Tag: Seanchai Library

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in voice, brought to Second Life by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library.

As always, all times SLT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island.

Sunday, April 12th, 13:30: Tea Time with Kipling

In the beginning were the words, and the words were with Rudyard Kipling.

Well, OK, not quite that beginning, given I’ve referring to 1902, and the first appearance of Kipling’s Just So tales. But given this is a delightful collection of fantastical pourquoi or origin stories, telling of how certain things came to be, then I think you’ll get my drift.

Now regarded as some of his best-known stories, and an ever popular read for adults with young children, the stories gathered under the enfolding title, were originally little vignettes written and told for the express amusement of Kipling’s first daughter.

Join Caledonia Skytower and John Moreland as read from this wonderful collection. You might just finding out out How the Camel Got His Hump or perhaps How the Armadillo Happened or even – How the Elephant got his Trunk!

Monday April 13th, 19:00: Jack of Shadows Concludes

Gyro Muggins concludes Roger Zelazny’s 1971 novel which mixes science-fiction and fantasy, the title of which is an homage to Jack Vance.

The story takes place on a tidally locked planet – that is, one whose rotation about its axis precisely matches its orbit around its parent body, thus the same face is always presented to the parent body (just like our own Moon always presents the same face towards Earth). Given that the parent object in this case is the planet’s Sun, it means that one side of the planet exists in perpetual daylight – and is the seat of science; while the other lingers in perpetual night – and has become the seat of magic.

It is from the latter that the protagonist of the story – Shadowjack – comes. Even among his own kind, he is unusual, for the manner in which he draws upon his power; something which can, in the right circumstances make him exceptionally potent. However, when placed in either complete light or complete darkness, he is almost powerless. Jack’s only friend, Morningstar is doomed to what is effectively eternal punishment unless Jack can cross between the two realms of light and dark, combining his abilities with the power of science. Thus Jack must risk being lost in total light or total darkness in order to rescue Morningstar. And if he fails, who might rescue him?

Tuesday April 14th, 19:00: A Walk in the Woods Concludes

By his own admission, Bill Bryson isn’t the world’s greatest adventurer. This being the case, you’d think he’d have serious misgivings about undertaking this particular “walk in the woods”, as he disarmingly calls it: taking the 3,500 kilometre (2,200 mile) Appalachian Trail – a journey which would take five months to complete.

Travelling with his good friend “Stephen Katz”, the book is both a humorous guide to the trail and a set of serious and insightful comments / discussion on the trail’s history as it winds its way from Georgia (where Bryson was living at the time the book was written in 1998), to Maine. These discussions cover a broad range of subject including the sociology, ecology, trees, plants, animals and people of the states through which the trail passes (Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine).

Join Kayden Oconnell as he completes his retracing Bryson’s footsteps through the pages of this classic.

Wednesday April 15th

06:00: Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady

Freda Frostbite and Trolly Trollop open the pages of Florence King’s 1985 classic memoir.

The book opens by relating a tale of King’s Granny determining that the American side of her family (King’s father was English), had once owned land in Virginia awarded to them by royal grant on the basis of having read some of William Thackeray’s 1852 novel, The History of Henry Esmond, Esq.

From there it progresses through stories of her upbringing in a still racially-segregated Washington DC during the 1930s and 1940s, her time at college and onward into her adult life which was, in part, shaped by her bisexuality, and her leaning towards her own sex as partners.

Told with verve and flourish, wit and style, Confessions of a Failed South Lady may well be embellished in places, it may be slightly outrageous or dark in others; but it also deals with deeper issues, such as that of femininity, and matters of sexuality and family. Thus it presents a prefect blend of  humour and insight that make it a delight to read.

To quote from the cover: “Florence may have been a disappointment to her Granny, whose dream of rearing a Perfect Southern Lady would never be quite fulfilled. But after all, as Florence reminds us, ‘no matter which sex I went to bed with, I never smoked on the street’.”

19:00: Christie’s Detectives

Join Caledonia Skytower as she presents short stories featuring Agatha Christe’s beloved detectives: Parker Pyne, Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot.

Thursday April 16th

19:00: Silver Birch, Blood Moon

Shandon Loring continues through another anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. In Silver Birch, Blood Moon, they bring together 21 tales by some of today’s leading writers in a volume focused taking cherished tales of childhood and re-imagining them into sophisticated, seductive, fairy tales for adults. The stories gathered within the covers of this anthology include:

• The tale of a jealous prince who plots the destruction of his hated brother’s wedding by inventing a “magic” suit of clothing visible only to the pure at heart
• The story of a young girl’s strange fairy tale obsession which results in a brutal murder
• The tragic tale of an embittered mother, who must care for her dying son as he is trapped within a thicket guarding a sleeping beauty
• The revelation of what happens when a group of violent outcasts within a desolate industrial wasteland attempt to lay the myths of one Millennium to rest, only to give terrifying birth to those of the next.

Join Shandon Loring as he opens the pages of this latest collection from Datlow and Windling, and see if it is one of these stories or something else contained within the volume which falls under his gaze…

21:00 Seanchai Late Night

Details TBA – check the Seanchai blog for more.

—–

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 April / May is Habitat for Humanity, with a vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live – a safe and clean place to call home.

Related Links

• Seanchai Library (SL) blog
• Seanchai Library (SL) SLurl
• Seanchai Library in this blog

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in voice, brought to Second Life by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library.

As always, all times SLT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island.

Sunday, April 5th: Tea Time with Saki

With Holmes having accepted an invitation to spend Easter with the Watsons, and Corwyn similarly engaged for the Easter weekend, Caledonia and Kayden invite us to take tea with them in the glorious company of Hector Hugh (H.H.) Munro, perhaps better known as Saki, the master of the short story satirising English Edwardian life, often in a mischievous and / or macabre manner.

Born in British Burma in 1870, Munro’s writing career started in journalism, working for a number of noted newspapers and periodicals, including the Westminster Gazette, the Daily Express and the Bystander, His first book was non-fiction, The Rise of the Russian Empire was published in 1900, and from 1902 through 1908, he served as foreign correspondent for the Morning Post.

his first novel was published under the pen name of Saki in 1913. In When William Came: A Story of London Under the Hohenzollerns, Munro imagined a world a few years into the future, where Britain had been defeated in a war with Germany, and is under the occupation of Kaiser Wilhelm’s (the William of the title)  victorious military. From this, Munro’s career as Saki took flight, and he became a master of the Edwardian short story, his style influenced by the likes of Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll and Rudyard Kipling, whilst in turn influencing the likes of A. A. Milne, Noël Coward and P. G. Wodehouse.

Monday, April 6th

06:00: The Emerald Atlas

Cata Charisma continues his reading of John Stephens’ The emerald Atlas, the first volume in his fantasy trilogy for young adults, The Books of Beginning.

Having been passed from pillar to post through orphanages, three siblings, Kate, Emma, and Michael, find themselves lodged at the home of one Dr. Stanislaus Pym. Kate, the eldest of the three is driven by a promise made by her mother, that if Kate protects her younger sister and brother, then their family will be one day reunited.

But in their explorations of Dr. Pym’s house the three of them find their way into the basement, where they come across a mysterious door and an equally mysterious emerald-covered booth, entirely without text. When an old photograph touches the blank pages of the book, however, the three are immediately transported to the time and place depicted in the photograph. Her they find themselves in a realm populated by witches, henchmen, giants, dwarves and more – and one Dr. Stanislaus Pym, a good deal younger than when they last saw him in his house…

19:00: Jack of Shadows

Gyro Muggins returns to Roger Zelazny’s 1971 novel which mixes science-fiction and fantasy, the title of which is an homage to Jack Vance.

The story takes place on a tidally locked planet – that is, one whose rotation about its axis precisely matches its orbit around its parent body, thus the same face is always presented to the parent body (just like our own Moon always presents the same face towards Earth). Given that the parent object in this case is the planet’s Sun, it means that one side of the planet exists in perpetual daylight – and is the seat of science; while the other lingers in perpetual night – and has become the seat of magic.

It is from the latter that the protagonist of the story – Shadowjack – comes. Even among his own kind, he is unusual, for the manner in which he draws upon his power; something which can, in the right circumstances make him exceptionally potent. However, when placed in either complete light or complete darkness, he is almost powerless. Jack’s only friend, Morningstar is doomed to what is effectively eternal punishment unless Jack can cross between the two realms of light and dark, combining his abilities with the power of science. Thus Jack must risk being lost in total light or total darkness in order to rescue Morningstar. And if he fails, who might rescue him?

Tuesday April 7th, 19:00: A Walk in the Woods

By his own admission, Bill Bryson isn’t the world’s greatest adventurer. This being the case, you’d think he’d have serious misgivings about undertaking this particular “walk in the woods”, as he disarmingly calls it: taking the 3,500 kilometre (2,200 mile) Appalachian Trail – a journey which would take five months to complete.

Travelling with his good friend “Stephen Katz”, the book is both a humorous guide to the trail and a set of serious and insightful comments / discussion on the trail’s history as it winds its way from Georgia (where Bryson was living at the time the book was written in 1998), to Maine. These discussions cover a broad range of subject including the sociology, ecology, trees, plants, animals and people of the states through which the trail passes (Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine).

Join Kayden Oconnell as he resumes retracing Bryson’s footsteps through the pages of this classic.

Wednesday April 8th, 19:00: Christie’s Detectives

Join Caledonia Skytower as she presents short stories featuring Agatha Christe’s beloved detectives: Parker Pyne, Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot.

Thursday April 9th, 19:00: Silver Birch, Blood Moon

Shandon Loring dips into another anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.  In Silver Birch, Blood Moon, they bring together 21 tales by some of today’s leading writers in a volume focused taking cherished tales of childhood and re-imagining them into sophisticated, seductive, fairy tales for adults. The stories gathered within the covers of this anthology include:

• The tale of a jealous prince who plots the destruction of his hated brother’s wedding by inventing a “magic” suit of clothing visible only to the pure at heart
• The story of a young girl’s strange fairy tale obsession which results in a brutal murder
• The tragic tale of an embittered mother, who must care for her dying son as he is trapped within a thicket guarding a sleeping beauty
• The revelation of what happens when a group of violent outcasts within a desolate industrial wasteland attempt to lay the myths of one Millennium to rest, only to give terrifying birth to those of the next.

Join Shandon Loring as he opens the pages of this latest collection from Datlow and Windling, and see if it is one of these stories or something else contained within the volume which falls under his gaze…

—–

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 April / May is Habitat for Humanity, with a vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live – a safe and clean place to call home.

Related Links

• Seanchai Library (SL) blog
• Seanchai Library (SL) SLurl
• Seanchai Library in this blog

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in voice, brought to Second Life by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library.

As always, all times SLT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island.

Sunday, March 29th: Tea Time at Baker Street

Caledonia, Kaydon and Corwyn once more reconvene at the rooms of 221B Baker Street to read the story of The Adventure of the Speckled Band, which first appeared in The Strand Magazine in February 1892, and is notable for becoming the basis for a 1910 stage play written and produced by Conan Doyle, and which starred H. A. Saintsbury as Sherlock Holmes and Lyn Harding as Dr. Grimesby Roylott.

Helen Stoner lives with her stepfather,  Dr. Grimesby Roylott, last survivor of what was a wealthy but dissolute and violent tempered aristocratic family. Roylott himself is known for his violent temper, and served time in India for the murder of a servant.

Miss Stoner’s visit to Holmes is prompted by Roylott’s demand that she move into a room at his country estate where her twin sister died under mysterious circumstances two years previously, her dying words being, “the band! the speckled band!” Helen is unwilling to occupy the room as there is something decidedly strange about it; thus she seeks Holmes in order to confide her fears in him.

After her departure, Roylott arrives and forces has way into Holmes’ presence, demanding to know what Helen has been saying. Failing to gain any information from Holmes, despite a show of brute physical strength intended to intimidate, Roylott leaves. However, his actions have now firmly established himself at the centre of the Great Detective’s attention…

Monday, March 30th

06:00: The Emerald Atlas

Cata Charisma continues his reading of John Stephens’ The emerald Atlas, the first volume in his fantasy trilogy for young adults, The Books of Beginning.

Having been passed from pillar to post through orphanages, three siblings, Kate, Emma, and Michael, find themselves lodged at the home of one Dr. Stanislaus Pym. Kate, the eldest of the three is driven by a promise made by her mother, that if Kate protects her younger sister and brother, then their family will be one day reunited.

But in their explorations of Dr. Pym’s house the three of them find their way into the basement, where they come across a mysterious door and an equally mysterious emerald-covered booth, entirely without text. When an old photograph touches the blank pages of the book, however, the three are immediately transported to the time and place depicted in the photograph. Her they find themselves in a realm populated by witches, henchmen, giants, dwarves and more – and one Dr. Stanislaus Pym, a good deal younger than when they last saw him in his house…

19:00: Jack of Shadows

Gyro Muggins returns to Roger Zelazny’s 1971 novel which mixes science-fiction and fantasy, the title of which is an homage to Jack Vance.

The story takes place on a tidally locked planet – that is, one whose rotation about its axis precisely matches its orbit around its parent body, thus the same face is always presented to the parent body (just like our own Moon always presents the same face towards Earth). Given that the parent object in this case is the planet’s Sun, it means that one side of the planet exists in perpetual daylight – and is the seat of science; while the other lingers in perpetual night – and has become the seat of magic.

It is from the latter that the protagonist of the story – Shadowjack – comes. Even among his own kind, he is unusual, for the manner in which he draws upon his power; something which can, in the right circumstances make him exceptionally potent. However, when placed in either complete light or complete darkness, he is almost powerless. Jack’s only friend, Morningstar is doomed to what is effectively eternal punishment unless Jack can cross between the two realms of light and dark, combining his abilities with the power of science. Thus Jack must risk being lost in total light or total darkness in order to rescue Morningstar. And if he fails, who might rescue him?

Tuesday March 31st, 19:00: A Walk in the Woods

By his own admission, Bill Bryson isn’t the world’s greatest adventurer. This being the case, you’d think he’d have serious misgivings about undertaking this particular “walk in the woods”, as he disarmingly calls it: taking the 3,500 kilometre (2,200 mile) Appalachian Trail – a journey which would take five months to complete.

Travelling with his good friend “Stephen Katz”, the book is both a humorous guide to the trail and a set of serious and insightful comments / discussion on the trail’s history as it winds its way from Georgia (where Bryson was living at the time the book was written in 1998), to Maine. These discussions cover a broad range of subject including the sociology, ecology, trees, plants, animals and people of the states through which the trail passes (Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine).

Join Kayden Oconnell as he resumes retracing Bryson’s footsteps through the pages of this classic.

Wednesday June 1st, 19:00: An Interesting Year at the Newberys

With Caledonia Skytower.

Thursday April 2nd

19:00: Turlogh Dubh O’Brien

Robert E. Howard is probably best known for his Conan the Barbarian series. However, despite a relatively short writing career (he committed suicide at the age of 30), he wrote in a number of genres include sword and sorcery and horror.

In the 1930s, towards the end of his writing career, he found an interest in fascinated by Celtic themes and his own Irish ancestry, going so far as to teach himself a little Gaelic. He also started writing two series of Irish tales, focused on Turlogh Dubh O’Brien and Cormac Mac Art, although only the former have so far seen publication.

Set in 11th Century Ireland, the initial Turlogh Dubh O’Brien stories were published in 1931, being The Dark Man and The Gods of Bal-Sagoth (which, despite being the sequel, saw publication first). The remainder of the stories, including the unfinished and untitled story were published posthumously between 1975 and 1996

Join Shandon Loring as he delves into this series of short tales.

21:00: Seanchai Late Night

With Finn Zeddmore.

—–

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 April / May is Habitat for Humanity, with a vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live – a safe and clean place to call home.

Related Links

• Seanchai Library (SL) blog
• Seanchai Library (SL) SLurl
• Seanchai Library in this blog

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in voice, brought to Second Life and Kitely by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library.

As always, all times SLT / PDT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island, or at their Kitely Homeworld.

Sunday, March 22nd

11:00: Seanchai Kitely: Gorak the Gobbler

An original tale written and read by Caledonia Skytower (grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai).

12:00 Noon: Happy Birthday Seanchai!

A special 90-minutes session at Seanchai Library SL, with stories and readings to celebrate the Library’s seventh anniversary, followed by dancing with DJ Aoife!

Some Seanchai library facts:

• Seanchai Library was founded in March 20018 by Derry McMahon in Second Life, and the Library’s Chief Storyteller, Shandon Loring, told the first story as he has gone on to do with each branch that the group has opened
• Since March 2008, Seanchai Library has presented over 2000 individual titles, stories, and selections from fiction, essays, and poetry, representing an estimated 2070 one hour story sessions between March 2008 and March 2015, presented solely be volunteers
• Between January 2011 and January 2015, Seanchai Library made charitable donations totally $2,853 to 16 non-profit organisations around the world, doing good work in a variety of areas including environmental heath, housing, education, peace, social justice, and wildlife preservation
• Seanchai’s recent EXPLORE The Great Gatsby pilot program reached over 1500 patrons and guests through its partner, Tacoma Little Theatre, during preshow and at intermission of its production of The Great Gatsby, as well as over 100 Hypergrid visitors from around the world, including residents of Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and various parts of the United States. Visit the EXPLORE. website for more information on this fascinating project
  
• Seanchai events in Second Life generate an average of 70 unique visits a week, for a total of approximately 3640 visits annually.

18:00: Magicland Park SL:  Gorak the Gobbler

With Caledonia Skytower.

Monday, March 23rd

06:00: The Emerald Atlas

Cata Charisma continues his reading of John Stephens’ The emerald Atlas, the first volume in his fantasy trilogy for young adults, The Books of Beginning.

Having been passed from pillar to post through orphanages, three siblings, Kate, Emma, and Michael, find themselves lodged at the home of one Dr. Stanislaus Pym. Kate, the eldest of the three is driven by a promise made by her mother, that if Kate protects her younger sister and brother, then their family will be one day reunited.

But in their explorations of Dr. Pym’s house the three of them find their way into the basement, where they come across a mysterious door and a equally mysterious emerald-covered booth, entirely without text. When an old photograph touches the blank pages of the book, however, the three are immediately transported to the time and place depicted in the photograph. Her they find themselves in a realm populated by witches, henchmen, giants, dwarves and more – and one Dr. Stanislaus Pym, a good deal younger than when they last saw him in his house…

19:00: Starswarm

Starswarm Station is a remote research station established to study strange alien life. The planet on which it is located is the home of the starswarm, intelligent plants living under the planet’s shallow lakes and seas, and roaming bands of centaur-like creatures dubbed “haters”.

The station is also home to Kip, a teenage boy living under the guardianship of his “uncle”. However, as Kip begins to discover, he has another guardian: Gwen, an AI system his mother had been working on, prior to her death, and which communicates with Kip via a small implant placed inside his brain at birth.

Gwen knows far more about the planet and the lifeforms it harbours than Kip could imagine. It also knows a lot about the company that runs the station and, for all intents and purposes, “owns” the planet on which it sits.

Slowly, Gwen reveals these various truths to Kip, including his own destiny. But in doing so, it puts Kip, and potentially the entire station, at risk.

Join Gyro Muggins as he concludes a reading of Jerry Pournelle’s 1998 novel intended for teenage readers but which offers an interesting look at subjects such as neural nets and living computer systems.

Tuesday March 24th, 19:00: A Walk in the Woods

By his own admission, Bill Bryson isn’t the world’s greatest adventurer. This being the case, you’d think he’d have serious misgivings about undertaking this particular “walk in the woods”, as he disarmingly calls it: taking the 3,500 kilometre (2,200 mile) Appalachian Trail – a journey which would take five months to complete.

Travelling with his good friend “Stephen Katz”, the book is both a humorous guide to the trail and a set of serious and insightful comments / discussion on the trail’s history as it winds its way from Georgia (where Bryson was living at the time the book was written in 1998), to Maine. These discussions cover a broad range of subject including the sociology, ecology, trees, plants, animals and people of the states through which the trail passes (Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine).

Join Kayden Oconnell as he resumes retracing Bryson’s footsteps through the pages of this classic.

Wednesday March 25th, 19:00: The Real Winnie!

Join Caledonia Skytower as she presents the story of a truly one-of-a-kind bear who helped inspire the character of Winnie the Pooh!

Thursday March 26th, 19:00: Celtic Myths and Magick

With Shandon Loring.

Saturday, March 28th, 12:00 Noon: Seanchai InWorldz Opens!

Mark the date in your diaries, and check the Seanchai Library blog for more news nearer the date! I’ll have more on this is due course!

—–

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 / early March is Project Children, teaching and building peace in Northern Ireland, one child at a time.

Related Links

• Seanchai Library (SL) blog
• Seanchai Library (SL) SLurl
• Seanchai Library’s main Kitely World Page
• Seanchai Library in this blog

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in voice, brought to Second Life and Kitely by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library.

As always, all times SLT / PDT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island, or at their Kitely Homeworld.

Sunday, March 15th

11:00: Seanchai Kitely: The Quiet Man

Released in 1952, John Ford’s The Quiet Man is regarded as a classic Irish-American romantic comedy / drama. Starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara (and assorted members of their RL families!) and Barry Fitzgerald, it is a popular choice among critics and film-lovers.

The screenplay for the film was drawn in a large part from a short story of the same name originally published in 1933 in the Saturday Evening Post, and penned by Irish author, Maurice Welsh. Together with a number of other short stories by Walsh, The Quiet Man was gathered into a single volume of his short stories, The Quiet Man and Other Stories, which dealt with many recurring characters living in rural Ireland of the 1920s, and set against the backdrop of the civil unrest which affected the country at that time, while examining the complexities and occasional intrigues of life, love and Irish traditions.

Join Caledonia Skytower as she reads Walsh’s original tale of The Quiet Man, Paddy Bawn Enright. (grid.kitely.com:8002/InisArcain)

13:30: Seanchai SL: Tea Time at Baker Street

Caledonia, Kaydon OConnell and Corwyn Allen reconvene at the rooms of 221B Baker Street to this week read the story of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, which first appeared in The Strand Magazine in January 1892.

One December, Watson arrives at 221B Baker Street to offer Holmes season’s greetings and best wishes, only to find the Great Detective earnestly studying a battered hat. Holmes explains it had been delivered by commissionaire Peterson, who had witnessed a scuffle between some men, all of whom had run off, one of them dropping the hat and a Christmas goose in the process. Happy to let Peterson keep the goose, Holmes had found the hat to be of great interest, and by the time Watson arrives, had formed a quite clear set of deductions concern its owner, which he then proceeds to relate to the good Doctor.

Their conversation is interrupted by the return of Peterson, who presents Holmes with The Blue Carbuncle, a priceless jewel stolen from the hotel suite of the Countess of Morcar a few days previously. Peterson explains he found the jewel inside the goose. Having been quick on the case at the time of the theft, the police had already arrested known felon John Horner, who had previously been seen in the Countess’ suite cleaning the fireplace, and charge him with the theft. But Horner had from the start protested his innocence, and the police had been unable to locate the jewel, leading them to believe it is in the possession of an accomplice.

So could it be that the man who dropped the goose and hat was Horner’s mysterious accomplice, or is something else going on? And why hide the jewel in a goose? For Holmes and Watson, the game is once again, very much afoot!

Monday, March 16th

06:00: The Emerald Atlas

Cata Charisma continues his reading of John Stephens’ The emerald Atlas, the first volume in his fantasy trilogy for young adults, The Books of Beginning.

Having been passed from pillar to post through orphanages, three siblings, Kate, Emma, and Michael, find themselves lodged at the home of one Dr. Stanislaus Pym. Kate, the eldest of the three is driven by a promise made by her mother, that if Kate protects her younger sister and brother, then their family will be one day reunited.

But in their explorations of Dr. Pym’s house the three of them find their way into the basement, where they come across a mysterious door and a equally mysterious emerald-covered booth, entirely without text. When an old photograph touches the blank pages of the book, however, the three are immediately transported to the time and place depicted in the photograph. Her they find themselves in a realm populated by witches, henchmen, giants, dwarves and more – and one Dr. Stanislaus Pym, a good deal younger than when they last saw him in his house…

19:00: Starswarm

Starswarm Station is a remote research station established to study strange alien life. The planet on which it is located is the home of the starswarm, intelligent plants living under the planet’s shallow lakes and seas, and roaming bands of centaur-like creatures dubbed “haters”.

The station is also home to Kip, a teenage boy living under the guardianship of his “uncle”. However, as Kip begins to discover, he has another guardian: Gwen, an AI system his mother had been working on, prior to her death, and which communicates with Kip via a small implant placed inside his brain at birth.

Gwen knows far more about the planet and the lifeforms it harbours than Kip could imagine. It also knows a lot about the company that runs the station and, for all intents and purposes, “owns” the planet on which it sits.

Slowly, Gwen reveals these various truths to Kip, including his own destiny. But in doing so, it puts Kip, and potentially the entire station, at risk.

Join Gyro Muggins as he continues a reading of Jerry Pournelle’s 1998 novel intended for teenage readers but which offers an interesting look at subjects such as neural nets and living computer systems.

Tuesday March 17th, 19:00: Celtic Tales

With Aoife Lorefield.

Wednesday March 18th, 19:00: Gorak the Gobbler

An original tale written and read by Caledonia Skytower.

Thursday March 19th, 19:00: Celtic Myths and Magick

With Shandon Loring.

Sunday March 22nd, 12:00 Noon: Seanchai library SL’s 7th Anniversary

Mark the date in your diaries, and check the Seanchai Library blog for more news nearer the date!

—–

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 / early March is Project Children, teaching and building peace in Northern Ireland, one child at a time.

Related Links

• Seanchai Library (SL) blog
• Seanchai Library (SL) SLurl
• Seanchai Library’s main Kitely World Page
• Seanchai Library in this blog