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 SL.

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

Sunday March 2nd

13:30: Tea-time at Baker Street: The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans



Tea-time at Baker Street sees as Caledonia Skytower, Corwyn Allen and Kayden Oconnell reading stories from His Last Bow.

A 1917 anthology of previously published Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, His Last Bow originally comprised seven stories published byThe Strand Magazine between 1908 and 1917. However, later editions of the book saw an eighth story included, The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, originally published in 1892.

Despite his frequent appearances in various television series depicting the life and times of Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes only appears, or is mentioned, in just four of Conan Dyole’s tales, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans being one of them – actually the one which marked his final appearance in the original canon.

It is Mycroft who kicks-off this adventure as he visits Holmes about missing submarine plans and a dead man. The latter is Arthur Cadogan West, formerly a young clerk in a government office at the Woolwich Royal Arsenal, who was found dead next to the London Underground tracks near Aldgate tube station, his head apparently crushed by a passing train. The plans for the Bruce-Partington submarine were found on his body – with three pages missing, and Mycroft is concerned they could have been taken by enemies of the Crown.

Not only is there the mystery of the missing pages for the submarine plans, there is much about Arthur Cadogan West’s death which does not add-up; why, for example, was he carrying top-secret plans about his person while apparently due to visit the theatre with his fiancée? Why is there no Underground ticket about his body? Did he manage to travel the service without a ticket, or did someone take it? If the latter, why would they take it?

Holmes responds to his brother’s request for help on behalf of the British government – noting to Watson along the way that Mycroft actually is the British government – and thus the adventure begins …

Find out more by joining Caledonia, Corwyn and Kayden!

18:00: Magicland Storytime

Join Caledonia Skytower at Magicland Park, in the Golden Horsehoe, as she reads The Princess and the Frog, and Mardi Gras stories.

Monday March 3rd, 19:00: From an Alien Point of View

When humans interact with aliens who are actually alien, we run into the fact that we’re as weird to them as they are to us. This can cause the most remarkable misunderstandings…. More thought-provoking sci-fi from the collection of Gyro Muggins.

Tuesday March 4th, 19:00: Ireland, Land of Poets



Join Kayden, Corwyn and Caledonia as they read from the poetic words of some of Ireland’s famous daughters and son.

Wednesday March 5th, 19:00: Tír na nÓg by Marni L.B. Troop

Tír na nÓg (“Land of the Young”) is, in Irish folklore and mythology, one of the names of the “otherworld”, in part a supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance and joy. It is also the title of the first volume of Marni L.B. Troop’s The Heart of Ireland Journals.

In looks, the Faerie are folk little different to humans, other than their pointed ears, although they are vastly different in other ways, and Casey is a princess among them.

She is horrified when a stranger from Iberia arrives on the shores of Ireland, home of the Faerie, believing them to be the gods of his people, but the kings of the Faerie respond to his overtures by having him slaughtered.

Thus the Faerie kings bring down the vengeance of the Iberian people upon their own folk, and war comes to their land. Caught in the middle, and herself in love with an Iberian called Amergin, Casey tries to find a way to bring peace between the two peoples so that they might live together. Unfortunately for her and her beloved, things do not go as she had hoped.

Join Caladonia as she embarks on a reading of this intriguing faerie tale.

Thursday March 4th



16:00: Stories from Ozland and Pictures

With Llola Lane.

19:00: The Dream of Macsen Wledig and The Black Cauldron

Shandon Loring sits down to read from two more tales rooted in tales from the Mabinogion.

Macsen Wledig is in fact Magnus Maximus, a Roman general who was proclaimed emperor by his legionaries in 383AD before he successfully challenging and defeated the Western Emperor Gratian and initially reaching an agreement with Valentinian II and Theodosius I, which saw him recognised as the Emperor in the West. This arrangement last until 388AD, when Magnus was himself defeated by forces loyal to Theodosius I and Valentinian II, after forcing the latter out of Milan.

A key figure in the latter days of the Roman Empire in Britain, the story of Magnus Maximus filtered into Welsh mythology, and may also helped to give rise to the initial Arthurian legends. As it is, in Welsh tradition, he is seen as the progenitor of the dynasties of several medieval Welsh kingdoms, and appears in lists of the Fifteen Tribes of Wales. In The Dream of Macsen Wledig, we learn of how he came to dream of (and find) his future wife here in Britain.

Shandon follows-up the The Dream of Macsen Wledig, with a reading of The Black Cauldron.

21:00: Seanchai Late Night

Details still TBA, so please check with the Seanchai Library blog as the week progresses.

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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 March and April is Project Children: building true and lasting peace in Northern Ireland one child at a time.

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