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File:  firefur.txt (aka read1st.txt and readme.1st)
Rev.:  1 
Date:  08 September 1994
Note:  For update, check OmniMedia's archive ("How to Contact the Publisher")
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---------------------
Electronic Book Title
---------------------


                  FIRE AND FUR:  THE LAST SORCERER DRAGON

                           by Roger C. Schlobin

                  (C) Copyright 1994 by Roger C. Schlobin


    ***** An Electronic Book Produced and Published By OmniMedia *****

     This Electronic Book is protected by SoftLock.  Thus, it can be freely
     distributed over all electronic networks provided it is not altered in
     any manner and all the files are included.  See the section below entitled
     "Copyright Notice and Other Terms" for more specific information.


     CAUTION TO THE READER:  Some portions of this electronic book may be
                             unsuitable for younger or more sensitive readers.



-----------------
Table of Contents
-----------------

This text file is divided into the following sections:

     Electronic Book Title  (shown above)
     Table of Contents (this section)
     Introduction
     Book Abstract
     About the Author
     If You Are a Book Reviewer
     System Requirements
     Files That Must Be Included in the Distribution Package
     How to Obtain the Electronic Book  (if some of the files are missing)
     Viewing/Installation Instructions  (for Windows 3.1 systems only)
     Copyright Notice and other Terms  (which you should read carefully)
     How to Contact the Publisher
     Refund/Warranty Policy



------------
Introduction
------------

This OmniMedia electronic book is a hypertext conversion, using the outstanding
Microsoft Windows 3.1 Help engine ("WinHelp"), of the book "Fire and Fur:  The
Last Sorcerer Dragon," by Roger C. Schlobin.

All Windows 3.1 systems can read this electronic book without any need for
special software outside of what is already provided with this electronic book.

In addition, this electronic book incorporates SoftLock technology.  Using
SoftLock, a portion of this book has been read-locked, requiring the entry of a
password (unique to your computer) to be able to read the locked portion.

However, we have kept a significant portion of this electronic book unlocked so
you can determine whether you want to purchase a password for it.  Sort of a
"try before you buy."

SoftLock makes the purchase of the password very convenient.  They provide an
automated 24-hour toll-free number to take your credit card order.  For more
complete information about SoftLock technology as used in this electronic
document, read the registration window that will appear (if you select it from
the "nag" window) when you attempt to read a locked topic.

The password for "Fire and Fur:  The Last Sorcerer Dragon" sells for $7.95.  Do
give this book a try!



-------------
Book Abstract
-------------

OmniMedia is pleased to announce the first publication anywhere of Roger C.
Schlobin's major epic fantasy and love story, "Fire and Fur:  The Last Sorcerer
Dragon."  Set in the pre-human Gobi Desert and drawing on Chinese mythology,
"Fire and Fur's..." dragons and cats feel and explore deeply human emotions and
problems in their struggle to survive.  The cats do speak, often caustically,
to a few dragons (cats can still speak but no one interests them enough to
bother anymore).  The dragons' dark desire for power and their excessive pride
lead them to terraform their home from sea to land.  Tragically, their fell
magic releases their ancient enemy and bane, the Azghun Demons.  Once the
dragons had a cadre of sorcerers to protect and defend them.  Now they have
grown lazy and dumb and there is only one strong enough to stand against the
Demons.  The last sorcerer dragon, Ao Rue, is a social misfit -- immature and
idealistic -- and his efforts for dragonkind are either very generous or very
foolish.  He is aided in his troubles and challenges by the blunt and clear-
headed silver-mackerel tabby, Mei-chou.  Interwoven throughout their epic
battles is the star-crossed and poignant story of Ao Rue's great love for the
stunning Nu-kua.


                  READERS' PRAISE FOR "FIRE AND FUR..."

". . . best dragons I've ever seen. . . cinematic descriptions. . . finally
some real love, emotion and humor in a fantasy novel. . . painfully
beautiful. . . passionate, sensual. . . loved the sarcastic cat. . .
bittersweet. . . full of action. . . awesome love scene in the
thunderstorm. . . heartbreaking. . . best adolescent hero since Catcher in
the Rye."



----------------
About the Author
----------------

Roger C. Schlobin is a professor of English at the North Central Campus of
Purdue University.  He holds a Ph.D. in Medieval Literature and Languages from
Ohio State University.  He has authored six scholarly books and edited over
fifty.  His various other publications include over one-hundred essays, various
poems, short stories, reviews, and bibliographies that range over such varied
topics as fantasy literature, pedagogy, science fiction, medieval and Arthurian
literature, feminism, shamanism, linguistics, and microcomputer hardware and
software.  He is one of the founders of the International Association for the
Fantastic in the Arts and its conference and of the "Year's Scholarship in
Science Fiction and Fantasy."  Currently, he is the editor of The Journal of
the Fantastic in the Arts.

When not writing or teaching, he dreams of a female dragon;  tinkers with
"Baby" (his souped-up 1977 Datsun 280Z);  chases great food, drink, and
riverwalks;  takes occasional photographs;  collects dragons and t-shirts;
plays computer games;  hangs out in a Northern Indiana hamlet;  and still
mourns the passing of his own silver-mackerel tabby, the great Joshua
Thunderpussy.

"Fire and Fur..." is his first novel -- a sequel is in the works -- the
characters won't leave Schlobin alone, especially the cats.

You can contact Roger C. Schlobin via e-mail at

     Internet:  enschlob@ecuvm.cis.ecu.edu
     Bitnet:    ENSCHLOB@ECUVM1

His postal address until December 20, 1994 is

     1149 Mulberry Lane, Apartment 36-A
     Greenville, NC 27858-5818

After December 20, 1994, his address will be

     1915 David Drive
     Chesterton, IN 46304



--------------------------
If You Are a Book Reviewer
--------------------------

The author has acquired a small number of voucher numbers which allow SoftLock
to give out a password at no charge to the voucher user.  The author will make
these vouchers available to book reviewers.  For more information, contact the
author (see the prior section).  Please do include your credentials.



-------------------
System Requirements
-------------------

To view this electronic book, you must have an IBM-compatible PC (386 or higher
is recommended), with VGA or better video resolution.  It must have Microsoft
Windows 3.1 installed.

This electronic book has been tested using the common color video resolutions
of VGA, 640x480x256, 800x600x256, and 1024x768x256, and so should work for
them.  For maximum clarity and readability, it is recommended that you use as
high of a video resolution as your system allows, up to 1024x768x256.  Higher
resolutions, which should be even better for reading the WinHelp file, have not
been tested.  Consult your Windows documentation for how to increase your
resolution if that is possible for your particular video card and monitor
combination.

No guarantee is given that this electronic document, especially the SoftLock
program, will work properly on succeeding versions of Windows (e.g., Windows
4.0), or with Windows 3.1 emulators (such as Windows NT or OS/2 2.x).  Contact
OmniMedia for more information about upgrades for new versions of Windows.

All further technical details mentioned in this file are specific to Windows
3.1 installations.

Three final and important notes:

First, this electronic book is written using the Arial TrueType font, which is
part of the normal installation for all Windows 3.1 systems.  If you have
removed this font from your system, for whatever reason, the file will not
appear as it was authored (though it may look similar or at least readable).
It is recommended that you reinstall the Arial TrueType font if you have
removed it from your system.

Second, a very small number of Windows users have experienced some difficulties
in properly reading all of the special text characters for reasons that are not
completely understood, though evidence points to bugs in a very early release
of Windows 3.1 (most Windows users don't have this early release).  The usual
difficulties encountered have been left and right single and double quotes not
being reproduced properly, as well as other characters not being reproduced
properly such as the copyright and trademark symbols, bullets and em-dashes.
Do contact OmniMedia if you observe any anomalies regarding characters and/or
fonts.

Third, both the background and foreground (text) colors have been hard-coded in
this WinHelp format file.  If you have color vision challenges which make it
difficult to read all or part of this document (and not because you don't like
the colors), please contact OmniMedia and special arrangements will be
considered.



-------------------------------------------------------
Files That Must Be Included in the Distribution Package
-------------------------------------------------------

firefur.hlp  --  The WinHelp file of "Fire and Fur: The Last Sorcerer Dragon"
firefur.txt  --  This file -- also may be named 'read1st.txt' or 'readme.1st'
book.ico     --  A book icon that can be used for permanent installation
softl-pw.exe --  The SoftLock executable
softlock.dll --  A required SoftLock Dynamic Link Library
commdlg.dll  --  (same)
vbrun300.dll --  (same)
cmdialog.vbx --  Another SoftLock required file



---------------------------------
How to Obtain the Electronic Book
---------------------------------

This section will outline four ways by which you can obtain this electronic
book if some or all of the required files are missing or corrupted.  For three
of the ways, you will obtain a single archive file, most likely a Zip file
(firefur.zip or something similar), which requires a dearchiver to extract the
required files, such as pkunzip.  The fourth way (on diskette) is the only
option available at this time for those who want to obtain the required files
"as is."

It is probable that other ways to obtain this and other electronic books from
OmniMedia will be implemented in the future.  Contact OmniMedia for more
information.

(Note:  Extracting the files from the single archive file is briefly discussed
        in the next section.)

1)  Via Mail Server from OmniMedia's Archive.

    It is possible to access OmniMedia's archive via e-mail.  This is a good
    method for those who have e-mail access to the Internet but don't have ftp
    access (see number 4 below for information about OmniMedia's anonymous ftp
    archive).

    In order to use this service, you must have, in addition to an unzipper
    (see next section), a uudecoder, since the binary Zip file will be
    uuencoded into an ASCII format suitable for e-mail.  Most Unix sites have a
    built-in uudecode utility, but nearly all other operating systems do not.
    Obviously, you cannot obtain a uudecoder for your platform via this e-mail
    server (since it is a binary executable), so you have to find one
    elsewhere, probably by downloading it from a local BBS (uudecoders for DOS/
    Windows do exist, but are not found at all BBS sites.)
    
    For more information on this option, send e-mail to omnimdia@netcom.com and
    request the file describing how to access Netcom's ftp mail server.

2)  From the Author on Diskette.

    The author will mail this electronic book to you on a 3.5" HD diskette.
    The files on the diskette will come dearchived and are thus "ready-to-go."
    The electronic book will still be SoftLocked.

    To obtain the diskette, send $1.50 and your mailing address to the author
    to cover materials and postage (see the section "About the Author" for his
    address).  This $1.50 will be in addition to the $7.95 needed to obtain a
    password from SoftLock, if you decide to do so.  This $1.50 is non-
    refundable (but you do get to keep the diskette and the recyclable mailer.)

3)  From Your Local BBS.

    There is no doubt that, over time, this electronic book will be distributed
    to many BBS and online services around the world.  OmniMedia will attempt
    to upload this file to Windows On Line, one of the largest Windows BBS in
    the world (phone 510-736-8343;  it does require a membership fee for
    downloading privileges.).  And once you obtain this electronic book, feel
    free to upload it to your favorite BBS (be sure to include all the files
    as listed in the section "How to Obtain the Electronic Book.").

4)  From the Internet Via Anonymous FTP.

    OmniMedia maintains an anonymous ftp archive at

    ftp.netcom.com  /pub/OmniMedia/books

    In order to directly download the files from this archive, you need to be
    on an Internet site with ftp capability.  If you don't know how to use
    anonymous ftp, consult with someone who does or study the help-file or
    manual at your site.  Be sure to type 'binary' (but leave out the single
    quotes) before issuing the get or mget command.

    In addition, OmniMedia will attempt to upload this electronic book to other
    anonymous ftp archives on the Internet, for example, the CICA archive
    (ftp.cica.indiana.edu).  You can use archie to try to locate these other
    potential sites.
    


---------------------------------
Viewing/Installation Instructions
---------------------------------

There are several ways to view, and if desired, install the WinHelp format
document on your Windows 3.1 system.  Two will be given below.  If you are not
very familiar with Windows, it is recommended that you print out this section
for step-by-step instructions.  Of course, it is also recommended that you
consult your Windows manual should any questions arise or these instructions
don't work for you.  No matter what approach you use to view this electronic
book, you must NOT change the name of the WinHelp file (firefur.hlp).  If you
do inadvertently change the filename, you won't be able to view the locked
portion of it, even with a valid password.

Within a few months of this issue of firefur.txt (dated 08 September 1994),
OmniMedia is planning to implement an easy-to-use installer oriented towards
the novice Windows user.  Check with OmniMedia for more information.

(Note:  it is probable that you downloaded or received this electronic book as
        a single archive file, probably in Zip format (look for a .zip
        extension to the file name).  If you did, you first of all need to find
        software which can extract the original files from the archive.  For
        Zip files, look for the utility pkunzip.exe (which is Shareware) or
        some other unzip utility, downloadable from many BBS and the Internet.

Now, to view this electronic book, following are two ways to do it:

1) If you just want to view the electronic book without permanent installation
   (e.g., for evaluation purposes), place ALL the files (the list of needed
   files is in the prior section), into one directory anywhere on your hard
   disk (you should be able to read it directly from a diskette but it will be
   slow).  Then, from File Manager within Windows, locate the WinHelp file
   (firefur.hlp) and click on it.  The Windows Help file viewer, winhelp.exe,
   will automatically be executed and the electronic book will be displayed.
   Enjoy!

2) For a more permanent installation with a convenient icon, it is advisable to
   first create a special directory on your hard disk and copy all the files
   into that directory.  If you acquire more books from OmniMedia in the future
   and copy their files into the same special directory, you will save on disk
   space since several files are shared in common by all of OmniMedia's
   electronic books (for example, the SoftLock DLL files).  As an example,
   which will be used for the explanation below, this directory path could be
   named C:\WINDOWS\BOOKS .

   The next step is to either select or create the program group into which you
   will place the title FIRE AND FUR (or whatever you want to call it -- it
   need not be in caps).  If you don't already have a special program group for
   electronic books, you need to create one.  To create a new program group
   which could be called, for example, OMNIMEDIA BOOKS (it need not be all in
   caps), simply go to the FILE menu of your Program Manager, select NEW ,
   PROGRAM GROUP , OK , and then in the box labeled DESCRIPTION , enter the
   string OMNIMEDIA BOOKS (or whatever else you want to call the program
   group), then press OK (leave the GROUP FILE box empty).

   Once the program group, whether old or new, is selected, then from Program
   Manager select FILE , NEW , PROGRAM ITEM , OK .  At this point, you have
   three text boxes to fill.  For the DESCRIPTION box enter FIRE AND FUR (or
   whatever else you want the application icon to be called - it need not be in
   caps);  for the COMMAND LINE box enter C:\WINDOWS\WINHELP.EXE FIREFUR.HLP ;
   for the WORKING DIRECTORY box enter C:\WINDOWS\BOOKS .  Then to select the
   icon, click on CHANGE ICON and attach the file BOOK.ICO from the directory
   C:\WINDOWS\BOOKS to this application using BROWSE to locate it.  Then, click
   OK twice to finish.

   Now, your selected program group should contain an icon of a book with the
   name FIRE AND FUR underneath it.  Just click on the book icon whenever
   you want to read it!



--------------------------------
Copyright Notice and Other Terms
--------------------------------

(The following notice also appears within the WinHelp document.)

This electronic document, "Fire and Fur:  The Last Sorcerer Dragon" (the
"TITLE") is (C) Copyright 1994 by Roger C. Schlobin (the "Author"), and is
fully protected by United States Copyright laws and international treaty
provisions.  This TITLE was produced/published by OmniMedia (the "Publisher").

Because this document is protected by SoftLock (TM) software, the Author hereby
gives all others permission to electronically duplicate and redistribute this
TITLE provided that none of the files associated with the TITLE (see above for
a complete list) are omitted and/or altered in any manner.  Some examples of
forbidden alterations to this TITLE include the disabling of the SoftLock
feature via any means, the distribution of an electronic file produced by
capturing or extracting any portion of the text, and distributing to others a
printed copy of any portion of the text.

The Author and the Publisher encourage you to distribute this document far and
wide (as outlined in the previous paragraph) so that many others can enjoy it.

This TITLE, including all files, installation programs, and documentation, is
provided "AS IS", that is, you use this title at your own risk, without
warranty of any kind.  This includes, but is not limited to, defects/errors
with the format of this TITLE as well as defects/errors in the media used to
distribute this TITLE to the supplier and/or purchaser.  The Author and the
Publisher further disclaims all implied warranties including, but not limited
to, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

In no event shall the Author, the Publisher, SoftLock Services, Inc., or any
suppliers of this TITLE be liable for any damages whatsoever (including,
without limitation, damages for lost profits, business interruptions, loss of
business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising from the use of or
inability to use the TITLE, even if the Author, the Publisher, SoftLock, and/or
the suppliers of this TITLE have been advised of the possibility of such
damages.  Because some jurisdictions do not allow exclusions or limitations of
liability for consequential or incidental damages, this limitation may not
apply to you.



----------------------------
How to Contact the Publisher
----------------------------

OmniMedia is devoted to producing only the highest quality works on most forms
of modern media.  Our current and planned offerings include

     Electronic books published in Windows 3.1 Help and Microsoft Multimedia
     Viewer formats

     Audio CD reissues (using state-of-the-art digital restoration) of early
     jazz, blues, dance and personality recordings

     Very high resolution fractal image prints.

For more information or advice about this electronic book or other OmniMedia
offerings, contact

     OmniMedia
     c/o Jon E. Noring
     1312 Carlton Place
     Livermore, CA 94550

     (510) 294-8153
     (510) 447-1771 (fax -- not always online)

     Internet:  omnimdia@netcom.com

OmniMedia's anonymous ftp archive is located at

     ftp.netcom.com  /pub/OmniMedia/books



----------------------
Refund/Warranty Policy
----------------------

Sorry, all sales are final.  The "try before you buy" feature of SoftLock
should help you decide whether or not to purchase the password necessary to
read all portions of this electronic book.  Contact OmniMedia if you have any
difficulties.



ENJOY!


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Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation.

OS/2 is a registered trademark of IBM.

SoftLock is a registered trademark of SoftLock Services, Inc.

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