Tag: Seanchai Library

It’s time to kick-off the first week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library for 2017. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.

Monday, January 2nd 19:00: Flight of the Phoenix

Gyro Muggins continues Elleston Trevor’s gripping 1964 novel which spawned two films, the classic 1965 version starring James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Hardy Krüger. Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine, and the 2004 featuring Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi and Hugh Laurie

Twelve men survive the crash of their cargo plane when a blinding, unexpected sandstorm forced it from the sky in the middle of the Sahara. Stranded and alone and facing a slow, agonizing death under the unrelenting Libyan sun, only two of them have the skills to avert a terrible fate: the brilliant, obsessed engineer Stringer, and the tormented pilot Towns. Bitter enemies, they must now work together to build an impossible dream from the wreckage and fly it to freedom … if madness, rage, suspicion, and the merciless desert don’t destroy them first.

Tuesday, January 3rd 19:00: How to Speak Dragonese (How To Train Your Dragon #3)

Climbing on to a Roman Dragon Rustling ship by mistake in your first ‘Boarding an Enemy Ship’ lesson is bad enough. But to then discover that Alvin the Treacherous is also on board proves to Hiccup he couldn’t have been more wrong, especially when he steals his copy of How to Speak Dragonese. Can Hiccup save the dragons and the day?

Caledonia Skytower reads the third How To Train Your Dragon book by Cressida Cowell.

Wednesday, January 4th 19:00: The Atrocity Archives

Bob Howard is a low-level techie working for The Laundry, a super-secret government agency. While his colleagues are out saving the world, Bob’s under a desk restoring lost data. None of them receive any thanks for the jobs they do, but at least a techie doesn’t risk getting shot or eaten in the line of duty. Bob’s world is dull but safe, and that’s the way it should have stayed; but then he went and got Noticed.

Now, Bob Howard is up to his neck in spycraft, alternative universes, dimension-hopping Nazis, Middle Eastern terrorists, damsels in distress, ancient Lovecraftian horror and the end of the world.

Only one thing is certain: it will take more than control-alt-delete to sort this mess out…

Join Corwyn Allen as he delves in The Atrocity Archives, the first volume of the Laundry Files, by Charles Stross.

Thursday, January 5th 19:00: The Adjustment Bureau

Shandon Loring delves into the world of Philip K. Dick, this time examining  The Adjustment Team / The Adjustment Bureau (the former being the original story, the later the title of a film loosely based upon it).

Is humanity really in charge of its own destiny, or is every that occurs in life carefully orchestrated by hidden forces?

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Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.

The featured charity for January / February is Heifer International, working with communities to end world hunger and poverty and to care for the Earth.

It’s time to kick-off the last week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library for 2016. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.

Monday, December 26th 19:00: Flight of the Phoenix

Gyro Muggins continues Elleston Trevor’s gripping 1964 novel which spawned two films, the classic 1965 version starring James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Hardy Krüger. Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine, and the 2004 featuring Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi and  Hugh Laurie

Twelve men survive the crash of their cargo plane when a blinding, unexpected sandstorm forced it from the sky in the middle of the Sahara. Stranded and alone and facing a slow, agonizing death under the unrelenting Libyan sun, only two of them have the skills to avert a terrible fate: the brilliant, obsessed engineer Stringer, and the tormented pilot Towns. Bitter enemies, they must now work together to build an impossible dream from the wreckage and fly it to freedom … if madness, rage, suspicion, and the merciless desert don’t destroy them first.

Tuesday, December 27th 19:00: How to Speak Dragonese (How To Train Your Dragon #3)

Climbing on to a Roman Dragon Rustling ship by mistake in your first ‘Boarding an Enemy Ship’ lesson is bad enough. But to then discover that Alvin the Treacherous is also on board proves to Hiccup he couldn’t have been more wrong, especially when he steals his copy of How to Speak Dragonese. Can Hiccup save the dragons and the day?

Caledonia Skytower reads the third How To Train Your Dragon book by Cressida Cowell.

Wednesday, December 28th 19:00: Faerie and Gina Take Off!

Stories for the season to uplift you with Faerie Maven-Pralou & Gina Pralou-Maven

Thursday, December 29th 19:00: Total Recall

Shandon Loring with Philip K. Dick’s We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. Another book to have spawned two major motion pictures: the 1990 vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger and co-starring Ronnie Cox, Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside, and the 2012 film starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, bill Nighy and John Cho.

Douglas Quail (Quaid in the movies), a simple and ordinary clerk, wishes to visit Mars. Unable to afford it, he visits a company, REKAL (pronounced “recall”) Incorporated, which promises to implant an “extra-factual memory” of a trip to Mars as a secret agent. The procedure involves administration of narkidrine, a sedative and truth drug, which causes Quail to remember and reveal that he actually did go to Mars as a secret government agent. His conscious memories of the trip have been erased, but are now slowly returning – much to the consternation of his handlers…

Friday, December 30th 15:00: New Year’s on Maeve Benchy’s Chestnut Street

journalist, columnist, playwright and author, Maeve Binchy began her writing career by accident, thanks to her father sending the letters she wrote to him while on a kibbutz in Israel during the 1960s to a local paper in Ireland, which subsequently published them. This in turn led to her being offered a job with The Irish Times on her return home, thus starting her on the road to becoming one of Ireland’s most successful and internationally recognised writers.

Through her career, she would often jot down short stories about an imaginary street in Dublin, where people would constantly come and go and experience the most diverse of times and situations. Once written, these stories would be put away for “the future”. That imaginary street was called Chestnut Street, located not far from the setting of her 2010 bestseller Minding Frankie. In 2014, these tales of the folk who live along, or visit that street were gathered together in a single volume and published posthumously under the title Chestnut Street.

Join Caledonia Skytower as she reads two seasonal tales from the volume, A Cure for Sleeplessness and One Night a Year.

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Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.

The featured charity for November-December is Reach Out and Read, a non-profit organization that gives young children a foundation for success by incorporating books into paediatric care and encouraging families to read aloud together.

It’s time to kick-off a week of story-telling in voice, brought to our virtual lives by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.

Monday, December 5th 19:00: Sci-Fi Gems

Gyro Muggins digs deep into his amazing library of classic Science Fiction and emerges with more jewels to share.

Tuesday, December 6th 19:00: Serafina and the Twisted Staff

Caledonia Skytower reads the second adventure for Robert Beatty’s young heroine, Serafina, published in July 2016.

Introduced in Serafina and the Black Cloak, the titular heroine had, up until the events of that story, lived a secret life in the basement bowels of the manor house on Biltmore Estate. However, she was forced to reveal herself to the estate owner’s young nephew in order that together, they might discover why the children on the estate were mysteriously vanishing.

Now, just a few weeks after those events, Serafina and her new friends must confront a new danger, one worse than the Black Cloak.

In doing so, they well face tests that will strain friendships, while Serafina learns more about her unique talent and abilities, allowing her to grow from introspective “other”, to a young girl accepting of herself. Nor is she alone in her growth; Braeden also is able to come into his own, understanding his own particular gifts,

Intended for younger readers, the Serafina books have a richness of prose and an approach to storytelling guaranteed to keep readers – and listeners – of all ages enthralled. Join Caledonia to find out more!

Wednesday, December 7th 19:00: Miracle and Other Christmas Stories

Trolley Trollop offers a selection of readings from this collection of eight seasonal tales first published in 2000 by winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, Connie Willis.

The tales capture the timeless essence of generosity and goodwill of Christmas, reimagining classic tales for the time of the year, such as the journey of the three wise men, the tale of Mary and Joseph as they seek lodgings, and more.

Each has something of a sci-fi element to it, but each story is much more than that: there’s a  holiday themed mystery; a revisiting of the classic Christmas story as noted above; there’s even a tale which allows Willis to show why she thinks Miracle on 34th Street is a superior film to It’s a Wonderful Life. And while they may all be unique, they all  offer a  celebration of the power of love and compassion.

Thursday, December 8th 19:00: Joulutarina – The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

Shandon Loring presents Julie Lane.s classic story for Christmas.

Nicholas the orphan becomes Nicholas the wood-carver, whose job is to create a gift for every child in his small village on the Baltic Sea. As he grows older, explanations for many beloved Christmas traditions are woven into the story as the true spirit of Christmas is revealed.

Saturday, December 10th: A Christmas Carol

The 2016 Edition of Seanchai Library’s annual celebration of English literary giant Charles Dickens, The Dickens Project, will open in Second Life on Saturday, December 10th with over 20 hours of live events of all kinds, spanning eight days, to benefit Team Diabetes in Second Life. This year’s Project is sponsored by Kultivate Magazine and will take place on Kultivate’s headquarters region, Water Haven.

I’ll have a special preview of the event, including a chat with the project’s Director, Caledonia Skytower, ahead of the opening.

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Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.

The featured charity for November-December is Reach Out and Read, a non-profit organization that gives young children a foundation for success by incorporating books into paediatric care and encouraging families to read aloud together.