Category: Fantasy Faire

Note that SLurls provided in this article will not be available to the public until Fantasy Faire officially opens at noon SLT on Thursday, April 23rd, 2020.

On Thursday, April 23rd, Fantasy Faire will open for 2020, and will remain so through until  Sunday, May 10th, 2020, raising money for Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society’s global efforts to eradicate cancer. Throughout the entire course of the Faire, the Fairelands will once again be host to the Fantasy Faire Literary Festival (LitFest).

Centred on the desert sands of Drifts of Anamnesis, the Litfest is a special place where the magic of the spoken word will weave tales of wonder, relate stories of great adventure and daring; where talks by authors, discussions, creative writing sessions and performances will all take place. In addition, literary hawks and writers will be encouraged to join daily LitFest tours of the Fairelands and afterwards compose pieces related to their travels.

The full LitFest schedule is now available, but here are some preview highlights to whet appetites!

Guest Of Honour

The special guest for this year’s festival is American science fiction and fantasy writer and blogger. Fran Wilde.

Fran’s first novel, Updraft (2015), was nominated for the 2016 Nebula Award, and won the 2016 Andre Norton Award and the 2016 Compton Crook Award. Within it she established the first volume of her Bone Cycle, with two further works – Cloudbound (2016) and Horizon (2017), set within the same cycle. Her latest novel, Riverland, was published in 2019.

She has also published numerous short stories and poems, and here non-fiction work has appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Tor.com. She will be appearing at Fantasy Faire as follows:

• Tuesday April 28th at 15:00 SLT, : in an interview with Saffia Widdershins.
• Friday May 1st at 13:00 SLT, when she will be reading from her work.

LitFest highlights

• Friday, April 24th – Saturday, May 9th, 08:00-09:00 SLT – NaPoWriMo Fantasy Writing Prompts: April is National Poetry Writing Month, and participating poets are asked to write a poem a day for the month of April – so why not do so in-world with like-minded poets?
• Fiday April 24th – Saturday, May 9th* – Inksters Poetry Prompt: This group meets daily on weekdays throughout the year to compose poems based on a daily word prompt – so sharpen your pencils, and be prepared to get writing! During LitFest, they’ll meet in the Hall of Ras Tarshayn on Drifts of Anamnesis. (* except Sunday, May 3rd.)
• Monday, April 27th, 10:00-11:00 SLT – The True Story of Scheherazade: celebrating the teller of the 1,001 Nights. In fact,there are many tellers of these Tales, and this session explores the genesis of the Tales, drawn from Arabia, Persia, India and China. There will also be tales of some of the fascinating history of translation (and translators – such as the fascinating Sir Richard Burton).
• Wednesday, April 29th, 06:30-07:30 SLT – Readings from the Novel Writing Workshop: Wolfgang Glinka, Keykey Underwood, Singh Albatros and Adele/Jilly Kidd have been workshopping novels for seven years in Second Life and will share extracts from their works in progress, followed by a Q&A.
• Friday May 1st, 10:00-11:00 SLT – Beyond the Seven Kingdoms: A World of Ice and Fire Special: In Real Life, Freyja Nemeth is the co-founder of Westeros.org and co-author of “The World of Ice and Fire”. She will be talking about how George RR Martin has constructed the cultures that are less inspired by Medieval Europe, such as Dorne and the many cultures of Essos.

LitFest Tours

The popular Fantasy Faire LitFest Tours will once again be taking place, leaving daily from the LitFest home base in the Drifts of Anamnesis to explore the Fairelands and seeking the stories they have to tell as well as their special secret places and details. Each tour will be guided and accompanied by music, as some of the Faire’s best loved DJs offer selections especially chosen for each of the regions visited. Stories can also be submitted for publication on the Fantasy Faire website, provided they are submitted within two days of each tour.

The Tours for 2020 depart daily at 17:00 SLT (unless otherwise indicated) from the Al-Ma’ala Gathering Place on the Drifts of Anamnesis, and the tour schedule is as follows:

Friday, April 24th	Elemaria
Saturday, April 25th	Autumnium
Sunday, April 26th	Lunafae
Monday, April 27th	Agra Adara
Tuesday, April 28th	Lamented Fens
Wednesday, April 29th	Melusina’s Depths
Thursday, April 30th	Spirit Valley of Kuruk
Friday, May 1st	15:00: Heliodor
Saturday, May 2nd	Zodiac
Sunday, May 3rd	Mistakes Were Made!
Monday, May 4th	Sirens Lore
Tuesday, May 5th	Auxentios’ Pass
Wednesday, May 6th	14:00: Ambigula; 17:00: Cassiopeia
Thursday, May 7th	Queensgarden
Friday, May 8th	Isle of Shadows
Saturday, May 9th	Fairelands Junction and Drifts of Anamnesis

Keep up with all the news and information on the LitFest and Fantasy Faire through the Fantasy Faire website.

One of the fun elements introduced to Fantasy Faire in 2015 was the opportunity to nominate and then vote for the King and Queen of the Fairelands and their (strictly non-human) Chancellor. Nominations came from across all realms of fantasy, with the top five for the positions of king and queen (human or human-looking nominations only) and chancellor, went forward for a public vote-off during the course of the Faire.

The event has since become a staple of the Faire, and it is once again back for 2020, with nominations now open. It’s important to note that this has nothing to do with avatars or people per se, but is a fun election purely for characters from works of fantasy, with the “winners” announced at the end of the Faire.

Nominees can be from written fantasy, graphical novels, cartoons, films, television or radio series, and from genres such as fairy tales, high fantasy, magical stories, urban fantasy, vampire sagas or steampunk, etc. The only major requirements are that nominations for king and queen must be human (or human-type) characters, whilst nominations for chancellor are restricted to non-human (or non-human type) characters, and that the winners from the previous year are no eligible for re-election.

How It Works

• Nominations are made between now and the end of Saturday, April 25th, 2020(23:59 SLT), using the form below.
• The top five nominees for each role – king, queen and chancellor – will be selected for a final vote-off.
• During the Faire, people will have the opportunity to vote for their favourites.
  • There is a fee payable for voting, but all money raised will go to Relay for Life.
• The winners will be announced at the Fantasy Faire Live Auction on Sunday, May 3rd.

Past Winners

• 2019: king: the Goblin King (Labyrinth – 2nd time); queen: Ser Brienne of Tarth (Game of Thrones); co-chancellors: Falkor, the Good Luck Dragon (Neverending Story and Kalessin of Earthsea (Earthsea novels). Not these are not eligible for nomination again in 2020
• 2018: king: Gandalf; queen: Galadriel; chancellor: Totoro.
• 2017: king: Serverus Snape (Harry Potter); queen: Leia Organa (Star Wars); chancellor: Rhiow (Book of Night With Moon).
• 2016: king: The Goblin King; queen: October Daye; chancellor: The Last Unicorn.
• 2015: king: Havelock Vetinari; queen: Granny Weatherwax; chancellor: Greebo the Cat.

Additional Links

• Fantasy Faire website
• RFL of SL website

The official events of Fantasy Faire are over. The DJs have played, the artists have performed, stories have been written and told. Memories have been born, friendships renewed or made. As it is with every year, Fantasy Faire 2019 will leave its mark on all who attended it, whether for their first time, their fifth or as someone who has been a part of the magic since its inception.

But while the formal events have now ended, The Fairelands remain for one more weekend; so if you’ve not yet had the time to visit this year’s realms, now is the time to do so.

Already this year has been a landmark for Fantasy Faire. In 2018, the event raised some US $50,000, all of which was put towards cancer care at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Nairobi, Kenya, and the American Cancer Society’s plans to build a new Hope Hostel for cancer sufferers and their families and carers at the hospital. The success of the 2018 Faire served as a hallmark event for the Hope Hostel efforts within the ACS, as Kristen Solt, Managing Director of the American Cancer Society’s Global Health Initiatives Programme indicated in an open letter to all Fairelanders.

This year, it had been hoped that 2019 could come close to matching that total, further strengthening the work at KNH, with a target of US $40,000 being set. But then came an anonymous business donor, who offered US $20,000 to Fantasy Faire if the event achieved their target.

US $40,000 is L$10 million – that’s a lot by anyone’s count. But on Thursday, May 2nd, as Fairelanders were informed via group note cards, that target was achieved, and the anonymous benefactor indeed stepped up and presented the Faire with a further US $20,000, bringing the total raised to date for the 2019 event to over US $60,000.

And there is still time to increase that amount. the regions of the Fairelands will remain open until the end of day, Sunday May 5th. The stores all remain open for business, and there is still time to join this year’s Fairelands Quest – the Lair of Lantoris:

The Bard Queen’s grandson has been stolen … his parents, the Princess Flora and Garius the Winter King are determined to rescue him. But Oswain has been carried to the lair of Lantoris, a disgraced mage and follower of the Unweaver. His skill at protective spells is so advanced — can you penetrate his barriers? It all depends on you, apprentice of magic,  to gather the ingredients to create the spells that Flora is researching. And then to venture into Lantoris’ realm, where Garius is desperately seeking his son.

As with past Faire Quests, the Lair of Lantoris is HUD-driven, with the HUD available from all landing points within the Fairelands at L$250 for the basic edition and L$350 for the Deluxe edition with a custom outfit for your avatar. It is, again, like previous quests, in two parts, with the second chapter, now open – so, if you haven’t started it as yet, there is still time to catch up over the weekend!

The first part of the Quest offers a great way to discover the Fairelands: you must travel through each one, starting with the Fairelands Junction, where the Bard Queen will set you on your way. Then you must find a series of ingredients (with the aid of a NPC “helper” in the form of The Professor), one per Faireland region (with the exception of Thornfast, which is reserved for chapter 2 of the Quest). The ingredients could by anywhere in each region (except within the store themselves), so you’ll get to find out a lot about each one.

The second part of the quest takes place exclusively within Thornfast – make sure you follow the additional instructions for this part of the Quest carefully! Should you need help with anything, refer to the Quest FAQ, and if your curious about the rewards you’re be granted on completion, check out the Quest prize catalogue!

So, with three days left, be sure to head over to the Fairelands and enjoy Fantasy Faire 2019 before the regions fade into the west for another year. There’s a lot to be found within the stores, and plenty of kiosks in which to offer a donation, and you can also dontate via the Fantasy Faire ACS team page.

Fairelands SLurls

• Fairelands Junction
• Bayounimba
• The Celestial Plain
• Dept. of Discarded Curiosities
• Genesia
• Faireholm
• The Light of Va’loth
• Midas
• Nightshade Blossoms
• Sanguinely Garden
• The Shrine Tree
• Tensor’s Flying Market
• Thornfast
• Trollhaugen
• Twilight Spring
• Urafiki