THE LAST SHIPMENT: PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW

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    The following is a review of the last shipment of Public Domain
    Disks ordered and received from Megadisc.  I ordered 10 disks,
    (plus the free one) and suggested that I could review Misc 161
    "Deus Ex Machina".

    Tim promptly sent me 12 disks.

    My review of Misc 161 "Deus Ex Machina" is on another file as it's
    really a book review.

    So what did I think of the other 11 disks????

		MISC 158 A-E (five disks) Occult Text

    These five (independent) disks contain a total of 268 text only
    files relating to Occult matters.  None of these are bizzare,
    demonic, or world shatteringly important to anyone other than a
    right nut case.

    They are in effect downloads from many networks in the related
    topics of witchcraft, magic, and other earth magic stuff.  Some of
    the files are copies of excerpts from the American press on such
    issues.  Some relate to CIA release of previously Secret Files,
    mostly dealing with brainwashing, and hypnosis.  There is a number
    of poems and songs to gods, godesses and other such beings.  There
    are also some rather bawdy songs written to popular or religious
    tunes.

    The Wicca Church promotes itself through releases like those that
    appear on these disks and there are fictions of witchcraft, magic
    and yes SEX.  Crystals get a look in as well as some fairly
    involved rituals for Ceremonial Magic.

    A number of the files are copies of each other in different
    formats especially the poetry and short story files.  I also
    noticed a couple of files with PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA references,
    this is an extremely long and well written joke file.

    Overall this is not an essential collection of disks, but for
    anyone interested in such, it provides a wide selection of curious
    reading material and an insight into some of the "outer fringe"
    cults and beliefs.  I doubt that anyone other than a extremely
    devout (recognizable religious fanatic) would be offended by this
    material, and some of the poetry and stories are quite good.  If
    nothing else it could be considered a primer to comparitive
    religious studies.


		MISC 159 Humour

    Another text only disk but this contains:

    The full PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA text in one file, a couple of rougher
    (crude) texts and a number of smaller joke texts, almost long
    enough to be anecdotes.

    In a separate directory marked Dan Barrett are two more drawers,
    one contains 22 files of the BLAZEMONGER series of joke echos sent
    around the USA some years ago the other contains a similar range
    of joke files concerning the Amiga, Commodore and related
    material.  One particularly clever file is the new "WB0.0"

    The entire disk spans a range from, innane, clever, amusing, rough
    to downright funny and if nothing else should be bought for the
    Principia file and at $2.50 for subscribers, a bargain.

	MISC 144 and MISC 151  (AMSMAG Jul'92 & Aug'92)

    These are New Zealand's equivalent Magazine on a disk for the
    Amiga community.  Unfortunately to produce a magazine with a
    graphic displayer of the quality of Mark Gladding's Magnetic Pages
    you are left with a lot less disk space than Megadisc.

    To their credit, however, the disks contain a number of very high
    quality graphics, some good reviews and reports and Magnetic Pages
    makes reading a little like a paper mag.  I would hope that they
    get the support they deserve especially in New Zealand for what is
    a very professional styled production.


	FONTS 9 A, B & C - Colour Fonts

    This is a three disk pack of Colour Fonts, the type for use in
    programs like DPaint (after you run the ColorText program).

    These disks contain over 90 seperate fonts, although some are the
    same font in a different colour range, and a few have two or three
    sizes available.  There are enough variations here to keep you
    going for ages selecting the appropriate font and anyone using
    DPaint to produce titles for video etc will have a ball.

    A couple of the fonts only come in upper or lower case but with
    the price of commercial fonts being what they are this is a great
    selection of cheap, display size (35 - 50 pts in most cases) fonts
    which should cover the majority of uses.  All the fonts are good
    quality but I liked the Tristar one best.

    If you have a paint program like DPaint I would recommend these
    three disks as essential as clip art is for the not quite
    artistic.  Also at this price $7.50 for three disks buy NOW!!!!


    Paul Statham
    Lakemba

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