was it just a coincidence?

And Pinkwater replies:

Nothing to do with Harry Potter, and not a coincidence.

Have some time between all that eating and partying this holiday season? Have a computer with broadband handy? Want a little something that might remind you just a tad of Jean Shepard (best known these days for the movie, A Christmas Story)? Then check out Pinkwater’s online ode to Homer, train travel, shoelaces, old hotels, parakeets, ghosts, and eating in hats.

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