World's First True E-Novels 1996: Documented History
 Neon Blue Fiction (NBF) 1996. In April or May 1996, Brian Callahan and I published our first website. This was Neon Blue Fiction, dedicated to publishing mystery, suspense, and thriller fiction. At first, we merely had one page with some text on it. A week later, Brian had figured out how to post an image. That image, as best I recall, was the Neon Blue or Neon Blue Fiction logo which I created with my limited skills and tools (seen here at left). The original 1996 website is not available, but the final product (before Brian moved on to his own new project Sighco.com) dating to 2001 or later is here: Neon Blue Fiction. We figured out how to post HTML pages (Brian's functions including webmaster and technical guru), and soon had a second page up. On that page, we posted links to a growing set of fiction by John Argo (me). These included short stories as well as chapters from my novel Neon Blue (originally written 1987; in 2014 also published as Girl, Unlocked, Clocktower Books). All this fiction is again available at Neon Blue Fiction as in 1996.
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Friends of the Project 1996. Among the friends witnessing the 1996 publication of Neon Blue Fiction and The Haunted Village were K.B., L.F., and J.J. All three were employed at the same software firm as Brian and I during this period. Each is invited to contact JTC as indicated near top of this page. Brian left that firm for another in 1996, and I left in early 1997. I'd love to hear from our friends again, since they will undoubtedly have some historically valuable memories and insights of that period.
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 Since 1996: Pioneers in Digital Publishing Clocktower Books launched in 1996 as Clocktower Fiction, the world's first online digital download publisher of book-length, proprietary (not public domain) novels (interpolating from timelines, like this one, which is missing some important milestones including our own launch). We were pioneers during the halcyon genesis days of the World Wide Web, when digital publishing was as yet virgin territory, and wide open to innovation. We were first in history to release entire proprietary novels (in weekly serial chapters, 1996-1997) namely Heartbreaker (SF) and Neon Blue (Suspense), both by John Argo. You can find us mentioned long ago on the Wayback Machine and elsewhere. For a decade, we published what was then the acclaimed (Web's oldest), professional digital SF/F/H magazine (Deep Outside/Far Sector SFFH)—see [About] and [Museum]. We continue to innovate with the same exciting view of the future.
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