Prim Perfect Jigsaw: Loving It Here in Lula

Lula

Here is another image from our deputy editor, Honour MacMillan – taken from her wonderful photoblog: Honour’s Post Menopausal (View of Second Life).

In this recent post, she muses over early mornings (and guilt) while exploring Lula, a really beautiful region where she perfectly captures the soft early morning light.

Do go and read … and visit … but first, let’s do a jigsaw.

Lula, photographed by Honour McMillan

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw at the Fantasy Faire: Evensong Woods

Evensong Woods

Evensong Woods was, in some ways , one of the more conventional fantasy regions at the 2013 and perhaps for that reason did tend to be a little overlooked in reports, which is a shame, because it was beautifully conceived and built by Searlait Nitschke of Roawenwood, which specialises in fantasy, furniture, landscaping, clothing, and role-play accessories.

Elves in trees seems almost expected now – a vision that predates Tolkien, but is perhaps most powerfully realised in Lothlorien. The fact that we now expect elves to have tree homes is certainly a testimony to that – other writers might have placed fairies in trees (as in Barrie’s Peter Pan) but the elves usually occupied a separate kingdom – lying at the end of the bonny, bonny way that Thomas the Rhymer took – a route followed not only by innumerable ballads but also by writers as diverse as William Morris and Terry Pratchett.

Yet it was very appropriate at an event that drew together so many different genres of fantasy that Evensong Woods should be there, with its trees and carvings, and beautifully realised and Searlait has written a very beautiful post about it here, which I would urge you all to read.

Evensong Woods, photograph by Wildstar Beaumont

Remember, there is still time to enter the short story contest that Prim Perfect is sponsoring in conjunction with Fantasy Faire!

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw at the Fantasy Faire: The Dragon Spire

The Dragon Spire

Designing Worlds returns tonight, with the first of two shows from the Fantasy Faire.  More on that shortly – but for now, let’s pay a visit to a region of the Faire that was stunningly bold in conception, but very hard to photograph. It was one of two areas (the other was Evensong Woods) where, I felt, the atmosphere you got from being there was really, really hard to convey in a photograph. For both, “You really had to be there” to appreciate them. And if you were in either, your likely response was … “Oh, this is cool!”

The Dragon Spire was constructed as a series of caves.  As such, it could be a little hard to navigate (and helpful arrows appeared on the floor rather rapidly). If you took a wrong turn, you were led deeper and deeper into the labyrinth. If you took the right (as in correct) path, you found yourself exploring some amazing shops – and all within this quite stunning (and quickly rezzed) sculpted cave environment.

Caves, of course, are an archetypal fantasy environment – and a favoured landscape for roleplayers everywhere – not for nothing is the Big Daddy called Dungeons and Dragons.  But caves are incredibly hard to pull off in Second Life – I don’t think I’ve ever seen it as well done as it is here. So kudos to Khyle Sion, the designer.

Let’s do a jigsaw.

Inside the caverns of The Dragon Spire

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Weave a tale of fantastic landscapes for the Fantasy Faire / Prim Perfect Short Story Competition

Magnificat By Alia Baroque
Photo By Beq Janus

This year Fantasy Faire has been not only a beautiful place to visit, but also a hugely evocative one, stirring the imagination and leading many of us to reflect on what stories could be told about these lovely and mysterious lands.

Once the stores are packed away and the crowds have departed … what beings take possession of the glass lantern city high in the mountains that shines in Titan’s Hollow? What languid aristocrats return to their faded palaces along the canal of Magnificat to watch the little boats sail out eternally toward the sunset? What troglodytes or dwarves emerge, grumbling, from the lower depths of The DragonSpire to reclaim their caves? What heroes push their way through the blood-red roses of Crimson Fields, their eyes fixed on the looming Dark Tower ahead? And so for all the regions, each with their special tales to tell.

The Lanterns of Titans’ Hollow

We are sure that, as you visited the Faire, some of those questions occurred to you. These may be stories connected with the mythos of the Faire that the organisers suggested – but it may be that a region captured your imagination and you found yourself envisaging a very different tale. And we are sure that, like so many of us, you just wished these amazing locations could be on the grid forever so that you could have your own little piece of the Fairelands.

Well, the magnificent structures of the Fairelands will soon be gone, but the Fairelands team – together with Prim Perfect – have come up with a way to make the magic continue.

Lotus Valley Dream

We are holding a short story contest for the best stories written about the Fairelands of 2013. The top entries will be published in the summer issue of Prim Perfect magazine, coming out in early August 2013.

You story can focus on one region – Evensong Woods, or Lotus Valley Dream, for example – and ignore all the others. Or you might use the juxtaposition of two regions, or even draw on more of the Fairelands, as a whole vast realm, perhaps surrounding an inland sea. It’s up to you.

And your story can be sad or happy, wise or witty. It can make us laugh, cry, gasp, nod with agreement … or do all of these things by turns.

Dragon over Lumenaria

While we don’t need long passages of description, the setting of the story should be clear. If it makes us ask, “Now – is this Ravenshard or Lumenaria?” it won’t be working for us.

Your story should be between one and three thousand words in total. While we love the idea of longer works (wouldn’t it be amazing to read a fantasy novel set in the Fairelands?), for this competition we want something that stands alone and that can be read as a complete piece.

We also want something that is completely your own work and written for this competition. You will retain the copyright, but in submitting the story you give us permission to publish the story in electronic format in Prim Perfect and on websites and social media sites belonging to Prim Perfect and Fantasy Faire.

Ravenshard

The deadline for submission is May 31.

Send your story in plain text or in .RTF or Word doc format to: fantasyfaireshortstory@gmail.com

We will acknowledge receipt (although it may take a little time).

Results (and winning entries) will appear in the August issue of Prim Perfect magazine.

The Valley of Ish’Nar

JUDGES:
The judging panel will consist of:
Zander Greene and Elizabeth Tinsley from the Fantasy Faire
Saffia Widdershins, Honour Macmillan and Aisling Sinclair from Prim Perfect
Ceejay Writer, Editor in Chief at Penny Gaff Publications
Judi Newall, Librarian

If you want inspiration for your story once the regions have closed, we suggest you refresh your memory at the Flickr stream.

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw at the Fantasy Faire: Ravenshard

Ravenshard

Today’s jigsaw shows Ravenshard, the region created byMayah Parx of the Epic Toy Factory and a real visual treat with – of course – lots of chocolate!

There are many types of fantasy, but one that is often overlooked is children’s fantasy. Well, perhaps not by anyone who has read The Gruffalo five times on the trot …. then there’s Maurice Sendak …

It seemed totally in keeping with Ravenshard that I found one of my favourite designers – Cutea Benelli of Grim Bros – displaying some of her amazing range of goods in one of the fantasical crooked cottages.

Let’s do a jigsaw!

Ravenshard, photograph by Judith Lefevre

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw at Fantasy Faire 2013: Dragon over Lumenaria!

Dragon over Lumenaria

If Crimson Fields, which I featured in yesterday’s jigsaw, represents a darker, complex side to fantasy, today’s region of Lumenaria represents fantasy at its most joyous.

Kayle Matzerath, its creator, is endlessly and seemingly effortlessly talented – as witness the amazing range of Dreamscenes he creates at Garden of Dreams, or last year’s awesome desert landscape at Fantasy Faire, with its huge sand fountains.

But this year he has created a beautiful fairytale city – although like a Pixar animated movie in its perfection. It’s the sort of town the disguised Prince rides into of his way to claim the beautiful Princess in the castle – and the celebrations will see these cobbled streets hung with even more bunting and filled with jovial and loyal citizens, having a good time.

Lumenaria, photographed by Judith LeFevre

But perhaps the most remarkable thing about this region is that – thanks to Kayle’s cunning mesh builds, the land impact (before the traders came in) was a mere 2,000. Yes, one could have six of these towns on a single region, and still have room for some furniture.

Perhaps it was this roominess that encouraged the dragon (created by Rynn Veerood) to fly in … and Wildstar Beaumont to take this lovely picture!

Dragon over Lumenaria, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

 

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw at Fantasy Faire: The Dark Tower of Crimson Fields

The Dark Tower in Crimson Fields

I like this picture, but it is a bit of a misnomer.

Although it shows that Dark Tower that is such a dominant feature of Crimson Fields, there are no Crimson Fields to be seen – this picture was actually taken on Magnificat. And there are two reasons for that.

Firstly the Tower is so hugely dominant that it is actually quite difficult to take a picture of it as it stands at the heart of a field of blood red roses.

But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I love the contrast between the primitive, almost barbaric Tower in such strong contrast to the elegant stylish beauty of Magnificat.

Fantasy can be rich and elaborate. But it can also be strong and stark and simple. And that to me is the Dark Tower.

There’s a powerful mythos about the Dark Tower.  Nowadays, many people would identify it with the novels of Stephen King – but it goes far further back than that.  “Childe Roland to the dark tower came” is a line in Shakespeare’s King Lear – a play in which madmen quote old scraps of songs and ballads (whose origins lie further back in history, back in a time when “Childe” was the title for a knight).

The Dark Tower casts its shadow across the crimson fields – photograph by Judith Lefevre

And yet the madmen who quotes this line is, in fact, not mad at all.  It is Edgar, proclaimed a fugitive, who has disguised himself as one of the poor madmen who roamed the roads of Elizabethan England – the poor Tom-a-Bedlams.  But Edgar is sane – and by the end of the play, he will be King.

The line fascinated Robert Browning, who wrote a poem about it, and later Louis McNeice, who wrote a radio play. And then there is Tolkien’s Dark Tower, Barad-dûr, centre of all evil.  Wikipedia has more on Child Roland – and you might be interested to see that it is not unconnected with Widdershins …

And there are the rose that surround the Castle, and one thinks of those slightly creepy fairytales where the heroes have to cut their way through briars to the princess imprisoned by a witch. Rapunzel … Sleeping Beauty …

But for now, let’s do a jigsaw!

The Dark Tower, as seen from Magnificat

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw at Fantasy Faire: Magnificent Sunset in Magnificat

Magnificat at sunset

This is the second of our Fantasy Faire Jigsaws, and today we are paying a visit to the beautiful and impressive region of Magnificat, designed by Alia Baroque.

No-one does grand quite like Alia (as visitors to his region The Tides at Fantasy Faire 2012 will doubtless recall). Once again, Alia has created an outstanding build which, in spite of magnificence, is also strangely tranquil – perhaps best symbolised by these graceful ships, forever sailing towards the sunset in the land of summer palaces and elegant gardens.

Do go and visit but – first – let’s do a jigsaw!

Magnificat, designed by Alia Baroque, photographed by Judith Lefevre

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Designing Worlds explores the beautiful park estate of Calas Galadhon

Now available on the web – our latest episode, as we return to the beautiful park estate of Calas Galadhon.

Calas Galadhon is a famously beautiful eleven-region park estate that has recently undergone a period of renovation and refurbishment. We visited once before, back in 2011, but in case there are any viewers who haven’t seen every episode… we fill in the background to the estate before setting off to explore some stunningly beautiful regions! Last time, we focused on the northern sims – this time we turn our attention to the south, we explore—on foot and by water—some of the most beautiful regions in Second Life with Tymus Tenk, one of the owners of the park (with Truck Meredith).

Calas Galadhon, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

It’s one of our most beautiful shows ever – make sure you don’t miss it!

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw: Tinkling the Ivories through The Looking Glass

The Looking Glass

One reason why I’ve been a little quiet on the blog over the last few weeks is that I’ve been preparing my study for the arrival of my new computer (I reached Cro Magnon layers of crud in the clear out) and also preparing for the launch of the new issue of Prim Perfect.

As the latter included a visit to one of my favourite places, The Looking Glass, designed by Marcus Inkpen and Sharni Azalee, I am definitely not complaining. And visiting it on the shiny new machine will be rather exciting too.

But today’s jigsaw shows the fruits of my exploration with the old machine – in the shade of the glorious broken bridge, I found an old piano and settled down to play and then noticed, behind me, two rather impressive dwellings.

The Looking Glass is like that!

Tinkling the Ivories at The Looking Glass

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

Read Full Post »