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 17th, 18:00: The Reluctant Dragon
With Caledonia Skytower at Magicland Park.
Monday May 18th, 19:00: Nightfall
Gyro Muggins opens the pages of Isaac Asimov’s 1941 short story.
Lagash (or Kalgash, in the novel-length version of the story as penned by Asimov and Robert Silverberg) is a planet orbiting a sun in a close-knit cluster of six stars, such that total darkness is almost never known, and the illumination of the six stars is such that it blots out any view of the cosmos beyond the cluster.
It is also a planet with a strange history; just over every 2,000 years, it appears that civilisation collapses in a huge conflagration. But why? Slowly, a number of scientists uncover the truth: once every 2049 another object orbiting Lagash’s primary star causes a total eclipse as see from the surface of the planet, removing much of the planet’s light, and bringing forth a very brief night.
Thus the theory is born that when these eclipses occur, civilisation goes mad, setting fire to almost everything in order to “bring back the light”, destroying itself in the process. With another eclipse approaching, the scientists set about preparing themselves and the people for the coming Nightfall.
Only when it does come, they discover it is not the darkness which causes madness…
Tuesday May 19th, 19:00: New voices Potpourri
An evening sharing some voices not, perhaps, new to the story floor, and other who are making their debut reading at Seanchai Library tonight. Featuring: Bhelanna Blaze, Arletta Martian, Stranger Nightfire, and Trolley Trollop.
Wednesday May 20th
06:00: Forever Erma
Erma Bombeck achieved great popularity for her newspaper column that described suburban home life from the mid-1960s until the late 1990s. She also published 15 books, most of which became bestsellers. From 1965 to 1996, Erma Bombeck wrote over 4,000 newspaper columns, using broad and sometimes eloquent humour, chronicling the ordinary life of a mid-western suburban housewife. By the 1970s, her columns were read twice-weekly by 30 million readers of the 900 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada
Join Freda Frostbite and Trolly Trollop as the delve into Erma’s wit and wisdom of everyday life.
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 21st, 19:00: Marsh Magic
Shandon Loring opens the covers of Silver Birch, Blood Moon, the anthology of fairy tales re-written for an adult audience and this week dips into Marsh-Magic by Robin McKinley. Drawing on the story of Rumplestiltskin.
In a far-away land, a fragile peace is maintained between a kingdom and the magical folk of the marshes he story features a kingdom where peace is maintained by a bargain struck between the king and a tribe of magical people dwelling in the marshes. The bargain means that as each new king comes of age, he will be wed to a bride selected from the marsh people by his royal advisor. To the people of the marsh, the arrangement appears to be increasingly one-sided, so when one of their women is selected for the most recent king, and decides on a subtle form of revenge for all those who had come before her…
Saturday May 23rd, 12:00 Noon, Seanchai Kitely: Star Wars Saturday
So, where were you in 1977? Do you remember the first time you saw the first film? The first 25 times you saw the first film? Maybe you have never seen it at all. Join Caledonia on Seanchai Library’s Spaceworld to enjoy for the first time (or re-live the joy) of those first adventures from an edition penned by Director George Lucas himself!
With Shandon Loring at Seanchai Kitely (grid.kitely.com:8002/Inis Eirc).
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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.