Live Performance - Reading from "Borders of Our Lives"

I had my first "live" performance on Thursday evening, with a reading of excerpts from the first two chapters of my serialized novel "Borders of Our Lives" at Harmony Cafe. A special thanks to all my friends who were able to attend and to Tricia Aferdita, President of the Cetus Art District for hosting the event.

Snippets of the excerpts I read are below:

Reading from chapter one of "It's Time for You to Fly".

The two main characters, Jeffrey "Jeff" Goff and Cassandra "Cassie" Dawn appear in this scene. They had met early in Jeff's second life and Cassie had become Jeff's SL Mentor. The scene takes place as a memory of one of Jeff's and Cassie's first interactions after their having met. This scene is prefaced by Jeff's reminiscing on the relationship and recounting some of the memories of their times together in second life. He is waiting for Cassie to arrive in to SL where she will share with him her future plans. So, Jeff the "noob" after having met his mentor a few nights previously begins with …

"Work had been busy for me and I didn't log in for a few days. When I finally did, I eagerly checked my meager friends list, hoping to see her online, feeling disappointed as I noticed she wasn't. I opened her profile and read through it. The text was simple: "Hello everyone *smiles*, my name is Cassie and I'm here in SL to have fun and meet people. I will reply if you IM me, but won't accept friendship without being asked first. I do like to help people, so feel free to ask me a question, if I can answer it I will." I was about to look at her picks when an IM popped on screen:

[14:34] Cassandra Dawn: Hello Jeff :) … How are you sweetie? "

Reading from chapter two "Why Shouldn't We".

The story continues with the main character Jeff. At this time, Jeff has been around SL for nearly a year now. He and Cassie are still close friends but does not make an appearance in this chapter. However, this chapter introduces several new characters. Beginning with Jeff's soon to be romantic interest, Leanne Harris. It also introduces both Jeff's and Leanne's best friends. This is the scene where Jeff and Leanne meet for the first time. Jeff had just logged into SL, while still at work and he's a bit restless. He had decided to pop in and check IM's which he does and then heads over to a favorite place while he finishes RL work. The scene begins with Leanne….

"Leanne Harris: Hi Jeffrey, I'm Leanne … but my friends call me Lea … It's very nice to meet you. *smiles*

I hadn't seen her arrive. Moving the cursor up on the 'View' drop down, I select 'Look at Last Chatter'. My viewpoint shifts and she is centered on the screen. I smile seeing the pretty blue-eyed blond who now has all of my attention.

Jeffrey Goff smiles, "Hello Lea. It's nice to meet you as well and I generally go with just Jeff."

Leanne Harris: *smiles* Alright … Hello Jeff. "

The two chapters are available as "Thinc" books in second life and can be found at my booth, Lane's List on Book Island.