It’s time to kick-off another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
Sunday, October 8th 13:30: Tea Time at Baker Street
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, are once again opened for another tale from the diaries of Dr. John Watson…
This week: The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
“You will understand, Mrs. Merrilow, that if I come to Mrs. Ronder I should prefer to have a witness. You will make her understand that before we arrive.”
“Lord bless you, Mr. Holmes,” said our visitor, “she is that anxious to see you that you might bring the whole parish at your heels!”
“Then we shall come early in the afternoon. Let us see that we have our facts correct before we start. If we go over them it will help Dr. Watson to understand the situation. You say that Mrs. Ronder has been your lodger for seven years and that you have only once seen her face.”
“And I wish to God I had not!” said Mrs. Merrilow.
With these words, John Watson once again finds himself plunged into a new mystery at the side of his long-time friend, Sherlock Holmes. The year is 1896, and Holmes has asked Watson to attend 221B Baker Street to listen to the story Mrs. Merrilow has to tell of her lodger, Mrs. Ronder. Horribly disfigured, Mrs. Rounder is the surviving victim of a terrible accident after a circus lion somehow got loose and savaged her and her husband – killing him.
While the case had piqued Holmes’ curiosity on account of a number of inconsistencies, he had not been called upon to investigate matters. Now, every night, Mrs. Ronder is beside herself with fear, shouting and screaming of murder and beasts. Her health has also deteriorated, and she has refused all assistance, asking only that her landlady, Mrs. Merrilow, seek out Holmes and ask for his aid – and to repeat two works to him: Abbas Parva …
To find out more, be sure to turn up on time for a spot of afternoon tea at Baker Street!
Plus: The Case of Lady Sannox by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: No, not a mystery for The Great Detective to solve, but a sinister short story from 1893 of how revenge is sought as a result of a notorious affair between a famed surgeon and the Lady of the story’s title.
Monday, October 9th 19:00: Reckoning Infinity
Gyro Muggins reads John E. Stith’s alien first contact story, once described as “Rendezvous with Rama meets James and the Giant Peach“!
Lieutenant Commander Alis Mary Nussem, her body partially bionic, isn’t to happy about finding herself aboard the same space vessel as the man she deems responsible for the accident which robbed her of a part of her natural body. However, she must put aside her differences with scientist Karl Stanton when a massive object enters the solar system, apparently on course to be swallowed by the Sun – but not before it will collide with a space station in Earth orbit.
Ordered to investigate the object, which is as large as a moon and quickly given the name “Cantaloupe,” Nussem, Stanton and the crew of their ship rendezvous with it, only to find they are not the first: the wreck of another vessel lies on the surface, a hole drilled into the object close by. The only means of entry to the Cantaloupe, Nussem and Stanton lead a team down through it – to make a stunning discovery.
Like Nussem, Cantaloupe is an bio-mechanical entity. It is alive, but it’s interior also have pipes, elevators chambers and more within. But it is also a place of danger – as Nussem and her also companions quickly discover – some to their cost. It’s also a place of unexpected surprises, as the crew’s biggest discovery proves…
Tuesday, October 10th 19:00: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
As All Hallows creeps ever closer, how better than to get in the mood than with some classic tales of horror and spookiness from literature?
Perhaps one of the most well-known (and well-loved) stories of dark hauntings is Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which is also one of the earliest examples of American literature of enduring popularity.
While setting his tale in post-revolutionary America in the year 1790, Irving in fact wrote the sorry tale of school teacher Ichabod Crane and his ill-fated encounter with the Headless Horseman in 1819 while visiting England, where his also penned Rip Van Winkle.
Both The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle first appeared in print in his serial The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, which also marked Irving’s first use of that pen name. As with Rip Van Winkle, Irving claims he first heard about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow from “Diedrich Knickerbocker”, a fictional “Dutch Historian”.
With Caledonia Skytower (also presented in Kitely hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/108/609/1528).
Wednesday, October 11th, 19:00 The Water Mirror
Faerie Maven-Pralou reads Kei Meyer’s tale of magic.
Merle is apprenticed to a maker of magic mirrors. She even has one of her own, with a surface of water into which she can reach without ever getting wet – magic being a relatively common thing in Venice. Meanwhile, her friend Serafin, once a master thief, now works for a weaver of magic cloth.
Both Merle and Serafin accept the wonders of the city, from the mermaids in the canal to the stone lions on which the city guards ride on their patrols. But all is not well; beyond the walls of the city, the Egyptian Empire is laying siege, an army of mummy warriors and flying sunbarks held at bay by the power of the Flowing Queen, which runs through the city’s canals and hold the enemy forces at bay.
Then Merle and Serafin overhear a plot to capture the Flowing Queen and render the city defenceless. And while no-one actually knows what the Queen looks like, they set out to protect and / or rescue her. In doing so, they must ally themselves with the Ancient Traitor and journey into the realm of Dark Reflections…
Thursday, October 12th 19:00 Zombies!
With Shandon Loring (also presented in Kitely hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/108/609/1528).
Advanced Notice!
Sunday October 22nd 13:00-15:00: Ghostly Tales
Seanchai Library and friends gather at Kultivate Magazine’s Scare Me Silly fund-raiser on behalf of Team Diabetes SL, for spooky, chilling tales of the season.
Sunday, October 29th 13:00-15:00 The 2nd Annual Holly Kai GREAT BOO!
Scary stories followed by music and dancing. Possibly more! Stay Tuned!
Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
The featured charity for August and September is Little Kids Rock, transforming lives by restoring, expanding, and innovating music education in schools.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 
Reblogged this on KULTIVATE MAGAZINE.
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