253 (book)

"253, or Tube Theatre" is a novel by Geoff Ryman, originally created as a website in 1996 [ [http://www.ryman-novel.com Original website] ] , then published as a paper book titled "253: The Print Remix" in 1998. The print version won a Philip K. Dick Award.

It is about the 253 people on a London Underground train travelling between Embankment station and Elephant & Castle on January 11, 1995. The basic structure of the novel is explained in this quote from the foreword:

There are seven carriages on a Bakerloo Line train, each with 36 seats [This is, in fact, not true - the 1972 stock used on the Bakerloo line since the late 80s has seven carriages, but three have 36 seats, and four 40, for a total of 264 seats.] . A train in which every passenger has a seat will carry 252 people. With the driver, that makes 253.

Each character is introduced in a separate section containing 253 words. The sections give general details and describe the thoughts going through the characters' heads. In the online version, hypertext links led to other characters who are nearby or who have some connection to the current character; in the print version, the links are partly replaced by a traditional index. The reader can proceed from one character to another using these devices or can read the novel in positional order, e.g. from one train car to the next, but there is no overall chronological order except in the final section.

Notes

ee also

* List of London Underground-related fiction
* Constrained writing