Huckleberry Hax will be joining us this Friday 2PM SLT at the Gypsy Camp, Milk Wood to give a talk on NaNoWriMo and how to achieve the best results from the challenge. Huck has written several novels during the yearly challenge and is willing to share his insights with you.

So, pop over to Milk Wood this Friday and absorb all you can – your future novel may depend on it!

http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/awen/162/28/22

“Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.”

Benjamin Franklin

Folxs, I’m going to get deep on you today. Why? ‘Cause I feel like it. ‘Cause I’ve been ill lately and illness deepens the man: in his pajamas, he circles the world lightning-fast, setting fire to unbuilt houses, tearing down edifices held high in everybody’s mind. My topic today: identity. actually, let’s spell this with a capital for extra attention: Identity.

This is what contemplating fashion in-world, virtual brocade vests, jackets, prim hair and not-so-prim hair has lead me to, because how we dress is how we want to appear and how we want to appear spells out I-D-E-N-T-I-T-Y the way we would like it to sound to anyone else’s ears … and look to their eyes.

Rhiannon Dragoone and the author at Milk Wood Writer's Meet (orig. photo sensibly altered)

Witness my excitement and surprise when this week, within the sheltered realm of Milk Wood, I came upon Rhiannon Dragoone who professes to be a staunch supporter of nudity – something she can quite likely only live with consequence in-world. Rhiannon proved to be a prolific writer of erotic horror fiction stories looking to place a recent novel in this genre for publication. At the meeting, a couple of attendees (with male avatars – we must assume they are males pulling their strings in the real world, though who knows for sure?) kicked ideas and contacts around. We all behaved like perfectly civilised animals. Professionals, even. Her appearence, I hesitate to call it her identity, was not in the way – as it probably had been, given her curvaceous presence, in the real world.

I’m not a philosopher. I can’t even afford an armchair with my current prim count in one of Milk Wood’s cottages (not if I insist on having a hot tub and a 32-pose four-poster bed, which are indispensable to my virtual happiness). I’m just a man with a little bit of life under his swollen belly, and with loud shoes. But I recognise authentic identity when I see it. And I bet most of you, especially if you write, are the same. It doesn’t matter how “constructed” this identity seems to be – at the heart of an onion there is always an onion.

I’m not a journalist – I can’t hold my words for one, I’m verbally incontinent since I swallowed a fly who swallowed a horse, which upset my stomach. Journalism (excuse me, you professionals out there) thrives on assumed, not on authentic identity. Because assumed identity can be glamorous, while authentic identity is pure Hemingway when he wrote well, it’s simple power. That makes journals readable, I guess (the one journal/mag I read – and recommend, if only for the real-life glizz on its electronic pages, is Sinatra Style Magazine (now on display in Milk Wood Library) … because my friend Jaen Wirefly writes for it). Assumed identity makes interesting stories. Authentic identity makes true stories.

No news here then – the question of identity leads to the question of truth. And truth leads straight into fiction, paradoxically. Tons of literature seeks truth, or rather, its creators seek truth and its readers seek truth and both work together while turning (out) page after page. Few find it, but the search is ever so sweet. The better ones, in my book of great books anyway, seek truth and find heart along the way. They seem surprised by that, ravished even (“to ravish” – one of my favourite words lately) and their readers, too, because so much fiction lacks heart, sacrifices heart perhaps in search of truth and/or effect.

Not just for literati: Heart Murmur Sim - Cardiology Center in Second Life

Coming back to the virtual writers and readers I’ve met so far in Second Life^® – most of them seem to use the experience not merely to shine and flaunt themselves: they show heart, they wear it on their ephemeral skins. It’s heartening to watch and see and hear. That’s all for today. I even shed a tear on account of my own thought, which I will pour into a balloon glass tonight, cover it with exquisite wine, and have it while hugging my real life sweetheart, whispering nothing much into her ear. Poetic really, Second Life is poetic – caveat cor!

Virtually yours,
Flawnt Alchemi

We’ve got books growing on trees here at Milk Wood, well NaNoWriMo trees.

Yes, you’ve guessed it, it’s that time again. If you haven’t heard of NaNoWriMo before, then check out the official website:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it happens every year in the month of November.

It’s a chance for you to write that novel you’ve always wanted to — in a month that is!

Here at Milk Wood we like to help you out and give you a little push; so we’ve organised several events to get you started. First, the seasoned NaNoWriMoer (is that even a word?) Huckleberry Hax will be joining us at 2PM SLT next Friday, 23rd October, to give you some starter tips. Huckleberry has been very successful with these challenges and will give you all the insider scoop. There’ll also be a chance for you to ask questions…I might even be able to talk him into giving us a reading – I know you girls just melt at his dulcet tones.

Secondly, we will be turning our regular Writers’ Meets into NaNoWriMo Meets. That way you can work on your novel and catch up on how everyone else is doing. These will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1PM SLT.

We have typewriters and desks and the aforementioned, NaNoWriMo Tree. http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/awen/162/28/22

I just know you are ALL dying to know what this mysterious tree is all about. Okay, I’ve added prim books to a special tree at the meet. These books are ready for you to add your own texture — perhaps a pic of your future novel might help spur you on! Each prim book displays your word count. These will be updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

There is only one tree that seems to be sprouting these books but I have a feeling a few others might follow suit.

So, if you want to participate in NaNoWriMo, join up at the address already given and send me your textures. Word counts cannot be given until November 1st — so no cheating. You must begin your novel on that day and not a second before. And Harri will know you are telling a fib, because she knows these things and will only crack your knuckles with her whip.

With much fuzzy love,
Harri (winks)

On Saturday 10th October, real life YA Writer Chaz Young joined us at Milk Wood Library to attend a brand new event in Second Life^® called Virtual Meet and Greet. Chaz read from her newly published book Travels to Fahdamin-Ra and told us a little about how it all began for her.

Kghia Gherardi: …and here is our author, Chaz Young (Fahdama Dawodu in-world)

Vel Alchemi: Clap

Harpy Convair: APPLAUSE!!!!

Harriet Gausman: ..:::APPLAUSE:::..

Kaiser Kozlov: *Claps*

Harriet Gausman: Welcome Chaz

Anouk Lefavre: Applauds

Harriet Gausman: Thank you so much for joining us at Virtual Writers, Inc. and Bookstacks. We are thrilled to have you with us.

Harriet Gausman: ..:::APPLAUSE:::..

Harriet Gausman: We’ll be publishing this on Virtual Writers, Inc. blog and our Milk Wood social site. It will get your name further out there in blogland and the netiverse in general, which can only be a good thing. If anyone would like their name or quotes removed from the transcript please IM and let me know. It will be tweaked a bit first before being published, to remove any unnecessary text.

“Every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of voice, was so perfectly well turned and well placed, that, without being interested in the subject, one could not help being pleased with the discourse; a pleasure of much the same kind with that received from an excellent piece of music.”

Benjamin Franklin

We have much pleasure in announcing the start of a new author event in Second Life^® called VIRTUAL MEET AND GREET. Here, real life authors will join Virtual Writers, Inc. founder, Harriet Gausman and Bookstacks co-owner, Kghia Gherardi for a tête-à-têtes and reading at our esteemed virtual library in Awen.

Ever had a burning question and no opportunity to ask your favourite author? Well, burn no longer.

This Saturday is the turn of children’s author, Chaz Young who will be telling us how it all came about and why she wrote her new children’s book Travels in Fahdamin-Ra.

*The lives of fourteen and twelve year old Celestine and Joel Bridges change forever when they uncover a family secret. They are descendants of “Creators” who were given a world to rule with superhuman powers. The siblings travel to the world of Fahdamin-Ra and use their newfound abilities. Making friends among the three tribes, the Harun, the Masamba, and the Jabulani, they joyfully use their powers to cure, fly, and create animals. However, their fun soon turns to serious work when the Fahdamins are threatened by the evil Shadow Men, who have unusual abilities of their own. Can they triumph over this group of brutal men, or will they be expelled from Fahdamin-Ra forever?

Author Chaz Young lives in Bath, Maine, and credits her husband and two children for the inspiration and support needed to write Fahdamin-Ra. *information taken from publishers website

Seats will be limited so make sure you get there as early as possible as there will be an opportunity for audience members to ask questions during the meet.

Harriet Gausman whose real name I don’t know, unless that is her real name and there is no other Harriet Gausman in the known universe, asked me to write a column, a regular column, a piece of blog, a wooden log, for this esteemed online journal.

Un Lun Dun is China Mieville’s first young adult novel. As indicated by the title it is set in an alternate version of London. It has been compared to Louis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, though I can not speak directly to this as I have yet to read that work, I can see why the comparison has been made based on the movie adaptations.

The tale begins in London, with our main characters Zanna and Deeba. They begin to notice that strange occurrences are happening, things like a fox watching Zanna during recess. Zanna is attacked by a dark cloud, and stays several nights at Deeba’s house. The girls are awoken by the sound of something scratching at the window, it’s a broken umbrella. Zanna decides to follow it, dragging Deeba in her wake. They end up in Un Lun Dun with no way home. Needless to say, the girls are scared and confused.

Upon their arrival they are chased by a pile of rubbish and promptly rescued by a boy named Hemi. A friendly tailor notices that the girls are new in town, and chases Hemi off. He’s half-ghost, and the living don’t trust the ghosts. Zanna then learns that she is the “Chosen One” and is meant to save Un Lun Dun from the Smog. But Obaday, the tailor, won’t say anything else. He insists on taking her to see the Propheseers, who will tell her what she must do. Zanna and Deeba meet the Propheseers, but things do not go as predicted. The “Chosen One” is injured in the first battle. We learn that people, things, and ideas can travel between our world and the world of Un Lun Dun. There are several other plot twists, which would be quite surprising to the young readers that are the intended audience. They are handled very well, even if as an adult you can guess that they are coming, they do not feel forced or artificial.

The world of Un Lun Dun is full of unique creatures and objects, as are Mieville’s other worlds. I admit I was a bit concerned about Mieville’s vocabulary when it came to writing a young adult novel. He is quite fond of big words that make educated adults reach for a dictionary, so I wasn’t sure if he could pull back and make his wonderful prose accessible to children. He did so superbly. He gave us several emotionally touching scenes throughout the book. There was a lot of focus on the value of friendship in this story. There was particular good-bye scene which reminded me very much of Dorothy’s farewells in The Wizard of Oz.

Overall, I’d recommend this book to anyone that enjoys fantasy, or is looking for a book to share with a young person in their life.

Good reading everyone.

This was my first novel by Rudy Rucker.  Though I wasn’t sure what to expect, I knew that this book would take a different approach to cyberpunk than I have encountered before.

Our main character is Cobb Anderson, he is an elderly scientist, living in disgrace. The cause of his disgrace is the robot revolution that was brought about by him developing a way for robots to evolve and have real brains, not in the physical sense but in the independent thought sense. He has lost is his money and career, left his wife, and is suicidal while being terrified of death. Another consequence of the robot rebellion is that all the “boppers”, or thinking robots, have been exiled to the moon. One of the boppers sneaks down to Earth and offers Cobb immortality, money for a ticket to the moon, and a new passport as Cobb’s travel is restricted to due his part in the robot rebellion (albeit unintentional).

Cobb has a nemesis, a police officer named Mooney. Mooney is holding a grudge about Cobb’s part in the robot rebellion. Ironically, the person that the boppers plan to have help Cobb is Mooney’s son, Sta-Hi. I don’t want to go into the plot any further, to avoid spoilers.

Rucker’s writing flowed smoothly, and I even laughed in a few spots. The book was enjoyable, but not riveting. I think that part of the reason I wasn’t riveted is because I found some of the events a bit predictible, that might not be the case for you. I wouldn’t place it among my all-time favorites; however, I found the question that Rucker posed about the soul very interesting. There was a lack of intensity that I have come to expect from cyberpunk. As the novel is the first in a trilogy, much of the story was exposition. I don’t feel that I can reach a definitive conclusion on how I feel about it as a work, because it is not a complete work in and of itself. If you like science fiction and questions of an existential nature, then this would be a good choice for you.

Welcome to our first monthly newsletter. Artistic folk tend to forget the need for promotion but it is an important part of selling yourself and your work. So, each month I will be letting our group members know just how talented a bunch you are.

Book of the Month: Night’s Knights by Emerian Rich

Markham is a simple Irish immigrant striving for the American dream in 1860 when coach robbers cause his untimely death.

Severina is an exotic beauty from the jungles of Brazil whose family is brutally murdered by the same man she later calls lover.

Julien is a knight who serves as guardian angel to his family but has no clue about his predestined fate.

Now they are on a quest to create the perfect offspring, but who is in the shadows altering their plan as they strive for perfection?

Will a powerful mortal named Jespa be the one to save them all?

Emz Mazie (Emerian Rich) will be reading from her book every Thursday @ 7PM SLT at The Haunted Library Room, Milk Wood.

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New additions to Milk Wood Library

Van Gogh’s Other Ear: Poems by Persephone Phoenix – available to purchase at L$50

Blue Angel Landing: Volume 1, Issue I – available to purchase at L$50

Travels to Fahdamin-Ra by Chaz Young

The lives of fourteen and twelve year old Celestine and Joel Bridges change forever when they uncover a family secret. They are descendants of “Creators” who were given a world to rule with superhuman powers. The siblings travel to the world of Fahdamin-Ra and use their newfound abilities. Making friends among the three tribes, the Harun, the Masamba, and the Jabulani, they joyfully use their powers to cure, fly, and create animals. However, their fun soon turns to serious work when the Fahdamins are threatened by the evil Shadow Men, who have unusual abilities of their own. Can they triumph over this group of brutal men, or will they be expelled from Fahdamin-Ra forever?

Author Chaz Young lives in Bath, Maine, and credits her husband and two children for the inspiration and support needed to write Fahdamin-Ra.