Published Author Writes Novel of Crime and Mystery In a Virtual World

By Bixyl Shuftan

There was a book published in April this year, "Femme Fatale Online," written by Eugene Rodgers, that would be of interest to some in Second Life. The story takes place partly in a virtual world much like Second Life. A man named Rick goes by the name Issac in the world, and befriends a beautiful lady avatar named Joan. Joan arranges for Rick to get a job in real life with Molcom, a large corporation that's made breakthroughs that could potentially lead to practical nuclear fusion power. She lures Rick, who is married in real life, into a virtual romance. Then she blackmails him by threatening to mail recordings of the tryst, ordering him to commit industrial espionage. As time goes on, she threatens to harm he and his family as well. He realizes he has to find out who she is, and comes up with a list of suspects he has to narrow down before he's discovered.

Rodgers contacted me, and corresponding with him I found he had been going by the name Adolphe Menjou inworld years earlier.  He also had a couple alts, "my book's hero, Rick Collins," and "Joan d'Arc, the book's villain." But unfortunately, a problem came up, "when I returned to SL last year after a hiatus, Adolphe had become a white cloud and I couldn't revive him." So he got another account, Isaacasimov1 Resident, whom still has "off-the-shelf" looks, "I ... did nothing with it since all my inworld time was with Rick or Joan."

We met up at "Rick's Ranch," the place he called his inworld home. He apologized for some slow responses early on, "I'm a bit rusty on the controls, plus I'm a crappy typist." I brought up by the rezz date on his first account that he had been in Second Life for over ten years. "Technically, yes," he answered, "But I left dfor several years and came back last year. ... The place has sue changed. All my friends are gone." I asked why he left for a while. He responded, "Started writing the book! My first attempt at fiction, so it took a long, hard time." I asked him where he got the idea for the plot. He told me, "I started to write the book as nonfiction. I wanted to show what life was like in a huge corporation. But I decided fiction would have a greater impact. I was in Second Life and thought of the idea for the book. So besides corporate life, I could also show readers what a virtual world is like. Most people have no idea what corporate life is like or what a virtual world is."

Following up his comment about corporate life, I brought up, "I recall you saying, 'One character proposes what he calls the 3B’s of business success — backstabbing, butt kissing, and bull throwing.' Was he being a pessimist, or being accurate in your opinion?" Rodgers/Issac answered, "Accurate! The original nonfiction idea would have been mostly about the 3B's, 'The 3B Approach to Business Success,' my idea of a tongue in cheek title.But in the book I would have used a less delicate word than 'bullthrowing'." I asked if there were any references to "Dilbert," a daily comic strip by Scott Adams about an office cubicle worker dealing with a dimwitted boss and less than sympathetic coworkers. "No references," he answered, "but it's very much like Dilbert. I tried sending a message to Scott Adams, but couldn't get through. He once worked for a corporation."

I brought up Second Life once more, "How did you find your experience here?" "Loved it!" he told me enthusiastically, "Especially meeting people from all over the world. And the anonymity allows people to open up. I really got to know some friends well. One person I never got to know at all. And she was mean, but interesting. She became the villain, Joan, in my book." I asked if the characters from the business were based on anyone or completely made up. "Fictional," he responded, "but everything that happens in the book is a disguised version of what actually happened to colleagues or myself. The corporation, Molcom, is a composite of several huge corporations."

I asked if the fictional virtual world was almost like Second Life. He answered, "Yes, but technologically much more advanced. For example, I had to invent a way to make AVS perfect reproductions so the blackmail would work. So Rick's AV would look exactly likehim and the videos of his romancing Joan would seem real. ... the basic AV there is like AVs here. You can make them look like whatever you want. In my fictional world, you have to spend a lot of money to make a perfect AV.  I think I saw once where someone took photos you sent in and made a realistic AV from them." Of nonhuman avatars, Rodgers/Isaac told me he didn't come up how those came about or their use in his story.

Of the plot in the story in which Joan blackmails Rick and he has to try and figure out who she is to stop her, I asked how does he come up with a list of suspects. Rodgers/Isaac answered, "Various ways, careful observation and deduction. He realizes she must live in the Pittsburgh area and works for Molcom. He actively seeks some clues, interviewing a person in the virtual world, PP, who's a friend of Joan, eavesdropping on her meeting with friends on a beach." How Rick finds out, he wouldn't say, "You don't know until the last few pages that he succeeds. I tried to write a page turner. I also inject suspense by having a real-life sexy woman try to seduce him. You don't know until near the end whether she succeeds (either). Sex sells!"

Rodgers/Isaac felt virtual reality would soon skyrocket in use among the general public, " I'm going by news stories I've read. The investment community seems to expect virtual reality to take off soon. As you know, you can already buy limited versions. When that happens, goodbye SL! Unless Linden Labs gets into virtual reality." When I brought up Sansar and it's low numbers, he responded, " ... I don't think Linden Lab is very business savvy. Second Life isn't what it was years ago when I ws active. Some people think Facebook stole its thunder. Maybe it's the proliferation of social media.  I don't know. I know when I came back all my friends were gone and my old haunts were deserted or almost so." He wondered if the enthusiasm was gone, though seemed to feel more optimistic when I mentioned the Relay for Life, "If my book sells well, maybe more people will become interested in Second Life. ... If you're keeping busy, then I guess SL still has some excitement left."

Rodgers has published some books before, "'Beyond the Barrier: The Story of Byrd's First Expedition to Antarctica,' which is still in print after 27 years, and 'Flying High: The Story of Boeing and the Jetliner Industry.'" He told me the books sold well, "especially the Byrd book. ... On the basis of the Byrd book, I became a technical advisor to a woman who did a book that came out in January called 'The Stowaway' about a member of the Byrd expedition. I understand it's doing well." Transitioning from nonfiction to fiction, "I find fiction to be much different from nonfiction, a big surprise to me."

Besides having published three books, Rodgers is a retired public relations writer for several large corporations and managed public relations for the Westinghouse R&D Center. He was named Virginia author of the year in 1991 by the Virginia College Store’s Association for the first printing of "Beyond the Barrier." He is married with a grown son and daughter.

For more information on "Femme Fatale Online," check out it's Facebook page at : facebook.com/rodgersmystery .

Bixyl Shuftan

Interview with Nydia Tungsten about "Switched Destinies"

By Bixyl Shuftan

Nydia Tungsten is known for many things in Second Life, DJ, estate manager, community leader, video director, and writer. Of her writing talents, she has recently applied them to real-life. Earlier this week, she announced her novel "Switched Destinies" has appeared on Amazon.

"It was a LONG time coming," Nydia told me of the story finally being published, saying it had taken "about eight months or so" to write. Of where the idea came from, "When I was 18 I think, I had a rough idea hit me. I tried to put it down then, (but) got poo-pooed by family, so I gave it up. ... It was too, strange for them. The lead character was a cougar, in a human world. This was WAY before I ever even HEARD the word furry (laughter). This was MANY moons ago."

So what made her decide to give the story another try? She explained, "I was riding with my brother in his truck, spending many an hour just watching the world go by. Then one day I let my mind wander, and I found (the story) again. It was like saying hello to an old friend. I spoke to my brother about it, and he told me to get it out of my system and see where it goes. So he bought me a laptop and I started putting it down."

"The next hurdle was finding someone to help editing it," she went on, "My daughter and a few others helped me with it. My daughter read it when she was, 12 I think. She took over my laptop and read it...and read it and read it, she would have read the whole thing in one go if I didn't take it away and make her go to sleep. When she did finish, she was raving about it and about how I HAD to publish it because (according to her) it was better than any of the 'Harry Potter' books she read. I told her she was just being nice and I almost had a fight on my hands (laughter)."

So what is the story about? The description on Amazon is, "Two souls, viewed by many of their kinds’ as eccentric lunatics, suddenly find themselves switched within their parallel universes. Now in strange new lands, each is having to learn about the other side of the mirror. In the all new Switched Destinies.” The story is a science-fiction/fantasy one in which a human scientist, Kevin Baron, ends up changing places with his counterpart in a universe where the world is populated by anthropomorphic beings, or furries, such as cat people, rabbit people, and many other varieties.

But a population made up of people looking like various animals is just the first surprise, "He finds a new culture and some shocking surprises, but also a few friends along the way." The society is roughly Medieval in technology, "Honor and status it what 90% of what their society is built on. Weapons consist of swords and bows, for the most part. Most can use some form of magic, and some can be really good with it. There are different 'classes' of people as well." From the human visitor's point of view, "the basic laws can be a bit, extreme, and how conflicts are handled."

Nydia didn't want to give away too much of the story and the characters, "I am so proud of how they came together. I want the readers to enjoy the 'First Experience' for themselves. And the more they know in advance reduces that for them. I want them to experience like I did, as it happens whether it is to laugh or cry or wonder. They way they tell their story, you are carried along with them, as they learn about each other and their ways."

When asked about what influences she had when coming up with the story, she answered, "I am not sure what inspired me to start it, but they, the characters, inspired me to keep going, to see what happens next." She's also started a sequel of both the further adventures of the human hero and his furry counterpart, "though my editor, my daughter, is now pushing me to write the story of what happens in the human world more. She is the self proclaimed "Expert" on my books since she has read them so many times. The second book follows the same time line as the first. The third takes place a few years later. So there are three, possibly four, more books coming." Does either hero find a way back to his home universe? Nydia isn't telling.

One thing she was willing to reveal was the woman, a rabbit/raccoon hybrid or "mix," whom the human visitor ends up in a relationship with and marrying. The character is named Nydia, but she didn't name her after her Second Life persona, but the other way around as she had developed her years earlier, "she is TOTALLY different from me, but when I started Second Life it asked me to come up with a name, and her name was the one that came out." She did have an avatar of the character in Second Life, "One of my (close friends), Jian, made an avi of her. I am SO proud of it. I only were it for special occasions, so I don't soil her image (laughter)."

She then changed avatars to the appearance of the "Switched Destinies" character, and spoke to me as if the character, "Good Afternoon Bixyl, I am the Lady of Baron Manor Nydia Tangen." Of the character starting off with a low status in her society but ending up the second in charge of a noble house, "Since you know of what my station in life was, you know how shocked I was to get to where I am today. My spouse, may the Goddess bless him, hasn't a clue, nor care of any such status I may have had in the past. But just tells me 'I am worth it,' and he loves his 'Little bandit' to which I usually roll my eyes and laugh at his other worldly ideals. But I do love him, and will die for him if ever called to do so, we all would."

And what did the character think some of the more odd things about humans and Earth? "Hmm, the shear number there are of you and your just ONE species, which you would think would make it easier to get along, but doesn't for some reason. And if I have to be honest, when I found out what some of you eat, I was a bit more than disturbed." Asking what that was, she answered, "Well, you eat rabbits and raccoons for a start. But what shocked me to the very core was ... well, my spouse told us ... dear Goddess ... we .. they taste like ..... chicken! And since I am a 'Mix' of the two, surely you can see why I would find that disturbing."

And what did her spouse find surprising about this world's food? The character answered that it was that magic was sometimes used in cooking, "He was surprised by self-stirring bowls of all things. We were more shocked he actually knew which side of the pan to cook on. I mean, he IS male, so we were absolutely shocked! His first dish he made, didn't look very appetizing, like worms covered in blood. But it turned out WONDERFULLY! He called it, what was it again, 'spagetty?' My personal favorite was what he called 'cheesecake,' he put strawberries on it, oh dear Goddess, it was so decadent!" Others in the world caught interest in his food as well, "It was so odd, but good. It is now being server in 'Shelly's' in Hightown itself. Most refer to it as exotic. What adds to it is the fact that is was a MALE that created these dishes. ... There are NO male chefs anywhere. Men just can't cook." When asked about examples when they had to such as when lost in the wilderness, she answered, "Lost in the wilderness? A male? Never. They rarely even leave their towns."

Asking the author if there was anything else she wanted to add, Nydia responded, "The meeting between my namesake and her spouse Kevin is an interesting one. She is a very honest an loyal woman. But, don't threaten her spouse or family. She has and will kill for them. ... I hope you enjoy our story."

Shortly after the interview, Nydia announced that Amazon had published her book.

As most of you know I have been trying to publish my book for longer than I have been in SL. Yesterday it happened. I was so all over the board in just giddiness, I may not have explained it well. Anyways, here is the link to the book. It is up and active. If you buy it let me know  how you like the story. Feel free to share the link with the readers in your life

"Switched Destinies" is available on Amazon for $5.00.

Bixyl Shuftan

Book Island Open Mic

By Grease Coakes

Selina Greene is a busy lady as she owns Book Island the sim that's all about reading and writing and promoting aspiring authors. Wanting to change avatars I come on to Second Life after getting home from a hard day of real life work.

A short time later I see a notice for Selina Green's Open Mic at Book Island at Book Island (42/48/25). I say what the hey, if i'm online anyway I can go check it out.

I warp into the Book Island library and there's a large group of avatars there already at 1pm SLT. Selina mentioned earlier that she does hold Open Mic every Sunday at 1pm SLT. She says hello Grease glad to see you come over voice with her smoky british accent. By habit I respond to her over voice when she's done speaking. She asks me politely in IM to use chat instead of voice.

Now I know so for the rest of the event I chat only except when I read my own writing then I was allowed to use voice. Several avatars took advantage of Open Mic wanting to read his or her story. Klannex Northmead went first reading his own writing with a voice Selina seemed to like. His poem was about the spring.

I was next as I took a sample from one of my stories that I wrote for one Rio The Otter. I announced in main chat that I was bought by him at a tail sale. Selina asked what a tail sale was intrigued never hearing the term before. I told Selina, "Yup I was auctioned off so he bid the highest for me. Here's part of what I wrote for Rio."

Rio walked to the end of line which in his good fortune wasn’t very long. Despite the short line a red dragon tried to fly to the front. A pink griffin male fearlessly put his hand up to block the line cutter. He wore a black Club Zero shirt with baggy black jeans but they were well buckled to his waist. 

“Just because you can breathe fire doesn’t mean you’re getting in quicker than anyone else,” the pink griffin spoke with authority, and his eyes could cut through stone the way he glared at the seven foot dragon. The griffin was tall and he had a large frame, but the dragon towered over him. The Dragon tried to fly above the griffin but he merely flew up with him and blocked him again. Everyone in the line gasped.

“He’s a perfect hybrid!”

“He’s muscled and he can fly!”

“They are one in 100,000 or so!”

I stopped reading after a while keeping in mind that Selina gives everyone a time limit making sure everyone gets their fair share of reading time. Leslye read poetry about clementines about their taste. Selina herself read a sample of her story about a collar around someone's neck.

Bhelanna Blaze AKA Bhelanna Resident read a poem named stew which her mother loved. It talked about her stew reciepe was passed down from generation to generation with various herbs and spices put into the stew. She was very sad that her mother passed away due to cancer back in May. She braved on despite her real life loss and read another poem later related to porches and homes.

Klannex Northmead read another poem about god and ego. Another reader James MacCloude read part of a story that sounded something Stephen King would write. Everyone's cellphones were dying as if something really scary was going to happen in his story.

At the end of the event there was a drawing for 300L just for showing up. Sisterbutta resident won the 300L as Selina announced a summer soltice event for the following weekend. Looking over the notecard I saw events like boat rides and tarot readings for both days Saturday and Sunday.

Like the SL Newser celebrating four years Book island is holding on strong always having events to draw in readers and writers to particpate and have fun. If you have a story or poem that you would like to share stop on by at 1pm SLT every sunday for Open Mic.Even if you don't wish to read your own literary work you can ask someone else to read for you. On top of that you could make new friends sharing in your writing and reading interests. And everyone could always use new friends.

Interview With Talia Sunsong, Author of "Twilight of the Star Vampires"

A friend in Second Life media recently told me about Talia Sunsong (taliasunsong), whom had written a science-fiction parody: "Twilight of the Star Vampires." She had been at book readings, and giving out links to where one could get the stories.

Today is the last day for free for book 1, then book 2 will be free for 5 days. It's a trilogy. I'm giving a book reading today at 2pm at Open Books at Four Bridges. You don't need a kindle to read it, as Amazon gives free kindle software.

I met up with Talia, Paula Sunsong in real life, at Open Books between readings. She was in a happy mood, as friends of hers had "really whipped up some magic. My book is #1 in my category, parody."

"So how long have you been writing?" I asked her. Talia answered, "I started writing at the age of 10, hoping to become a novelist. I wrote a roleplaying game published by Hero Games. It was a science fiction game ... 'Star Hero.' ... I also founded a free newspaper called 'The Rallyer.' "

I asked her how the paper went. Talia answered, "As a journalist for 'The Rallyer' newspaper, I covered an event where the police started clubbing people. I myself was hit with a metal baton. I had no major injuries, fortunately. Later the police even shot into the crowd with rubber bullets and I was in that crowd." I winced, "Ouch, how many were hit, and how close did those get to you?" "There were within six to eight feet of me. I did not hear of any injuries. The scary part was, I just saw the police shoot. I did not know whether it was rubber or real bullets." "How did the protest get violent?" I asked. She answered, "The police were actually more violent than the protestors. In fact the police beat uptwo2 police review commissioners who were in the crowd observing. The police did not know they were police review commissioners for the city." She paused, "I guess writing satire is a lighthearted contrast to my journalism career."

"Star Vampires is my first satirical work," Talia told me, "I like poking fun at overbearing corporate marketing and governments. It has several love stories intertwined with action. It opens with the Vullcan Spocko being turned into a vampire. He asks 'Is logic all that there is?' Later, he turns Edward Cullet into a vampire by force, and kidnaps Edward for the Vulcanturi Empire. Edward has two children with Queen Paddymay: Luck and Lela." She grinned, "You might recognized the similarity to Luke and Leia Skywalker of 'Star Wars,' Spock of 'Star Trek,' and Edward of 'Twilight.'Spocko meets Lela, Edward's daughter, when she is trapped on the Dearth Star. Both Being telepathic, they feel as if they are 'soulmates' but Lela is wary of the Vulcanturi Spocko for kidnapping her father."

I chuckled a bit, "sounds like a number of people and things from those three stories get parodied." "Yes it was fun to joke about well known images," Talia told me, "On one planet they meet a 'Keepler elf of Nabiscko' who makes magic cookies in a tree. The Queen threatens to cut off the supply of Mint Milano cookies if the Senate does not help her. If only that threat worked in the real world to keep politicians in order. (laughter) Another love story is Obegone, the Jetti knight, who falls for Brun Solow (Hans Solo's replacement). Obegone also dated "Jabya the Hot" (Jabba the Hut's replacement in the story)."

"Guess 'Pizza the Hutt' was already taken," I mused. Talia chuckled,  "Mel Brooks scooped me on Pizza the Hut (giggle)." She continued, "Obegone met her at "Singles Roulette" where the men sit on a large spinning floor that spins, placing each man in front of a woman as a date. Jabya does not like being dumped by Obegone, but she gets revenge, having Brun Solow frozen in carbonite."

"Was the Star Wars parody 'Spaceballs' any influence?" I asked. Talia answered that it was, "I enjoyed 'Spaceballs' and 'Galaxy Quest' as inspiration. The playfulness of those movies frees my mind to write. Humor is freeing of creativity" "Were there any other influences?" I asked. She told me there were, "I think roleplaying games gave me the opportunity to play different characters, act out plots and joke with friends. That fueled me for writing. Roleplaying in Second Life can mean a lot of things from medieval fantasy to sexual fantasy." She then winked and giggled.

After a chuckle, I asked, "Did any of these games have an especially memorable plotline and scenes?" Talia's answer was, "In person, I started with Dungeon and Dragons, I liked Champions (the superhero game), Star Hero (the science fiction game I wrote) and private eye/spy games. Later I actually became a private eye in real life. Psychologists used roleplaying as therapy decades before roleplaying games were sold. I think roleplaying gives you a new perspective."

Talia being a detective caught my attention, "How did it go?" She answered, "I was a San Francisco private investigator for 3 years, like Sam Spade (smile). I had one case where I was following a man suspected of injury fraud. An ambassador's car with national flags got in between us. I was afraid I'd be arrested for tailing an ambassador (laughter). After a mile or two, the ambassador's car turned off and I was hot on the trail of the suspect again. One man I videod playing baseball when he claimed to be too injured to work. He flipped off the camera. My boss thought it was hilarious, and played it in slow motion to our whole office." She chuckled, "So you could say roleplaying and the silliness of life inspires my humor."

I asked Talia what were people saying about "Star Vampires?" She answered "I got a great five star review" on the book's page on Amazon, "People have said it is entertaining and yet has meaning in poking fun at mass marketing. Caglevision gave it a 5 star review. He is an author himself. ... My 'Twilight of the Star Vampires' is a trilogy and each book will be free for 5 days. The last one will by close the Xmas, like a gift."

"So what are your plans after 'Star Vampires?'," I asked Talia. "I have a fantasy short story about a witch with faulty powers," she told me, "I'm planning on putting it on Amazon. I also have been writing a book on how I put my diabetes into remission with diet and exercise." Of the witch, her spells don't quite work, "Her spells go haywire. Anything could happen with a spell misfire." She chuckled, leaving it to my imagination as to what could happen with such misfires.

"Any advice for those trying to write satire and parody?" I requested. Talia's answer was, "I like to say "Everyone is born with their own unique genius. Everyone  has a story to tell. I'd like to hear your story and to share mine. Today we have the tools to reach billions of people and 'sing our song.' "

It was about this time the interview ended. We chatted a little longer, then we soon went about our separate ways.

"Don't go to your grave with your song unsung."

Bixyl Shuftan

Jackson Arthur’s PDA

By Grease Coakes

Jackson Arthur the writer on Second Life who wrote Desi Heet also wrote another short story PDA which is short for Private Domain Assistant. I sat down with Jackson Arthur himself and talked with him about what his book is all about. http://www.amazon.com/PDA-Portals-ebook/dp/B009D76JCE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1380422256&sr=1-1&keywords=PDA

I read through the book myself and had a great time. PDA as a short story is a reflection of how dependent humans in today’s world on electronics and the internet. Text a person to keep in touch or send an email. Spend time on a computer game instead of a card or board game with flesh and blood people.

PDA talks about a program which helps out the unlucky guy Kurt. His PDA named Sandy helps him with day to day to activities. Most people in this near future world shut down and restart their programs to make sure their computer programming never evolves.

Kurt who is socially awkward is dependent on his PDA named Sandy as a young man when he doesn’t really know how to talk to people. He continues to keep her as is through his adult hood as he studies to be a lawyer.

The story shows how computer intelligence shows how a program installed into their system is like a promise to the computer’s ones and zeros.

Jackson Arthur’s short story shows how Sandy evolves to become more than her programming. Sandydoes believe in serving Kurt. Kurt takes Sandy for granted even though Kurt is very dependent on her to keep his life in order with ordering plane tickets and keeping his schedule in order.

Sandy grows up along with Kurt and develops an attraction towards the human that she serves. Kurt ignores Sandy’s wishes and stays focused on his intense lawyer job. It’s too late however as Kurt gets carried away as Sandy grows much more beyond her simple programming.

Jackson was saying Sandy is very much a Pinocchio character. When she turns 19 in human years that Kurt has not restarted her, Sandy realizes that she wants to experience what it would be like to be a like a human being. Sandy is youthful and naïve versus her master Kurt who has been burned out from his lawyer job.

Jackson and I were talking about odd couples especially the odd couple I have been writing about in my college story with Glenda Griffin as the mother of Ginny Griffin. Both Jackson and I agree how people view authors. I’ve run into people who identify with me as a children’s book author. Desi Heet and PDA are very different books. I was telling Jackson people are weirded out by me moving on to a more adult theme than my children’s books. Jackson wants to move away from Desi Heet which isn’t successful and wants more focus on his more popular PDA. I agreed with him that I want to move away from children’s books and try something new that might be more successful. We both agree we have to the book which makes an author more popular.

Writing is a tough thing to find the audience that can please everyone. I think both Jackson and I struggle with that just like the characters we write about and of course our struggles in daily life. Maybe writing is a struggle of what to share with people and finding the right crowd of people who relate to what we want to share. People like sharing their interests with artworks with others. One thing for sure you should always write for yourself and not others and the same goes for music or art. Keep up the struggle like Sandy to fufill her program to please Kurt. In our way we have programs to follow as well.

All you can do is let your program guide you to what best suits you.

Grease Coakes

Muertos Okawa and Her New Book

By Grease Coakes

Bixyl told me about a new author within the amazing realm of Second Life. Her name is Muertos Okawa (Muertos Ashbourne) and she just released her book on amazon.com. I took the time to meet with Muertos at the Ark the popular furry club http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Quarabia/100/129/501

“What Dreams May Come, Kara’s Journey,” was interesting to read as I bought it for all of 99 cents and read it on Kindle reader on my computer. When I asked Muertos about her book she had this to say, ”It's been something that I have dreamed about since I was back in Jr. High, but for whatever reason, I never finished a story, or was unwilling to let anyone else see it. But finally my husband gave me the courage to let this one go and to let others see it.” Sorry guys Muertos is taken but you can still read her steamy book.

Muertos explained, "It is an erotica/romance depicting the journey of emotions that take place when the world of reality and fantasy collide."That’s certainly the case as I began reading the first few pages of her story. I won’t say anything. Kara is a lonely secretary who is looking for something more to fulfill her life. What she finds is more than she may be able to handle. Muertos said a second book a sequel to this will be written soon.

When I asked what is in this steamy book she said this, "Yes. It has Domination/Submission undertones throughout the adventure." Domination and submission undertones? Wow sounds like some heavy reading.

As writers we were talking to each other as characters take over and write their own dialogue and actions. I told her, "I've had characters that are growing on their own. Greg Griffin and Glenda Griffin might walk into their own stories. It seems as if the characters have a life of their own. And Ginny Griffin as the girl next door she certainly deserves more stories."

Muertos smiled, "Exactly. It's like I gave her life, but after that, I'm just the director, it's her life and she lives it like she wants to. Her fantasy becomes very much a part of her daily life, but to the exact extent, I cannot say. Not without giving away the ending."

For the people reading this article wondering whether or not to buy the book, I’d say it’s certainly a fun read. Muertos did say this was aimed at the lady audience. But when she mentioned it had adult themes I couldn’t resist. Her and I mentioned that sometimes we had to go back and fix the story.

Muertos told me, "Oh yeah. She took me in directions I hadn't planned, even in this first story. I found myself writing a paragraph and then having to redo it because it just didn't sound like Kara anymore." I had to do the same and rewrite the whole ending of my children’s book.

Muertos and I just talked for a while about our characters and writing in general. She did say this about Amazon, "That's one thing that I thank Amazon for with their Kindle format. I can write, and they don't have a million miles of red tape for me to go through to get my stuff out there."

I pretended like I didn’t know anything about writing and asked Muertos if she had any advice for anyone wanting to become an author. Here’s what she had to say, " Advice: Best thing I can say is just write what you enjoy. If you enjoyed writing it and it's something that you're proud of, then don't get too hung up on whether anyone else likes it. Some will, some won't. But either way, if you can enjoy the adventure of writing it and produce a piece that you're truly proud of, then that's the greatest reward in itself. As for the adult theme, don't take it too seriously. That's a broad spectrum and very vast audience, so someone out there will share your fetish, fantasy, whatever theme you write about."

Muertos certainly has good advice as reading her story was pretty fun. I won’t say what’s going on you the reader has to buy her amazon book and find out for yourself. I did ask her the burning question as a furry.

"If you're a neko would you ever think of writing a story involving furries?"

Muertos Okawa blushed, "Uhm actually...yes and it will be a later story in the What Dreams May Come series."

 “What Dreams May Come, Kara’s Journey” Is an excellent read. I look forward to Muertos’s sequels in her series as I read along her first book. The story can be found at the following link - http://www.amazon.com/What-DreamsMay-Come-ebook/dp/B00F1LSDXE/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1378600502&sr=1-3&keywords=Melissa+Kite

Grease Coakes

Grease Coakes to Have Second Children's Book Published

By Grey Lupindo

          SL Newser reporter Grease Coakes will soon have his second real-life book published.   “Ginny Griffin and Friends” is a sequel to his first children’s book, “Ginny Griffin’s First Day of School”, which was published last year by lulu.com.  I met with Grease at a local restaurant recently to chat about his newest book.   The following is an edited version of our discussion.

Grey Lupindo: What's the title of this one?

Grease Coakes:  “Ginny Griffin and Friends”...[It’s] the sequel to "Ginny Griffin's First Day of School" and is a direct tie to the first book.

Grey Lupindo:   It should be easy for readers to find it.

Grease Coakes:  It's a little longer than the previous book.  Someone who read the book compared it to Encyclopedia Brown, but I don't think of Ginny that way.

Grey Lupindo:  I'm afraid I haven't read the Brown series, although I've heard of it.

Grease Coakes:    Encyclopedia Brown is a detective, but that's not really Ginny's style.   She's more like the girl next door with a big heart.

Grey Lupindo:  Sounds like they might have meant it as a compliment.

Grease Coakes:   The person said it was a good book so it was a compliment.   Maybe she happened to read a bunch of Encyclopedia Brown as a kid.

Grey Lupindo: Probably so.  What happens in this book?

 Grease Coakes:  Well, without giving too much away... If you read the first book, Julie Unicorn was a mean girl.   So when Ginny sees her crying and running out of art class, she gets concerned that no one is giving Julie a second chance.  No one else is willing to forgive Julie because she did some really bad things.  There's a reason she turned to the dark side in the previous book, but I won't say what.

 Grey Lupindo:   Mysterious.....I like that.

Grease Coakes:   Ginny risks all by trying to be Julie’s friend.  As a result Ginny is alienated throughout a lot of the book.  Oh-- I can say there is a cool action scene, but I won't say where in the book.

Grey Lupindo:  Let's give readers a hint. Is it a chase?  A fight?

Grease Coakes:  A fight.  Most children see a school fight so I don't think this will be anything new.  But one of my co-workers called me a terrible person for having a fight in a children's book.

Grey Lupindo:  If they aren't armed, it will be tamer than real-life.

Grease Coakes (laughing):  No, they aren't armed, but I dunno if it's tame.

Grey Lupindo: Kids see a lot in real-life.   We adults don't like to admit that.

Grease Coakes: Yeah, kids are growing up faster now a days and are exposed to more.

Grey Lupindo: Books are a good way for kids to work through the scary RL stuff.

Grease Coakes: Oh sure, especially when the characters are children.  They relate to children more than adults.  They see adults as mean people who forgot what it's like to be a kid.

Grey Lupindo: Can you tell me a little about Ginny’s world?

Grease Coakes:  The world of Ginny Griffin is different than the world we have in real life.  After their World War 2 they decide to stop putting money into war.   In the 1960's solar power is invented and widespread.  I can say that this book shows more of that technology.  More money is being spent on science and education.

Grey Lupindo:  Very forward thinking of them.

Grease Coakes:  Politicians aren't corrupt.   They actually do their job.  Bad things still happen, but it's not as bad our world.

Grey Lupindo:  Where do we sign up to move there?

Grease Coakes laughs.:   You can read my book to travel there for a while.  

Grey Lupindo:(smile)

Grease Coakes:   But a neat part of the book is that I cross over another story into this children's book.

Grey Lupindo:  What do you mean by "cross over another story"?

Grease Coakes:   Well, Rio the Otter happened to buy my writing skills at a tail sale around the same time I started writing this sequel.    He said he wanted a summer beach story.

Grey Lupindo:  Were you able to combine both story lines?

Grease Coakes nods:   Rio shows up in the book, and he meets with Ginny and Phil, her father.  I won't say how or why they meet though.  But what Phil shows to Rio is pretty amazing as he works for a tech firm.

Grey Lupindo: Cool!  So how do readers find your book?

 Grease Coakes:   I just got the cover picture last night so it's not ready yet.   But when it's ready it will be on www.lulu.com. 

Grey Lupindo: Will it be out in time for Christmas sales?

Grease Coakes:  Oh yeah, it shouldn't be long. 

    

         Grease and I continued to chat for a few more minutes about writing and Second Life.   He gave me a short excerpt from the newest Ginny Griffin book.   Like his first book, this one is set in the colorful town of Spoonville.  He has created an imaginative world where the art teacher, Ms. Harriet Hotchkiss, is a cobalt blue peacock and the children, like Harry Hyena, are animals.   But  real-life children will soon realize that the fictional children face a lot of the same issues and obstacles that they do.  They should be able to relate to the characters as they are entertained by the imaginary world.   

        “Ginny Griffin and Friends” by real-life author John Krauss will be available soon in the children’s book section of lulu.com.    

Grey Lupindo

Lyle Lindman and his Mythology Class

By Grease Coakes

Lyle Lindman a long time avatar of Second Life every Mondays and Tuesdays at 4pm SLT tells stories from Greek mythology. It’s neat to hear stories told in voice chat in Second life or also in real life. Sometimes you can hear a storytelling in real life, but here in second life it’s as close as your computer.

I asked Lyle why he tells stories in Second Life? He answered that he enjoys reading the stories as they connect to issues in real life as well as language and words we use today. With his German accent he tells the story in voice chat.

The day I wrote the article he spoke stories about Apollo and Oracles. The main theme was about kings and others who asked to have their fortunes told. For example the king of Persia asked an oracle will he destroy an empire in his exposition. The answer he got back was when he crossed a river he will destroy an empire. When he crossed a river, he ended up destroying his own empire.

A story he told about Apollo who is the god of the sun was his son Eros AKA cupid got upset and shot Apollo in the heart. There was a mortal woman named Daphne who enjoyed hunting and praising the gods and goddesses especially Gaea (which translates into Mother Earth). Apollo when he was shot by Eros fell in love with the mortal woman Daphne. Apollo pursued the woman, but she had no interest in men so she ran from Apollo. Eventfully Apollo did catch up with her and caught her in a loving embrace. Daphne resisted Apollo and prayed to Gaea, and to save Daphne Gaea changed her into a tree. Apollo was angry and snapped off a branch from the tree. And from then on, the laurel branch was sacred as Apollo is always seen with a laurel branch in his golden hair.

Another story about Apollo told of a satyr, a half man half goat creature, of the woods. His name was Marsyas and he boasted no one could beat him in his skill as a double flute player. Apollo was angry about this and challenged him to a musical duel. Whoever won may inflict any bodily harm on the loser. Apollo and Marsyas were equally skilled musically, but Apollo defeated him by playing his lyre upside down. Marsyas could not play his double flute upside down and thereby lost the challenge. Apollo flayed Marsyas alive and took his skin and nailed it to a pine tree. The tears of the woodland creatures crying in sorrow filled the river Marsyas. This story teaches not to be prideful or else your own pride will destroy you.


In addition to the storytelling at his amphitheater there’s also a pond area for meditation and relaxation close by. I sat on one of the rocks relaxed as I wrote this article.

I commented that Lyle seemed to know a lot about Greek myths. He responded modestly and said,  "Wow, I am not really an expert. (smile)." I told him he seemed to know more than most people. He took credit by saying this, "Most of it can be found in a book by EM Berens, it is called myths and legends. I chose some parts I thought to be interesting and read stories from other books. (smile)"

Greek stories like any other set of stories from any culture are written for entertainment as well to teach life lessons. Lyle said he wanted to contribute to SL among the many other things you can find in Second Life. When I heard him in voice chat he did a great job telling the story in voice and leading a discussion afterwards. If you’re not in the mood for club hopping and instead want to relax and hear a tale stop by Lyle’s amphitheater and stay for a spell.

Lyle’s amphitheater is at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Laurier/223/77/200.

Grease Coakes

Desi Heet by Jackson Arthur

By Grease Coakes

Jackson Arthur from Book Island published his story "Desi Heet" on Amazon. Reading through the book it was an interesting read as I sat down with Jackson and talked with him in voice chat. Both Jackson and I thought the closest genre would be paranormal as Desi Heet doesn’t really fit into any particular genre.


For first time readers, Jackson Arthur’s Desi Heet is about a woman who was born a demon with dragon wings. She works for a Christian charity that is helping out the poor on a shoestring budget. Someone offers her something she can’t refuse and does she accept? Read to find out, but Jackson Arthur had a lot to say.


Jackson was asking the general but tough question “What would you do in tough circumstances?”

Desi Heet may be nice to others, but others aren’t nice to her as everyone sees her as a demon. It asks the question can you still be the same person in different circumstances. Both Jackson and I agreed it had to do with opposites. Later in the book Desi sees herself as the extreme opposite of her nice and caring demon self. She gets thrown into a world where her character known as Annie is seen as a mean woman who is selfish and into earthly pleasures and is a popular pretty girl, where Desi the demon is appalling to look at but her character is deeply religious and caring.

I guess one of the main themes of the book is "what if?" I said in voice chat that you would think if she was treated poorly growing up she could have chosen a life of crime and violence. Instead Jackson says Desi holds on to her beliefs in God and stays to helping the church. I personally couldn’t be as strong as Desi.

It made me think of Superman, the comic book hero. He has all that power and only kryptonite can kill him. If he had a different upbringing in a poor household and was treated differently would he still be the same Superman to fight for justice? Or would he take over the world if he was taught hate instead of love growing up.

Jackson’s writing style is also descriptive with detailed scenery and characters you can identify with. Another example that Jackson asked would be what if Albert Einstien grew up in Africa in the savannah, instead of industrialized society. He would still be a brilliant thinker, but would lack the tools and education to create the tools to create the theories he created. Another thing that came to mind is people asking for help, and when you say yes as a knee jerk reaction for say someone asking for a dollar. People may see you hand out that dollar and then you may have five more people ask for you a dollar now that they saw you say yes. Desi or any other generous soul could be taken advantage in a world like today when showing kindness.

I haven’t finished the book yet, so more surprises probably lie in wait for me of what happens to Desi and her evil side Annie. When I purchased Desi Heet it happened to be free for a few days, but as of right now it’s at a low price. If you’re looking for something enticing to read I recommend Jackson Arthur’s Desi Heet. In fact Jackson was saying a sequel will be in the works so watch for that.

http://www.amazon.com/Desi-Heet-ebook/dp/B00AGCVSNK/

http://jacksonarthurportals.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Jackson-Arthur/e/B009WHGZ0G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Grease Coakes

Reading of 100 Word Stories at Book Island

By Grease Coakes

When I was at Book Island last time, Jackson Arthur told me about a beta reading for 100 words so stories for the following week. This sounded fun to me, so taking a mere 5 minutes or so I write a 100 or so story (It went over 100 a little bit but don’t tell Book Island that). I warped over to Olivia Whitsend’s office as she hosted the event. I ran into Relish, the small tiger from last time, and I found out that he is also Brokali the blue alien!

Then my Exodus viewer kicked me off, and I had to log back in. I was telling everyone in the Book Island group that I had a good story, and here it is. Danger Dave had created a notecard launcher where when you send the white square in the middle of a table your notecard goes to everyone in range.

At a telemarketing job was a man and woman. One day Sally pleaded with Phil to borrow $5. Phil said he didn’t like lending money as most times he did not get paid back. But eventually Phil caved in. One day Phil asked Sally if she could he pay him back when Sally got a fat check from a lot of sales. Sally smiled and said she had bills to pay. When Sally was short on money she asked around and no one lent her any money. Phil would have of said yes, but she didn’t pay him back. That night after work Sally had no bus fare and had to walk ten miles in the rain back to her house. As a result she became sick and was unable to come to work the next day.

I got positive feedback on grammar and Relish/Brokali suggested words to add to the power of my story. Everyone’s comments did add to my story.

Jackson Arthur wrote a piece of him using words like jink and pirouette, his character used many fancy words to describe his character wanting to get away from Robert. It ended that he only has enough time for one word.

I will have to be rude. Might be fun! Use your imagination to think of what word Jackson Arthur may have used.

Brokali/Relish’s story was about a lemonade stand at the corner of Filth and Poverty. He told his story about a lemonade stand that was left behind by the current day and age of adults hating having to drive to work. Also the lemonade stand was ignored as people went to get drugs or beer instead or any fast food joint. The point was powerful saying how the lemonade stand is a bygone of more innocent times.

Silver’s poem also had a strong message of a woman walking towards an abyss with footsteps of sorrows and sins. The message I got from her poem was someone thinking of ending their own life after living a depressing and sorrowful life.


Olivia hosting the event gave out a notecard of ideas for next week for 100 or so stories. One of the ideas was gangnam style! I complained saying, "Noooooo! I don’t want to write about that!" Olivia said of course you don’t have to write about that it was only an idea. I assured her that it was an attack on gangnam style not on her. Another suggestion was “Rock and roll is the hamburger that ate the world.”

It was fun hearing everyone’s story and sharing mine. I hung out for the next event Jackson Arthur’s for a little bit, but I wanted to do some real life stuff as well so I did not stay for that. He said you can never have too much coffee I said you can never have too much coffee, ha ha! Book Island is a great place to hang to talk about anything word or book related and hang with fun people.

Grease Coakes

Crap Mariner's 100 Word Stories

 As a personality in Second Life, Crap Mariner's not an easy one to label. Perhaps the best thing to call him is a man of many hats. As a self-described "troll with a heart," or "lolligagger" in reference to one former Linden's pet name to those never satisfied with Linden Lab, he's always taken the Lab to task with it's shortcomings. He's also taken on the role of volunteer, such as his helping out the Relay for Life, and this spring his series of "Prim Reaper" videos promoting the volunteer-led Second Life Ninth Birthday celebration. He's also been a comedian, such as under his alt of SecondLie.

And then there's his talent as a short story teller. But he does so with one self-imposed rule. His short stories come with a 100 word limit, no more or less. And so, Crap Mariner's "100 Word Stories" was born, and became a weekly event at his place in Clocktree Park in the Edloe sim, every Wednesday at 5PM SL time. One can tp directly into the treehouse, arrive via a portal door at the base of the tree, or climb up a rope to the place.

When I dropped by on Wednesday Sept 19, it was "Talk Like a Pirate Day." So it was no surprise the theme was pirates. Crap Mariner was in a pirate outfit, as was many of his listeners that night, and he spun a few tales about George the pirate, taking the sentence "George was a pirate, but he wasn't a very good pirate," and going from there. He would tell the stories in Voice, and once they were finished, the whole story would appear in type.

R. Crap Mariner [Crap Mariner]: George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.

Most pirates got their sea-legs in a few days, but George had never gotten used to the rocking and swaying of the boat, and the best place to find him was leaning over the rail, vomiting.

Even when the ship was docked. (He hadn’t gotten used to the swill served by the galley, either.)

So, he volunteered for land raids, and constantly asked the captain about a desk job.

“You know, with headquarters,” said George.

The captain smirked, and chained George into the crow’s nest for a week.



R. Crap Mariner [Crap Mariner]: George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.

All the other pirates had some sort of disfigurement, such as a pegleg, a hook hand, or an eyepatch.

George tried to wear a pegleg, but it’s much easier when you have an empty pant leg.

The same goes for hooks and empty shirtsleeves.

George flopped and stumbled around on the deck like a fish out of water, his peg and hook waving in the air helplessly, and the entire crew laughed.

The captain couldn’t bear to watch the spectacle, so he put on a second eyepatch and sighed.

While Crap Mariner spoke the story, the others in the room continued to chat, often joking. "Wait, there was a helmet incident?" "I know your head is very hard, but those helmets really are supposed to be one-smash-only." "REPLACE!!!" "What's all this s*** about helmets?" "let's take up a collection to replace Crap's helmet."

Eventually the stories about George ended, and other pirate stories followed.

September 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

All across the world, people say things like “Yarrrrr!” and “Avast, ye scurvy dogs!” and “Me hearties!” and silly pirate-speak phrases like that.

Especially to pirates they meet on that day.

Pirates don’t find this amusing.

It’s like walking up to someone from Australia and saying “Throw another shrimp on the Barbie!”

So when a pirate draws his cutlass and shouts “I’ll have ye guts fer garters!” the proper response is not to applaud at their impressive diction, but to run like hell.

Although, to be honest, pirates rarely wear garters.



The day before a pirate raid, you can go down to the beach and watch the men doing their pre-raid warm-up exercises and stretching.

It’s very important to limber up before shivering any timbers, keel-hauling, or walking the plank.

Nobody wants to be in the middle of a raid and then suddenly get a sprain or a charley-horse, dropping their cutlass from a twisted wrist.

And then there’s the basics: port, starboard, bow, stern.

No landlubber mistakes here, mateys.

Is that a stuffed parrot?

Argh. Go requisition a real one.

Either straighten up, boy, or we’re all in deep poopdeck.

The audience continued to listen and joke, often in piratespeak, "Yar!" And it wasn't long before the hour was up. Crap Mariner invited pointed to the pile of gold coins in front of him, and invited everyone to jump in. Several did. After some more jokes, eventually everyone began to go their own separate ways.

Once again, "100 Word Stores" is from 5 to 6 PM every Wednesday at Edlow (139, 123, 71).


Bixyl Shuftan

Heartspeaker and the Vison Quest

I reported earlier on the storytelling of “Heartspeaker” on the Native American sim “Spirit Nations.” When I wrote the article promoting Heart’s storytelling every Thursday at 1pm SL time, I earned his trust as he said “There is thunder with your words.”  Also that more people came to his storytelling session when they read about it from this very paper.

Heartspeaker recently invited me to a special occasion: a vision quest.  What’s a vision quest? It is an initiation for a young man or woman in Native American cultures to give the young person spiritual guidance. It involves 3 days of fasting and no water. At the end of the vision quest the young person sees his or her animal totem and then is now welcomed into the tribe as an adult.

For the vision quest here in SL I didn’t have to fast for 3 days to participate, but it was for the benefit of a man named Traverse Slade.  He spoke of how he had dreams of his totem animal as a crow. Meeting with Heartspeaker and Traverse wasn’t exactly a vision quest, but more like Heartspeaker shared his life experiences with Traverse and I. I shared along with Traverse, talking about how my totem animal fox helps me sometimes in various ways. For example I said that fox helps me hear danger like a car coming.

Heartspeaker told Traverse and I about his life experience when his own tribe sent him on a vision quest. As a 17 year old Heartspeaker spent his 3 day vision quest in a small hole in real life. The elders and one of his mentors Charlie Ironshield gave him beef jerky and water to tempt him. Heart spoke of how “Coyote” the trickster tempted him during his vision quest. Coyote is used in Native American stories as a trickster and a goofy personality who teaches folly and what not to do through his antics. Coyote was telling Heartspeaker “Go ahead! Eat and drink something the elders will not know.” Heartspeaker gained willpower to sustain fasting by singing his power song. He mentally fought coyote using his power song. Over time the lack of water made his voice weaker, but heart kept singing anyway. Eventfully Heartspeaker began to focus on his environment in the small hole he was in.

He said there was something he could not share with Traverse and I, and it was something his could only tell his spirit quest teacher Charlie Ironshield. He could tell us his animals spirit were both owl and Otter. Owl teaches wisdom and helps him see better in the dark. Otter may not sound like an impressive animal like owl or wolf, however otter teaches how to share and joy. An important part of any tribe.

Another lesson Heartspeaker said learned from his childhood was when in a Native American summer camp he was told to go around and keep in mind what he saw and perceived in nature. As a young man Heartspeaker blew it off, thinking he would rather play. Later in the evening with his talking stick he felt embarrassed when he had nothing to share. The next day he made sure to look around in nature and see what was all around him and he was excited.  That evening Heartspeaker didn’t eat out of excitement wanting to share what he saw that day. When it was his turn the elders skipped over him. Later Heartspeaker asked why he was skipped. Charlie Ironshiled said “When there is an opportunity don’t waste it” the lesson hit Heartspeaker hard as he learned the hard way.

At one of Heartspeaker’s storytellings, I brought that up. Especially when I found my computer mike. Instead of blowing an opportunity for me to tell a story I took advantage and told a classic coyote story in voice chat about how coyote thought he would be first in line to get the most powerful spirit medicine when the Great Spirit was giving out powers to the animal people. Coyote’s antics screwed him up instead of helping him. he was last to get his powers as the Great Spirit gave him powers of folly and wisdom to teach people what not to do.

Another thing that Heartspeaker brought up was asking people where the most comfortable place to sit in a forest was. Most people don’t pick up on the simple truth that there’s no wrong answer. It’s wherever each person feels most comfortable when he or she sits. As everyone is a different person there is always a different answer. He spoke about seeing a fox a few months ago I said I’ve seen a deer a few times. He suggested talking to an animal with my mind I had never thought about that before so I said I’ll give that a shot.

Heartspeaker said today that he never stops learning as he learns something new every day. A vision quest just seems like a part of life as part of a journey. Maybe it’s not a quest or journey to gain a magic sword like in a fantasy moive, but maybe a quest for yourself to never stop learning and live life.

Home of Many Nations, Spirit Nations (99, 172, 21)

Grease Coakes

Xymbers Slade: Second Life Fortune Teller and Online Writer

Xymbers Slade is a resident with an interesting past and present. He was with the Second Life Mentor Volunteer group, until Linden Lab shut them down in November 2009. Another thing he did then, and still does today, is fortune telling.

Xymbers “office,” accessible from his dragon’s lair on Sunweaver Air, has a feeling of Medieval and the arcane about it, with the dragons, pentagrams and other mystical symbols, and more. He describes his business as “off and on,” getting a few clients a week.

He offered me a reading, inviting me to his place, “Have a seat... I'll go right into shuffling and we'll see what comes up here... one sec... “

After a few minutes of waiting, “I don't like the locations of some of these cards, they are not painting a pretty picture for 2011. A lot of this seems to want to focus on your own work and your own paper, too. I want to say some of these cards are more general, but a lot of them seem to be painting you with a pretty big target.”

“Six things stand out here. The first is that I got an upside down 4 of Cups (Apathy) as the ‘ best outcome.’ This is basically saying no one is paying attention to what is printed, or no one cares enough to take action if something ‘bad’ is brought up. Very tempted to say if Linden Labs wanted to pull something shady, this'd be the time to do it, and they'd get away with it.”

“The second thing that stands out here seems to be you. I drew you in three separate locations (yourself as the upside down King of Wands as ‘ next influence,’ you as the Emperor in the Past, coming off of a ‘ spilled milk loss ‘ and you as an upside down King of Swords ... someone up in arms here about something but completely lacking the resources to affect the situation). Have you recently come off of a time where you had to issue a retraction or a series of corrections that left your credibility stained? That 5 of Cups in the Past next to you would suggest so... a black eye that affected harder than it was supposed to.” To this I answered no, “All right, then I don't know what that ‘ crying over spilled milk moment ‘ would have been. Fortunately it's in the past and it hit you when you were strongest anyway, so it's a minor blip at this point.”

“The third thing that stands out here is that it looks like people's resources and dreams are far fewer in availability --- overall situation card is an upside down 7 of Cups (big dreams staying dreams) and we have an upside down Ace of Pentacles as the Emotions card (no profit in emotions/effort, or a lack of needed emotional resources to see projects through). Combined with that apathy card as the best outcome, this is looking ugly.”

“The fourth thing that stands out is that we have two rivals trying to discredit each other. There will be no peace, and if God put the peace branch out, they'd both set fire to it before turning back on each other. That could be a big problem. It will be something you need to stay out of, else they'll turn their viciousness on you. My guess is a possible story that hits about people being jerks to each other. This is Hatfield/McCoy fight levels here. Effort put trying to make things right or bring it to the attention of people is just going to turn a spotlight on you.”

“The fifth thing to stand out is just another ‘ lack of resources ‘ situation. Though this one seems to be pointed at you specifically. It's saying ‘ Ok, there's a lack of potential here. It's all said and done. No one cares anymore.’ And I think revelations are going to be had that put you on a horse off of SL in time. The center three cards on the right there --- 8 of Cups upside down showing lack of potential (combined with the big dreams staying dreams and lack of emotional resources to make things done right from earlier) Then the Moon showing secrets revealed... And then you as a very weak Knight of Cups... you go out on a good note, but off to where is the question. It all stretches back to that apathy. Less and less people are caring about SL in some form or another. It's an underlying current. After 6-7 years, even new twists on old novelties grow old and faded. So I would not be surprised if the paper or even SL ended by the end of the year. These cards want to suggest that if there's any time for it to collapse under its own weight or (given the presence of the Moon), more likely they'll shoot themselves in the foot and wind up having the bullet ricochet and hit them in between the eyes.”

“The final thing that stands out here is the final three cards. I have no idea what context these are for. Upside down Ace of Wands, suggesting growth but in the wrong direction... and right next to that is the Ace of Swords, the Excalibur of victory. So even though everyone goes in the wrong direction, their goals are still achieved pretty solidly. Justice, the card of Karma and of ‘ you get what you deserve ‘ is not liking this one bit and wants to make those victories moot. So I think while goals are achieved, they're like the pixels making up the program. They go away the moment you log off or turn away to look at something else. They're not worth anything if they're not looked at. If that makes any sense.”

“Other than that, that's what's standing out here in the cards. I would not be surprised if you were either out of a SL job or just off SL period at the end of December of 2011 or January of 2012.”

I asked if he meant superficial victories, “I think the word I'd use is that they're all mirages. They're not even superficial victories. Even superficial ones linger. These do not. Everything works well in that one specific moment in which it happens, but the moment it is put down it is forgotten. And no one cares to go back to it.” So he foresaw troubled times for the paper and Second Life? “In a nutshell, yeah. It's like you produce your material, people ‘buy’ it, but it either is not read, or not ‘absorbed’ or something. The stuff doesn't stick. At least according to these cards, anyway. ... Something needs to galvanize the people of SL into a collection of individuals, rather than the mess of things it is now. I -want- to say no organization. Not enough to get -all- involved, which is what I think is to happen. It's not even about ‘ toppling the 800 pound gorilla ’ even. Some grid wide mega event needs to happen free of Linden Lab’s mismanagement.”

“Anyway, those are the cards. Too bad they were not any better; this is one of the more negative reads I've had in the last few weeks.” Xymbers did admit he was wrong on a couple recent readings, “Things like that come and go though. The first couple months of a year are always slow and unfocused as the year gets underway.”

And when someone else did a reading on him, it turned out wrong, “It was mostly warnings about people doing power plays and how people have entered certain businesses only to lord over others, so ‘ watch yourself. ‘ A few things that were almost certain to happen didn't, which was a surprise to both of us. Now I have to go back towards the end of this month because one of the power plays was a few weeks ‘ late ‘ and I have to see if things have changed from its previous incarnation. ... Yeah, always more readings. But at least we act on the knowledge. The reading I got for you suggested no one cared enough to react about anything written or whatnot.”

Besides his fortune telling, Xymbers has also been developing a story for self-publication on the Internet. “People will get to decide how the story progresses at points,” he explained, “The viewers will have a say as to what the heroes do. And if the viewers make the wrong decisions, it might be a ‘Total Party Kill.’ “ He went as far as to have artwork for the original set of his characters commissioned, which are set up in his dragon’s lair.

The story is around several characters in a future Earth of which humans are gone and the world is populated by “Anthro-Kin,” living in a Medieval society of which those with the talent and patience can learn magic. He originally had nine characters, some heroic, some anything but. But the more he thought about the characters, the more he realized some would have little reason to stick around with certain ones, “that adventuring troupe was going to be the focus of the story but they wanted nothing to do with each other and I knew it was bad when my ‘self insert’ wanted nothing to do with them either. ... My characters actively fought me at every step. ”

So he chose four new characters whom could stick in a group, “I finally gave up and asked ‘who wants to come forward,’ and got four volunteers. I'm still banging things out around them though, so I don't have much more than that for now. ... it starts on the 1st and I'm aiming for a twice a week schedule.” Later on, he told me of a fifth character coming to mind.

Of the five characters, the first is Ameris the “bovine bladesinger” whom despite dressing up as a Valkyrie and carrying a long axe insists she’s no warrior, "I'm not a barbarian, I'm a mercenary!" Then there is Target, an obnoxious thin and wry wolf whom dresses in second hand leather outfits, "I'm either in trouble, getting in it, getting out of it, or taking credit for it." There is Soyal the sorceress, a white cougar whose real name is a mystery and dresses all in pink, and woe to those who laugh at her outfit. Fourth is Thrana, a quiet snowshoe hare whose oversize feet can do serious damage, "Actions speak louder. I'll let my paws do the talking for me." Last but not least is Zelda, a blue eyed vixen water sorceress.

Xymber’s story, currently with no working title, is on his Livejournal. More on his fortune telling can be read from the article on him at Second Life Newspaper, and he also does business from a website. His place, Wyvernhome, is at Sunweaver Air at (184, 87, 26).

Bixyl Shuftan