[thanks to The Who for the title]

First, a little bragging:


Amsterdam, in the InWorldz region called -- what else? -- Nederland.  Almost all of the buildings are from Koshari Mahana's Four Winds, and the big sculpty trees (such as the willows you can see in that photo) are from Julia's Hathor's Creative Fantasy...

And then, there's these: in the foreground, Alisa's "Crate Cabin" and the furniture she created for it, behind which stands my "Weathered Lighthouse".


I'm always curious about what people do with our builds, and the lighthouse is my personal favorite of my own work.  Transaction history on the InWorldz website gave me a name, and the buyer was kind enough to reply to my IM and give me a landmark.  So... thank you, Clodia Starship and the other folks involved with Amsterdam  :)  Best of luck!

Speaking of Julia Hathor, and while I'm in brag mode:



Home sweet home - autumnal simscape by Alisa, using lots of Julia's gorgeous trees.  And yes, of course, our soror Nishi collection floating above it.

Map Coordinates (slURLs):
Nederland
Four Winds
Creative Fantasy

~

Call for Submissions

[That's got nothing to do with d/s, by the way... ;) ]

Two excellent pieces of short fiction set in virtual worlds of the near future have surfaced this week.  The first is "The Oldbie" by Cubey Terra, which I called "Bradburyesque" while reTweeting its existence, though in its mood it's also reminiscent of Atwood's Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood.  Inspired by Cubey, Pathfinder John Lester wrote a vignette, "Jetpack", which echoes the same optimistic vision you'll find in writers like Vernor Vinge and David Brin.

Reading them, I had my own flash of inspiration.  I have a few years of experience in the editing of online lit and managing what used to be called "webzines"... and I'm thinking "Path's and Cubey's stories can't be the only ones out there -- and if they are, they shouldn't be." (I'm also thinking about what my next project should be when Seconderth is done...)

So, here's my idea:  An online anthology of short fiction told from the Avatarian point of view.  The time period doesn't matter, but they must include aspects of virtual existence which are (as the phrase goes) "NPIRL".  Keep it under 10,000 words, please -- and email to lalo[dot]telling[at]gmail[dot]com.  Poetry is welcome, too.

If I get a few good ones -- and if Cubey and Path give me reprint permission for theirs -- the first edition might go live in January 2011.  I'll keep y'all posted.

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