We Tell Stories

The first install­ment of Penguin’s We Tell Sto­ries series launched yes­ter­day. It’s a pacy short story by Charles Cum­ming that unfolds through a Google Maps interface:

As well as being six sto­ries by six Pen­guin authors, We Tell Sto­ries is an ARG, designed by Six To Start, set to be launched once the six inter­ac­tive fic­tions have all been pub­lished over the coming weeks. There are, though, already some little ARGish clues pep­pered through the map text of the first story: the addresses of con­tainer com­pa­nies, promi­nent men­tions of easily-​visited places (var­i­ous rooms in the Bal­moral Hotel, Edin­burgh for exam­ple), and a ‘phone number: 020 8133 8141.

I rang, and heard this:

Hello, Alice?

I’ve made a ter­ri­ble mis­take. I need your help.

I have a story to tell you, but it will only make sense in the right place.

If you stand face to face with the statue of John Bet­je­man in St. Pan­cras sta­tion, ring this number: 020 7193 3154.

Then I’ll be able to explain more.

As luck would have it, I’ll be in St. Pan­cras Sta­tion tomor­row morning…

Posted at 4pm on 19/03/08 by Jack Mottram to the web category.
Permalink · Add to del.icio.us
Tags: arg, fiction, maps, penguin, wetellstories