I have to agree with Mark Amerika's verdict that much of the exciting hypertext being created these days is by women. The only problem I encountered in writing an overview was choosing who to include. More than a little appropriately in a discussion of hypertext, space and time also became limitations. As a result, I have only included in-depth reviews of five feminist hypertextualists here, not because they are the only worthy ones, but because for a variety of reasons they seem to embody the spirit of the second and third generations of hypertext. Each of their texts is revolutionary in its own particular way, and their forms have informed my study. This is the essence of hypertext.

Each one of these texts creates its own world, a multidimensional honeycomb, that is a closed system and a language game. This is the sweet paradox in an open form, "performative" (Joyce, 1991, 84 and Douglas 183) and collective in its interactive nature. These feminist hypertexts are organized around controlling metaphors and the hum from their hives is a fragrance where the structural "system and thought interact, shaping each other" (Joyce, 1991, 80). So, while each feminist hypertext is unique unto itself, occupying its own cell in the hypertextual hive, many of them investigate a similar honeycomb of concerns especially well-suited to hypertext--like the nature of space, time, gender and language. These artists, however, are also queen bees of their world, and make radical choices in shaping strikingly individual honeycombs distinct in form. These are masterbuilders who, through privileging subjectivity, use their personal visions and philosophies in startling combinations with their skills as visual artists, writers, programmers, theorists, etc. (Needless to say, most hypertextualists seem to be proficient in several areas and blend their abilities together so seamlessly that it is often difficult to say what their primary art form is.)

Because I was not able to talk about all of them, with difficulty, I chose. I decided not to examine hypertexts created by visual artists (Olia Lialina, Jin-Me Yoon, Cheryl Sourkes, Pascale Trudel, Leah Lazariuk--to name only a few) where the focus falls on the image more than the word. I also chose to eliminate from my discussion feminist criticism that enacts its own philosophy through hypertext (Diane Greco, Marta Werner, Lee Libby, Michelle Glaros, Nancy Kaplan). Instead I have concentrated mostly on fiction, radical narrative and/or multimedia explorations and on literary concerns. I have also looked at primarily Canadian and American authors to ensure accessiblity in English for BeeHive's readers. It should not matter that I am writing from north of the American border with electronic work knowing no such boundaries, but hypertext with its structure of ruptures, edges and fragmentation embodies a particularly Canadian sensibility. Since I am a scholar of Canadian literature, I have let my field deliberately inform my choices.

Again, the same holds for the themes I have chosen as it did for the texts, for, there are many others that I could have settled on, but these are the thematic interests that seem to be the most pervasive or that are most effective to my eyes. Often these controlling metaphors are used by these authors as subversive discourses to interrogate and/or make explicit feminist issues. And, finally, I should say that I have defined 'feminism' as loosely as possible to include a wide variety of agendas.