Elfland catacombs
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Elfland Catacombs is one of the earliest examples of hypertext fiction. It was published by Winterhearth company in 1981, several years before Michael Joyce's Afternoon, a story (which is generally thought to be "the first hypertext fiction"). Author Alan Lance Andersen created Elfland Catacombs as a children's fantasy adventure, using the Commodore Basic computer language. The plot involved the reader visiting an aunt in the border country of Scotland and becoming lost after crossing into Elfland with the help of an elf named Jenkins. Numerous plot paths led to different endings -- some happy and others not quite so pleasant. Unlike the many computer game style adventures of the period, this was a true electronic storybook with hypertextual links. Paul Jordan Hollander later converted it from the obsolete Commodore Basic into HTML files.
[edit] References
- Andersen, Alan Lance (1981). "Elfland Catacombs", Ames, Iowa: Winterhearth.
