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Mongoliad apps out now on iPhone and iPad
We've been following the Mongoliad project by author Neal Stephenson ever since it was announced last May, and the iOS apps for the project have finally been released on the iOS App Store. The apps are free, but you'll remember that the project is actually a subscription-based universe of fiction, so while there are some free things to read in there, you'll have to buy a membership or a subscription if you want access to everything. You can do so from directly within the app -- it's about seven bucks for more than a novel's worth of material, so it's not a bad price at all. If you already have a subscription, the app will let you access the content you've got from anywhere, and/or download them so you can read offline. Even if you're not a fan of Neal Stephenson (and you probably should be -- read Snow Crash, and then read The Diamond Age, because they're both terrific), the model itself is quite interesting. We've seen a few other publications decide to publish subscription content on iOS devices, but this is the first time we've seen a fiction author publish a novel as a subscription app. It's the kind of model that should really appeal to authors with the right audience -- we'll have to see what the response to The Mongoliad turns out to be.
Neal Stephenson's digital publishing platform adds a dash of Wiki to novel-reading
It's not surprising that this man -- the one responsible for some of our favorite sci-fi reading material -- has a vision of how books will work in the future. Neal Stephenson's company Subutai has developed a new digital publishing platform upon which The Mongoliad has just debuted. It feels like a cross between a Wiki, a glossary, and a serial novel. The first chapter of the epic fantasy novel about the Mongolian conquest is available to read online for free, but in order to access extra material and edit documents in the "'Pedia," you'll need a paid subscription. iOS apps are currently going through Apple's approval process; an Android version is also in the works. Stephenson and the Subutai team -- which includes writers Greg Bear and Mark Teppo -- promise to have a new chapter for subscribers out every week. [Image credit: jeanbaptisteparis' flickr]
Neal Stephenson to release serialized story via mobile devices
Here's an intriguing idea: author Neal Stephenson and a few friends (including Greg Bear and Nicole Galland) are going to be releasing a set of serialized stories as apps for the iPad and the iPhone. The project is called "The Mongoliad," and is based on a world designed by Stephenson (author of the great novels Snow Crash and The Diamond Age). The apps will present "an ongoing stream of nontextual, para-narrative, and extra-narrative stuff," and even ask readers to interact and create their own stories in the universe with some "pretty cool tech." Interesting. There's not a lot of information out right now about what the project is exactly, but there is a Facebook page with a few more details, and a skeleton page where you can sign up for more information. I guess they're taking the wraps off of the project in a few days on May 25th, so presumably then you'll be able to download the app (which will also be available on Android and the Kindle), and see what it's all about. I'm a big fan of Stephenson (as anyone interested in computers and how they work probably should be), so I'm definitely intrigued about what he and his colleagues will do with Apple's platform. Stay tuned. [via SuperPunch]
