What's new: Solo Publishing presents The Jasper Keyboard

Robb Auspitz (Cato_Brown@msn.com)
Fri, 22 Mar 96 03:49:51 UT

SOLO PUBLISHING

NEW ELECTRONIC BOOK ANNOUNCED

For Immediate Release

March 21, 1996

Contact: Robb Auspitz
Solo Publishing
215-643-7993
e-mail address: Cato2@aol.com
e-mail address: Catobrown@gnn.com

Fort Washington, PA; February 6, 1996 - Solo Publishing is pleased to announce
the release of The Jasper Keyboard, a novel written by Robb Auspitz. This
satiric look at the personal computer business is the first offering of a new
line of electronic books published in Adobe Acrobat format by Solo Publishing.
The Jasper Keyboard will sell for $11.95 and is distributed on the World Wide
Web through the Electronic Marketplace at http://www.emrkt.com/jasper/.

The Jasper Keyboard is the story of how a young software outlaw, Cato Brown,
discovered, stole, and brought to the marketplace the greatest advance in the
history of personal computers.

Robb Auspitz has spent the better part of the last thirteen years working as a
personal computer consultant and writing technical manuals. The Jasper
Keyboard is his first novel and his first electronically published work.

Solo Publishing is a new company designed specifically to publish books
electronically. Instead of purchasing a printed book at a retail location or
via mail-order the consumer uses her credit card to purchase the electronic
book from our website, located at; http://www.emrkt.com/jasper/. Immediately
after the transaction has been initiated the electronic book is downloaded to
the customer's computer.

Each book is in Adobe Acrobat format and can be read with the Adobe Acrobat
Reader on the Windows or Mac platform. Included in your download are two
Acrobat files that give you the option of reading the book on your computer or
printing it out.

The "read on the screen" file will be formatted in an 8 1/2" by 5 1/2"
landscape format and is designed to be read on a monitor. The "read on paper"
file will be in the standard 8 1/2" by 11" format and is designed to be
printed out. Both .PDF files contain the same exact story, word for word.

For more information plase feel free to contact Robb Auspitz via e-mail at
Cato2@aol.com.

-30-

An excerpt from The Jasper Keyboard:

Cato smiled to himself and walked up a short set of steps onto a porch to an
impressive pair of polished Mahogoney doors. Before he could ring the bell,
the doors creaked open and there stood Mysterioso. Edgar and Johnny's
description of the Doctor did not do justice to how absolutely ghoulish their
new friend looked in this setting. He was dressed entirely in purple. His
long black hair was tied in a pony-tail set off to one side. Mysterioso was a
very gaunt and angular six-five, yet he gave the impression of quick and
precise movement. What really floored Cato was the skin: luminous,
translucent and very, very pale. Not at all what you would expect from a
person from that part of the world. Perhaps he was an albino of some type.
Edgar and Johnny of all people should have seen that.
"Hello, Meester Brown. Let me shake jour hand. I am glad jou made it." Cato
shook his hand but did not feel comfortable with the Doctor. Something here
felt very, very wrong.
"Meester Brown, let me show jou to de discovery of de ages." The two men
walked down a long, dim hallway. The hallway seemed like it was longer than
the outside of the castle would allow. They turned a corner and walked up a
circular, oak staircase. At the top of the stairs, one could see a large open
doorway.
The two men entered the room which immediately became illuminated with a
coldish, white light. Cato looked around and was a little taken away by the
furnishings. Large metallic, abstract, key shaped mobiles covered the walls.
The light seemed to come from behind the mobiles but one could not be sure.
Very thick plush deep purple carpeting covered the floor. Furniture was
almost non-existent. A metallic chair here, a metallic table there. Next to
a very large, unfurnished window was the strangest computer Cato had ever
seen. While the CPU was a fairly normal looking box, the keyboard had no keys
and the monitor was a clear, acrylic looking cube with an iridescent glow to
it.
"Mysterioso, what is that?"
"Meester Brown, I tawt jou would never ask. Dat is de Jasper Keyboard."
"Well, what is that transparent cube next to it?"
"Dat ees Television."
Cato began to let his impatience show. "Well, where's the monitor?"
Mysterioso looked Cato right in the eye. "Dat ees de Monitor."
Cato was floored. Television. He had never heard that term before.
Television. His impatience took over as he snapped at Mysterioso. "Well,
what does television do? What does any of this do?"
Mysterioso smiled. He knew that Cato was hooked. Hooked on the Jasper
Keyboard. Hooked on Television.
"Meester Brown, please sit down in front of my computer. Let me give you a
demonstration."