I should start by telling you that Amber Simmons was the writer/web designer who originally talked (on ALA, the web-design trade journal) about how a design should give shape and context to site content. She believes that presentation on the web can make prose stronger, just as she believes that at the heart of the web lies good writing. The Internet is her medium: the canvas she is most comfortable with, and it shows with Timely Raven.

Raven is a story of (waitforit) Raven, a bird that functions as the grim reaper for a small geological area in Austin. The main story in Timely Raven is the bird’s journey to find a soul for a woman he has wronged. She wants a child in return for the one Raven killed sometime ago, and Raven is compelled to find one to fill her empty womb. The story is short – it has only 4 parts – but it is a well-written, decent distraction from whatever you’re busy with. It is a good story, but it is not a great one.

You’ve probably flicked your eyes to my rating at this point, and you’re probably wondering why I gave Raven a 4.5. The reason? Timely Raven’s genius is not in its writing – which is solid – but in its presentation. Simmons makes full use of the Internet to tell her story – and I’m not kidding when I say full use. There are drop down hidden sections on the web page, containing unsaid things in a conversation; there are Google Map mashups, twitter updates and blog offshoots.

This last point is of particular interest: Timely Raven serves as a starting point for two other stories. In his search for a suitable soul Raven lands twice, and each of these landings provide characters that branch out to become stories of their own. One is the tale of a coven of witches, some of whom are mysteriously becoming succubi, and the other is about two sisters: one real, one invisible. These stories exist on beautifully designed blogs, twitter channels and Evernote collages, and it’s really up to you how you want to explore each story. You may start from a witch’s perspective, for instance, or you may choose to read from the POV of the staff of a rehabilitation centre. This is non-linear fiction at its best.

Is this worth your time? Yes it is, definitely. It’s short, it’s beautifully produced, and the ending adds a twist that is both sweet and painful. I’m fairly certain that the ideas Simmons uses in this project will be integral to web fiction’s tomorrow. Read this, and you’ll find yourself a taste of the future.

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