10 October 2000

Welcome to release number 15 by Zaphod, proprietor of the New Age Library. We at the new age library (henceforth refered to as NAL) have as our goal the QUALITY release of classic (and some not so classic) science fiction in e-book format.

Release #15 is A Gift From Earth by Larry Niven	(We sure seem to be picking on Larry lately.)

This release was scanned, OCR's and proof read by a person who wishes to remain anonymous. It was re-formatted somewhat to fit our release format by SeaGull. It's not exactly in our format. but it's quite readable, and relatively error free (having spot checked some of our earlier releases, I'm sure not going to pick on someone else's quality:))

Some of our earlier releases were not quite up to standard. Look for updated and corrected versions in the future, with better cover scans.

Speaking of cover scans, the cover scan in this release was done by the same anonymous person. Many thanks for your contribution.

SeaGull has spent the last three days evaluating OCR software, and evaluating our scanning/proofreading procdures, in an effort to reduce errors. As a side effect, he reduced the work required to produce a scan greatly. SeaGull shelled out a little over 1000 bucks (Canadian...about $700US these days) of his own money for two new scanners, a pile of hardcover SF books, and a nice big 19' monitor for proofreading.
Unfortunately, the scanning process involves destroying the original paper copy, and only works well with hardocvers, so we plan to haunt every used bookstore between here and Montreal to find all those old classics. If you have any old hardcover SF books you want to see in etext format, and don't want back, e-mail any member of NAL.
We will be finishing ongoing projects that have been started from scanned paperbacks. If you are a proofreader, finish up what you have and send it back. New projects will done by the new procedure, which results in less than one OCR error per page of scanned text (we can nearly release the raw OCR text as the finished product!). Proof readers will be e-mailed complete works (unless it's huge) in the future.

Note by SeaGull: Looks like we stubbed our dicks with release #9, Neutron Star. As I was happily spreading it throughout the 'net, I found a copy that somebody else had scanned. Ah well, ours is better quality. If anybody has a list of what's out there in the e-text world (SF only) mail it to me, seagull26@hotmail.com , or Zophar at zopharnal@hotmail.com. BTW, people, stop taking the nfo file out of our release packages. None of us give a flying damn about the credit, but this is where we advertise for proof readers/scanners. If you keep taking them out, we'll start inserting it into the text...
The Footfall project will probably NOT be ready for release by the end of the week..the raw OCR was pretty ugly, and full of errors. Fiddling with it produced only a marginal improvement, so if you have one of the proof files for Footfall, do the best you can to fix that mess, and take our word for it that future proofs will be of much better quality.

FAQs:

Q:	What do you mean by quality?
A:	Many (if not most) of the scans we've seen are unformatted raw text files, fresh from the scanner. OCR errors make the reading experience much less enjoyable. Our releases are spell checked, proof read, and compared to the original for an absolute minimum of errors. In addition, cover scans will be included with each release, and each release will come in two flavours...Word for Windows, and plain old text.

Q:	Can I download this file if I don't own a paper copy?
A:	No. Buy the book ya cheap bastid. The e-book versions are intended solely as a back-up copy for the personal use of those entitled to have a copy (ie: those who have made sure the author got paid). If you don't have the paper copy, delete this file now.

Q:	Isn't scanning, proof-reading, etc a hell of a lot of work?
A:	Yes, it is. If you want to help NAL, contact Zophar at zopharnal@hotmail.com. Put NAL as the subject of your e-mail, or it will be ignored.
NAL is looking for members with scanners, a large SF library, a good OCR proggy (which we can supply), and some time to dedicate to preserving classic SF. If you don't own a scanner, you can still help as a proof reader. Mail Zophar. We are particularly interested in proof readers who own the dead tree editions (ie: paper) of ongoing projects, since it helps enormously to have the paper copy as a reference when proof reading (see the 'What's next for release' list below.) Proof readers will be e-mailed approximately 100 pages of the raw OCR text, and are expected to remove page headers and footers, spell check, correct OCR errors, correct formatting errors, and return the proof read text in a timely manner (generally within 7 days of getting it). If you have a favourite book you would like to see in e-text format, mail Zophar with a request. Requests that are accompanied by a proof read text file will be given priority..:)

Note by SeaGull: At present we are re-evaluating our software and our procedures for scanning and proof-reading, thanks to a few helpful suggestions from various people. The goal is to make the raw scans as error free as possible...those of you working on the Footfall project will be especially glad to NOT see another raw text with 20-30 errors per page...and no more damn headers and footers.
(In our defence, the only dead-tree copy we could find was in pretty bad shape...)

Q:	What's next on the release list?
A:	The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You by Harry Harrison
Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Telempath by Spider Robinson
Vault of the Ages by Poul Anderson
Time Pressure by Spider Robinson
Night of Power by Spider Robinson
Gateway (and the other four Heechee books) by Frederick Pohl
Time Enough for Love by Robert A Heinlein
A Jungle of Stars by Jack L Chalker
The Well World Series (all 5 of 'em) by Jack L Chalker
Rocket Ship Galileo by Robert A Heinlein
Nightfall by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg
Battle Circle (released as three novels) by Piers Anthony
Cities in Flight by James Blish
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
The Genesis Machine by James P Hogan
Farnham's Freehold by Robert A heinlein
The Past Through Tommorrow (Short Story Collection) by RAH
The Avatar by Poul Anderson

Q:	What has NAL released so far?
A:	Voyage from Yesteryear by James P Hogan
The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Spirals (Short Story) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Double Star by Robert A Heinlein
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Callahan's Lady by Spider Robinson
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein
The Door Into Summer by Robert A Heinlein
Neutron Star (Short Story) by Larry Niven
Relic of the Empire (Short Story) by Larry Niven
Friday by Robert A Heinlein
Callahan's Legacy by Spider Robinson
The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell by Harry Harrison
Neutron Star (Short Story Collection) by Larry Niven
A Gift From Earth by Larry Niven

Q:	Where can I get NAL releases?
A:	Try #bookwarez on DalNet or GalaxyNet, or alt.binaries.e-books on usenet. All NAL releases are regularly posted to usenet. After what happened to the Bookwarez site a while back, we'll pass on www.

Q:	Who IS NAL anyway?
A:	Zaphod, Zophar and SeaGull. If you have a collecton of (preferably hard-cover-they scan much better) science fiction, a scanner, and some time on your hands, e-mail zopharnal@hotmail.com for membership details.