In this archive you will find a interactive online sampler of the novel Kay Darling, by Laura MacDonald and Alex Pugsley. One partial and two complete chapters are included, as well as some original visual material of several of the locales mentioned in the book.
Kay Darling is the story of three frantic urbanites making their way in the wilds of Toronto: Kay Prichard, an “uptight-straight-white-girl from New Brunswick”; Claire, “Kay’s spirited but spiritually disorganized younger sister”; and Will, “a gay actor and Kay’s long-time confidante.”
If you enjoy reading this online sample of Kay Darling (ISBN 0-88910-476-X), you can pick up or order the book at any fine book store and read the rest. American readers can order from Longhouse Bookshop, a Canadian bookstore (416-921-9995). Or try duthie@wimsey.com, the internet address of Duthie’s Books in Vancouver, B.C.
To run this online sampler, you will need a colour-capable Macintosh computer with a 13" or greater monitor, and 5 megabytes of RAM or more (it may work with less, but no guarantees). The application, (a SuperCard standalone) will require about 1.8 megabytes of free hard drive space. The sampler was designed using the TrueType version of the Palatino font (typeface) that ships with Apple’s System 7. If you do not have this font installed on your system, you may see some anomalies in line breaks, or text flowing off the bottom of the page. If this happens, try tightening up the line spacing with the button at the bottom of the screen, towards the right.
To install the Kay Darling Online Sampler:
1. Double-click on the “Kay Darling Online Sampler.sea” icon.
2. You will be prompted for a location to save the extracted file.
3. Choose an appropriate place on your hard disk drive.
4. Click on the “Save” button.
To use the Kay Darling Online Sampler:
1. Double-click on the “Kay Darling Online Sampler” icon.
2. To advance, click on the “forward” arrow in the lower left; to go back, click on the “backward” arrow.
3. Click on the “Table of Contents” area to go back to the beginning.
4. The small icon to the right of the “Table of Contents” area allows you to condense or expand the line spacing (or “leading”); this might be helpful if you do not have the correct Palatino font installed (see above).
5. To quit the sampler, click on the “Quit” button, or type Command-Q (the command key is the one with the apple or cloverleaf on it).
6. To show or hide the menubar, type Command-spacebar (the command key is the one with the apple or cloverleaf on it).
7. Enjoy.
The online sampler was constructed using SuperCard 1.6, with images captured by Apple’s QuickTake 100 camera, and image treatments in Photoshop 2.5.1.
Please send inquiries and comments on the novel or the online sampler to one of the following addresses, and I'll pass on relevant info to the authors. Internet:
