From the Writers In The Virtual Sky blog comes praise for one of the author’s favorite places for the more literary-minded in Second Life, Bookstacks, a sim that has a companion Web site.
Alas Zerbino – aka Joan Kremer – is effusive in her praise of Bookstacks, noting that it is a wonderful place for a number of things: meeting other book lovers (the island is, after all, created by two of these, Simeon Beresford and Kghia Gherardi; author cheerleading; literary performances, from one of the many performance spaces at Bookstacks; reading promotion; the first Internet radio show to discuss the literary SL; and writer’s support groups.
In-world readings are on the upswing – none other than sci-fi superstar Ursula Leguin spoke in San Francisco as well as at the Alliance Virtual Library in late February – and contests, like a recent flash fiction competition judged by the blog’s author, are also gaining ground.
How long will it be until the Booker Prize turns to SL – and other virtual spaces – to graze for talented writers? Or is there a disconnect between textual content and a virtual world?
Hmm, this is interesting. It reminds me of Interactive Fiction (IF). Few people have even heard of it, but there is a very large community under the radar that plays IF. Its a bit like reading, but with some gaming elements woven into stories. It still attracts people, but mostly, the community meets on its own private network, called (ifMUD)
Its a bit like Second Life, though not really. Similar in purpose, and detail, but vastly different in nature. The ifMUD doesn’t have any graphics. Yet I wonder if both communities will dissolve into its separate parts.
Yet, social/task groups are united for: being social, and tasks, so it wouldn’t seem like they would disconnect, but just the thought of it seems scary to me.
Dusan, thanks for pointing out the information about writing and Second Life from my blog. I think one reason SL is so appealing is that it requires no time or travel expense to instantly connect with authors you want to meet in person, or to introduce your writing to a much larger audience. Published authors’ use of SL as a stop on a book tour is definitely on the increase.
Joan