253 (Geoff Ryman)

253 (via lukelog) is the Web edition of a novel I thumbed through in a bookstore a year or two ago, enjoyed, but then promptly forgot about, which is less an indictment of the work itself than of my Swiss-cheese memory.

Very brief description: it’s 253 people on a London Underground Bakerloo line train, each described in 253 words, each description hyperlinked to the others where relevant. The train will crash at Elephant And Castle.

It’d be interesting to take a print copy of the book on the Tube, read it conspicuously, then eyeball each passenger in the carriage in turn and scribble furiously in the margins. Then again, most people probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid. Far stranger things happen on the Tube, after all.