The great Canadian audio book press, Rattling Books, will be making stops in your areas in the coming weeks. Be sure to check them out. What’s exciting is not only their new audio book of Joel Hynes’ Down to the Dirt, but also their major score in getting the rights to Mavis Gallant’s fiction (Hynes will be reading on Nov 3 at the KGB Bar with Margot Dionne, the voice artist on the Gallant CD — the reading billed as “from an upstart to a master”. Order their audio books here and here). If you’re at all interested in Newfoundland, Hynes is your man. I don’t think there are too many opportunities down there to hear that kind of rapid-fire writing done in the authentic accent, so now’s your chance. Also, here’s the Boston info, for Nov 5 at The Middle East in Cambridge.

And if you’re at all interested in short fiction, you should be bowing down at the alter of Mavis Gallant. On Nov 1, she’ll be fetted in New York by the likes of Russel Banks, Michael Ondaatje, Jumpa Lahiri, and others and Rattling will be at the ceremony. All you need to know is at the Rattling Books Blog. But I don’t think you can get tickets any more, so I would go with the KGB reading as your best bet.

What I like about Rattling is their Canadian mandate but international flavour. They feel bigger than they are, in part beceause they take big risks, but they also retain much of the aesthetic and production values associated with a small professional company. I urge you to visit their sites, get involved with their events and buy their books. (As a side note: while she has plenty of worshippers that are younguns like me, I think Gallant’s audio book would make a holiday great gift for that aging, visually-impaired adult in your family… hint hint.)