Intersections of New Media and Narratives: The Enhanced Ebook Reading Experience

Abstract

Since 2012, creators have advanced the technology used to make enhanced ebooks to include touch interactivity alongside animation and sound. The use of new media not only leads to the brain responding differently to the act of reading, but the physical engagement aspects leads to an individualized reading experience. This essay examines experimental author Mark Z. Danielewski's The Fifty Year Sword and new media art collective Tender Claws's Pry to show how enhanced ebooks critique the linear storytelling process and change the way our brain reads texts.