It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in Voice, brought to Second Life by the staff of the Seanchai Library SL.
As always, all times SLT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island.
Monday 15th July, 19:00 – The City and the Stars concludes (2)
In 1948 Arthur C. Clarke saw his first novel, Against the Fall of Night published in the magazine Startling Stories. Later, in 1953, it appeared as a novella in its own right, prior to becoming the basis of a much expanded work, The City and the Stars, published in 1956. Both focus on the same setting and principal character: the City of Diaspar and a young man called Alvin, but they tell individually unique tales – so much so that both remain in circulation,enjoying equal popularity.
One billion years in the future, Diaspar stands amidst the desert of Earth as the last, self-perpetuating city of humankind. Here, the Central Computer watches over people who live multiple lives over thousands of years before they return to storage, only to be “reborn” at a time selected by the Central Computer. Diaspar is utopian: poverty and need have long been eradicated and there is little strife. Life within the city is focused on creativity and art and in the deeper exploration of already well-understood fields. Enclosed, cyclical and ultimately static, Diaspar is both the culmination and twilight of human endeavour.
Join Gyro Muggins as he brings us the final part of a story which has been hailed as one of Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s best works.
Tuesday 16th July, 19:00: Ruffles On My Longjohns (2)
In 1913, American-born Ralph Edwards established a homestead in Bella Coola Valley, British Columbia, and went on tom become famous as a conservationist and the “Crusoe of Lonesome Lake”.
In the early 1930s, following his return to Bella Coola, he was joined by his brother Earle, and sister-in-law Isabel, who came straight from the city of Portland, Oregon on what was supposed to be a vacation visit. However, both of them fell in love with the wilds of British Columbia and decided to move there themselves, settling into a farm near Bella Coola.
Ruffles in my Longjohns is Isabel’s autobiographical account of her pioneering life with her husband, far from all the trappings of “civilisation” in the 1930s and 1940s. It is a firsthand account of homesteading, told with wit, whimsy and panache, the tale of “city girl” living on the frontier in a world of hard-bitten men, and how she coped, told in a loving, personal style.
Join Faerie Maven-Pralou as she embarks on the second part of a reading from this inspiring book.
Wednesday 17th July, 19:00: Ain’t It Great to be Minnesotan?
With Kayden Oconnell
Thursday 18th July, 19:00: Pirates Aboard! Forty Cases of Piracy
Forget the romantic / Hollywood notion of pirates and buccaneers daring the high seas in wooden hulls and under the canvas of sail; this is an unflinching look at piracy in the world today.
We’re all familiar with tales of ship-taking in regions such as Somalia, where coasters and cargo ships are routinely hijacked by pirates. However, the biggest threat presented by pirates around the world is that presented to blue water sailors. In this volume, Klaus Hympendahl interviews the survivors of forty cases of piracy, some of them quite brutal in natures, and exposes the danger faced by sailors around the world today. Victims recount not only their own experiences at the hands of the pirates but also provide insight into how others facing similar situation can do by way of preventive measures to avoid being captured by pirates and how to deal with stress, aggression, and fear when faced with a confrontation.
Hympendahl also examines those regions of the world where blue water piracy is both at its most dangerous, including the Gulf of Aden, Somalia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela and parts of Brazil.
Join Shandon Loring as he delves into Hympendahl’s work.
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Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and additions to the week’s schedule. The featured charity for July and August is Little Kids Rock. Have questions? IM or notecard Caledonia Skytower.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 