Science Fiction Author Elinor Caiman Sands Engages With SciFi Convention 2015 In Second Life

Inside Elinor Caiman Sands Exhibit

Authors outside the virtual world at times pay attention to the virtual world. Terry Pratchett visited once for a talk in a promotion of his book Nation. Science Fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson used to pop into Second Life for a talk or two, dressed as a coyote. I’ve talked, more than once, with Nara Malone who has formed community links with authors in Second Life and beyond into OpenSim, especially with projects such as The HyperGrid Stories Project.

Over the weekend whilst roaming around the Science Fiction Convention 2015 in Second Life I stumbled across the works of another author, UK based SciFi & Fantasy author Elinor Caiman Sands.

Elinor has a small exhibit in the Risa sim at the conference, featuring promotion of her books and some Second Life based artwork. Elinor is a fan of alligators, I’m not sure how many of them really exist in swamps in the UK, although legend has it that the UK was indeed once a very swampy land. However she does have experience of the British Labour party, so she should be used to people showing their teeth and trying to snap.

At the exhibition four of Elinor’s e-books are promoted :

  • Europa Spring
  • Elinor’s Little Book of Funny Critters
  • The Martian Ascent
  • Mouse About the House

These are all short stories and were published as Kindle editions in 2014.

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Talking To Lani Global About OpenSim SciFi At The Second Life SciFi Convention

Opensim Scifi

OpenSim SciFi may seem like an odd fit at the Second Life Science Fiction Convention, indeed your first thought may well be “These aren’t the droids we’re looking for.” However you would be wrong because in a similar fashion to storytellers, SciFi spread across OpenSim and Second Life with the communities working together even if the technologies don’t. I caught up with Lani Global to chat about OpenSim SciFi.

First things first, I had to make sure that Lani wasn’t an evil sith Lord or lady, she frowned and then replied :

I doubt that the OpenSim universe has been conquered as an empire yet, but there are many trying!

However more importantly, how popular is SciFi in OpenSim, this was a question that received a warmer reply :

Sci Fi is probably one of the most popular themes in OpenSim.” Lani told me, she also told me that she has her own Hypergrid enabled OpenSim location “My main region called “Lani” has been enabled for HyperGrid since 2010. It gets about 15,000 unique visitors per year, and about 20% of them are via HyperGrid.

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Intergalactic Planetary, Planetary Intergalactic – The Sci-Fi Convention Launches

Magralthea

The 2015 Second Life Science Fiction Convention officially launched earlier this evening and there were no glitches. As a Dwarfin this was unchartered territory for me as I boldly went where no Dwarfin has gone before, to experience space, the final frontier.

New Vegas

The convention, which is part of the Second Life Relay For Life fundraising effort for The American Cancer Society spans six intergalactic sims, the links are the SLURL’s :

The event opened with an opening ceremony at Merciless Ming’s, which is based in Fhloston Paradise, but don’t worry if you missed it, there’s more entertainment planned for today.

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The 2015 Second Life Sci-Fi Convention Opens Tomorrow

Set your phasers to stun. Be prepared to go where no man has boldly gone before, well with the exception or the organisers, the builders, The Lindens and maybe some others. However besides them, the big news is that the 2015 Science Fiction Convention in Second Life opens tomorrow.

The event is part of the Relay For Life fundraising in Second Life effort on behalf of The American Cancer Society and as with many events there will be vendors, events and much more.

The event will be running February 20th Thru March 1st and features six sims :

Pern Sound
Source:
Pern – Planet, with dragons. And, Anne McCaffrey

Magrathea
Source:
Douglas Adams Magrathea will build planets specifically tailored for you. Want a planet made out of solid gold? What about one where everything’s made of jello? The pebbles on the beaches are all precious jewels?

Risa
Source:
The pleasure planet mentioned or featured in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In particular it was featured in the episode ʺCaptain’s Holidayʺ.

Fhloston Paradise
Source:
Fhloston Paradise was the name of the resort hotel/ship where Corbin Dallas/Leeloo went in 5th Element and got to see the Diva sing

New Vegas
Source:
Babylon 5, The Mars city New Vegas is very heavily implied to be such a place, right down to the name

Sihnon
Source:
In the TV series Firefly Sihnon is where Inara was taught the skills to become a Companion.

A good place to keep up to date with events is on the Sci-Fi Alliance website.

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Tis’ The Season To Be Jolly


2014 Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair

The 2014 Second Life Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair offers 12 days of shopping, hunts, live performances, and winter fun! This returning eight-sim event is in support of Relay For Life of Second Life. For more information, be sure to visit https://slchristmasexpo.wordpress.com/.

Visit in Second Life

On a lighter note, the Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair for Relay for Life of Second Life has now been open for a couple of days and includes some fantastic builds and Christmas themes.

Expo

The regions contain Christmas Trees! They also contain a radio stream to make you want to let it snow, actually it has snowed there, a lot!

SL Xmas Expo

The expo is part of the Relay For Life fundraising effort and Linden Lab have happily joined in the spirit of good will to all men (and women) with a blog post in which they point out :

Returning for a 4th year – the expo kicks off today – December 4th- and runs through December 15th, 2014. Coordinated and sponsored by residents who wish to help fund a charitable organization with a festive event, this event intends to make the gift of giving memorable and fun.

This joyful happening helps raise funds for Relay for Life of Second Life – with 100% of registration fees, sponsorship feeds, kiosk donations, hunt, raffle, auction, and vendor donation items going to Relay for Life of Second Life – part of the American Cancer Society.

There will plenty of activities for you to participate in; from two tree lots filled with beautifully decorated trees from some of the best designers, auctions, live performances and DJs, to pictures with the man himself – Santa!

Exciting times indeed!

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