Reviewed by Douglas Eyman CFCC

The Hero's Face Joshua Rappaport       "The Hero's Face," by Joshua Rappaport is a much darker, grittier fiction than any of the rest of the pieces included in here, which is, perhaps, to be expected from a story of the trials and adventures of a rock-and-roll band. But this hypertext doesn't simply deliver a fictional account--as Rappaport points out, "woven through the narrative line (which is relatively cohesive, even linear at times) are flashbacks, fragments of my own poetry, ancient epic material, and passages from Derrida, Campbell, and other writers which deal with the hazy boundaries which separate poetry, magic, and death."        The juxtaposition of the critical theory (contained in the singer's notebooks) and the violent, realistic storyline in the fiction is at times disorienting (which Landow argues is not a bad thing). I have not yet decided if it quite works, but Rappaport admits that "the current version is very rough, a beginning of something which should be huge." I look forward to seeing the final version (insofar as there can be any final version of a hypertext, of course). Contents: The Optics Carlos D. Aizenmann-Stern Simulations: Baudrillard through Hypertext Ethan Fiks Circular Voice(s) John P. Garland Electronic Zen Taro Ikai Ultramundane Tom McHarg Breath of Sighs and Falling Forever Nathan Marsh The Dead Letter Office David Mayer Plateaus Tom Meyer Food for Thought Jane Park An Evening at Roy's Roy Perlis Bodily Writing Anne Pycha The Hero's Face Joshua Rappaport Rhizome Maggie Skodon Freud Web David B. Stevenson LBJ Timothy Taylor Adam's Bookstore Adam Wenger Contact the Reviewer!