SciFi Convention 2019, An Interview With Merky (Richmerk)

by Marcel Mosswood

So I’m ready for the SciFi Con 2019 that is held on May 17-26, 2019! I’m wearing my Star Trek costumes which I made for my Dinkie avatar months ago specifically to present the SciFi Convention 2019. I’ve done with my booth so today my agenda is to meet Merky (richmerk), the Coordinator of the committee for my interview about the SciFi Cons 2019. Here is the interview:

Merky (richmerk), The Coordinator of The Committee

Marcel: Hi Merky, let me introduce myself, I’m Marcel Mosswood, I would like to interview you for the SL Newser. I see that the Scifi Convention is very well prepared by your team. The landscape and the concept of the buildings are very attractive and professional. How long have all these preparations been made from the start?

Merky: Actually, because of real life issues, we got much less warning this year that we needed to build a convention, so everything you see here was created in just a few weeks.

The SciFi Con Sims

Marcel: Wow, that’s a really fast preparation for such a great event! I’ve read from the website that the event is held annually. Can you tell us the beginning of the idea of making this sci-fi event an annual event? Who are the avatars involved at the initial event?

Merky: The Scifi Cons go way back to the early days of SL. I don’t know the exact year because that was before I joined. Back in those days, it was a different group of people. I think originally a Real-Life group called the ‘International Federation of Trekkers’ was the force behind the conventions. When they caught the notice of the RFL, the Cons became more regular and larger.

Marcel: So, why do you associate Scifi Con with raising funds for RFL? Are there special reasons?

Merky: The Scifi Con has been with RFL since I joined the team. It’s a wonderful and worthwhile cause. They’ve always supported us, and because of their encouragement and advice, the Con is more successful now than it has ever been!

Marcel: I can say that is a good collaboration. What is your fundraising target for this year? And besides the fundraising, is there another goal that you would like to achieve?

Merky: In past years, I think the Cons have made around 1 million lindens. Last year we were a little smaller and only got 750k. This year though, Our goal is at least 2 million! There are a lot of generous people out there, the Con team is working overtime, and we have a lot more experienced help this year, so I’m sure we’ll reach it.

Marcel: About your great team, who are your team members? And how do you manage your teamwork to achieve your goals?

Merky: Myself and Debbydo are blessed this year with some great new helpers. We have a dedicated event manager this year, VєηυŞ (shayna.paine), who has worked tirelessly for weeks now to put together a solid lineup of shows and entertainments. The immense central domed building was constructed by Beth Delaunay (isilmeriel). The sims were built by Benjamin Brougham, StarWolff, and Varahi Lusch and Minions. Wolferein Foxdale’s job is basically to fix and make better all the stuff that I build, and mesh things. Kendra Mollsen (koreeah) is the troubleshooter and customer service girl. There are a bunch of other people also that were invaluable helpers both before and during the Con. We keep everything organized through Google Docs and Discord servers. Constant good communication is the key.

Marcel: Wonderful! I can see your work through the appearance of the Con. The last question but this may be inspiring others: Would you like to say something to our readers, maybe some quotes, which always motivates you during this fundraising activity? 

Merky: One of the things we did before the Con this year is come up with a theme song that reflects our core philosophy and what we try to accomplish in Second LIfe. Paul McCartney’s Hope for the Future (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=163_C5UVU-I).

Visit here to enjoy the sci-fi world, shop and donate for the Relay For Life: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SFC%20Atlantis/127/128/34

Marcel Mosswood

Sci-fi Convention in Second Life

By Grease Coakes

Most people in second life know that Relay For Life is a huge force in the grid as many teams compete to raise lindens to turn into real money to fight against cancer in the real world. Second in itself is a virtual experience with a sci-fi theme. Log in into a world where anything is possible from creating a fantasy or sci-fi environment. Also you can meet people from around the globe whether in your own country or somewhere else in the globe. So Second Life is an excellent medium to present a sci-fi convention which is subtitled passport to Hope.

The 2017 Sci-Fi Convention is held at Forty Two (103/124/23) and you learn about it here https://slscificonvention.wordpress.com/. From March 24th until April 2nd this year you can stop by and have a galaxy of fun with vendors, DJs, and events. I was surprised to find a Klingon city that was empty (I guess the Klingons killed everyone and went back to Kronos). And also I was surprised when I found  Jadziyah Resident’s shop which had rockets from Tintin the European comic. I couldn’t help it but to buy the rocket where Tintin flew to the moon in one  of his adventures.

The sim was spilt up into earth,fire,water,air,life, and equilibrium as themes. All throughout the convention I saw lots of exciting things such as a RP area based on Star Trek. Also a theater which had real life photos of actors and a special actress that passed away recently. It showed actors such as Alan Rickman who played Snape in the Harry Potter movies. Also Carrie Fisher who was princess Leia in the Star Wars movies. Inside was a stargate from the Stargate movie and a huge Doctor who display.

At 3pm SLT I found a theater play called “The Lucid Journey.” Where a woman’s husband named Lewis Liddell is presumed dead. His wife still alive to take a journey in a dreamscape and beyond to find him. The character’s dialogue was in green text as the avatars were on stage. It was great to watch. There’s also scheduled events and a dj here and there. I saw lots of vendors selling Star Trek goodies and a few Star Wars vendors selling lite sabers.

I grabbed Ariadne Fall, who was one of the people in charge of the convention, and asked her what her thoughts were about the sci-fi convention and she had this to say, "It's wacky and fun, exhibitors form all over the grid, and events every single day....  it's proof of what pixel people can do when they believe in something. We love sci-fi and we hate cancer.  It's that simple."

I asked her, "What's your fave sci-fi movie, book series, whatever?"

Ariadne told me, "Ooohhhhh, good question!  'Biting The Sun' by Tanith Lee for favorite sci-for book. ...and favorite movie is a choice I cannot possibly make... if 'Earth Girls Are Easy,' 'Evolution,' 'Demolition Man' are on, I watch!"

One of the things people hope for in the future is that the human race destroys cancer. We always look for a future such as star trek where racism is a thing of the past and equality for all is what people strive for. The sci-fi convention here in second life is one cosmic leap in that direction.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Forty%20Two/103/124/23

Grease Coakes

Scenes From the Science Fiction Convention in Second Life 2015

From Friday February 20 to Sunday March 1, the Science Fiction Convention in Second Life took place. There were a number of exhibits among several sims. This was a chance for a number of sci-fi roleplay groups to get more players. It was also a chance for fans to meet up and chat with one another. The event raised money for the Relay for Life, one of the last RFL related events to take place before the start of the official season.

There were six sims of exhibits, Fhloston Parside, Pern Sound, New Vegas, Risa, Shinon, and Margalthea. Fhloston Parside and Pern Sound were mainly water and walkways over and across them. One could also walk to the American Cancer Society sim, which was next to Fhloston Parside.

Dropping by the ACS sim, Trader Whiplash of T-1 radio was there, among with a few others. He was broadcasting from there, and happy to help out at another fundraiser for the cancer charity. One of my neighbors from Sunweaver, Shadow (the naga) showed up to look around as well and joined me.

There were a few events going on, such as a cake baking contest. No doubt a few involved some unusual varieties of wheat for the flour and eggs.

An amusement park area, complete with a ferris wheel.

Stargazer Creations, one of the shops.

The thing about science fiction conventions is many of the visitors look like part of the exhibits themselves, such as this lady whom in real life was an ethnic Indonesian living in Ireland.

The Apollo 17 Visitor Center by the National Space Society's Second Life chapter,

 Part of a Dr. Who exhibit.

Chatting with these two convention-goers took on a roleplay theme. The lady in slacks described herself as from a space station run by her parents. The pink rubbery bunnygirl described herself as once being human, but ended up being tricked into undergoing a procedure that changed her into what she was. Fortunately her memory was restored.

 A classic "little green man," or in this case a female.

 A reptilian huntress trying to hold a conversation with a small android.

A statue of "Kahless the Unforgettable," in Trek lore the man who founded the Klingon Empire.

Going on a dragon ride.

After the passing of Leonard Nimoy, the actor behind the Star Trek character Spock, many exhibits put up a tribute to him, notably some Trek ones.

 The "Alien Culture Dating" event. At first I thought this was a discussion about concepts of dating in science fiction. It turned out to be a roleplayed speed dating.

 Shadow and I trying out a shuttle.

Flying it proved to be a little tricky.

The "BSG-82" exhibit, a Battlestar Galactica roleplay group. Talking to Ito Naminosaki who was there, he described the group as one of two remaining roleplays based on the science fiction show remaining, "our sim has more Combat Elements ... but still (an) RP Sim." Their own roleplay involved elements of both shows, "the Colonial fall in (the) Miniseries (had) not happened ... so we are in an still running second Cylon War."

What happened to other Battlestar Galactica roleplays? Ito seemed to be saying the actions by Universal against them a few years ago had a rather chilling effect on morale, even though there was an agreement and the company backed off. Ito did say that a third was around when the convention was being planned, but dissolved before the sci-fi con began.

Another exhibit I stopped by was Black Gaza Prison. Talking to one of the people there, Spirit Wolf (wraith.solo), he described themselves as, "We're SL's oldest running sci-fi themed prison RP. We're mainly furry, but we accept all regular size AV types, furry, human, alien, neko, etc. We have several roles within, medic, guard, robots, inmates, K9 units for feral avatars: We also have mechanics guild." He thought they had been around for six years.

So what were the challenges of a prison roleplay? " Not knowing what is going to happen. As an inmate, it is all about loss of personal control. Every encounter with a guard, you never (really) know what is going to happen. As a guard, it's rolling with the flow, and trying to guide things along ..." Taking a look at the notes, the setting was a rather dark one, described as being influenced by a corrupt corporation. "White knight" behavior by guards was discouraged. Still, they have their chuckles, "especially late at night. Everyone has late night typos, and your brain isn't working 100%...things come out wrong or you don't describe everything like you had invisioned in your head, and it begins to turn out like that old game, 'Mad Libs.' "

For more information on the Second Life Science Fiction Convention, one can check out their website at https://slscificonvention.wordpress.com/ . Daniel Voyager has a few more on his Flickr page.

Bixyl Shuftan

"Promptly Erotic" at Book Island

By Grease Coakes

Promptly Erotic Is a new event at Book Island hosted by Freda Frostbite. When I happened to see the notice at Book Island I was surprised that a place like Book Island would showcase such an event. Book Island is well known for people talking about books and their stories. Having interest in erotic writing I couldn't resist. I played a game beforehand and then logged onto Second Life. Freda Frostbite told me over voice that this would be a weekly event at book island at 3pm SLT every Wednesday at this landmark:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Book%20Island/191/197/36 .

Freda logged on and announced that she was in a meeting in real life before she logged on. Everyone wanted the meeting to end so Freda in real life ended the meeting by announcing she wanted to jump in Second Life to hold a workshop about writing erotica. The meeting ended very quickly.

Selina Greene the owner of Book Island also attended. I asked Freda what her event was about and she said in voice, “It's a workshop for people to share and improve their erotic writing.” She also was saying that erotica could be an art form like a tasteful nude picture. I could agree with that writing itself is an art form. Erotic writing is merely another facet of that art.

She chose this week's theme as “Behind the Curtain.” Like the scene from The Wizard Of Oz “Ignore the man behind the curtain.” She showed pictures to inspire us writers to write steamy prose. She showed us pictures of Gypsy Rose behind a curtain with various other pictures. She said the only rule was you had to start your story with “Behind The Curtain,”as the first three words. Freda set a timer for fifteen minutes for everyone to write whatever came to mind.

After fifteen minutes or so she announced time was up. I copied and pasted my writing sample to a SL notecard quick enough that Freda read me first. She gave everyone the chance to read their erotic writing out loud over voice. I wasn't brave so I asked Freda to read out loud for me. To tease the reader of this SL Newser article I can say my story involved handcuffs and woman's underwear. Freda said my story flowed very well. Here's a small sample of what I had written.

Behind the curtain Narcosis wagged her finger slowly at her boyfriend. Nathan, as a short sky blue griffin couldn't believe that after being picked on and slammed into lockers that finally he would lose his virginity. The tall slender unicorn black woman was a godsend to him.

The other stories were also well written as Freda read everyone's story except for Selina Greene's erotic adventure which involved a BDSM club behind a curtain. I told Selina over voice that she was very brave to read her story over voice. She responded and said, “But I felt so embarrassed when I read it.” I told her she didn't sound embarrassed when she spoke over voice with her smoky British accent.

After Freda left Second Life to do things in real life, Selina and I hung out at Book Island until she had to go to bed. She mentioned that every Sunday was a new writing event like Olivia's micro fiction event. She explained at 12 noon SLT Every Sunday is a writing dash event and an open mic at 1pm. I said I'd do my best to reach one of those events. It involves writing 500 words or so in a half hour. I said that sounds doable if I wrote 322 words in fifteen minutes.

Selina logged off as it was close to 1 AM her time in the United Kingdom. Book Island is a great place for writers and readers to hangout and share common interests. I said I missed Jackson Arthur's Writer's Chat and Olivia's Micro Fiction.

However Selina is keeping Book Island going strong with Freda Frostbite's new event called Promptly Erotic. It's certainly a bold and brave new step for Book Island and I'm excited to see it as an event as a fun way to practice writing and to socialize. I invite you readers of the SL Newser to come to this event or any other Book Island event for kicks. Here's Freda's email and website if you would like to contact her.

StephanieMesler@gmail.com

www.APoetsProgress.com

Grease Coakes