For those aspiring writers at Penn State, a new online magazine will give students an arena to show off their work. Local publishing company Sisyphus Press will launch its online literary magazine today.

Babel Magazine will feature works by local unknown writers, some of whom are Penn State students. There will be new editions released every week, with the second edition of Babel already slated for a Feb. 21 release date.

The magazine's creator and local author Victor Thorn came up with the idea for the online magazine at book signings last year while promoting his novel, The End of Fiction. He found many people in the area enjoyed writing but did not have anywhere to go with it.

"It confirmed that a lot of people who write really don't have a release or outlet for it," Thorn said.

Prompted by this, Thorn put flyers around the campus to develop interest in a possible project to showcase these local artists. After receiving numerous responses, Thorn decided to go forward with his idea and create what would become Babel.

The magazine is named after the legendary tower that scattered people in many directions and created different languages.

Thorn similarly wants his Babel to comprise "a bunch of different voices" and hopes to combat the exclusion he experienced in the literary industry.

The works featured online are filled with strong emotion and "come from the gut" as Thorn wanted.

He hopes the writings encompass a wide variety of emotions and topics, further promoting his idea of inclusion over exclusion.

"We want to get it as loud as we can," Thorn said.

As the Web site indicates, however, Babel does reserve the right to censor any works that may offend others.

With today's launch, Thorn hopes more people will become aware of Babel and begin to submit writing samples. Other than increasing the amount of writers featured, there are no specific plans for the magazine's future.

Thorn is also the creator of the publishing company Sisyphus Press, which most recently released his latest work, Return to Eternity.

It is one of the first novels to be released on a CD-ROM, combining computer graphics and music with a narrative. Thorn also published Artistic Decline in 1992.

This summer, Sisyphus Press plans on releasing Of Chastity, which it described as an "orally narrated novel."

Those who wish to be featured on Babel can contact Thorn via his e-mail address on the Sisyphus Press Web site (www.victorthorn.com).