Ever have one of those moments where you find something cool done by somebody else and you say "wow, I had that idea years ago!" A while back, I got an ebook called 'The Mongoliad' by Neal Stephenson. I was on a Stephenson kick so I got it, but didn't really know, so I looked it up. Sooth is aware of my findings... but for everyones' sake I will say now that I have been thinking a LOT about this damn idea lately. I believe what Stephenson did was very similar to old writing ideas we had, and then there's the recent surge in tech related stuff... Cyberpunk video game, Shadowrun video game, Cherie Priest runs entire subplots through emails, Tom Clancy's stuff which leans just a hair forward in time... time....
Anyway, I have a copy/paste from the wiki I would like you to read, absorb, and understand. Oh, if you're familiar with the Shadowrun sourcebook 'Universal Brotherhood', keep that in mind while reading as well. This is taken from the Mongoliad's wiki page (and makes me really wish I was aware of it when it was happening!!!):
The serialized edition is intended to be distributed primarily as a series of applications ("apps") for smartphones, which the Subutai Corporation views as a new model for publishing storytelling.[2] At the project's core is a narrative of adventure fiction following the exploits of a small group of fighters and mystics in medieval Europe around the time of the Mongol conquests. As well as speculative fiction authors Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Nicole Galland, Mark Teppo and others, collaborators include film-makers, computer programmers, graphic artists, martial artists and combat choreographers, video game designers, and a professional editor.[3] In a departure from conventional fiction, much of the content of The Mongoliad is in forms other than text, not bound to any single medium and not in the service of the central narrative. Once the project develops momentum, the Subutai Corporation envisions fans of the work contributing, expanding and enriching the narrative, and the fictional universe in which it takes place.[2]
According to Jeremy Bornstein, President of the Subutai Corporation, the genesis of the project was in Stephenson's dissatisfaction with the authenticity of the early modern sword fighting scenes he had written into his Baroque cycle of novels.[1] Stephenson gathered a group of martial arts enthusiasts interested in studying historical European swordfighting, and this eventually resulted in some of the members of this group collaborating on a set of stories that would make use of accurate representations of these martial arts.[4][5] The collaborators decided that the project need not limit itself to the traditional novel form and began developing ideas on how to produce it in different media while retaining the caliber that would be expected of a new work by authors such as Stephenson or Bear.[1]
An "alpha version" was demonstrated at the periodic application showcase SF App Show in San Francisco, California on May 25, 2010.[1][2]
The serialized project ran from September 1, 2010 CE until January 25, 2012. New chapters, as well as supplemental materials, were released on a semi-regular schedule. The iOS apps are available in the Apple App Store, and the Android app is available in the Android Store.[2] The print edition was published on April 24, 2012 CE.
