Frotz isn’t exactly an ereader app–so I can’t compare it to the other apps–as it’s a program that runs interactive fiction (IF) rather than ebooks. IF is a niche within a niche, sort of a cross between Choose Your Own Adventure books and old point and click computer games like

For such an old medium, there are  a large amount of IF pieces still being programmed, and many are creative and well written. The genre is kept alive by a vibrant fan community, and you can find most any available IFs through their Interactive Fiction DataBase. Some of the writing reads a bit fan-fictional in quality, but much of it is surprisingly good. Awesomely, Frotz comes with 25 of the most popular IF titles preloaded. Plus, it can connect automatically and easily to the IFDB, allowing you to download and read/play on your device virtually ever IF title available

The basic gist of an IF is that you’ll get an opening segment (sometimes as short as a sentence or paragraph, sometimes much longer) to read, then be left to complete the story by typing in prompts, such as “walk north” or “enter the church”. There are usually clues embedded in the writing towards options you can choose, and if you ever get stuck, you can type “help” for a list of common prompts. Here’s a sample from Anchorhead:

Outside the Real Estate Office

A grim little cul-de-sac, tucked away in a corner of the claustrophobic tangle of narrow, twisting avenues that largely constitute the older portion of Anchorhead. Like most of the streets in this city, it is ancient, shadowy, and leads essentially nowhere. The lane ends here at the real estate agent’s office, which lies to the east, and winds its way back toward the center of town to the west. A narrow, garbage-choked alley opens to the southeast.

>go east

(opening the real estate office door first)

It seems to be locked.

>kick the door

You’re not here to vandalize the place.

>walk southeast

Alley

This narrow aperture between two buildings is nearly blocked with piles of rotting cardboard boxes and overstuffed garbage cans. Ugly, half-crumbling brick walls to either side totter oppressively over you. The alley ends here at a tall, wooden fence.

High up on the wall of the northern building there is a narrow, transom-style window.

In the distance, you can hear the lonesome keening of a train whistle drifting on the wind.

Overhead, the swollen clouds flicker ominously with a greenish haze of sheet lightning.

>climb the fence

The fence is much too high to climb.

>go north

The window is too high.

>look in the garbage can

You are not about to go digging through garbage.

>go back northwest

Outside the Real Estate Office

A grim little cul-de-sac, tucked away in a corner of the claustrophobic tangle of narrow, twisting avenues that largely constitute the older portion of Anchorhead. Like most of the streets in this city, it is ancient, shadowy, and leads essentially nowhere. The lane ends here at the real estate agent’s office, which lies to the east, and winds its way back toward the center of town to the west. A narrow, garbage-choked alley opens to the southeast.

>go west

Narrow Street

As the lane winds along from east to west, it narrows until the steep, jagged rooftops on either side of the street practically touch each other. To the south, a side street leads across Whateley Bridge toward the center of town, and a twisting lane leads up a hill to the northwest. A short flight of steps to the north leads down to the local watering hole.

>enter the door north

You close your umbrella, as is your habit after coming indoors.

Local Pub

A dank, drafty old drinking hole lit by flickering, oil-burning lanterns. Smoke collects in greasy pools among the rafters, and shadows crowd thick around. The bar runs the length of the room to your right, while to the south a low doorway opens onto the street.

Mill workers and fishermen occupy a few of the tables, drinking beer or puffing grimly at long-stemmed pipes. Each is wrapped in his solitude, soaking up the general miasma of dreary fatalism.

The lantern sitting on the table nearest you sputters fitfully, throwing distorted shadows across the wall.

>talk to a fisherman

(about Michael’s family)

Suddenly, although you wouldn’t have thought it possible, the pub becomes even more icily silent. Even the lantern flames seem to pause their flickering. The nearest of the locals turns toward you, squinting through eyes like black glass embedded in his ancient leathery skin. His lips barely seem to move beneath his salt-encrusted beard.

“Some things best left alone by outsiders, ma’am,” he rasps. “Some things best left alone by decent folk altogether.”

Back in one of the darker corners, someone spits deliberately on the floor.

And then all eyes are back on their beer. It’s as if you didn’t exist at all.

>

This highlights the creativity of many of these (if you really want creative try Lost Pig, it’s quite funny), but also the biggest flaw: if you can’t figure out what to do, it can get frustrating quickly. It’s too bad that this happens, because once you get going in some of these stories, they can prove to be quite rewarding narratives in their own right. The “help” prompt usually will give you a good nudge in the right direction (or at least a direction, as the narrative don’t necessarily have a single end point). After you get through one, you’ll find many of the the same techniques work across all IFs, and they become quicker and easier to navigate, and thus richer reading experiences.  You’ll also be quite amazed at just how many individual verbs and nouns the scripts recognize and react to, especially in some of the more creative works, such as the aforementioned Lost Pig (which is one of the stories preloaded onto Frotz).

Lost Pig is my favorite so far, though I haven't done nearly enough exploring of the genre yet.

So while not an ereader app per se, Frotz does provide a satisfying mobile reading experience. The typing is easy as emailing and the formatting never seems to be an issue. Frotz is a free (and ad-free) download from the app store, and all the IFs are free to download as well, so it is certainly worth investigating.  Like books, some IFs are more complicated than others, and some are just plain better than others. Here’s a list of some of the best choices for wading into IF, which will give you a good idea of where to start and what some of these narrative involve. If you’ve got a bit of time on your hands, it’s definitely worth checking out Frotz and IF, if only to get a glimpse of how writing genres way outside the mainstream are still thriving. With any luck, IF’s iPhone presence is a small steps toward a resurgence of the genre, perhaps blooming once the Great eReader Adoption occurs.