Christmas tales with a sprinkle of sci-fi and a helping of Dickens

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous 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.

Sunday, December 6th, 14:00: Tea Time with Trolley

MiracleCome to Dr. Coppelius’s
Where all is bright and warm
And There’s no fear,
For I am here
To keep you safe from harm.

What happens when a man finds he’s taking the child of his date to a toy shop when he’d rather be going to a ball game – a child he didn’t even know his girlfriend had ?

What happens when he really doesn’t like kids at the best of times, and his girlfriend’s kid is intent on exploring the store, leading to them getting separated?

And what happens when the man discovers all really all it seems with the store?

Join Trolley Trollop as she reads two of Connie Willis’ seasonal tales from Miracle and Other Christmas Stories: In Coppelius’s Toyshop and The Pony.

Monday December 7th, 19:00: Mr. Dingle the Strong

Rod SterlingGyro Muggins concludes his reading of  Rod Sterling’s 1961 story for The Twilight Zone, Mr. Dingle The Strong.

Luther Dingle, vacuum-cleaner salesman and perennial loser, finds himself given the gift of super-strength by a curious Martian scientist. Returning to Earth to see how his subject is using his gift, the Martian finds Mr. Dingle is doing little more than gaining celebrity status through feats of super-human strength.

Taking back the gift, the Martian encounters a passing Venusian science team looking for a human test subject. He points them towards Luther Dingle…

Tuesday December 8th 19:00: Immovable Feast

Derry McMahon brings us a tale of Christmas in Paris.

Wednesday, December 9th 19:00 A Celtic Christmas

Faerie Maven-Pralou reads a selection from A Celtic Christmas, edited by Mairtin O’Griofa. Bringing together tales from early 20th Century Ireland, each unique in tone and style, be it humorous, tender, sentimental or a little bit spooky. This is an anthology right for the season, the tales a crammed with superstition and lore, ready to delight and charm.

Thursday, December 10th

19:00: Shandon Loring

A cabin. A cabin in the woods. Of it I have written before, and of it I write again. The same great fireplace piled high with logs fiercely ablaze. Again on either side of the fireplace are the hounds gazing meditatively into the fire. The same big table, and on it the same great book, leather-bound and worn by the hands of many generations. And at the strong table, bending over the sacred book, with one huge finger marking a sentence, the same whitened head, the same man, large of limb and large of feature–John Norton, the Trapper.

So begins William Henry Harrison Murray’s John Norton’s Vagabond, the second of two stories from Holiday Tales – Christmas in the Adirondacks, Originally published in  1897.

21:00 Finn Zeddmore

With Seanchai Late Night.

Saturday, December 12th

12:00 Noon: An Irish Country Christmas at Seanchai InWorldz

With Shandon and Caledonia – check the Seanchai blog nearer the date for LM details.

13:00 Second Life: The Dickens Project

Join Caledonia Skytower as she opens the 2015 season for The Dickens Project bringing us the story behind a Christmas classic – a look behind the story that had a profound effect on shaping the Christmas that we know, as well as revived an author’s career.

The dickens Project returns to Second Life
The Dickens Project returns to Second Life

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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 October – December is Reach Out and Read, one of the most highly rated literacy charities in the USA which reaches 4.4 million children annually and distributes 1.6 million books.

Additional Links

Stories long and short to entertain and delight

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous 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.

Sunday, November 29th, 14:00: Tea Time with Caledonia and Kayden

Caledonia Skytower and Kayden Oconnell share fun short stories and scenes to ease people over the holiday hump between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Monday November 30th, 19:00: Murder Will In / Mr. Dingle the Strong

Rod SterlingGyro Muggins concludes his reading of Frank Herbert’s Murder Will In, which first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1970, and most recently formed one of the stories in the collection Eye, published in 2014. Afterwards he commences Rod Sterling’s 1961 story for The Twilight Zone, Mr. Dingle The Strong.

Luther Dingle,  vacuum-cleaner salesman and perennial loser, finds himself given the gift of super-strength by a curious Martian scientist. Returning to Earth to see how his subject is using his gift, the Martian finds Mr. Dingle is doing little more than gaining celebrity status through feats of super-human strength. Taking back the gift, the Martian encounters a passing Venusian science team looking for a human test subject. He points them towards Luther Dingle…

Tuesday December 1st 19:00: Mama Makes Up Her Mind

Mama makes up her mindWelcome to the unique world of Bailey White. Her aunt Belle may take you to see her bellowing pet alligator. Her uncle Jimbuddy may appal you with his knack for losing pieces of himself. Most of all, you may succumb utterly to the charms of Baileys mama, who will take you to a joint so raunchy it scared Ernest Hemingway or tuck you into her antique guest bed that has the disconcerting habit of folding up on people while they sleep.

White’s indelible vignettes of Southern eccentricity have entranced millions who have heard her read them on NPR. Mama Makes Up Her Mind is as sweetly intoxicating as a mint julep and as invigorating as a walk in Whites own overgrown garden.

Join Trolley Trollop, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower as they commence a romp through this wonderful series of vignettes

Wednesday, December 2nd 19:00 The Oxford Book of Christmas Stories

Faerie Maven-Pralou officially starts-up Seanchai’s Christmas season by opening the covers of this treasury of 30 seasonal tales which brings together stories from writers of many eras and styles, including Charles Dickens, Shirley Jackson, and Sue Townsend and Robert Swindells and Philippa Pearche.

Featuring a host of characters and stories covering every Christmas theme, including 10 specifically commissioned for this anthology, The Oxford Book of Christmas Stories is the ideal way to slip into the festive spirit, whatever your age!

Thursday, December 3rd 19:00: Christmas Stories

Shandon Loring shares James Allen’s The Realm of Midnight and other Christmas stories.

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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 October – December is Reach Out and Read, one of the most highly rated literacy charities in the USA which reaches 4.4 million children annually and distributes 1.6 million books.

Additional Links

Home-grown stories, milky tales and Thanksgiving anecdotes

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous 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.

Sunday, November 22nd

14:00: Tea Time with Caledonia

Caledonia Skytower reads the final story from her soon to be published collection Two Houses.

18:00: Magicland Park – Fortunately, the Milk

fortunately the milk“This is quite possibly the most exciting adventure ever to be written about milk since Tolstoy’s epic novel War and Milk. Also it has aliens, pirates, dinosaurs and wumpires in it (but not the handsome, misunderstood kind), also a never-adequately-explained-bowl-of-piranhas, not to mention a Volcano God.”

– Neil Gaiman.

What do you do when your wife is away on a business trip, you pop down to the corner shop to get a pint of milk for the kids’ breakfast, get caught in conversation and eventually return home to the accusing stares of your two children delivered across milk-less bowls of cereal? Do you admit that yes, in fact you had been gossiping, or do you opt for the safer way out and offer-up the most outlandish tale?

Guess which course of action this particular father took?

Join Caledonia Skytower as she gives an encore reading of Neil Gaiman’s delightful tale in the art of trolling the kids, which will take place at Magicland Park.

Monday November 23rd, 19:00: Murder Will In

Gyro Muggins presents a short story by Frank Herbert, which first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1970, and most recently formed one of the stories in the collection Eye, published in 2014.

Tuesday November 24th 19:00: Mama Makes Up Her Mind

Mama makes up her mindWelcome to the unique world of Bailey White. Her aunt Belle may take you to see her bellowing pet alligator. Her uncle Jimbuddy may appal you with his knack for losing pieces of himself. Most of all, you may succumb utterly to the charms of Baileys mama, who will take you to a joint so raunchy it scared Ernest Hemingway or tuck you into her antique guest bed that has the disconcerting habit of folding up on people while they sleep.

White’s indelible vignettes of Southern eccentricity have entranced millions who have heard her read them on NPR. Mama Makes Up Her Mind is as sweetly intoxicating as a mint julep and as invigorating as a walk in Whites own overgrown garden.

Join Trolley Trollop, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower as they commence a romp through this wonderful series of vignettes

Wednesday, November 25th 19:00 The Wonderful World of Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl’s short stories are known for their unexpected endings and his children’s books for their unsentimental, macabre, often darkly comic content, featuring villainous adult enemies of the child characters. Join Faerie Maven-Pralou as she brings more of these tales to life.

Thursday, November 26th 11:00: Alice’s Restaurant Massacree

restaurantYou can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant.
You can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant.
Walk right in, it’s around the back,
Just a half-a-mile from the railroad tracks
,
And you can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant
.

As Thanksgiving arrives in the United States, Shandon Loring presents singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie’s famous 1967 musical monologue, Alice’s Restaurant Massacree (also popularly known as Alice’s Restaurant, and the inspiration of the 1969 Arthur Penn film of that name, starring Guthrie himself).

Aside from the opening and closing chorus, the song is delivered as the spoken word accompanied by a ragtime guitar. The story is based on a true incident in Guthrie’s life when, in 1965, he (then 18) and a friend were arrested for illegally dumping garbage from Alice’s restaurant after discovering that the town dump was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.

So, join Shandon for what is a Seanchai tradition for Thanksgiving as he reading this convoluted tale which encompasses fines, blind judges, guide dogs, 27 8×10 copiously annotated glossy photos related to the littering, frustrated police officers, the Vietnam War draft and, ultimately, the inexplicable ways in which bureaucracy moves to foil itself, just when you’ve given up hope of foiling it yourself.

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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 October – December is Reach Out and Read, one of the most highly rated literacy charities in the USA which reaches 4.4 million children annually and distributes 1.6 million books.

Additional Links

Of baseball, southern living, children’s tales and classic nior

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous 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.

Sunday, November 15th 14:00: Tea Time with Caledonia

Caledonia Skytower reads the final story from her soon to be published collection Two Houses.

Monday November 16th, 19:00: The Mighty Casey

Rod Sterling“Mouth” McGarry, the manager of a broken-down baseball team called the Hoboken Zephyrs on its last legs, allows a robot named Casey to play on his team. Casey can throw super-fast balls that cannot be hit. Just what is his secret?

His secret is discovered after he is struck by a ball and made to undergo a physical examination in which it is discovered he is an android. When the National League learns of this, they he must be taken off the team because he is not human. So Casey’s inventor gives him an artificial heart so he might be classified as human.

But now the team has another problem – with his new heart, Casey gains an emotional capacity which leads him to gaining empathy with the opposing teams’ batsmen. As a result, he refuses to throw his super-fast balls any more, as he has no desire to ruin the batting careers of others, and it seems the Zephyrs are on the road to nowhere once more unless something can be done. But what?

Join Gyro Muggins as he relates a story written by Rod Sterling for the 35th episode  of The Twilight Zone’s first season.

Tuesday November 17th 19:00: Mama Makes Up Her Mind

Mama makes up her mindWelcome to the unique world of Bailey White. Her aunt Belle may take you to see her bellowing pet alligator. Her uncle Jimbuddy may appal you with his knack for losing pieces of himself. Most of all, you may succumb utterly to the charms of Baileys mama, who will take you to a joint so raunchy it scared Ernest Hemingway or tuck you into her antique guest bed that has the disconcerting habit of folding up on people while they sleep.

White’s indelible vignettes of Southern eccentricity have entranced millions who have heard her read them on NPR. Mama Makes Up Her Mind is as sweetly intoxicating as a mint julep and as invigorating as a walk in Whites own overgrown garden.

Join Trolley Trollop, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower as they commence a romp through this wonderful series of vignettes

Wednesday, November 18th 19:00 The Wonderful World of Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl’s short stories are known for their unexpected endings and his children’s books for their unsentimental, macabre, often darkly comic content, featuring villainous adult enemies of the child characters. Join Faerie Maven-Pralou as she brings more of these tales to life.

Thursday, November 19th 19:00: American Noir

American Noir is the hard-boiled nightmare of flawed souls with big dreams and the  precise how and why of the all-time sure thing that goes bad. Classic stories from the typewriters of Mickey Spilane, James M.Cain, Edward Anderson, and other masters of the genre. Presented by Shandon Loring.

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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 October – December is Reach Out and Read, one of the most highly rated literacy charities in the USA which reaches 4.4 million children annually and distributes 1.6 million books.

Additional Links

Charles Dickens to return to Second Life

TDP-15-posterSeanchai Library has announced the return of one of their popular seasonal presentations: The Dickens Project.

First presented in 2012 to mark the 200th anniversary of author Charles Dickens’ birth, The Dickens Project is an interactive, immersive event focus on what is probably his most well-known story, A Christmas Carol.

The 9-day festival will commence on Saturday, December 12th and will present over 15 hours of reading from various adaptations of the story, set within a special Victorian environment. Presentations will take place at different times of the day throughout the festival in order to make reading the readings accessible to residents from around the world. Those attending will be invited to tour the set, where they will encounter interactive information on the times and work of Charles Dickens, and a seasonal ball will round-out proceedings at the end of the festival.

There will be no charge for those attending readings, but donations will be accepted on behalf of the Community Virtual Library, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, connecting residents with information resources, reference services, and serving as a networking tool for information resource professionals.

Caledonia Skytower, Shandon Loring (centre) and Kayden Oconnell in an evocative shot of the virtual / live performance by Bear Silvershade
Caledonia Skytower, Shandon Loring (centre) and Kayden Oconnell in an evocative shot of the virtual / live performance by Bear Silvershade

A Christmas Carol has been a seasonal favourite with people from all around the globe since its first publication. It has been serialised, dramatised, and made into numerous films over the decades, and has seen a number of television and radio serialisations. It’s also a story which succeeded purely as a result of Dickens’ own determination: he self published the book.

For an author if his stature at that time, such an act was unheard-of. Yet Dickens did just that. He hired an illustrator and supervised the work, he oversaw the book’s design and consulted on the advertising.  His publishers Chapman and Hall, who had demurred on the project, served only as his printers and received a fixed fee from every book sold.

The Dickens Project also has its own uniqueness. In 2013, following the success of the 2012 festival and preceding that of 2013,  there was a special performance of a Christmas Carol which crossed the digital and physical world divide. On December 1st 2013,  Caledonia Skytower, in her alter ego of writer Judith Cullen, performed before a live audience at the Knights of Pythia Temple in Tacoma, Washington, USA, while on a large screen beside her, fellow presenters Kayden Oconnell and Shandon Loring appeared from within Second Life.

As noted above, this year’s production will take place in a period setting, with members of the Seanchai Library staff also dressed in period costume. In keeping with this, audience members will be invited (but not obliged) to also attend in dress suitable for the wintry setting of the story, and suitable for the Victorian era, to add to the general ambience.

The final schedule for The Dickens Project 2015 has yet to be set, but you can be sure that when it has been, I’ll be providing it through these pages together with SLurls to the event, and may also have some behind-the-scenes photos to hopefully whet appetites!

Related Links

The end of the valley and stepping away from Earth in Second Life

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous 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.

Sunday, November 8th 13:30: Tea time at Baker Street

The Valley of Fear, The Strand Magazine, 1915. Illustration by Frank Wiles
The Valley of Fear, The Strand Magazine, 1915. Illustration by Frank Wiles

Caledonia Skytower, Kayden Oconnell and John Morland reach the conclusion of  the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel, The Valley of Fear.

Set prior to the events of The Final Problem, in which Holmes apparently dispatched criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty and also meeting his own demise in the process, The Valley of Fear charts a prior encounter with Moriarty’s nefarious acts.

Called to look out for a man called Douglas by and informant in Moriarty’s employ, Holmes and Watson arrive too late: the man is apparently already dead. But things are far from as they appear, as Holmes quickly deduces. Thus unfolds a strange tale travelling back a number of years further, and involving events in the United States.

As the tale comes full circle, the final cards are played in a deadly game, and a promise to see Moriarty brought to justice is made…

The conclusion of The Valley of Fear also marks the conclusion of a special journey for Seanchai Library: the presentation in voice of the 68 canonical tale of Holmes and Watson as penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a remarkable achievement – although I doubt very mush it will be the last time Seanchai and their listeners prevail upon the good graces of the Great Detective, his companion and Mrs. Hudson at 221B Baker Street.

Monday November 9th, 19:00: One Step From Earth

one step from earthWhat would happen if, by setting up a screen in one place and another somewhere else – the same planet, another planet in the same star system or even halfway across the galaxy – you could step into one and instantly step out of the other? What happens if one of the screens is one-way, and once you’ve passed through, your cannot return?

What are the social and political ramifications of such a system, for individuals and humanity as a whole when the entire galaxy is potential one step away from Earth?

Join Gyro Muggins as he explores the ramifications of instant teleportation through One Step from Earth, a collection of short stories on the theme by Harry Harrison. This wek: Wife to the Lord

Tuesday November 10th 19:00: Mama Makes Up Her Mind

Mama makes up her mindWelcome to the unique world of Bailey White. Her aunt Belle may take you to see her bellowing pet alligator. Her uncle Jimbuddy may appal  you with his knack for losing pieces of himself. Most of all, you may succumb utterly to the charms of Baileys mama, who will take you to a joint so raunchy it scared Ernest Hemingway or tuck you into her antique guest bed that has the disconcerting habit of folding up on people while they sleep.

White’s indelible vignettes of Southern eccentricity have entranced millions who have heard her read them on NPR. Mama Makes Up Her Mind is as sweetly intoxicating as a mint julep and as invigorating as a walk in Whites own overgrown garden.

Join Trolley Trollop, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower as they commence a romp through this wonderful series of vignettes

Wednesday, November 11th 19:00 The Wonderful World of Roald Dahl

Join Faerie Maven-Pralou as she reads The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and more.

Thursday, November 12th

19:00: American Noir

With Shandon Loring

21:00 Seanchai Late Night

With Finn Zeddmore.

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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 October – December is Reach Out and Read, one of the most highly rated literacy charities in the USA which reaches 4.4 million children annually and distributes 1.6 million books.

Additional Links