It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in Voice, brought to Second Life and Kitely by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library.
As always, all times SLT / PDT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island.
Sunday June 8th
10:00: Seanchai Kitely: Irish Romance
Join Shandon Loring at Seanchai’s home region in Kitely (hop://osgrid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/144/129/29), as he brings us tales of love and romance from the Emerald Isle.
13:30: Tea-time at Baker Street: The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
Tea-time at Baker Street sees Caledonia Skytower, Corwyn Allen and Kayden Oconnell open the pages of The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, the final set of twelve Sherlock Holmes short stories first published in the Strand Magazine between October 1921 and April 1927.
This week: The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
The year is 1903, and John Watson has returned to 221B Baker Street to see his old friend and colleague, Sherlock Holmes. However, he is met not by Holmes, but by Billy Boy, one of the Baker Street Irregulars. Holmes, it seems, is up to his eyeballs trying to solve a case – that of a stolen £100,000 crown diamond.
In due course, Holmes appears, but not before Billy Boy has revealed – much to Watson’s surprise – a very life-like effigy of the great detective, posed in an armchair as if reading and sitting in the window bay. And if that isn’t enough, Holmes, having exchanged greetings with Watson, dispatches Billy Boy on an errand and promptly adds to the good Doctor’s surprise.
“That boy is a problem, Watson. How far am I justified in allowing him to be in danger?”
“Danger of what, Holmes?”
“Of sudden death. I’m expecting something this evening.”
“Expecting what?”
“To be murdered, Watson.”
Join Cale, Corwyn and Kayden as they unravel one of only two Sherlock Holmes mysteries to be written in the third-person.
Monday June 9th, 19:00: Space Wars: The Man Who Would Be Kzin, Part 2
Gyro Muggins continues to tell a tale drawn from the deadly Man-Kzin Wars.
The Kzinti, are a warlike race Niven first introduced to the world in his 1966 story The Warriors. They permeated many of his stories set in the Known Space series, and well as appearing in his Nebula and Hugo award-winning Ringworld. In his stories, Niven references a series of conflicts between Kzinti and humans, but did not write about the wars himself. Such was the demand for more information on the wars, however, he allowed the Man-Kzin wars to become a shared universe series, with the majority of the stories written by other science-fiction authors such as Poul Anderson, Dean Ing, Jerry Pournelle, S.M. Stirling, Greg Bear and others.
The Man Who Would Be Kzin, written in 1991 by Greg Bear and S.M Stirling, appears in the Man-Kzin Wars IV, and The Best of All Possible Wars. It poses the interesting question: how exactly does a human spy infiltrate a civilisation of 8-foot tall anthropomorphic tiger-like cats?
Tuesday June 10th, 19:00: A Dog’s Purpose, Continued
Reincarnation can be confusing for a human; reborn into different lives, trying to learn lessons of the past in order to discover one’s purpose … Imagine what it must be like for a dog.
That’s exactly what humourist W. Bruce Cameron has done in his 2010 best seller A Dog’s Purpose. Bailey, pup of a stray, is rather surprised to find himself reborn as a Golden Retriever after being euthanized. It surprises him even more when, after a happy life involving a young boy, a farm and more, Bailey passes from the world … Only to find himself occupying the body of a German shepherd bitch. Thus comes the realisation that he is serving some higher purpose.
The problem is, and as his lives continue, Bailey can’t figure out exactly what that purpose might be…
Travel with Caledonia Skytower and Kayden Oconnell as they continue their journey through Bailey’s heartwarming and funny tale of many lives, a dog’s-eye commentary on human relationships and the unbreakable bonds between man and man’s best friend; a story in which love never dies, and true friends are always with us.
Wednesday June 11th, 19:00: Tales of Despereaux, Continued
Following-on from Flora and Ulysses, Caledonia Skytower reads from Kate DiCamillo’s first novel to win a prestigious Newbery Award.
The Tales of Despereaux is a story of four parts, each part told from the perspective of a different character. Despereaux Tilling, is a mouse, and the hero of the piece. Born a runt with big ears and eyes, he is an incurable romantic, given to reading tales about knights and princesses. Chiaroscuro is a dungeon rat with an obsession with light, bright things. Miggery Sow is a simply serving girl with an impossible dream.
Together, these three become bound in a tale of dungeons, betrayal, kidnap, redemption and a princess named Pea, as well as a host of other memorable characters.
Thursday June 12th
16:00: More Stories from the Ozland Galley
With Llola Lane.
19:00: Ladon, Part 2
Shandon Loring continues the tale of Ladon, the first monster to crawl out of the sea in search of food that wasn’t fish, only to acquire an insatiable craving for human flesh. Summoned by Hera, Ladon becomes a pawn in Hera’s plot to destroy Hercules. However, not only do the best laid plans of mice an men oft go astray. so can those hatched by the Queen of the Gods.
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Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule. The featured charity for May-June is Habitat for Humanity: envisioning a world where everyone has a decent place to live.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 