The Vertical Plane
by Ken Webster · first published 1989
3mentions
0recommended by
2HN commenters
2022first – last mentioned
100% neutral
For a period of two years, Ken Webster found himself in the extraordinary position of corresponding directly with an individual who had lived on the site of his own cottage four centuries earlier. The correspondence began with messages left on his home computer on the kitchen table, and ended with communications scrawled directly onto paper. Fully prepared for some form of elaborate hoax, Webster found to his consternation that the language of the messages tallied precisely with 16th century English usage. The Vertical Plane is a riveting personal experience of an inexplicable fault in the
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
…years but this triggered that. As a work of non-fiction it is dubious, but it's a fun read as a work of fiction. Now, wholly unrelated, but also a fun dubious as non-fiction but fun as fiction book: The Vertical Plane by Ken Webster which alleges that for 2 years in the 1980s messages from the 16th century and the future would appear on the author's BBC Micro computer with some interaction.
on “What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?” ↗Tomas Moore's account of the events covered in The Vertical Plane have never been found (1 copy, handwritten in latin, hidden for safekeeping). Where is Tomas’s own account, his book that was finished at Oxford and left somewhere in manuscript? We never forget that…
on “Could the greatest works of literature be undiscovered?” ↗It's not the greatest book but it was one I do not regret posting. They covered it on the Mysterious Universe podcast years ago which put it on my radar. Same with The Vertical Plane although, fortunately for people now, it's been re-printed so you don't have to pay an obscene amount for a copy of VP like I did.
on “What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book?” ↗