Phone novel is the fiction that can only be read on cell phones. SMS, E-mail and Java application are the main ways to give form to a phone novel. Java application gives the most compact design in these methods. The first phone novel was published in 2004 in Japan, titled ‘Deep Love’ written by Yoshi. Later, phone novels caught on in Korea, China and Switzerland. Phone novels are also called Mobile novels, Cell phone novels and Mobile fiction. In November 2004 an attempt was made in India by a man called Ro Gue to create a SMS novel-Cloak Room- in English by sending 16 SMS to customers. But the attempt was stopped without a real ending.
The first phone novel to be released in any Indian language is Neelakkannukal (Blue Eyes) written & presented by P.R.Harikumar, a lecturer in Malayalam, Sree Sankara College, Kalady. The size of the novel with all its six chapters is 70KB. This is embedded in a screen as a Java Application. Any Java enabled mobile phone is qualified enough for reading this Malayalam novel in its small screen. No other program or font is needed for the purpose. The story depicted in this novel-Neelakkannukal-is about a lady teacher who travels in wrong ways due to her ill-fated life conditions. The mental agony she feels due to the same is beautifully pictured in the novel. To give chance to experience the nature of his works, he has already distributed 600 copies of this phone novel free of cost among the Malayalam readers worldwide. The novel was well received worldwide by the Malayalam community.
Earlier, Harikumar has made the mobile editions of Adhyatma Ramayanam in Malayalam (340 KB in size) and Thirukkural in Tamil (110 Kb in size). Both of them made headlines in the media.
