Day: January 16, 2022

It’s time to highlight 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 in Nowhereville, unless otherwise indicated. Note that the schedule below may be subject to change during the week, please refer to the Seanchai Library website for the latest information through the week.

January 17th, 19:00: A World Out of Time

After being cryogenically frozen in the 1970s to await a cure for his (then) incurable cancer, Jaybee Corbell awakes after more than 200 years – to find his own body destroyed and his mind and memories transferred into the “mindwiped” body of a criminal. And that’s is not all that has changed: the Earth is now overseen by an oppressive, totalitarian global government called “The State”, and Corbell’s existence is to be determined by a “checker”; if he is found wanting, he will be discarded.

However, Peerssa, the checker, recommends Corbell as ideal fodder in The State’s attempts to seek out exoplanets suitable for terraforming – whether he wants to join the programme or not. Disgusted by his treatment, Corbell works out a way to take control of his one-person ship on its otherwise one-way mission, and heads toward the galactic core. Entering suspended animation, he is unaware his vessel skims close enough to the super-massive black hole at the centre of the galaxy to experience time dilation.

Emerging from his suspended state, and believing only 150 years have passed, Corbell returns to the solar system to find it again vastly changed: more than three million years have passed, and the Sun has become a bloated red giant, and Earth – well, Earth appears to have been relocated to an orbit around Jupiter, whilst humanity itself had endured extensive changes; and Corbell must face an entirely new set of challenges if he is to survive.

Join Gyro Muggins as he reads the 1976 novel (and originally a short story) by Larry Niven.

Tuesday, January 18th

12:00 Noon: Russell Eponym

With music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen.

19:00: Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat

Klawde had everything. Sharp claws. Fine fur. And, being the High Commander of the planet Lyttyrboks (think about it if you need to!), an entire world of warlike cats at his command. But then he is stripped of his feline throne and sentenced to the worst possible punishment: exile to a small green-blue planet that is, as they say, “far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy”, known to its dominant bipedal race as “Earth”.

On that planet, Raj is a young man who had everything: a cool apartment in Brooklyn New York, his three best friends living in the same apartment block and comics and pizza always within easy reach. Then, courtesy of his mother taking a job on the other side of the country, he finds himself exiled to the community of Elba, Oregon.

These two lost souls, one seeking friendship (and, hopefully, pizza and comics) but forced to join a nature camp, the other a cunning, brilliant feline emperor, both exiled and seemingly lost, are destined to meet. And when they do – whether Klawde likes it or not – the emperor cat will find his plans for revenge on those who would oust him from his empire running somewhat secondary to becoming Raj’s new Best Friend as the two of them become bound by a series of new and hilarious adventures.

With Caledonia Skytower.

Wednesday, January 19th: Poe Special

The Library opens for a special to mark the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth on January 19th, 1809 – by presenting a story about the time shortly before his death.

On October 3rd, 1849, Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore, “in great distress, and… in need of immediate assistance”. He was taken to the Washington Medical College, where he died in the early hours of the morning of Sunday, October 7th, 1849. Throughout his time at the hospital Poe remained too incoherent to explain how he came to be in his dire condition and wearing clothes that were not his own, although he was said to have repeatedly called out the name “Reynolds” on the night before his death. But to whom he may have been referring remains unknown.

In Beyond Porch and Portal E. Catherine Tobler, offers an unusual but interesting explanation of why Poe was found, and what had led him to that point of distress. Join Shandon Loring to find out more!

Thursday, December 20th 19:00: The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones

Join Shandon Loring as he recounts the early adventures of a young Henry Walton Jones, Jr., who would one day become the famous Indiana Jones.