Early in 2025, I began an experiment: Could the tools of modern digital transparency (GitHub, Version Control, Plain Text) be used to explore the mechanisms of historical silence?
Friction is a trilogy of "archival fictions." These aren't standard novels; they are constructed as recovered materials—transcripts, internal memoranda, and redacted journals—presented in a format that mirrors the scholarly and documentary forms they interrogate.
The three works explore different ways history is "edited":
Operation Seamless: A fictional Victorian archive detailing a systematic effort to erase a 1888 incident from the City of London Police records.
Victoria Unpublished: A study of the "editorial shaping" of Queen Victoria’s journals—exploring how a public voice is engineered through omission.
The Scalpel Slipped: A narrative of the 1914 collapse, framed around the diplomatic precision of withholding intelligence to trigger a "necessary" catastrophe.
Why GitHub?
Recorded history is often treated as a static fact, but it is a curated output. By hosting these on GitHub, I wanted the "version control" of the site to act as a metaphor for the way history is edited, positioned, and delayed. The use of Markdown allows the stories to be lightweight, future-proof, and accessible as plain text—prioritizing content over "book-like" aesthetics.
The License:
I’ve dedicated the entire repository to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). I believe stories that examine the "ownership" of history should belong to everyone.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this "Git-based" approach to storytelling, or any discussions on the ethics of the archive.
a-breidenthal•1d ago
Why GitHub? Recorded history is often treated as a static fact, but it is a curated output. By hosting these on GitHub, I wanted the "version control" of the site to act as a metaphor for the way history is edited, positioned, and delayed. The use of Markdown allows the stories to be lightweight, future-proof, and accessible as plain text—prioritizing content over "book-like" aesthetics.
The License: I’ve dedicated the entire repository to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). I believe stories that examine the "ownership" of history should belong to everyone.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this "Git-based" approach to storytelling, or any discussions on the ethics of the archive.