What Is Aleatory Fiction?

Aleatory fiction is the technique whereby the narrative can be presented in a different order to different readers based on their choice or some randomizing element. This is as opposed to tabular fiction, where multiple, independent narrative lines are presented simultaneously to the reader, and a garden of forking paths, where the narrative splits and forces the reader to choose. We look at shuffled books in a box, author instructions for mixing up the reading order, and video series presented in variable order. Examples include Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar, The Unfortunates by B. S. Johnson, Heart Suit by Rober Coover, Kaleidoscope, The Prisoner, and yes, Star Wars.