Day: October 23, 2022

It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library – and this week previews the launch of a very special event.

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.

Sunday. October 23rd,  13:30: The Halloween Tree, Part 2

On All Hallows Eve, young Pipkin is due to meet his eight friends outside a haunted house on the edge of town. But as he runs through the gathering gloom, Something sweep him away.

Arriving at the house in expectation of meeting Pipkin, his eight friends instead encounter the mystical Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud, who informs them that Pipkin has been taken on a journey that could determine if he lives or dies.

Aided by Moundshroud and using the tail of a kite, the eight friends pursue Pipkin through time and space, passing through the past civilisations – Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Celts – witnessing all that has given rise to the day they know as “Halloween”, and the role things like ghosts and the dead play in it.

Then, at length they come to the Halloween Tree itself, laden with jack-o’-lanterns, its branches representing the confluence of all these traditions, legends and tales, drawing them together into itself.

With David Abbott, Faerie Maven-Pralou and Caledonia Skytower at Haunted Hollow in Chestnut Hills.

Monday, October 24th, 19:00: The Wolfen

Gyro Muggins reads Whitley Strieber’s 1978 debut novel.

Two New York Police Department detectives investigate a series of suspicious deaths across New York City. These are revealed to be the work of a race of intelligent beings descended from canids, called the Wolfen.

The novel is told from the point of view of the human characters as well from the Wolfen themselves. The savage killing of two New York City policemen leads two detectives, a man and a woman bound together by a strange, tough passion, to hunt down the wolfen – once called werewolves.

Tuesday, October 25th

12:00 Noon: Russell Eponym

With music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen.

19:00: Howl’s Moving Castle

Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl’s castle.

To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there’s far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye.

Caledonia Skytower reads Diana Wynne Jones novel.

Wednesday, October 25th, 19:00: Seanchai Flicks – Spooky Edition

The Seanchai cinema space shares Halloween-themed video adventures.

Thursday, October 27th, 19:00: Notebook Found in a Deserted House

Shandon Loring reads Robert Bloch’s 1951 short story.

A notebook is discovered in an empty house telling a strange tale.

Apparently written by a farm boy called Willie Osborne, it relates how for part of his young life, Willie lived with his grandmother, who would often tell him stories about “them ones”, strange creatures she claimed live in the forest around the farm owned by Willie’s aunt and uncle, and which who be particularly active during Halloween.

With his grandmother’s passing, Willie finds himself living with his aunt and uncle, and their actions lend support to his grandmother’s stories: his is forbidden from entering or remaining in the forest any time from dusk through dawn, leaving the house during the hours of darkness was forbidden, all doors being securely locked. A further point of interest for Willie is the discovery that, during daylight trips into the forest, the woodlands appear devoid of any animals.

Then as October winds towards Halloween, Willie has a disquieting experience in the forest. Hurrying home as dusk falls, he is forced to hide when he hears strange sounds coming towards him and something – or things – talking in a strange language and accompanied by a hideous smell pass close by, leaving strange hoofprints in their wake. More worrying still is his uncle’s disappearance after he sets out to collect Willie’s cousin Frank, coming home to visit for Halloween; whilst the buggy taken by his uncle returns, it does so sans uncle and cousin. And then Willie’s aunt vanishes…