All this happened, more or less.

British publisher Penguin Books may have the answer--a Web-based, collaborative novel that can be written, edited or read by anyone anywhere thanks to "wiki" software, the technology behind Web encyclopedia Wikipedia.

The novel, A Million Penguins, went live on Thursday and its first lines are already being written, edited and rewritten by enthusiasts on www.amillionpenguins.com.

Penguin, which embarked on the project with a group of creative writing and new media students, says it is using the novel as a test of whether a group of disparate and diverse people can create a "believable fictional voice."