Where to Find Literature on Disk

by Robert Kendall

From Poets & Writers Magazine (Nov./Dec. 1995)

copyright (c) 1995 by Poets & Writers, Inc.


Some electronic books are slowly making their way into bookstores, and software stores often stock the wares of the larger publishers. You can order electronic books or magazines from all of the publishers listed below.

Bureau of Electronic Publishing offers multimedia CD-ROMs that include an inexpensive collection of the Classics and the complete works of Twain, Dickens, and Shakespeare. [141 New Road, Parsippany, NJ 07054. (201) 808-2700.]

Chadwyck-Healey publishes a pricey CD-ROM collection of the complete works of 1,350 British poets. [1101 King Street, #380, Alexandria, VA 22314. (800) 752-0515; (703) 683-4890.]

ClariNetCommunications puts out the Hugo and Nebula Anthology 1993, a huge collection of science fiction on CD-ROM. [4880 Stevens Creek Boulevard, #206, San Jose, CA 95129. (800) 673-3726; (408) 296-0366.]

Chatfield Software publishes electronic multimedia poetry by Hale Chatfield, as well as software for teaching poetry. [PO Box 115, Hiram, Ohio 44234. (216) 632-5447.]

Columbia University Press publishes The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, a CD-ROM containing 10,000 poems. [136 S. Broadway, Irvington, NY 10533. (800) 944-8648; (914) 591-9111.]

Diskotech Software publishes "computer video novels" on CD-ROM. [7930 State Line, #210, Prairie Village, KS 66208. (913) 432-8606.] e-mail

Eastgate Systems is the leading publisher of interactive literature, offering hypertext novels, short fiction, and poetry, as well as an electronic magazine, Eastgate Quarterly ($49.95 for four issues). For writers interested in creating hypertext, Eastgate offers the popular software program Storyspace. The company also sponsors symposia on hypertext several times a year in different cities. [134 Main Street, Watertown, MA 02172. (800) 562-1638; (617) 924-9044.]

Floppyback Publishing International offers novels, poetry collections, and a literary magazine on disk. [346 Concord Avenue., Cambridge, MA 02138. (617) 492-3824.]

GRIST On-Line publishes an electronic literary magazine, a kinetic visual poem by John Fowler, and books of poetry on disk, including David Ignatow's Gleanings. It also operates a Bulletin Board System (BBS) for poets. [Columbus Circle Sta., PO Box 20805, New York, NY 10023. Phone: (212) 787-2861; BBS: (212) 787-6562.]

Hiram Poetry Review offers a disk of multimedia poetry once a year as a supplement to the printed magazine. [PO Box 162, Hiram, OH 44234. (216) 569-5330.]

Hyperion SoftWord publishes Rod Willmot's hypertext poem Everglade, as well as software for creating hypertext books. [535 Irene-Couture, Sherbrooke, PQ, Canada J1L 1Y8. (819) 566-6296.] e-mail

The Little Magazine is put out its 1995 issue on CD-ROM and its 1996 issue on the Web. Both issues include interactive and multimedia work by a variety of poets and fiction writers. [Dept. of English, University at Albany, Albany, NY 12222. (518) 442-4398.]

Necro Enema Amalgamated publishes the annual arts/literary multimedia magazine BLAM! on CD-ROM. [c/o Distributed Art Publishers, 636 Broadway, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10012. (800) 338- 2665; (212) 473-5119.]

Postmodern Culture is an electronic journal that often contains literature and criticism. [Journals Department, Oxford University Press, 2001 Evans Road, Cary, NC 27513. (800) 852-7323; (919) 677-0977.]

Red Deer College Press publishes bp nichol's First Screening, a collection of kinetic visual poems. [56 Ave. and 32nd Street, Box 5005, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada T4N 5H5]

Spectrum Press offers nearly 300 books on disk, including fiction, poetry, drama, and criticism. The titles include both reprints and original publications. [3023 N. Clark Street, #109, Chicago, IL 60657. (800) 606-1419; (312) 281-1419.]

Sunburst Communications will soon release In My Own Voice, the first in a series of poetry CD-ROMs that include audio recordings of poets reading their work. [101 Castleton Street, Pleasantville, NY 10570. (800) 321-7511; (914) 747-3310.]

Voyager Company is one of the most active electronic publishers, offering among other things many novels on disk and the multimedia CD-ROMs Poetry in Motion,American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century, and MacBeth. [578 Broadway, #406, New York, NY 10012. (800) 446-2001; (212) 431-5199.]

Wellsweep Press publishes John Cayley's interactive poetry and electronic versions of translations from the Chinese. [1 Grove End House, 150 Highgate Road, London NW5 1PD, United Kingdom. (0171) 267-3525.]

World Library offers inexpensive collections of the classics on CD-ROM. [2809 Main Street, Irvine, CA 92714. (800) 443-0238; (714) 756-9500.]

Listings partially updated 10/3/96.