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, May 16th: 13:30 Tea-Time with L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum (May 15th, 1856 – May 6th, 1919) was an American author best known for his children’s books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels (14 novels in all). His prolific output included 55 novels, 83 short stories, over 200 poems and at least 42 scripts.
In 1901, twelve of his stories were published in anthology form by the George M. Hill Company under the title American Fairy Tales, the move designed by Baum and his publisher to capitalise on the success of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The 12 stories comprise The Box of Robbers, The Glass Dog, The Queen of Quok, The Girl Who Owned a Bear, The Enchanted Types, The Laughing Hippopotamus, The Magic Bon Bons, The Capture of Father Time, The Wonderful Pump, The Dummy That Lived, The King of the Polar Bears. and The Mandarin and the Butterfly.
All 12 are noted for the ironic or nonsensical morals attached to their ends and their satirical, glib, and tongue-in-cheek tones that gives them an appeal to adult readers. They are also the subject of Tea-Time with L. Frank Baum, with Kayden OConnell, Corwyn Allen, Glori, and Caledeonia.
Monday, May 17th: 19:00 Saturn Rukh
In an unspecified time in the future, a team of astronauts is sent to Saturn on what could be a one-way mission. Financed by a multi-national consortium, their mission is to establish a factory in to upper reaches of the planet’s atmosphere where it can “mine” Saturn’s abundant helium to produce “meta” (nitro-stabilised metastable helium), a powerful propellant.
If they are successful, each of the astronauts stands to earn a billion dollars on their return to Earth. The catch? They only have sufficient fuel to reach Saturn – they must use the factory to produce the fuel needed to make their return to Earth.
However, things go awry when the mission enters the Saturnian atmosphere – and crash-lands on the back of an enormous creature that “swims” through the atmosphere. Another of the creatures – which appear to be semi-intelligent and which the astronaut dub “Rukh” – swallows some of the mission’s equipment, leaving the team with no choice but to attempt to establish communications with the creatures and attempt to recover their equipment.
Join Gyro Muggins as he reads the last full-length novel by physicist and author Robert L. Forward.
Tuesday, May 18th
12:00 Noon: Russell Eponym, Live in the Glen
Music, poetry, and stories.
19:00: Old Peter’s Russian Tales
Journalist Arthur Ransome – who would later gain fame for Swallows and Amazons, – travelled between England and Russia either side of the 1917 revolution. His initial reason for doing so was to escape his marriage. However, he became fascinated by the Russian language and life, particularly old folk tales.
In 1912 he came across a collection of translations of tales into English, but found the language and style exceptionally poor. However, he was captivated by the richness of the material, noting it differed from both Scandinavia, Brittany, Wales and Scotland.
So in 1914, he set about collecting tales and translating them for himself whilst in Russia, with a volume of stories published under the title Old Peter’s Russian Tales in 1916, when he was staying in Vergezha, on the River Volkhov.
Now Willow Moonfire brings these tales to Seanchai Library.
Wednesday, May 19th, 19:00: When You Trap a Tiger
When Lily and her family move in with her sick Halmoni (grandmother), a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni’s Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history.
Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers and now the tigers want it back. So the tiger visiting has arrived with an offer for Lily: return what Halmoni stole in exchange for the return of her health Halmoni’s health.
It is a tempting offer; but deals with magical tigers are not always what they appear to be. So Lily must, with the help of her sister and her friend Ricky, find her voice and her courage, and face whatever trickery the tiger may conjure.
Caledonia Skytower reads the 2021 2021 Newbery Medal winning story by Tae Keller.
Thursday, May 20th
19:00: Little Fuzzy
Ktadhn Vesuvino reads the book by H. Beam Piper that spawned a series by him and other science fiction authors about a small, furry species dubbed Fuzzies.
Little Fuzzy charts the discovery of small furry species on the planet Zarathustra and the attempts by humans to determine whether or not they are sentient. If they are, then their planet will be declared a protect aboriginal world. However, The Company has desires to control the planet and its resources.
21:00: Seanchai late Night
Contemporary sci-fi and fantasy with Finn Zeddmore, from such source as Escape Pod, Light Speed, and Clarkesworld ‘zines, and more!
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 