Bigger Than What’s in The Box: ‘A Feather In Dust’ (Serial Review)

In the world of immersive, there is a fine art to playing with ephemera — those notes, and props that are collectable, and useful in passing in the telling of a story. Overused, they become a meaningless touchstone or an easily discarded souvenir; unused, and there’s a missed opportunity to plant a seed of interest or better yet, to lay out a tale like a specimen to be examined, or a puzzle to be put together.

When venturing into the “At Home Box” experience, the ability to carefully curate a box of seemingly disparate items and documents, turning them into a mosaic of narrative is front and center. If creators are able to line things up right, you can get a resonating piece of art.

A Feather In Dust opens with something approaching art.

A Feather In Dust is a monthly subscription box from The Boundless Library consisting of six parts, made of packages filled with beautiful, detailed, notes, scraps, relics and other pieces, but also emails, podcasts, and historical tidbits. It is, on the surface, the story of a woman born with wings as she finds her way as a circus performer in the Dust Bowl during The Great Depression; however, if the first installment is any indication, it’s a much larger, more sprawling tale.

The conceit is this: The Librarian of the Unfathomable Mind has enlisted you and your curiosity to help complete a book that only ever existed in the author’s imagination so that it can be properly catalogued in their Gaimanesque library.

However, when the book is passed to our dimension, it changes and breaks apart — with the fantastical elements overlapping with events and memories from the author’s own life that shape her story. It is up to you (with help from the Librarian) to untangle and discover the parallel narratives.

Mailing #1

Opening the first mailing is almost overwhelming — in the best way possible — with documents, letters, and artwork that beg to be poured over, handled and, in some cases, translated. However, unlike some box experiences, this isn’t a puzzle in the strictest sense. It is more like an incredibly fascinating research project and you are the chief research assistant going through primary sources, which include things such as physician’s reports, bills of lading, letters, and news clippings.

It’s in these documents that I find my biggest hurdle: small print and handwritten notes. Indeed, there is a beautiful artistry in creating notes that appear written in cursive script, and it’s true to the time in which the story takes place; however, as handwritten letters and writing in cursive are going out of vogue, so is the practice of reading cursive penmanship — more so when it’s written in particularly small script. While not an insurmountable issue, it forced me to slow down my dive into the physical pieces of the story.

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While the ephemera in the mailing is a good chunk of the tale, it is the digital bits that truly bring the entire experience together — filling gaps in the narrative by providing more substance and background on the contents of the mailing. We are taken from early Soviet Ukraine, to the farmlands of Canada in sweeping, poetic turns. The superbly written and well-acted pod plays often evoke the feeling of getting a one-on-one in a live production; meanwhile, the historical notes offer solid context to the story, adding even more veracity to the documents that comprise this installment.

Chapter 1 of A Feather In Dust manages to strike that careful balance of discovery and narrative in all the bits and pieces of an ephemera heavy experience, so that all the pieces feel relevant, real and engaging. It’s a great hook into a much bigger story.

Mailing #2

One of the magical effects that come from A Feather In Dust is that much of the story, so far, is told through smaller stories, short bits and pieces from many different points of view, almost Rashamon in nature. As the story progresses through Chapter 2, we aren’t really learning the tale through the writer’s own words, but more from those that encounter her on her journeys. The enjoyable trick here is in learning more of the author’s journey, we simultaneously learn more of the character’s journey.

The second mailing of A Feather In Dust takes us further into the 1930s Dust Bowl, this time into a town in South Dakota, and into a modern day podcast on Depression Era Circuses. This entry is filled with some lovely watercolor artwork from the hand of a talented youth, a bit of sheet music written in a now familiar script, a rustic take on a friendship bracelet, hidden notes and a unique contract.

Far less overwhelming than the premiere mailing, but still full of artifacts to explore, this chapter of A Feather In Dust brings the digital pieces more to the forefront, with more insight into the Author’s story taking place in the recordings — the powerful journal of a young boy’s awkward coming of age on the edge of the Dust Bowl taking center ring. Meanwhile, the story of the winged woman is becoming more present in the ephemera, as her story journeys more into the fanciful.

Chapter 2 of A Feather In Dust successfully expands on the growing narrative by untangling our two main characters’ realities by where their stories are more fully told, subtly reframing the internal narrative, while still keeping their tales tied to one another in a multi-faceted, enjoyable way.

Return soon for Mailing #3.

The Boundless Library launched a Kickstarter campaign for two new experiences on November 15th, 2021, and rewards include a subscription to A Feather In Dust and other of their services.

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