The Second Life Book Club

Last week, Linden Lab announced the start of the "Second Life Book Club," or "Virtual Book Tours" in both the official blog and a press release.

As book publishers adjust to coronavirus-era restrictions, Linden Lab is launching the Second Life Book Club, a new “virtual world book tour” initiative that enables authors to have real-time book readings, engage in meet-and-greets with their fans and promote their publications in front of a live audience within the Internet’s largest user-created virtual world.

The first of what will presumably be a number of events of this theme took place on Wednesday April 8. It was hosted, as well as filmed, by Draxtor Despres, "in partnership with Linden Lab." The event was described as "a multi-author panel that will discuss the new reality of writing and selling books in the age of COVID-19," and had writers Matt Ruff, Ken Liu, SL Huang, and CB Lee.

Upcoming shows will feature guests such as Tad Williams, Christopher Brown, Qiufan Chen, Kelly Robson, Chana Porter and Premee Mohamed.

“When I first reached out to authors, some of them very high profile, I was surprised to get super enthusiastic feedback like: ‘Of course I will come on the show. Can I be a tentacle monster? Can I be a parrot? Can I fly?’,” says Despres. “It’s a dream come true for a book nerd like me!” 

Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg adds, “Second Life offers a safe, fun retreat during a time of great anxiety, stress, and social isolation. Through the virtual world, people can stay connected and engage in friendly conversations and fun social activities such as visiting live music performances, virtual nightclubs and deejay events and now even book readings. Virtual world interactions offer a much deeper connection with other human beings than for example video conferencing: through the avatar and the shared space we feel as if we are fully present together.”

The Newser may have an article about what happened in the near future, time permitting. In the meantime, here's the video.



(Click here if the video does not play - starting at 1:20 )

The event took place at BookClub Island (128/115/23)

For more information, check out the official blog here.