VoidTrecker Express Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
voidtreckermods) wrote2020-08-30 03:04 pm
voidtreckermods) wrote2020-08-30 03:04 pm
Library
LIBRARY
This a double carriage. On the bottom floor there is a corridor running along one side, with a door to enter the carriage itself in the middle of the corridor. Up the stairs on either end of the carriage, the space is open, relatively.We will not OOCly be tracking books being checked in and out. If a book is not being returned, please reply to that book's comment to let people know that it isn't available.
Downstairs appears similar to a public library. The walls are painted brightly and lined with shelves, most of which are empty. Labels indicate that fiction books should be stored here. The wall facing the door is alternating windows looking out into the Void, and posters that seem to be large, blown-up book covers for the more popular fiction books in the train.
Four tables with linked chairs are spaced throughout the car, each one painted one of the team colours, and beanbag chairs similar to those found in the Games carriage can also be seen scattered in a pile in one corner.
A little wooden train with shelves built into it winds its way through the tables, its shelves filled with all of the previously-purchased Merry Little Void Train literature and the first book of several of the encountered but unpurchased MLVT series, including several colouring books. There's room on its shelves for far more than it currently contains. Kheli the rabbit is painted leaning out of the engine window, waving.
Along the far wall to the right are two scanning machines, which can do the following: register new books - as a helpful tutorial on the screen will inform you; provide summaries of books if given a specific title; or check books out if presented with a valid ticket. Passengers can have up to eight books checked out at a time; if someone walks out of the carriage carrying a book not checked out by them, the ICP speakers in that carriage will beep obnoxiously for ten seconds.
Upstairs resembles an academic library. The wall next to the stairs is a similar bank of windows as downstairs, although lacking the colourful posters, instead dotted with landscape paintings of previously visited worlds and unknown worlds both. Rows of shelves divide the space into six smaller workspaces, each with a single-person desk with lamp and bookstand and another window above, bracketed by shelves on either side. The bookshelves muffle sound, creating semi-private spaces around each desk.
The shelves are empty, with labels on each shelf indicating that non-fiction books belong up here.
Please comment below with any books your character is registering with the library computers, using the following form, to either the fiction or non-fiction top level and under the correct genre or subsection with the book's title as the subject header:
BOOK SEARCHES ~ FICTION ~ NON-FICTION
FICTION: Merry Little Voidtrain ~ Action/Adventure ~ Crime ~ War/Epic ~ Drama/Slice Of Life ~ Horror
NON-FICTION: Void ~ Historical/Travel ~ Educational ~ Entertainment ~ Arts/Sports ~ Philosophy/Religion ~ Health
OTHER: Recipes ~ Passenger Documents
DRAMA/SLICE-OF-LIFE
In Case this is the End... (sci-fi, drama)
Description: An often funny yet heart wrenching story about two young soldiers, Kal and Martha who are stationed at different frontiers in an intergalactic war. It is told through transmissions between them, reading like letters. Through their letters they tell a story of a brutal war, their fears for the future and their hope that one day they will live together in peace.
All the action is told through them so it is not always easy to understand the bigger picture, but that seems to be the point, the story is focused on their experiences and so there is little context about the war or the world.
It ends with a final letter chain between them on the eve before a huge battle of all frontiers. The ending is ambiguous and downbeat.
Rust (drama, political, sci-fi)
Description: A hard hitting novel about two robots who once belonged to an explorer. They travelled the stars on adventures that are told through flashbacks. Now the explorer is old and sick and the robots like in storage with the rest of his belongings.
It is clearly written to lobby for robot rights and the point is hammerered quite heavily at times. It asks questions about sentience and what makes a person. The robots aren't A.I but they seem to have a level of awareness and ability to make connections with each other and the people they come across.
Void Heroes! (graphic novel, romance, sci-fi)
Description: A one-shot graphic novel that follows three voidtreckers aboard the Voidtrecker Express III. Farli, a yellow team vice-captain, has to prepare for an away mission and their own conflicted romantic feelings for the blue team medic, Yarrow. Yarrow, the only survivor of an attack on their homeworld, is fiercely protective of their teammates to the exclusion of all else. Meanwhile Nebs, a new member of green team, struggles with her training and her feelings of isolation. The comic ends on a positive note, as the characters bond and overcome great peril.
Romeo & Juliet (play, romance)
Description: Doomed love story where two should-be enemies from rival houses fall in love with tragic results. By some guy called William Shakespeare.
The Snow Cave (fantasy, comedy)
Description: High in the mountain peaks, a goatherd stumbles across a rift in time and space while searching for a lost kid. What follows can best be described as an outrageously funny romp through both a multitude of colourful alternate realities, and the reader's heart. The book is written in the style of a memoir, but never claims to be a real story.
Blitzstar (graphic novel, sports, #1-5)
Description: Blitzstar is a comic series- it seems to be from the same world as Born to Blitz, a blitzball cartoon/anime, though it is a different story with different characters. Dini is a young blitzball player. She's going to be the world champion. Just you wait and see! The stories are tense, full of action and interweave personal drama with the thrill of the game. Will Dini become the best?
Made of Broken Things (adventure)
Description: Cid is a troubled young man fleeing a violent home by hopping on the first ship out to sea he can. He enlists as a deckhand on what turns out to be a notorious pirate ship. Out of the frying pan and into the fire as it were he learns quickly how to survive on the sea.
A powerful coming of age novel about a young man growing past what could be, literally sailing out onto the horizon to find himself and learning that that isn't as easy as it might sound. Adventure, heartbreak and a few too many storms await him as he grows and learns.
The Dynasty of Nine (dystopian)
Description: A dying world, nine ships holding humanity's last remnants. Leaving their world behind they set off among the stars to seek out a new home, not knowing if they will even find one, and only hoping there can be a better place.
It jumps around the PoV of the crew and passengers, almost a series of small snapshots into their lives. Not all that much happens in the way of overarching plot but the stories stand alone quite nicely.
See Every Sunrise (YA)
Description: Ben is an apathetic young man. He is close to dropping out of school, fallen out with his friends, barely speaks to his parents. He has dropped his hobbies and has no interest in anything.
Until the night he gets abducted by aliens.
F'ijuljik never quite fit in. They try very hard but can never live up to the expectation of their commanders. So when it is announced that one person will be chosen to infiltrate a planet by taking on a host body they are not surprised it is them.
Their job is to observe for one year and report back on this planet Earth. Were humans dangerous? Did they deserve protecting? Should they be saved.
Though Ben and F'ijuljik don't get on initially for obvious reasons Ben soon realises that this strange entity residing inside him and speaking in his mind is their to judge mankind and it is his job to prove it is worth saving.
So off Ben goes, to show F'ijuljik the best of humanity. It is a quest that will take him to the far reaches of the earth.
And along the way he and F'juljik find they have as much in common as they have different. And Ben learns to connect with people in ways he never was able to before.
The ending is heart wrenching and bittersweet as Ben saves earth, to learn that neither he nor F'ijuljik were ever going to survive this merging of selves. But it ends on a hilltop with Ben, F'ijuljik and the friends they made along the way watching the alien crafts leave Earth forever.
Long Past Dawn (YA, romance)
Description: The story of two young men both of whom dream of being warriors. Samithinos is the heir of a kingdom, sheltered from birth. Expected to rule after his mother, politics is meant to be his battleground, and yet it is so boring.
Nim is a farm boy with no education, no training and the ability to trip up over thin air. A life of toil and graft lies before him, yet he dreams for more.
Both sneak their way into the army, fall in love and be really super dramatic about everything. It's not a great book honestly, but trashy teen fiction has its place in libraries.
Fool's Rise (YA)
Description: The story of a young jester who dreams of being a star. Simon is a young apprentice jester in a distant rural holding, far away from any of the excitement of the city court. But his dream is to go to the big city and perform for the queen.
First he must learn his craft and figure out how to navigate the twists and turns of the cutthroat world of the noble houses.
HaZel (YA, sci-fi)
Description: When captain Bosni's ship goes down in a battle against an alien enemy she survives but is in a critical condition. As part of the attempts to save her, her consciousness is transfered into a technological realm where she meets HZL89 a young clone who's mind us being used to help Bosni come to terms with what has happened and asist her recovery.
At it's heart HaZeL is a story about generational friendship. Bosni has lived a long and exciting life and seen the universe. HZL89 has never been outside the hospital where she works as a companion to counter loneliness and provide friendship to patients.
Their stories are interweaved through the novel and it is at times very sad as Bosni comes to term with the loss of many of her crew. The ending is bittersweet as Bosni recovers enough to be woken up, the two say their goodbyes and are both strengthened by their time together.
The Song of the Traitor (YA)
Description: Ri is a traitor, she betrayed her family, her village and her country. She is outcast, travelling across the land, staying hidden, trying to find refuge outside the borders, somewhere she can start again.
It all started when she travelled into the sacred caves under her village, there she found the remnants of a book and learned a terrible secret. Her people are not what they seem, dark secrets have been kept hidden and harm is still being done.
The story is told both of Ri's journey towards a promise of safety and flashbacks to what caused her to betray her people in the first place, a thrilling young adult book that encourages staying true to yourself and what you believe is right, even if it causes great pain.
Leap of Faith (YA, fantasy)
Description: To fly all you need do is believe in yourself. Everyone in Mimi's village can fly. Children begin flying around their fifth birthday, Mimi is no different. Until she is twelve years old.
After a particularly bad day at school she falls from the sky. Mimi must go on a journey to regain her confidence and her flight. Luckily she finds some very good friends along the way!
An adorable coming of age young adult novel about the power of friendship and believing in yourself.
Not!Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (YA, fantasy)
Description: The names and places have changed but the story about a young boy from an unloving family, who was the sole survivor of an evil wizard goes to a magic school. It is beautifully illustrated at least which should make up for it not being quite the right book.
SNAPDRAGON (YA, drama)
Description: A very cheesy but kind of cute love story about two fairies in a land where fairies live in flowers. Despite the childish premise it is a teen novel and full of the normal angst, drama and sweetness.
Mim and Lil meet in the snapdragon patch, friends at first they navigate a sweet and slightly awkward crush whilst dealing with all the normal teenage fairy girl problems (owls and the grand wizard Mogi who is pushing a war no one wants).
When the Voidtrecker Came to Town (graphic novel, YA)
Description: It tells the story of Kierce, a teenager who lives with his little sister (Ama) and his dad in a city. The city is pretty vaguely described, but has a reasonable technology level and the characters depicted in the pages span a large range of races and species.
The novel starts one early morning, Keirce and Ama bickering over breakfast, their dad telling them to knock it off and then them all leaving to work and school. Kierce walks Ama to school before getting on a flying transporter shuttle to his own school.
He is in maths class when the lesson is interrupted. A woman in a purple hoodie bursts into the room and announces that they have to evacuate. The teacher is not too cooperative but she insists, claiming that if they do not leave they will die. Kierce and his friend Siana get up and announce that they are going to do what she says. The class follows.
They rush out of the building not a moment too late as just as they clear the grounds a huge craft crashes into the school, exploding.
An alien, aggressive force has invaded. The novel follows Kierce and Siana as they try and make their way to the school their younger siblings are at. At the through the story you see voidtreckers. A team of orange hoodie wearing people trying to clear a bridge of a crashed transporter, desperately trying to save the people inside. Red wearing people fighting huge robotic creatures.
They arrive at the school to find it already destroyed. Most of the children are outside already but Ama is no where to be found. Just as it seems all is lost a blue hoodie-wearing man stumbles out of the wreckage, Ama in his arms. The siblings are reunited, the aliens defeated and they follow the void treckers out of the city where an emergency camp is being constructed. It ends with them reuniting with their father and learning that though unfortunately not everyone made it out alive it was doubtful anyone would have survived if it wasn't for the voidtreckers, the attack wasn't by a known enemy, it had come out of the blue.
It has a post script.
When the Voidtrecker comes to town is not a true story, but is based on the events of many true moments. The Voidtreckers are there to help you, if you see one know your world is in danger. Just like Kierce and Ama and their friends you must listen and do what they say. They are there to help. Hopefully the Voidtreckers will never need to come to your town, but if they do. Be ready, be smart and know they will do their best to save you all.
Rain Avenged (romance, fantasy)
Description: A far off kingdom, a young squire looking to prove her worth on the battlefield. One Autumn of battle, pain and redemption.
Bria is a squire, still young and in service to a knight. The borderlands have risen up again and they are sent by the crown to put down the rebellion.
In a battle Bria is injured and separated from her Knight and their fighters. She stumbles into an enemy camp and meets a young woman, a healer by the name of Eari. She soon learns that not all is as it seems. Sometimes the honourable path is not the one given.
Rendezvous With Rama (sci-fi)
Description: Written by Arthur C. Clarke.
An enormous cylindrical object has entered Earth’s solar system on a collision course with the sun. A team of astronauts are sent to explore the mysterious craft, which the denizens of the solar system name Rama. What they find is astonishing evidence of a civilization far more advanced than ours. They find an interior stretching over fifty kilometers; a forbidding cylindrical sea; mysterious and inaccessible buildings; and strange machine-animal hybrids, or “biots,” that inhabit the ship. But what they don’t find is an alien presence. So who—and where—are the Ramans?
Childhood's End (sci-fi)
Description: Written by Arthur C. Clarke
In the near future, enormous silver spaceships appear without warning over mankind’s largest cities. They belong to the Overlords, an alien race far superior to humanity in technological development. Their purpose is to dominate Earth. Their demands, however, are surprisingly benevolent: end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age . . . or so it seems.
Without conflict, human culture and progress stagnate. As the years pass, it becomes clear that the Overlords have a hidden agenda for the evolution of the human race that may not be as benevolent as it seems.
2001: A Space Odyssey (sci-fi)
Description: Written by Arthur C. Clarke
From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man ventures to the outer rim of our solar system, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey unlike any other.
This allegory about humanity’s exploration of the universe—and the universe’s reaction to humanity—is a hallmark achievement in storytelling that follows the crew of the spacecraft Discovery as they embark on a mission to Saturn. Their vessel is controlled by HAL 9000, an artificially intelligent supercomputer capable of the highest level of cognitive functioning that rivals—and perhaps threatens—the human mind.
The City and the Stars (sci-fi)
Description: Written by Arthur C. Clarke
Far in the future, Earth’s oceans have evaporated and humanity has all but vanished. The inhabitants of Diaspar believe their domed city is all that remains of an empire that had once conquered the stars. Inside the dome, the citizens live in technological splendor, free from the distractions of aging and disease. Everything is controlled precisely, just as the city’s designers had intended.
But a boy named Alvin, unlike his fellow humans, shows an insatiable—and dangerous—curiosity about the world outside the dome. His questions will send him on a quest to discover the truth about the city and humanity’s history—as well as its future.