Forsyth makes net debut

Frederick Forsyth will publish five stories over four month

Thriller writer Frederick Forsyth has published his latest work exclusively on the internet.

Readers can log on to buy and digest his latest collection of short stories, Quintet.

I have never seen an eBook but I have never seen a Formula One racing engine either

Frederick Forsyth

The author is following the lead of US horror writer Stephen King, who has been writing a novel chapter by chapter on the internet.

Mr Forsyth's new work is published by Online Originals, a British company which has so far mainly dealt with first time authors.

The five stories which make up Quintet - The Veteran, The Miracle, The Citizen, The Art of the Matter and Draco - are being published separately over the next four months.

Each story costs the reader £1.99 and can be read on a home computer or downloaded onto a handheld computer.

Coding software has been put in place to prevent copying.

'Techno-peasant'

"Online publishing will be a large part of the future," writes Forsyth on the Online Originals website.

"It creates a simple and above all fast and direct linkage between original producer (author) and ultimate consumer (reader), with very few intermediaries."

He added: "It is exciting to be going down this road.

"I am a techno-peasant. I have never seen an eBook. But I have never seen a Formula One racing engine either. I nevertheless accept that they really can shift."

Stephen King's online publishing effort has been a success after he vowed to continue writing only if readers continued to pay $1 per chapter.

More than 75% of readers who downloaded the chapters have paid the writer.