The Carrier

The Carrier is the first digital graphic novel meant to be viewed exclusively on the iPhone. The novel utilizes many of the features the phone has to offer such as the touch interface, web links to extra story input, and geolocation. Also unique to the work is the way in which the story unfolds: It is given to the user in real time. Like 19th-century novels and 20th-century comic books, The Carrier is distributed serially. Release of each chapter is timed to specific intervals that correlate to the hero's experience of time within the story. Story premise: a scientist wakes up in Bangkok with no memories and a briefcase chained to his wrist. As the scientist moves across the world, ancillary elements of his story are texted and emailed to the reader: recipes for Thai food, London weather reports, fake news headlines and the like. Annotated by Kyle Schaeffer.

(Source: Description from the Electronic Literature Exhibition catalogue)