Wetware: On the Digital Frontline with Stephen King

by Kevin Quigley

Stephen King has long been at the forefront of experimental publishing. As the world grows more digital each day, King has consistently remained on the edge of breakthrough trends and technology, finding new ways to publish and interpret his stories. King's digital journey has been strange and fascinating. Wetware is your guide.

From the prehistory of King’s involvement with digital media such as The Dark Half video game and F13 to his online release of the lost work, The Cannibals, Wetware covers it all — in a concise and engaging pocket history. Explore the controversy surrounding King's online serial publication, The Plant. Relive the groundbreaking excitement of King's landmark e-book publication, Riding the Bullet. If you ever engaged in interactive fiction with The Mist, were intrigued by the Kindle-only release of UR, or terrified by the motion comic N., Wetware is essential reading.

47 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 28, 2010

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

WETWARE explores an aspect of Stephen King's career that I previously hadn't given much thought to: namely, his willingness to explore innovative new methods of storytelling through digital mediums (i.e., primitive video games, early eBooks, virtual comic books, etc.). Publishing his work in unusual formats has brought him both a great deal of success and controversy.
It's a subject that is definitely worth exploring, and WETWARE does a pretty decent job, albeit in a very meat-and-potatoes kind of way. A few pictures would have been nice...
WETWARE will be of great interest to Stephen King fans, but one can't help but be a little let down by its brevity and lack of any real insight into its subject matter.

[Phil Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kevin Quigley has done and excellent job of finding topics related to Stephen King that have not been thoroughly discussed previously. This particular entry covers the electronic publishing history of the mastermind of horror. The expected entries are here from "Riding the Bullet" to "The Plant" but as with all of Quigley's chapbooks he goes much deeper. I learned about "The Mist" text-based adventure as well as the little publicized prerelease of "Umney's Last Case". Quigley does repeat himself sometimes, especially if you have read more than one of this Chapbooks.

I highly recommend this as a one sitting read to learn a little more about the history of Stephen King.

[Tom Mueller]

WETWARE: ON THE DIGITAL FRONTLINE WITH STEPHEN KING by Kevin Quigley (chapbook)
From the prehistory of King’s involvement with digital media such as The Dark Half video game and F13 to his online release of the lost work, The Cannibals, Wetware covers it all — in a concise and engaging pocket history. Explore the controversy surrounding King's online serial publication, The Plant. Relive the groundbreaking excitement of King's landmark e-book publication, Riding the Bullet. If you ever engaged in interactive fiction with The Mist, were intrigued by the Kindle-only release of UR, or terrified by the motion comic N., Wetware is essential reading.
Shipping date April 30, 2010

[Jonathan Sweet · Rating 4 out of 5]

King has always been willing to experiment with various media, especially electronic -- years ago Riding the Bullet was the first eBook I ever bought. It was interesting to read about all the other things King has done, including some I'd never heard of. Quigley knows his King!