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.
Sunday, October 10th, 13:30: A Night in the Lonesome October
It is the start of the Haunted Month, and Seanchai Library (SL) are marking the arrival and passage of October with a reading of Roger Zelazy’s A Night in the Lonesome October, the last of Zelazy’s published works.
Every few decades, when the Moon is is full on the night of Halloween, the fabric of reality thins and the door between worlds becomes unlatched. At this time, those with certain Occult knowledge gather to engage in The Game.
Those who play take opposing sides; on one: those who seek to win The Game and throw open the door by the light of the full Moon to usher in the Great Old Ones from the other side so that they might remake Earth in their own images and enslave or slaughter the human race in the process. Opposing the Openers are those are those who would, by winning, re-latch the door and deny the Great Old Ones their prize – at least until The Game once more resumes.
Thus, through the month of October, the Players in the game – all archetypal characters from Victorian Era gothic fiction – form alliances, make deals, oppose one another, and even kill off opposing Players, until the night of October 31st, when the ritual of the door takes place, and the fate of the world is decided.
Each Player has his or her familiar, an animal companion with near-human intelligence, to help them complete the numerous preparations they must make and so be ready for the ritual on the final night. One of these is Snuff the dog, the familiar of Jack the Ripper, and who not only attends the play of The Game with his master, but also acts as the narrator of the month’s proceedings.
At the Haunted Hollow.
Monday, October 11th, 19:00: Watchstar
Alone in the desert, Daiya is faced with dilemma that will determine her fate. If she can successfully resolve it she will join the Net of her village, but if she fails, her life will be spent with the feared Merged Ones. Confused and torn between worlds near and far, Daiya harbours a secret of her people, and must find a way to move beyond her discoveries to a safe place where she can survive.
Join Gyro Muggins as he reads from Nebula-winning author Pamela Sargent’s Watchstar series.
Tuesday, October 12th
12:00 Noon: Russell Eponym
With music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen.
19:00: The Halloween Tree
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.
At the Haunted Hollow.
Wednesday, October 13th, 19:00 More from Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters
With Caledonia Skytower.
Thursday, October 14th,
19:00: The Last Photograph of John Buckley
When a photographic retoucher is commissioned to fix the abnormalities on a Great War portrait, he finds his own past and that of the subject beginning to connect. Are his personal nightmares returning, or is it something more?
A short ghost story in the M.R. James tradition, “The Last Photograph of John Buckley” is a dark tale of past crimes and unfinished business.
21:00: Seanchai Late Night Horror: It Came from the Multiplex
Welcome to tonight’s feature presentation, brought to you by an unholy alliance of the spellcasters at Hex Publishers and movie-mages at the Colorado Festival of Horror. Please be advised that all emergency exits have been locked for this special nostalgia-curdled premiere of death. From crinkling celluloid to ferocious flesh from the silver screen to your hammering heart.
Behold as a swarm of werewolves, serial killers, Satanists, Elder Gods, aliens, ghosts, and unclassifiable monsters are loosed upon your auditorium. Relax, and allow our ushers to help with your buckets of popcorn (and blood); your ticket stubs (and severed limbs) your candy (and body) bags… and kick back and scream as you settle into a fate worse than Hell. Tonight’s director’s cut is guaranteed to slash you apart.
Both sessions with Shandon Loring at the Haunted Hollow.
Friday, October 15th, 19:00: Ghostbusters
If there’s something weird
And it don’t look good
Who you gonna call?
Cale & Shand!
With Caledonia Skytower and Shandon Loring in Ceiluradh Glen.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 