Bankers, wizards, faeries belles and ghosts

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in voice, brought to our virtual lives by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library.

As always, all times SLT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island.

Sunday, May 3rd: Tea-time at Baker Street

With Caledonia Skytower, Kaydon Oconnell and Corwyn Allen.This week: The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, first published in May, 1892 in The Strand Magazine, and later included in the volume of tales The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Holmes seeks to calm the distraught Holder (Sidney Paget, 1892, The Strand Magazine)
Holmes seeks to calm the distraught Holder – Sidney Paget, 1892, The Strand Magazine

“Holmes,” said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking down the street, “here is a madman coming along. It seems rather sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone.

“What on earth can be the matter with him?” I asked. “He is looking up at the numbers of the houses.”

“I believe that he is coming here,” said Holmes, rubbing his hands. “Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I think that I recognize the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?” As he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the clanging.

The man in question is Alexander Holder, the senior partner in the banking firm of Holder & Stevenson, the second largest private banking concern in the City of London.

It appears that as security for a loan of £50,000, Mr. Holder accepted the Beryl Coronet, one of the most valuable public possessions in existence. Unable to bring himself to leave the coronet unattended in his bank’s safe, he took it home, only to be awakened in the night to find his son, Arthur, apparently trying to vandalise it. Rescuing the coronet, Holder is horrified to seen that three precious beryls are now missing from it, and his son refuses to explain himself…

Monday May 4th, 19:00: The Wizard of Karres

Gyro Muggins returns to the universe created by James H. Schmitz and given form through his 1949 novel, The Witches of Karres, as he continues reading the 2004 sequel, The Wizard of Karres, penned by by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and Dave Freer, which reunites the reader with some familiar characters.

Wizard of KarresFor Captain Pausert, it would seem that the old saying that no good deed ever goes unpunished should perhaps become the family motto. As a “reward” for thwarting the plans of the space pirates and eliminating the threat of the Worm World, Pausert is given the secret mission of stopping the nanite plague, a self-aware disease that lay waste to entire planets worlds.

Only someone has once convinced the Imperial Navy, unaware of his true mission, that Pausert is actually a wanted man. so it is that the Navy set out to hunt him down – and almost succeed, managing to cripple his ship. When Pausert discovers his funding has also been cut-off, leaving him without the means to get his ship repaired, he and his companions, Goth and the Leewit, the Witches of Karres, are forced to go undercover – and join a travelling circus.

After all, the show – and the mission – must go on, and thus the adventures continue.

Tuesday May 5th, 19:00: Beltaine with the Queen of the Faeries

With Aoife Lorefield.

Wednesday May 6th

06:00: More from the Book Belles

Freda Frostbite and Trolly Trollop return to the thoughts and writings of Florence King.

19:00: Christie’s Detectives

Join Caledonia Skytower as she presents short stories featuring Agatha Christe’s beloved detectives: Parker Pyne, Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot.

Thursday May 7th, 19:00: The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor

“Ghosts have to abide by the rules,” I remember Mrs. Bando the housekeeper explaining as she poured us out a cup of tea at the manor’s great oak kitchen table. She’d been parlor maid at the Manor when Mam was a kitchen maid there. Fast friends they were, and fast friends they’d stayed, even when Mam left domestic service to marry. Mrs. Bando was my godmother, and we went to her most Sunday afternoons.

So opens Delia Sherman’s delightful tale which follows young Tracy Gof, who wishes to see the ghost of the old manor house on the Welsh border. And when a new owner takes the house, her wish might just come true. With Shandon Loring.

Saturday May 9th, 12:00 Noon: Seanchai Kitely: Arabian Nights

With Shandon Loring at Seanchai Kitely: grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai

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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 April / May is Habitat for Humanity, with a vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live – a safe and clean place to call home.

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