WE PLACED! HUZZAH!

 Thanks to everyone who read and supported Her Own Words, this year's ghost story.  It was on two contests and placed in author Lissa Bryan's Ghostwriter Ghost Story Contest!  This is the first writing contest I have entered since I entered a DAR Essay competition in Junior High School, so this was a fun experience for me.

Visit her Contest Blog to enjoy the winning entry and the other submitted story entries.

This month will be a month filled with little bits and bobs.  Miracles: A Trio of Island Tales is due to be completed, plus the assembly of an anthology of this year's stories which will be available in paperback in early December. It will include all of this year's Trio Tales plus some bonus stories and a few poems. If you have enjoyed this year's stories, and have readers of such fiction on your holiday to-buy-for list, this just might be the thing for them.

I'll be celebrating Veteran's Day by reading from A Trio of My Father's Tales live on stream, November 11th.  Stay tuned for more on that and other live sessions.

Also stay tuned here for updates on The Dickens Project - Tacoma: a  simul-presentation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol in Second Life(c) and before a live audience in my hometown of Tacoma, WA. More information may be found on that by Clicking Here!

Happy November!  And don't forget to be thankful!

COMING IN DECEMBER!

The next phase in last year's beta test of The Dickens Project is officially happening for 2013:  an expanded "next step" environment with more to explore, and a simultaneous performance in the real and virtual worlds, live .. to live audiences!

We even have a fresh new blog out about the performance!  The Dickens Project ~ Tacoma!

I am proud to be the host of the Tacoma audience, greeting them live in the historic Knights of Pythias Commencement Lodge #7 in downtown Tacoma.  While voice talents Kevin Lee and Shandon Loring will be performing with me, live from the virtual world of Second Life.

It is an exciting next step in the vast potential I see to use the virtual world as a tool for real world interfaces, not just for personal entertainment.

EXPLORING POTENTIAL ... Looking for the Next Step in Immersive Storytelling

Okay, I know it has only just stopped snowing in some parts of the U.S. and the world.  I have been working on some work samples for various endeavors, and created a video trying to express the concept behind The Dickens Project for a grant.  I am fascinated by the idea of creating interactive environments for presentations of live voice performances.  There is something about hearing a story told live, slightly imperfect, that is different from a recording or audio book.  To me, it feels more personal.  The Dickens Project in 2012 was a beta test that was just the beginning of where I think this approach can go.

Check the video out, and see if you see what I see - Click Here!

(Now, if we can just get people to want to use it as a service!)

THE DICKENS PROJECT!

Where have I been?  Immersed in design projects, story projects, and audiobooks!  Check out the pictures on my Design site of the beta test of The Dickens Project, whose ultimate realization would be an interactive virtual environment where you could walk in the steps of Ebenezer Scrooge through a detailed virtual environment, guided by a live storyteller and the words of Dickens ... all of them!

The Dickens Project - Virtual Immersion in Literature

 

FYI : I will be reading the entirety of A Christmas Carol Live in two sessions (half the novella each) in Second Life (c) as I have for the past several years - December  23rd at 3:00pm Pacific Time, and December 24th at 3:00pm Pacific Time. 

The Dickens Project is free, donations accepted to benefit the Community Virtual Library.  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/179/204/23

DECEMBER 6th: "Meet Ebenezer Scrooge"

"Old Marley was dead..."  begins Charles Dickens' classic ghostly tale of discovery and redemption.  From a previous post you'll not that I am working on a Dickens Centenary event in Second Life (c) called The Dickens Project.

Dickens was written to be read aloud.  In fact the author diligently read his work to family and friends.  Remembering there were no radios, televisions, vhs or dvd, much less internet in those days.  Gathering to hear stories read or told was a common social activity.  In fact all those things I listed are also storytelling tools, though one might argue that they are getting more and more impersonal.  But that's another conversation.  Dickens was meant to be read and read aloud.

The language is delicious, and while I might not give it the same quality that a Patrick Stewart, Albert Finney, or Ian McKellen might, it is still a grand story beautifully if not economically told.  I have read it out loud every year for the past four years and every time I discover something new.

Consider reading it yourself!  It can be gotten free at several online sites, including Project Gutenberg.

"Meet Ebenezer Scrooge" from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Recording (c) 2012 by Judith Cullen
NOT for Commercial Use