“The Unknown”, is the title of the hypertext I had chosen and how coincidental and appropriate it was to describe what I was about to experience for the first time reading a fiction online. “The Unknown” is an anthology of travel memoirs focusing on four people, Dirk, Scott, Frank and William on a book tour. As I discover their various experiences they underwent, I too had a memorable experience in my attempt at reading a hyperfiction.

             When I decided to embark on my journey in the “cyber-world” of fiction, I was filled with loads of apprehension. Nevertheless, it was indeed, an ambivalent experience. The contents in “The Unknown” is by and large like any other normal fiction one can find from books. However, the essence of reading a hyperfiction here is in its flexibility. With this flexibility, one can explore the seemingly inexhaustible world of fiction at his own discretion by simply clicking on the hyperlinks. This is possible because of the nature of hypertext which, according to George P. Landow, provides an infinitely re-centerable system whose provisional point of focus depends upon the reader.

            As a result, the reader charts his own journey in reading which cannot be practiced on normal books. Normal fiction found in books, primarily have an axis of organization. This tends to dictate the reader’s “journey” in fiction and hence, impede flexibility. A reader has to follow the sequence of introduction, chapter one, two and so on before making sense of a book. With hypertext however, one can employ to orient oneself and decide where to go next (Landow). This is what makes a hyperfiction or specifically here, “The Unknown” unique and interesting (which was what I experienced after I explored the hyperfiction with lots of curiosity.)

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