Read it here first!

Middle of next week we'll be issuing a press release (part of the advertising campaign which has been pending, imminent, around the corner, overdue, for a looooong time). You won't read this on any online news service till next week, but you can see it here ... well, now. Here it is -- our press release.

Access All Areas:
Major gay website redesigns for visually impaired visitors

Adelaide, SA, [date will be middle of next week] -- Australian multimedia studio DreamCraft and favorite gay author Mel Keegan have conspired yet again, to produce what they believe to be an Internet first.

Visually impaired gay readers find all too few websites suited to text and Braille browsers. Traditionally, gay sites are graphics-heavy, focusing on photos and videos. But websites celebrating gay writers, gay books and publishing are inspired by text ... so why not take the next step, accommodating visitors for whom text is the ultimate Internet experience? Time to boot up your LYNX browser!

Mel Keegan OnLine has crossed into this wider world. Keegan and DreamCraft take pride in the move. "Until recently we had no idea," Keegan says, "so many Internet users are struggling with a medium that's, frankly, poorly designed for folks who can't see pictures or watch videos. It's a rough deal when any minority group, no matter how small, gets locked out of an experience. But visually impaired Internet surfers are an absolutely vast group. We're talking about millions of people -- and a significant percentage are gay. It's time gay webmasters seriously considered catering to these visitors. We're proud to be among the first." All Mel Keegan web pages and blogs are now fully accessible to visually impaired visitors.

The Mel Keegan OnLine site (www.melkeegan.com) was designed and crafted by DreamCraft, a multimedia studio in Adelaide, South Australia, which has been active since 1996. In 2000 they signed with gay author Mel Keegan to produce reprints of long-time favorite gay novels like EQUINOX and FORTUNES OF WAR, originally published by defunct UK gay publishing house, GMP.

Since 2000, DreamCraft and Keegan have produced twenty gay books, including the award-winning THE DECEIVERS, the "readers' choice gay historical" DANGEROUS MOONLIGHT, and several novels in the "queer SF" series which began with gay cult classic DEATH'S HEAD, nominated for the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

In 2008, manufacture moved to the US and EU, with paperbacks and hardcovers produced by Lulu (http://stores.lulu.com/mel_keegan), and ebook downloads handled by Payloadz, via the eBook Kiosk at Mel Keegan OnLine (www.dream-craft.com/melkeegan/ebooks.htm). Keegan's web presence continues to grow, with one of the most exciting new blogs, "The World According to Mel" (http://mel-keegan.blogspot.com), where visually impaired visitors find much of interest -- all of it accessible.
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In the next day or two we're going to do another kind of 'blog special.' The sample readings for AQUAMARINE won't be up at the website for 10 days or so, but you'll be able to read them -- 40% of the book -- right here. Gotta like that.

Gotta get some work done, too.
Ciao for now,
MK