By Bixyl Shuftan
Saturday at Noon on August 30, The Premier Business Center held a "Meet the Author" event for a certain writer best known for his reporting the news in Second Life, but had recently published a novel in real life. This was me, Bixyl Shuftan.
Jarden Alexis, the owner of the PBC, was the one who organized the event. The Newser team has written about her Center's events for the past few years, Gemma Cleanslate, Dancerina Starlight, and I doing so in detail.
When Jarden heard about the novel I published a few months ago, "The Corsean Encounter," she wanted to do an event to help publicize it.
Jarden would decorate the PBC with signs and posters about the book, as well as a couple about the Newser, this being not only a chance to help publicize the book, but also mention the Newser some. She would also help me with rehearsals, my wanting to limit my explaining what the book was about in about an hour in this two hour event.
About thirty people would show up, a number comparable to a real-life "meet the author" event at a bookstore that could cost hundreds of dollars. Some were friends, but there were many I'd hadn't seen before (or met briefly a long time ago).
Teela Leef would take some pictures that would get posted on Facebook. Tara (ArtemisFlidais Resident) would record for a video.
Picture from Teela Leef, Nydia Tungsten and Dusk Griswold. Nydia and Dusk both helped edit the story. Nydia has also published a story of her own, and two sequels. Dusk was dressed as a character of hers, Ginger, who would get a cameo in another story of mine in progress.
Panda Jenn, who did the cover art, wanted to come but had to take care of some real-life trouble that showed up at the last minute.
Behind Nydia is Shockwave Yareach, a leading member of the Sunbeamer Relay team.
Also appearing was GoSpeed Racer, who has also published some books of her own. Umbra Gardenvale behind her is a host at the Happy Vixen.
Any1 Gynoid was with the Newser in it's early years, as well as having been part of the old Second Life Newspaper.
Others appearing included Charlee Harmony (who encouraged me to get the story published while I was figuring out how), Kitacelia, and others.
Jarden Alexis started the event, greeting everyone, and complemented the Newser for it's coverage of her events, mentioned that I had come out with a great science-fiction novel that was deserving of more publicity, then
Picture from Teela Leef. I thanked everyone for showing up, explained who I was for those less than familiar with me, then mentioned I'd also been writing fictional stories for years, and a few months before had finally published my first novel, the science-fiction story "The Corsean Encounter."
"Theadore Smith, sentenced to a Soviet gulag, gets a second chance
when the train he's on has a wreck in Central Asia. Making his way south
with his companion Leonid Kakanov, they're ambushed by Muslim
tribesmen, and have to seek shelter in a cave they stumble upon. Finding
a strange machine, it teleports them to another cave. They emerge not
on Earth, but another world. Running into some of its not quite human
inhabitants, whom live under Medieval conditions, the initially friendly
encounter turns hostile when they're captured by a local lord, whom
turns them over to his superior.
"After a period of time in which Theadore learns the local language, the overlord takes the two humans to his Emperor as a gift. At the Imperial Palace, they learn more about the land and it's people. They get attention from some people who see value in their knowledge. They also run into the ambassador of a nearby land which is somewhat more advanced and not an empire but a republic, Gideon. But some consider the humans little more than monsters, whose lives are of no real value. Can Theadore and Leonid convince enough people of importance that they deserve more than a lifetime in a dungeon, or worse? And what can they do for the Gideon Republic, which many in the Empire want to settle old scores with?"
"After a period of time in which Theadore learns the local language, the overlord takes the two humans to his Emperor as a gift. At the Imperial Palace, they learn more about the land and it's people. They get attention from some people who see value in their knowledge. They also run into the ambassador of a nearby land which is somewhat more advanced and not an empire but a republic, Gideon. But some consider the humans little more than monsters, whose lives are of no real value. Can Theadore and Leonid convince enough people of importance that they deserve more than a lifetime in a dungeon, or worse? And what can they do for the Gideon Republic, which many in the Empire want to settle old scores with?"
I would talk to me about what influenced me along the way in writing the tale, and describing it some. I would talk about the "worldbuilding," as this wasn't a universe like Star Trek or Star Wars many were familiar with, but an entirely new alien world, Corsea, and a new sapient species, the Maygar. The world has a technology lower than ours, most of the continent the human characters end up on being in a Medieval/Renaissance state, though part of it is a little higher, what we would consider Colonial Age.
Of the people, the Maygar, from a distance they look human. But closer up differences are noticeable, being a foot shorter on average, grayish or greenish skin depending on the race, four fingers per hand (and four toes per foot), and instead of hair have thin feathers. They are descended from a warm-blooded order of vertebrates other than birds or mammals.
The continent the story takes place on Wistra, was populated solely by primitive green tribes for thousands of years. Then about 1300 years before the time of the novel it was discovered by accident by a ship from the gray-populated continent of Estepal. Four hundred years later, a horrible pandemic swept through Estepal, and thousands of grays from nobility to peasants would flee to Wistra, where the latter would establish new kingdoms. Conflict would eventually start between the greens and grays, and being more advanced the grays would slowly advance until about for centuries before the story when the greens united under the Aswan Empire and counterattacked, and for a time the grays were on the retreat until they united under the Idion Empire and once again began to advance.
One highly successful Idion general was rewarded with control of the kingdom's northern lands. The new province, Gideon, was allowed to basically govern itself, and as the general wanted the people a say in how things were run, it developed a republican form of government in contrast to the other lands governed by nobles. But partially because of jealousy over it's growing economy and partially because of runaway serfs who ran away to there, eventually an emperor intervened and appointed a new ruler to "set things right." The result was civil unrest, which wasn't helped by the emperor's continued arrogance. Finally after a palace coup led by Gideon's former leader, the emperor was forced at swordpoint to let Gideon go it's own way.
Despite the loss of Gideon, the Idion Empire continued to advance on the Aswan. By the time the story takes place, the Aswan have been reduced to one major city and the land around it. Gideon now has somewhat higher technology than the Idion lands some decades away from the Industrial Revolution.
The story has a number of characters. Theadore Smith is the main character of which most of the story takes place around. He is an American engineer and WW1 veteran who went to Soviet Russia to help build what to him was a fascinating new kind of society. But eventually he was seen as more useful by the higher-ups as a prisoner. Friendly and idealistic, he is knowledgeable on many subjects. The other human to end up on Corsea, Leonoid Kakanov is a veteran of WW1 who signed up with the Red Army. But he soon learned the Bolsheviks were not what they promised, and also ended up a prisoner. In contrast to Theadore's idealism, he can be quite cynical, on occasion ruthless. Still, he likes Theadore, genuinely wishing him well.
The rest of the notable characters are of the planet's inhabitants, the Maygar Kamar was one of the oldest men in the villiage Theadore and Leonid stumble across. Friendly and humble, he eventually learns English through Theadore, as well as teaching him the local language, and is amazed of his tales about Earth. Minister (Lord) Kiamp is the Chief of Affiars at the Imperial Palace, cool and collected, he seldom smiles or expresses strong emotion, though on occasion does. Gannich Pruslyn is the current Captain of Castle Guard - Once the Overlord of the province of Beladyn, the Emperor removed him from that position when he made some certain decisions he didn't like. Pruslyn is as much a metocrat as an aristocrat, and looks at men for what they can do, not just who they are. Cybyl Miriam is a gigantess who had been presented to the Emperor as a entertainer, the tallest person on the continent. A bookworm. Kiamp has her asigned part time to the castle library. Her manner is kindly and curious, though prone to sadness. Doctor Nebnama "Neb" Nylknar is scientist, inventor, and diplomat, currently the ambassador of the Gideon Republic to the Idion Empire. Curious and friendly, he is fascinated by the humans not just for their technology, but wants to learn about them and their world for knowledege's sake.
There are others worth mentioning, but there's not enough time to mention them
Much of my writing of the story was done with the worldbuilding, which comes across with the discussions between the humans and other characters, and occasionally some action, such as meals showing what the locals eat. And when Theadore talks about what foods are eaten on Earth, the reactions vary from interest, to fascination, to laughter. It's also notable one of the first Earth items the Maygar adopt and make for themselves is how to make one particular food.
Rivalries are a large part of the story. The overlords do not always get along, often getting into petty rivalries and competing for the Emperor's favor. The greens and grays have not gotten along for centuries. While there is some trade between Gideon and the Empire, and some overlords and nobility see value in the republic's discoveries, others are still hostile to the "traitors," some looking forward to the chance to try and conquer them. Both Gideon and the Idion Empire are in an unofficial alliance against the remnants of the Aswan Empire, but some in the republic wonder if once their mutual enemy is gone, the Empire will go after them next.
Over the course of the story, much happens. There's action, there's blood. There's also some death, not every character makes it to the end, and one ends up with a permanent disability. Many of the locals from nobles to learned men to peasants are fascinated with the stories from the humans about their technology and what it can do, from fast travel, to flight, to huge cities, and much more.
I concluded by saying while I wouldn't give away the ending, it did conclude on a resolution. And work was almost done on a sequel that picks up where the first story ends, "Prelude to War," in which the majority of the action takes place away from the Imperial Palace, so there's more places shown, and new characters introduced. Work would soon begin on the third.
Other things I was doing? I was also working on a Fantasy story, "Tales of A Metamprph." It's a fantasy story about a man who ends up teleported from Earth to a world of magic and swordsmen where humans share the lands with dwarves, elves, and a number of animal like races. But, I would continue to focus on the Newser, getting it updated every day for the residents of Second Life.
I would take a couple questions, "Does Amazon deliver to the Amazon?" "*chuckles*Yes, through Amazon Brazil *grins*" "My only question is when do you plan on sleeping?" "Heh, after I get home from work tonight." I then turned things back to Jarden. She then invited people to head to the next room, and dance. DJ Nydia would play the tunes.
There was also a table with refreshments, both drinks and snacks.
There was some funning around. Dusk mused of her poodlelike appearance, "I am not normally a wolf, it was Bix's idea I be a wolf with poodle fluffs for his book." Rita asked, "What happened to your nasty poodle?" Dusk smiled, "What nasty poodle? They are cute and friendly." And there were a few stories told, "We had one pilot, CW OLD, fly Cobras. He would take folks up in one. They sat in the front gunners seat. He could take them up high and dive the Cobra straight at the ground, pulling out at the last second. shall we say, ,the ground crew had a mess to cleanup in the front seat." And there were a few comments about the event, "You seem to have a penchant for having fair lasses show for your event, Bixyl. (grin)."
The afterparty would go on for a while, but eventually people had to leave and the event thinned out to just a few, "Thank you Jarden for this gorgeous moment."
Just before and after the event, several more copies of the book were purchased. This makes for a total of about a couple dozen, and no doubt more will be as time goes on. In the meantime, work continues on finishing up the sequel, slow progress on "Metamorph," and starting up the third Corsean story.
For those interested in getting the book, it's available in both kindle and paperback:
Special thanks once again to Nydia, Dusk, Panda Jenn, and of course Jarden and her crew.
Bixyl Shuftan
Addition: Tara (ArtemisFlidais) would work on a video of the event. As I was speaking in text, she used a computer-generated voice, one that sounds better than I actually do (click here if the image doesn't play).
