I’ve been hacking about with the jParallax script available at webdev.stephband.info/parallax.html and pairing it up with jFlow (which I found over at http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/news/using-the-wonderful-jflow-plugin-screencast/). The first makes nice parallax effects in a window using layers that move relative to the mouse (my idea is to have a text layer in front with scenery moving behind more slowly, possibly illustrating the text as it moves along). The other is a slideshow advancer that moves the whole scene off and puts a new one in.
I’ve abused the jParallax so that the ‘landscape’ is far wider than the viewing window, so that there can be hidden text off to the right hand side that one finds only by travelling through. Having got to the end of that page one clicks into the next ‘scene’ by advancing the slide- which brings up the next parallax view. It’s still very crinky-cranky, and since I don’t actually have a clue what I’m doing the code is a mangled catastrophe. But it just about works, and I’m thinking that it’d be a nice project for a web-only work. When I’m less embarrassed about the way I’ve got it working I’ll repost with a link.