Statement of Purpose

What is Enterzone?

Enterzone is a hyperzine of writing, art, and new media. It features criticism, fiction, philosophy, hypertexts, computer graphics, reportage, interactive artforms, scanned photography, sounds, and drawings. In Enterzone we are actively seeking new metaphors for the dissemination and sharing of creative work. We draw on publishing and broadcasting models while seeking to invent entirely new paradigms.

The interactive nature of the World Wide Web allows us to link responses to our articles. This adds the dimension of a symposium or a salon to the magazine.

Why Do We Do It?

We want to put high quality writing and art into circulation, to publish cheaply and internationally. We also want to explore and begin to take advantage of an entirely new communication medium. We want to strain at the limitations of the World Wide Web, push the boundaries whenever possible, make the Web catch up with us. When you start reaching out through your computer screen for the pictures, words, moments, and ideas that you need, then you'll be in Enterzone, and we'll be waiting for you.

What Kind of Stuff is in Enterzone?

What's the point? What's the theme? Does Enterzone have a unifying principle? These are fair questions but they are difficult to answer. We were not completely satisfied with "stuff that Christian thinks is groovy" as an answer. Changing groovy to hep didn't help much either.

We like honest writing, words that don't flinch, ideas followed through to their bitter conclusions. We like striking art, rich in detail or subtle in gradation. We want a theme song to play when you arrive in the Zone. We like criticism that's not looking over its shoulder to see what all the other critics think. We like art that isn't finished until you've touched it.

Miraculously, themes have begun to emerge, found themes. Enterzone episode 1 drew our attention to the alien within us; episode 2 turned out to be about fusion, about telling stories with pictures and words, about inviting readers to share a little of the authoring, about the birth of beat and its long shadow; and episode 3 might just be about California and about hidden surprises that lie off the beaten path.

Old Media Are Good Media

We like old media just fine. Sure, we're excited about new media. We want to twist your mind inside out and hand it back to you when you least expect it, but we like poetry too, and well-turned phrases, telling fiction, sharply observed commentary, meandering digressions and wild tangents.

We recognize that there are forms of visual art that never leave the computer. Created on screen, they are best viewed on screen. Then again, we want to overcome the limitations of digitized, rasterized, color-approximated art and serve up traditional forms such as sketches, paintings, and photographs. (Of course there are also the bionic art forms that pass in and out of the world of machines on their way to your eyes.)

Can it Core a Apple?

Enterzone doesn't do everything we want it to do yet. There's no video, for example. Economies of bandwidth still favor text. It's such a compact medium. And even though we want to include every possible type of reader out there, we're not going to hold back the evolution of Enterzone to cater to the slowest, least graphical connections.

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

If you like what you see so far, just wait until episode 4! Or don't wait. Contribute. We invite responses to our articles and will add them to threads, meaning newer articles or letters that relate to previous articles will contain hyperlinks to their antecedents. (See the Letters to the Zone page for examples.) We're looking for dialog, debate, parody, controversy.

We're called a zone for a reason. As you flit across the World Wide Web, you might pass through this zone, this interstitial place that isn't in any single physical place. In the Enterzone, ideas are the currency and no tariffs apply. Before you know it, you'll have crossed over the borderline again, you'll have exited the zone on your continuous quest for the next idea, but you'll know where to find us.

Other eZines on the Web and the Net that We Recommend

We're not the only ones out here. Here are some of our favorites other e-zines.

But Enough of This Hyperbabble

Read the zine. Chew the fat. Sleep on it. Get back to us.


How to Read Enterzone
Colophon
Disclaimers
About the Authors
Enterzone Home Page