reported by Dawn L. Hall, FictionFanatic.com

Local birds are being infected with a virus that swiftly moves across the continent?and it is mutating to infect humans. Government agencies are created to stop its spread. It's all fiction. Or is it?

"The Flocking Party," is a multi-linear fictional storyWriting Fiction: The Practical Guide from New York's Acclaimed Creative Writing School - Learn the fundamental elements of fiction craft-character, plot, point of view, etc.- Click now! on the Web with blogs, maps, diagrams, videos, sound and a plot that doesn't sound all that far in the future.

The multimedia presentation is the creation of Chris Landau, a Master of Fine Arts candidate in the University of Michigan's School of Art & Design. All 40 pages are jammed with pseudo-scientific jargon, factual tidbits, references to government entities and practices and scenarios that mirror our most recent current newspaper headlines.

Landau chose to focus on starlings and sparrows because, he said, "They are an invasive species, yet something we see every day." And Landau looked at these species from many angles. He rode his bike through Ann Arbor's suburbs watching flocks of starlings on green, pristine lawns.

"Starlings are very suspicious of people and don't like to be watched," Landau said. But the artist persisted in his observations, studying and imagining.

Landau's fiction is a venture into the behavior of networks and the way ideas spread?just as viruses spread with both negative and positive consequences. And for some of the readers, "flocking parties" have become popular, where people sit on the floor in a V-formation around an LCD projector navigating the Web site. The group shares information as they surf through the story by creating shadows and pointing with lasers at the screen.

"The Flocking Party" is available at http://www.theflockingparty.com/home.html
Ignore the treacherous warnings; it's all part of the show.