Congratulations to Don McKay.
The Government of Canada has included author and publisher Don McKay on the list of Canadians recognized for excellence, courage or exceptional dedication to service in ways that bring special credit to this country.
Don McKay was one of the latest contributors to Canadian culture to be named a Member of the Order of Canada.
***********
In 2008 Don McKay released an audio recording of his poems selected on the themes of birds, birding and flight. Entitled Songs for the Songs of Birds, the poems were selected and read by the author and accompanied by field recordings of birds by Dave Fifield.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
On the fourth day of Christmas my favorite audiobook publisher gave to me!
On the fourth day of Christmas
gave to me
40% off
May happiness betide you!
They are Married by Claire Wilkshire, narrated by the author, is now available as a downloadable short fiction single from Rattling Books
New Single Available from EarLit Shorts 2They are Married
by Claire Wilkshire
narrated by the author
from the short fiction audiobook EarLit Shorts 2
is now available as a downloadable short fiction single from Rattling Books.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The True Meaning of Crumbfest airs on CBC Radio's WAM this Saturday
by David Weale
performed by Antonia Francis
(when she was a wee five years!)
will air this Saturday on CBC Radio's Weekend Arts Magazine in Newfoundland and Labrador. Anyone not on the dial can tune in online.
The True Meaning of Crumbfest was originally published by Acorn Press of Prince Edward Island in 1999. It won the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children's Literature in that year.
The unabridged audio edition by Rattling Books won an Earphones Award from AudioFile Magazine.
You can hear it this Saturday and again on January 27 on CBC Radio here. Or you can mail order the CD or purchase a digital download here.
Monday, December 15, 2008
New Page for Canadian Libraries interested in ordering Rattling Books
Rattling Books has long had a wonderful full service e-commerce site for the consumer at rattlingbooks.com.
We are now developing a sattelite site to serve the Library Market.
We invite Library audiobook buyers in Canada to bookmark the following page where we will continue to develop helpful information to assist you in selecting Rattling Books audiobooks for your library.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Word of the week: gaffer
Word of the week over at our REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English blog:
Brought to you each week by Rattling Books, an audiobook publisher overlooking the Northwest Atlantic.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Russell Wangersky's Burning Down the House on the B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-fiction short list
Russell Wangersky is on the short list for the 2008-09 B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-fiction, at $40,000 the richest non-fiction book prize in the country.
Read all about it in today's Globe and Mail.
***********
Russell Wangersky is also included in the recently released EarLit Shorts series of audio short fiction anthologies from Rattling Books. Russell can be heard reading his story McNally's Fair from the EarLit Shorts 2 collection while actor Charlie Tomlinson narrates the story, Echo.
Read all about it in today's Globe and Mail.
***********
Russell Wangersky is also included in the recently released EarLit Shorts series of audio short fiction anthologies from Rattling Books. Russell can be heard reading his story McNally's Fair from the EarLit Shorts 2 collection while actor Charlie Tomlinson narrates the story, Echo.
Mom by Catherine Hogan Safer narrated by the author is now available as a downloadable short fiction single
by Catherine Hogan Safer
narrated by the author
from the short fiction audiobook EarLit Shorts 2
is now available as a downloadable short fiction single from Rattling Books.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Carmelita McGrath imagines a memoir by Camilla Coaker
To Be My Father's Daughter
Written by Carmelita McGrath
with research/writing by Sharon Halfyard
and edited by Marion Cheeks
Educational Resrouce Development Co-operative (ERDC)
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
2008
ISBN 978-0-9688806-2-3
**************
"William Coaker shaped Newfoundland's history. He was the man who showed Newfoundlanders that organizing themselves gave them the power to try to make their lives better.
To Be My Father's Daughter is a fascinating memoir by his daughter Camilla, his only child. Although it is in part a work of imagination, it is based upon the unique and hitherto largely-unused papers and photographs which she kept - remembrances of her father, always a distant and remote figure in her life. Sharon Halfyard and Carmelita McGrath have given us an interesting and important book. Fascinating in its own right, the book offers new and challenging insights into one of the most imporant Newfoundlanders of all time."
Honourable Edward Roberts
Former Lieutenant Governor Newfoundland and Labrador
(review quote featured on the book jacket)
************************
Recent fiction by Carmelita McGrath can be heard in the EarLit Shorts audio short fiction series from Rattling Books.
Written by Carmelita McGrath
with research/writing by Sharon Halfyard
and edited by Marion Cheeks
Educational Resrouce Development Co-operative (ERDC)
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
2008
ISBN 978-0-9688806-2-3
**************
"William Coaker shaped Newfoundland's history. He was the man who showed Newfoundlanders that organizing themselves gave them the power to try to make their lives better.
To Be My Father's Daughter is a fascinating memoir by his daughter Camilla, his only child. Although it is in part a work of imagination, it is based upon the unique and hitherto largely-unused papers and photographs which she kept - remembrances of her father, always a distant and remote figure in her life. Sharon Halfyard and Carmelita McGrath have given us an interesting and important book. Fascinating in its own right, the book offers new and challenging insights into one of the most imporant Newfoundlanders of all time."
Honourable Edward Roberts
Former Lieutenant Governor Newfoundland and Labrador
(review quote featured on the book jacket)
************************
Recent fiction by Carmelita McGrath can be heard in the EarLit Shorts audio short fiction series from Rattling Books.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Princification Process by Jessica Grant, narrated by the author is now available as a downloadable short fiction single from Rattling Books
The Princification Process by Jessica Grant
narrated by the author
from the short fiction audiobook EarLit Shorts 3
is also available as a downloadable short fiction single from Rattling Books.
Monday, December 08, 2008
McNally's Fair by Russell Wangersky, narrated by the author is now available as a downloadable short fiction single from Rattling Books
McNally's Fair
by Russell Wangersky
narrated by the author
from the short fiction audiobook EarLit Shorts 2
is also available as a downloadable short fiction single from Rattling Books.
by Russell Wangersky
narrated by the author
from the short fiction audiobook EarLit Shorts 2
is also available as a downloadable short fiction single from Rattling Books.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Word of the Week (Dec 7 - 13): larrigan
Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English
Each week Rattling Books brings you a word of the week from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Doubleness, the Disease of Life by Patrick Warner, from EarLit Shorts 3 also available as a short fiction single from RattlingBooks.com
Doubleness, the Disease of Life
narrated by the author
from the short fiction audiobook EarLit Shorts 3
is also available as a downloadable short fiction single from Rattling Books.
Friday, December 05, 2008
EarLit Shorts readings at Chapters and the Ship Inn Sunday, December 7
This Sunday, December 7, there will be two events to launch Rattling Books' new EarLit Shorts series of audio short fiction anthologies:
Chapters Bookstore, Kenmount Rd., St. John's
2 - 5 pm
The publisher will be in the store to answer any questions and the following authors will read from their work at 3 pm. There will be copies of all three of the EarLit Shorts series of audiobooks for sale.
Joel Thomas Hynes
Catherine Hogan Safer
Russell Wangersky
Claire Wilkshire
Ship Inn, Duckworth St. , St. John's
8 - 10:30 pm
Join us for a celebration of the EarLit Shorts series. There will be food and readings.
Eat, drink and be merry.
There will be copies of all three of the EarLit Shorts series of audiobooks for sale.
The following authors will read from their work at around 8:30 pm:
Jessica Grant
Carmelita McGrath
Patrick Warner
Hope you can join us for one or the other or both.
If not, EarLit Shorts, volumes 1, 2 and 3 are all available from our website at rattlingbooks.com.
Chapters Bookstore, Kenmount Rd., St. John's
2 - 5 pm
The publisher will be in the store to answer any questions and the following authors will read from their work at 3 pm. There will be copies of all three of the EarLit Shorts series of audiobooks for sale.
Joel Thomas Hynes
Catherine Hogan Safer
Russell Wangersky
Claire Wilkshire
Ship Inn, Duckworth St. , St. John's
8 - 10:30 pm
Join us for a celebration of the EarLit Shorts series. There will be food and readings.
Eat, drink and be merry.
There will be copies of all three of the EarLit Shorts series of audiobooks for sale.
The following authors will read from their work at around 8:30 pm:
Jessica Grant
Carmelita McGrath
Patrick Warner
Hope you can join us for one or the other or both.
If not, EarLit Shorts, volumes 1, 2 and 3 are all available from our website at rattlingbooks.com.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Announcing EarLit Shorts: a new series of audio short fiction anthologies
Canadian fiction anthologies with a difference — you can read them while you drive a car, ride a bike, walk a dog, put your feet up, close your eyes.Tors Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador – December 2, 2008.
Rattling Books is proud to announce its new adventure in “literature to listen to” with the release of EarLit Shorts, a series of audio short fiction anthologies. The first three volumes are now available. Four more are planned for 2009.
Edited by Susan Rendell and Janet Russell, each EarLit Shorts anthology features a selection of previously unpublished works by Canadian authors. Stories are narrated by a variety of voices, including the authors’. EarLit Shorts are available as MP3 CDs or as iPod friendly digital downloads.
EarLit Shorts 1
Stories by Joel Thomas Hynes, Carmelita McGrath and Kathleen Winter.
EarLit Shorts 2
Stories by Prudence Grieve, Catherine Hogan Safer, Russell Wangersky and Claire Wilkshire.
EarLit Shorts 3
Stories by Richard Cumyn, Jessica Grant, Steven Heighton, Susan Rendell, Patrick Warner and Emily White.
Launch
Edited by Susan Rendell and Janet Russell, each EarLit Shorts anthology features a selection of previously unpublished works by Canadian authors. Stories are narrated by a variety of voices, including the authors’. EarLit Shorts are available as MP3 CDs or as iPod friendly digital downloads.
EarLit Shorts 1
Stories by Joel Thomas Hynes, Carmelita McGrath and Kathleen Winter.
EarLit Shorts 2
Stories by Prudence Grieve, Catherine Hogan Safer, Russell Wangersky and Claire Wilkshire.
EarLit Shorts 3
Stories by Richard Cumyn, Jessica Grant, Steven Heighton, Susan Rendell, Patrick Warner and Emily White.
Launch
On Sunday December 7 from 2 – 5 pm books and a selection of authors will be at Chapters in St. John’s, NL. Join us later at the Ship Inn, St. John’s, NL 8 – 10:30 pm to celebrate the launch of EarLit Shorts with readings and nibbles.
The Authors
Joel Thomas Hynes's Down to the Dirt won the Percy Janes First Novel Award and is now a feature film. His second novel, Right Away Monday, was published by HarperCollins in 2007.
Carmelita McGrath's story collection Stranger Things Have Happened (Killick Press, 1999) won the Writers' Alliance/Bennington Gate Newfoundland Book Award and was short-listed for the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award.
The Authors
Joel Thomas Hynes's Down to the Dirt won the Percy Janes First Novel Award and is now a feature film. His second novel, Right Away Monday, was published by HarperCollins in 2007.
Carmelita McGrath's story collection Stranger Things Have Happened (Killick Press, 1999) won the Writers' Alliance/Bennington Gate Newfoundland Book Award and was short-listed for the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award.
Kathleen Winter’s story collection, boYs (Biblioasis 2007), won the Metcalf Rooke Award and the Winterset Award. Her fiction has appeared in leading Canadian and UK literary journals, and has appeared in Best Canadian Stories (Oberon, 2008).
Prudence Grieve’s work can be found in The Eye in the Thicket: Essays at a Natural History (Thistledown Press, 2002).
Prudence Grieve’s work can be found in The Eye in the Thicket: Essays at a Natural History (Thistledown Press, 2002).
Catherine Hogan Safer’s first novel Bishop's Road (Killick Press, 2004) was nominated for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award.
Russell Wangersky’s short story collection, The Hour of Bad Decisions (Coteau Books, 2006)) was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Best First Book (Canada and the Caribbean).
Claire Wilkshire’s short fiction can be found in the Burning Rock anthologies Hearts Larry Broke and Extremities. She and John Metcalf are the co-editors of Writers Talking.
Richard Cumyn is the author of four collections of short fiction and a novella. His work has appeared in The Journey Prize Anthology.
Richard Cumyn is the author of four collections of short fiction and a novella. His work has appeared in The Journey Prize Anthology.
Jessica Grant was the 2003 recipient of the McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. Her first novel will be published by Knopf Canada in 2009.
Steven Heighton has received numerous awards for his poetry and short fiction, including the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the Petra Kenney Prize.
Susan Rendell’s fiction has appeared in The Journey Prize Anthology; her short story collection was a runner-up for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and won a Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award.
Patrick Warner's book of poetry, There, there (Véhicule Press, 2005) won the E.J. Pratt Poetry Award. Mole will be published by House of Anansi Press in 2009.
Emily White’s work has appeared in Adbusters, The Ecologist and The Journey Prize Anthology. McClelland & Stewart will publish her non-fiction work, The Empty Room, in 2009.
Rattling Books
Rattling Books is a “so small, we’re fine” Canadian audio press, publishing poetry, fiction, and historical outdoor adventure non-fiction audiobooks from a perch overlooking the Northwest Atlantic.
Rattling Books has won three Earphones awards from the U.S. magazine AudioFile. AudioFile selected our edition of Montreal Stories by Mavis Gallant as one of the twelve best audio fiction books for 2007, placing us in the company of Penguin Audio, Random House Audio, Harper Audio and BBC Audiobooks America.
Consumers can obtain Rattling Books audio book CDs or downloads directly from rattlingbooks.com.
Rattling Books are distributed in Canada through House of Anansi Press by HarperCollins. U.S. orders are handled directly by Rattling Books. Digital distribution for libraries is through Overdrive.com. Additional information is available on our website.
Contact
If you are interested in reviewing EarLit Shorts titles or radio play, please contact the publisher:
Janet Russell Email: info@rattlingbooks.com
Phone: (709) 334-3911
Janet Russell Email: info@rattlingbooks.com
Phone: (709) 334-3911
Monday, December 01, 2008
New Single available from the audiobook edition of Open by Lisa Moore
One by one Rattling Books is making the short stories in various short fiction audiobooks available individually as singles. Here's the latest.The Stylist by Lisa Moore (Short Fiction Single) narrated by Holly Hogan is now available as a digital download short fiction single from Rattling Books.
Listening Time: 27 minutes
The Stylist is drawn from the unabridged audiobook collection of short fiction entitled Open. The unabridged audio book edition of Open is also available from Rattling Books as both an MP3-CD and as a Digital Download.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Say Nothing Saw Wood by Joel Thomas Hynes is now available as a Short Fiction Digital Download Single from Rattling Books
Say Nothing Saw Wood by Joel Thomas Hynes, narrated by the author is now available as a digital download short fiction single from Rattling Books.
Say Nothing Saw Wood is one of several pieces of short fiction in EarLit Shorts 1, the first in a new series of audio short fiction anthologies produced by Rattling Books.
It is not available either as a Short Fiction Single (digital download only) or as part of the EarLit Shorts 1 anthology which is available either as an MP3 CD or Digital Download.
**********
Rattling Books is a Canadian audiobook publisher producing unabridged award winning audiobooks and new audio literature from a perch on the island of Newfoundland overlooking the Northwest Atlantic.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT (November 23-28): hag
Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English
Each week Rattling Books brings you a word of the week from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Rattling Books has a booth at the Annual St. John's Fine Craft and Design Fair
Come visit us at our Booth at the St. John's Fine Craft and Design Fair
Booth 406
November 20th - 23rd, 2008, at the St. John's Convention Centre
Rattling Books has an audiobook title for just about anyone on your Christmas gift list!
For the young or young at heart
The True Meaning of Crumbfest by David Weale, narrated by five year old Antonia Francis (Audiofile magazine Earphones Award winner)
For the lawyer in your family
Judge Prowse Presiding written and performed by Frank Holden
For the navigator among your loved ones
Coasting Trade by Robin McGrath, performed by Robert Joy, Anita Best and Rick Boland and produced by Chris Brookes
For the outdoor adventurer
Adrift on an Ice Pan by Wilfred Grenfell, produced and narrated by Chris Brookes with Jay Roberts and Janis Spence
For the bird lover
Songs for the Songs of Birds poems written and read by Don McKay with field recordings from Dave Fifield
For the Dictionary of Newfoundland English lover
Merrybegot by Mary Dalton, narrated by Anita Best with horn music by Patrick Boyle
We could go on and on but why not just come visit our Booth for a browse and chat.
If you're not able to do that we always welcome you on rattlingbooks.com where you'll find Canadian and Newfoundland audiobooks selected and made with love by Rattling Books.
***************
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Michael Winter wins Writers' Trust Notable Author Award
THE WRITERS' TRUST NOTABLE AUTHOR AWARD ($25,000)
Awarded to a writer in mid-career for a body of work.
- Winner: Michael Winter (Toronto)
"Compulsively readable, crammed with uncommon wit and insight, Michael Winter's fiction is among the best this country has to offer."
Jury: Caroline Adderson (Vancouver), Michael Crummey (St. John's), and Diane Schoemperlen (Kingston, Ontario)
****************
To put Michael Winter's The Big Why narrated by Robert Joy on your iPod visit rattlingbooks.com.
Monday, November 17, 2008
New short fiction by Kathleen Winter available as a digital download from Rattling Books
His Brown Face Through the Flowers by Kathleen Winter, narrated by Nicola Hawkins is now available as a digital download short fiction single from Rattling Books.
His Brown Face Through the Flowers is one of several short stories in EarLit Shorts 1, the first in a new series of audio short fiction anthologies produced by Rattling Books.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Don McKay reading in St. John's, Newfoundland November 19
Newfoundland Author Reading Series
presents author Don McKay, author of Camber: selected poems, 1983-2000 and Songs for the Songs of Birds
Wednesday, Nov. 19
7 p.m. at the A.C. Hunter Adult Library
The reading is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
presents author Don McKay, author of Camber: selected poems, 1983-2000 and Songs for the Songs of Birds
Wednesday, Nov. 19
7 p.m. at the A.C. Hunter Adult Library
The reading is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Hard Light: 32 Little Stories by Michael Crummey, read by Ron Hynes, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and the author is now available on iTunes.
Hard Light: 32 Little Stories by Michael Crummey, read by Ron Hynes, Deidre Gillard-Rowlings and the author, is now available on iTunes.
Of course it's still available from rattlingbooks.com but if you prefer to shop at iTunes - you can now get it there as well.
Hard Light: 32 Little Stories is also available from CD Baby and for Libraries through Overdrive.com.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Word of the Week (November 9 - 15)) calavance
Word of the Week over at our REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English Blog (Nov 9 - 15):
calavance n also callivance, cavalance
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Upcoming reading in St. John, New Brunswick by poet Don McKay
Don McKay will be reading with Anne Simpson in St. John, New Brunswick at 7 p.m on Monday, Nov. 17, in the Ganong Hall Lecture Theatre at UNB Saint John as part of the 2008-09 Lorenzo Reading Series.
Anne Simpson will read from her new novel Falling and Don McKay from his book of poetry, Strike/Slip
Anne Simpson is the author of three collections of poetry, two novels and short stories.
Don McKay has won the Governor General's Award for Poetry twice. Admission is free and all are welcome.
******************
Don McKay's latest release is Songs for the Songs of Birds, poems on the themes of birds, birding and flight, selected and read by the author. Published by Rattling Books it is available from rattlingbooks.com, iTunes, CD Baby, Overdrive or House of Anansi Press.
Friday, November 07, 2008
Coasting Trade: a performance for three voices by Robin McGrath, with soundscape recordings by Chris Brookes, is now available on iTunes
Coasting Trade: a performance for three voices by Robin McGrath, with soundscape recordings by Chris Brookes, is now available on iTunes. Of course it's still available from rattlingbooks.com but if you prefer to shop at iTunes - you can now get it there as well.
"Coasting Trade" follows the voyage of a Yankee trading schooner, circumnavigating the island of Newfoundland sometime after 1865. As the vessel puts in at various ports, the lyrical narratives weave back and forth through a century of change while the 19th century sailing directions remain timeless.
A smuggler who studies angels, a woman who knits a stove, green martyrs, a homesick immigrant, and a biologist studying the sexual characeristics of caplin all come to the attention of the navigator before he turns southward, to the joy of glad returning.
"Coasting Trade", a performance for three voices by Robin McGrath with navigation notes adapted from "Sailing Directions for the Island of Newfoundland" by J.S. Hobbes (1865) was produced for Rattling Books by Chris Brookes and performed (in order of appearance) by Robert Joy, Rick Boland and Anita Best.
Coasting Trade is also available from CD Baby and for Libraries through Overdrive.com.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Letters from Uncle Val by Andy Jones now available on iTunes
Letters from Uncle Val by Andy Jones is now available on iTunes.
Of course it's still available from rattlingbooks.com but if you prefer to shop at iTunes - you can now get it there as well.
Between 1986 and 1989 Uncle Val, an elderly outharbour gentleman, wrote nineteen letters from his new home in the suburbs of St. John’s to his old friend Jack back home. Val’s move from the Bay to the ‘burbs' to live with his daughter, her obnoxious husband, their youngsters and two useless poodles, is an uneasy one. His slow adjustment and eventual appreciation for life in town is endearingly revealed through his letters to Jack.
Letters from Uncle Val is also available from CD Baby and for Libraries through Overdrive.com.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Word of the Week (Nov 2 - 9): scurrifunge
Word of the Week over at our REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English Blog (Nov 2 - 9):
Friday, October 31, 2008
Songs for the Songs of Birds by Don McKay now available on iTunes
Songs for the Songs of Birds by award winning Canadian poet Don McKay is now available on iTunes.
Of course it's still available from rattlingbooks.com but if you prefer to shop at iTunes - you can now get it there as well.
The work of a much loved Canadian birding poet Songs for the Songs of Birds celebrates the way birds "articulate the air" and considers what the world would be without them. Narrated by the Author, the soundtrack features bird song recordings identified to species.
Don McKay
Two time winner of the Governor General's Award for Poetry (1991, 2000), Don McKay is also fondly known as an avid birder. For Songs of the Songs of Birds, his Rattling Books project, Don selected poems relating to birds, birding and flight. In 2007 Don McKay was awarded the Griffin Prize for Poetry for his book of poems Strike / Slip (McClelland & Stewart, 2006).
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Dead Author Digital Download Sale: Half Rotten Half Price!
Dead Author Digital Download Special!
Half Rotten Half Price
Half Rotten Half Price
October 27 - 31
Captain Bob Bartlett
The Last Voyage of the Karluk
Regular Download Price: $19.95
Hallowe'en Price: $9.95
Wilfred Grenfell
Adrift on an Ice Pan
Regular Download Price: $9.95
Hallowe'en Price: $4.95
Dillon Wallace
The Lure of the Labrador Wild
Regular Download Price: $19.95
Hallowe'en Price: $9.95
The Last Voyage of the Karluk
Regular Download Price: $19.95
Hallowe'en Price: $9.95
Wilfred Grenfell
Adrift on an Ice Pan
Regular Download Price: $9.95
Hallowe'en Price: $4.95
Dillon Wallace
The Lure of the Labrador Wild
Regular Download Price: $19.95
Hallowe'en Price: $9.95
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Burning issue: N.L. struggles to close ancient garbage incinerators like the one that author Michael Winter fell in
Burning issue: N.L. struggles to close ancient garbage incinerators
Oct 26, 2008
The Canadian Press
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/10/26/nfld-incinerators.html
The teepee incinerator in the eastern Newfoundland town of Old Perlican exhales a potentially toxic mix into the air, one of more than 20 that will continue to do so next year despite a government promise to close them before Dec. 31.For years, the conical steel structures have been the only means of waste disposal for thousands of residents in the province's rural communities. In that time they've burned all manner of garbage and emit potentially hazardous dioxins and furans.
Author Michael Winter, who accidentally fell into the Old Perlican incinerator and survived, says he's surprised the province continues to use them."It sort of feels like the Industrial Age," Winter said."I really hope something gets done. Pretty much nothing has changed since I fell in."
Winter slid down the gaping maw of the incinerator two years ago after he lost his footing while dumping roofing shingles off the back of a pickup truck.He landed on a "burning pyre of everything" before leaping away from the fire and grabbing a plastic tub that hadn't melted yet to shield himself from the heat.He crawled to nearby ventilation slits to breathe before men at the site broke open the cast-iron back door using a boulder. He estimates he was inside the oven for about five minutes."I wasn't going to burn to death. I was going to cook," he said.
*************
Michael Winter's novel The Big Why is available as an unabridged audio book from Rattling Books.
Oct 26, 2008
The Canadian Press
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/10/26/nfld-incinerators.html
The teepee incinerator in the eastern Newfoundland town of Old Perlican exhales a potentially toxic mix into the air, one of more than 20 that will continue to do so next year despite a government promise to close them before Dec. 31.For years, the conical steel structures have been the only means of waste disposal for thousands of residents in the province's rural communities. In that time they've burned all manner of garbage and emit potentially hazardous dioxins and furans.
Author Michael Winter, who accidentally fell into the Old Perlican incinerator and survived, says he's surprised the province continues to use them."It sort of feels like the Industrial Age," Winter said."I really hope something gets done. Pretty much nothing has changed since I fell in."
Winter slid down the gaping maw of the incinerator two years ago after he lost his footing while dumping roofing shingles off the back of a pickup truck.He landed on a "burning pyre of everything" before leaping away from the fire and grabbing a plastic tub that hadn't melted yet to shield himself from the heat.He crawled to nearby ventilation slits to breathe before men at the site broke open the cast-iron back door using a boulder. He estimates he was inside the oven for about five minutes."I wasn't going to burn to death. I was going to cook," he said.
*************
Michael Winter's novel The Big Why is available as an unabridged audio book from Rattling Books.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Globe and Mail review of new collection of Birth stories edited by Dede Crane and Lisa Moore
Birth writes
ZSUZSI GARTNER
October 25, 2008
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Twenty-Four True Stories About Childbirth
Edited by Dede Crane
and Lisa Moore
ZSUZSI GARTNER
October 25, 2008
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Twenty-Four True Stories About Childbirth
Edited by Dede Crane
and Lisa Moore
The cover belies the bloody, Gothic comedy of childbirth. An infant sleeps serenely, small spidery fingers curved to cheeks, efficiently wrapped in a cone of white blanket like a little amuse gueule - or a Communion wafer - ready to be plucked up and savoured. But inside Great Expectations there is blood aplenty (and copious other fluids, including tears), thundering pain, death and near-death experiences. The final month of pregnancy is Waiting for Godot, then suddenly the curtain rises on Act IV, Scene III of Macbeth.
Editors Dede Crane and Lisa Moore have assembled a hot pot of two dozen Canadian fiction writers and journalists, women and men, to reflect on the childbirth experience from the trenches. (Two of the contributors are close friends and another half a dozen I'm friendly with to various degrees, including the editor of this book section. It's from this outwardly compromised position that I'm writing.)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Final Excerpt (#24 of 24) from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Sir Wilfred Grenfell
Excerpt #24 from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Wilfred Thomasen Grenfell
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
THE RESCUERS' STORY CONTINUED
"As soon as 'twas light us went to th' cliff wi' th' spy-glass to see
if us could see un, but thar warn't nothin' in sight. Us know by the
wind whar t' look fur un, an' us launched th' boat. George Read an'
'is two sons, an' George Davis, what seen un first, an' me, was th'
crew. George Read was skipper-man an' th' rest was just youngsters.
The sun was warm,--you mind 'twas a fine mornin',--an' us started in
our shirt an' braces fur us knowed thar'd be hard work to do. I knowed
thar was a chance o' not comin' back at all, but it didn' make no
difference. I knowed I'd as good a chance as any, _an' 'twa' for th'
doctor, an' 'is life's worth many_, an' somehow I couldn' let a man go
out like dat wi'out tryin' fur un, an' I think us all felt th' same.
"Us 'ad a good strong boat an' four oars, an' took a hot kettle o' tea
an' food for a week, for us thought u'd 'ave t' go far an' p'rhaps
lose th' boat an' 'ave t' walk ashore un th' ice. I din' 'ope to find
the doctor alive an' kept lookin' for a sign of un on th' pans. 'Twa'
no' easy gettin' to th' pans wi' a big sea runnin'! Th' big pans 'ud
sometimes heave together an' near crush th' boat, an' sometimes us 'ad
t' git out an' haul her over th' ice t' th' water again. Then us come
t' th' slob ice where th' pan 'ad ground together, an' 'twas all
thick, an' that was worse'n any. Us saw th' doctor about twenty
minutes afore us got t' un. 'E was wavin' 'is flag an' I seen 'im. 'E
was on a pan no bigger'n this flor, an' I dunno what ever kep' un fro'
goin' abroad, for 'twasn't ice, 'twas packed snow. Th' pan was away
from even th' slob, floatin' by hisself, an' th' open water all roun',
an' 'twas just across fro' Goose Cove, an' outside o' that there'd
been no hope. I think th' way th' pan held together was on account o'
th' dogs' bodies meltin' it an' 't froze hard durin' th' night. 'E
was level with th' water an' th' sea washin' over us all th' time.
"When us got near un, it didn' seem like 'twas th' doctor. 'E looked
so old an' 'is face such a queer color. 'E was very solemn-like when
us took un an' th' dogs on th' boat. No un felt like sayin' much, an'
'e 'ardly said nothin' till us gave un some tea an' loaf an' then 'e
talked. I s'pose e was sort o' faint-like. Th' first thing 'e said
was, how wonderfu' sorry 'e was o' gettin' into such a mess an' givin'
we th' trouble o' comin' out for un. Us tol' un not to think o' that;
us was glad to do it for un, an' 'e'd done it for any one o' we, many
times over if 'e 'ad th' chance;--an' so 'e would. An' then 'e
fretted about th' b'y 'e was goin' to see, it bein' too late to reach
un, an' us tol' un 'is life was worth so much more 'n th' b'y, fur 'e
could save others an' th' b'y couldn'. But 'e still fretted.
"'E 'ad ripped th' dog-harnesses an' stuffed th' oakum in th' legs o'
'is pants to keep un warm. 'E showed it to we. An' 'e cut off th' tops
o' 'is boots to keep th' draught from 'is back. 'E must 'a' worked
'ard all night. 'E said 'e droled off once or twice, but th' night
seemed wonderfu' long.
"Us took un off th' pan at about half-past seven, an' 'ad a 'ard fight
gettin' in, th' sea still runnin' 'igh. 'E said 'e was proud to see us
comin' for un, and so 'e might, for it grew wonderfu' cold in th' day
and th' sea so 'igh the pan couldn' 'a' lived outside. 'E wouldn'
stop when us got ashore, but must go right on, an' when 'e 'ad dry
clothes an' was a bit warm, us sent un to St. Anthony with a team.
"Th' next night, an' for nights after, I couldn' sleep. I'd keep
seein' that man standin' on th' ice, an' I'd be sorter half-awake
like, sayin', 'But not th' doctor. Sure _not_ th' _doctor_.'"
There was silence for a few moments, and George Andrews looked out
across the blue harbor to the sea.
"'E sent us watches an' spy-glasses," said he, "an' pictures o'
hisself that one o' you took o' un, made large an' in a frame. George
Read an' me 'ad th' watches an' th' others 'ad th' spy-glasses. 'Ere's
th' watch. It 'as 'In memory o' April 21st' on it, but us don't need
th' things to make we remember it, tho' we 're wonderful glad t' 'ave
'em from th' doctor."
THE END.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
THE RESCUERS' STORY CONTINUED
"As soon as 'twas light us went to th' cliff wi' th' spy-glass to see
if us could see un, but thar warn't nothin' in sight. Us know by the
wind whar t' look fur un, an' us launched th' boat. George Read an'
'is two sons, an' George Davis, what seen un first, an' me, was th'
crew. George Read was skipper-man an' th' rest was just youngsters.
The sun was warm,--you mind 'twas a fine mornin',--an' us started in
our shirt an' braces fur us knowed thar'd be hard work to do. I knowed
thar was a chance o' not comin' back at all, but it didn' make no
difference. I knowed I'd as good a chance as any, _an' 'twa' for th'
doctor, an' 'is life's worth many_, an' somehow I couldn' let a man go
out like dat wi'out tryin' fur un, an' I think us all felt th' same.
"Us 'ad a good strong boat an' four oars, an' took a hot kettle o' tea
an' food for a week, for us thought u'd 'ave t' go far an' p'rhaps
lose th' boat an' 'ave t' walk ashore un th' ice. I din' 'ope to find
the doctor alive an' kept lookin' for a sign of un on th' pans. 'Twa'
no' easy gettin' to th' pans wi' a big sea runnin'! Th' big pans 'ud
sometimes heave together an' near crush th' boat, an' sometimes us 'ad
t' git out an' haul her over th' ice t' th' water again. Then us come
t' th' slob ice where th' pan 'ad ground together, an' 'twas all
thick, an' that was worse'n any. Us saw th' doctor about twenty
minutes afore us got t' un. 'E was wavin' 'is flag an' I seen 'im. 'E
was on a pan no bigger'n this flor, an' I dunno what ever kep' un fro'
goin' abroad, for 'twasn't ice, 'twas packed snow. Th' pan was away
from even th' slob, floatin' by hisself, an' th' open water all roun',
an' 'twas just across fro' Goose Cove, an' outside o' that there'd
been no hope. I think th' way th' pan held together was on account o'
th' dogs' bodies meltin' it an' 't froze hard durin' th' night. 'E
was level with th' water an' th' sea washin' over us all th' time.
"When us got near un, it didn' seem like 'twas th' doctor. 'E looked
so old an' 'is face such a queer color. 'E was very solemn-like when
us took un an' th' dogs on th' boat. No un felt like sayin' much, an'
'e 'ardly said nothin' till us gave un some tea an' loaf an' then 'e
talked. I s'pose e was sort o' faint-like. Th' first thing 'e said
was, how wonderfu' sorry 'e was o' gettin' into such a mess an' givin'
we th' trouble o' comin' out for un. Us tol' un not to think o' that;
us was glad to do it for un, an' 'e'd done it for any one o' we, many
times over if 'e 'ad th' chance;--an' so 'e would. An' then 'e
fretted about th' b'y 'e was goin' to see, it bein' too late to reach
un, an' us tol' un 'is life was worth so much more 'n th' b'y, fur 'e
could save others an' th' b'y couldn'. But 'e still fretted.
"'E 'ad ripped th' dog-harnesses an' stuffed th' oakum in th' legs o'
'is pants to keep un warm. 'E showed it to we. An' 'e cut off th' tops
o' 'is boots to keep th' draught from 'is back. 'E must 'a' worked
'ard all night. 'E said 'e droled off once or twice, but th' night
seemed wonderfu' long.
"Us took un off th' pan at about half-past seven, an' 'ad a 'ard fight
gettin' in, th' sea still runnin' 'igh. 'E said 'e was proud to see us
comin' for un, and so 'e might, for it grew wonderfu' cold in th' day
and th' sea so 'igh the pan couldn' 'a' lived outside. 'E wouldn'
stop when us got ashore, but must go right on, an' when 'e 'ad dry
clothes an' was a bit warm, us sent un to St. Anthony with a team.
"Th' next night, an' for nights after, I couldn' sleep. I'd keep
seein' that man standin' on th' ice, an' I'd be sorter half-awake
like, sayin', 'But not th' doctor. Sure _not_ th' _doctor_.'"
There was silence for a few moments, and George Andrews looked out
across the blue harbor to the sea.
"'E sent us watches an' spy-glasses," said he, "an' pictures o'
hisself that one o' you took o' un, made large an' in a frame. George
Read an' me 'ad th' watches an' th' others 'ad th' spy-glasses. 'Ere's
th' watch. It 'as 'In memory o' April 21st' on it, but us don't need
th' things to make we remember it, tho' we 're wonderful glad t' 'ave
'em from th' doctor."
THE END.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
Monday, October 20, 2008
New short fiction by Carmelita McGrath available as a digital download from Rattling Books
The Fat Years by Carmelita McGrath, narrated by the author is now available as a digital download short fiction single from Rattling Books.
The Fat Years is one of several short stories forthcoming in EarLit Shorts 1, the first in a new series of audio short fiction anthologies produced by Rattling Books.
Digital Dilemmas of Publishers discussed at Frankfurt Book Fair
Digital dilemmas at the Frankfurt Book Fair
Is Paulo Coelho right when he says publishers don't understand the web?
Some 30% of the exhibited products at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year are digital, but that didn't stop Paulo Coelho from castigating the world's publishers for their attitude to the net. In a forthright speech at the opening conference, Coelho told publishers that they were as bad as copyist monks bewailing the arrival of printed books back in the 16th century. According to Coelho there is "a lack of understanding of the web on the part of the industry", which could mean they end up travelling the same path as the film and music industries.
Read the article on the Gaurdian Books Blog
*********
Rattling Books may not have been at the Frankfurt Book Fair but we are here on the internet and we are one Canadian publisher that gets the digital thing.
Unabridged downloadable audio books for your ipod or mp3 player.
Is Paulo Coelho right when he says publishers don't understand the web?
Some 30% of the exhibited products at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year are digital, but that didn't stop Paulo Coelho from castigating the world's publishers for their attitude to the net. In a forthright speech at the opening conference, Coelho told publishers that they were as bad as copyist monks bewailing the arrival of printed books back in the 16th century. According to Coelho there is "a lack of understanding of the web on the part of the industry", which could mean they end up travelling the same path as the film and music industries.
Read the article on the Gaurdian Books Blog
*********
Rattling Books may not have been at the Frankfurt Book Fair but we are here on the internet and we are one Canadian publisher that gets the digital thing.
Unabridged downloadable audio books for your ipod or mp3 player.
Support the CAPE Artists Fund by buying a download of Joel Thomas Hynes' "God Help Thee: A Manifesto"
The text of God Help Thee: A Manifesto , a performance by Joel Thomas Hynes appears in the current edition of Riddle Fence: a Journal of Arts & Culture.
The audio download is available online from Rattling Books as a fund raising effort for the Cultural Assistance Plan for Emergencies (CAPE) fund.
The CAPE fund is an emergency fund for Newfoundland and Labrador artists facing times of financial need due to severe illness or accident. For more information, please consult the website of the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council , which administers the fund.
To support the CAPE fund by purchasing a download of God Help Thee: A Manifesto by Joel Thomas Hynes visit rattlingbooks.com and put it in your shopping cart.
If you just want to hear it for free you can do that there as well but jeez, what's five bucks for a good cause. 100% of any revenue goes to the CAPE fund.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT (Oct 19-25)) laddie-sucker
Word of the Week over at our REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English Blog (Oct 19-25):
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Excerpt #23 from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Sir Wilfred Grenfell
Excerpt #23 from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Wilfred Thomasen Grenfell
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
APPENDIX
One of Dr. Grenfell's volunteer helpers, Miss Luther of Providence,
R.I., contributes the following account of the rescue as recited in
the Newfoundland vernacular by one of the rescuing party.
"One day, about a week after Dr. Grenfell's return," says Miss Luther,
"two men came in from Griquet, fifteen miles away. They had walked all
that distance, though the trail was heavy with soft snow and they
often sank to their waists and waded through brooks and ponds. 'We
just felt we must see the doctor and tell him what 't would 'a' meant
to us, if he'd been lost.' Perhaps nothing but the doctor's own tale
could be more graphic than what was told by George Andrews, one of the
crew who rescued him."
THE RESCUERS' STORY
"It was wonderfu' bad weather that Monday mornin'. Th' doctor was to
Lock's Cove. None o' we thought o' 'is startin' out. I don't think th'
doctor hisself thought o' goin' at first an' then 'e sent th' two men
on ahead for to meet us at th' tilt an' said like 's 'e was goin'
after all.
"'Twas even' when us knew 'e was on th' ice. George Davis seen un
first. 'E went to th' cliff to look for seal. It was after sunset an'
half dark, but 'e thought 'e saw somethin' on th' ice an' 'e ran for
George Read an' 'e got 'is spy-glass an' made out a man an' dogs on a
pan an' knowed it war th' doctor.
"It was too dark fur we t' go t' un, but us never slept at all, all
night. I couldn' sleep. Us watched th' wind an' knew if it didn' blow
too hard us could get un,--though 'e was then three mile off a'ready.
So us waited for th' daylight. No one said who was goin' out in th'
boat. Un 'ud say, 'Is you goin'?' An' another, 'Is you?' I didn' say,
but I knowed what I'd do.
To be continued.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
APPENDIX
One of Dr. Grenfell's volunteer helpers, Miss Luther of Providence,
R.I., contributes the following account of the rescue as recited in
the Newfoundland vernacular by one of the rescuing party.
"One day, about a week after Dr. Grenfell's return," says Miss Luther,
"two men came in from Griquet, fifteen miles away. They had walked all
that distance, though the trail was heavy with soft snow and they
often sank to their waists and waded through brooks and ponds. 'We
just felt we must see the doctor and tell him what 't would 'a' meant
to us, if he'd been lost.' Perhaps nothing but the doctor's own tale
could be more graphic than what was told by George Andrews, one of the
crew who rescued him."
THE RESCUERS' STORY
"It was wonderfu' bad weather that Monday mornin'. Th' doctor was to
Lock's Cove. None o' we thought o' 'is startin' out. I don't think th'
doctor hisself thought o' goin' at first an' then 'e sent th' two men
on ahead for to meet us at th' tilt an' said like 's 'e was goin'
after all.
"'Twas even' when us knew 'e was on th' ice. George Davis seen un
first. 'E went to th' cliff to look for seal. It was after sunset an'
half dark, but 'e thought 'e saw somethin' on th' ice an' 'e ran for
George Read an' 'e got 'is spy-glass an' made out a man an' dogs on a
pan an' knowed it war th' doctor.
"It was too dark fur we t' go t' un, but us never slept at all, all
night. I couldn' sleep. Us watched th' wind an' knew if it didn' blow
too hard us could get un,--though 'e was then three mile off a'ready.
So us waited for th' daylight. No one said who was goin' out in th'
boat. Un 'ud say, 'Is you goin'?' An' another, 'Is you?' I didn' say,
but I knowed what I'd do.
To be continued.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Announcing our Alternative Thanksgiving Dinner menu & the winners of our Recipe Redux Contest
ANNOUNCING
The Winners
RECIPE REDUX
aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick Recipe Contest
AND
our selection for an alternative Thanksgiving Dinner
aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick Recipe Contest
AND
our selection for an alternative Thanksgiving Dinner
MENU
Thanksgiving Eve
Rabbit Dinner ala Nellie Strowbridge's Basket Soup Recipe
Thanksgiving Day Dinner
Hors d'œuvre
Nellie Strowbridge's Basket Soup
Entrée
Bonnie Morgan’s Stuffed Cod
with
Nicky Hawkins' Bottle Arse Squid On a Bed of Cavalance Pummy Garnished With Saddiesuckers
and Leslie Davis' sautéed horse farts
Dessert
Suzuki Talent Education Program's (STEP's) Galloped Gob of Golly
**********
The Winners
The Grand prize winner
of a Dictionary of Newfoundland English
is Leslie Davis.
Each of the contributors to our menu above win their choice
Each of the contributors to our menu above win their choice
of three Rattling Books each.
Thank-you to everyone who sent recipes in
Recipes will be posted on our
Bon Appétit
Give thanks for each glutch and guttle!
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Excerpt #22 from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Sir Wilfred Grenfell
Excerpt #22 from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Wilfred Thomasen Grenfell
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
It is time to bring this egotistic narrative to an end. "Jack" lies
curled up by my feet while I write this short account. "Brin" is once
again leading and lording it over his fellows. "Doc" and the other
survivors are not forgotten, now that we have again returned to the
less romantic episodes of a mission hospital life. There stands in our
hallway a bronze tablet to the memory of three noble dogs, Moody,
Watch, and Spy, whose lives were given for mine on the ice. In my
home in England my brother has placed a duplicate tablet, and has
added these words, "Not one of them is forgotten before your Father
which is in heaven." And this I most fully believe to be true. The boy
whose life I was intent on saving was brought to the hospital a day or
two later in a boat, the ice having cleared off the coast not to
return for that season. He was operated on successfully, and is even
now on the high road to recovery. We all love life. I was glad to be
back once more with possibly a new lease of it before me. I had
learned on the pan many things, but chiefly that the one cause for
regret, when we look back on a life which we think is closed forever,
will be the fact that we have wasted its opportunities. As I went to
sleep that first night there still rang in my ears the same verse of
the old hymn which had been my companion on the ice, "Thy will, not
mine, O Lord."
To be continued.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
It is time to bring this egotistic narrative to an end. "Jack" lies
curled up by my feet while I write this short account. "Brin" is once
again leading and lording it over his fellows. "Doc" and the other
survivors are not forgotten, now that we have again returned to the
less romantic episodes of a mission hospital life. There stands in our
hallway a bronze tablet to the memory of three noble dogs, Moody,
Watch, and Spy, whose lives were given for mine on the ice. In my
home in England my brother has placed a duplicate tablet, and has
added these words, "Not one of them is forgotten before your Father
which is in heaven." And this I most fully believe to be true. The boy
whose life I was intent on saving was brought to the hospital a day or
two later in a boat, the ice having cleared off the coast not to
return for that season. He was operated on successfully, and is even
now on the high road to recovery. We all love life. I was glad to be
back once more with possibly a new lease of it before me. I had
learned on the pan many things, but chiefly that the one cause for
regret, when we look back on a life which we think is closed forever,
will be the fact that we have wasted its opportunities. As I went to
sleep that first night there still rang in my ears the same verse of
the old hymn which had been my companion on the ice, "Thy will, not
mine, O Lord."
To be continued.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Friday, October 03, 2008
Uncle Val in Toronto, Theatre Passe Muraille
Eye Weekly - Toronto,ON,Canada
BY Gord McLaughlin October 02, 2008 14:10
Written and performed by Andy Jones. Directed by Lois Brown. Presented by Theatre Passe Muraille. To Oct 19.
Toronto Star - Ontario, CanadaWritten and performed by Andy Jones. Directed by Lois Brown. Until Oct. 19 at Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave. 416-504-7529.
Toronto Star - Ontario, CanadaRoyal Alexandra Theatre, 260 King St. W. mirvish.com An Evening with Uncle Val, written and performed by Andy Jones, features two characters who use their ...
***************************
Letters from Uncle Val, written and performed by Andy Jones is available as an Audio CD or Digital Download from rattlingbooks.com.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Russell Wangersky's Burning Down the House makes short list for The Writers' Trust Non-fiction Prize
Russell Wangersky's recent book, Burning Down the House: Fighting Fire and Losing Myself (Thomas Allen Publishers) is on the short list for the 2008 Writers' Trust Non-fiction Prize.
The Complete set of Short Lists:
The Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize ($25,000):
Rivka Galchen, Atmospheric Disturbances (HarperCollins Canada)
Rawi Hage, Cockroach (House of Anansi Press)
Lee Henderson, The Man Game (Viking Canada)
Patrick Lane, Red Dog, Red Dog (McClelland & Stewart)
Miriam Toews, The Flying Troutmans (Knopf Canada)
(Jurors: Lawrence Hill, Annabel Lyon, Heather O'Neill)
The Writers' Trust Non-fiction Prize ($25,000):
Taras Grescoe, Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood (HarperCollins Canada)
Carl Honoré, Under Pressure: Rescuing Childhood from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting (Knopf Canada)
Mark Kingwell, Concrete Reveries: Consciousness and the City (Viking Canada)
Margaret Visser, The Gift of Thanks: The Roots, Persistence and Paradoxical Meanings of a Social Ritual (HarperCollins Canada)
Russell Wangersky, Burning Down the House: Fighting Fire and Losing Myself (Thomas Allen Publishers)
(Jurors: Derek Lundy, Darren Wershler-Henry, Jan Wong)
The Writers' Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize ($10,000):
Dana Mills, “Steaming for Godthab,” published in Geist
Saleema Nawaz, “My Three Girls,” published in Prairie Review
Clea Young, “Chaperone,” published in Grain Magazine
(Jurors: Lynn Coady, Heather O'Neill, Neil Smith)
The Writers' Trust Awards take place on Nov. 17 at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto.
Rivka Galchen, Atmospheric Disturbances (HarperCollins Canada)
Rawi Hage, Cockroach (House of Anansi Press)
Lee Henderson, The Man Game (Viking Canada)
Patrick Lane, Red Dog, Red Dog (McClelland & Stewart)
Miriam Toews, The Flying Troutmans (Knopf Canada)
(Jurors: Lawrence Hill, Annabel Lyon, Heather O'Neill)
The Writers' Trust Non-fiction Prize ($25,000):
Taras Grescoe, Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood (HarperCollins Canada)
Carl Honoré, Under Pressure: Rescuing Childhood from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting (Knopf Canada)
Mark Kingwell, Concrete Reveries: Consciousness and the City (Viking Canada)
Margaret Visser, The Gift of Thanks: The Roots, Persistence and Paradoxical Meanings of a Social Ritual (HarperCollins Canada)
Russell Wangersky, Burning Down the House: Fighting Fire and Losing Myself (Thomas Allen Publishers)
(Jurors: Derek Lundy, Darren Wershler-Henry, Jan Wong)
The Writers' Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize ($10,000):
Dana Mills, “Steaming for Godthab,” published in Geist
Saleema Nawaz, “My Three Girls,” published in Prairie Review
Clea Young, “Chaperone,” published in Grain Magazine
(Jurors: Lynn Coady, Heather O'Neill, Neil Smith)
The Writers' Trust Awards take place on Nov. 17 at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto.
******************
Two short stories by Russell Wangersky are forthcoming with Rattling Books in a new series of audio short fiction anthologies entitled EarLit Shorts.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Excerpt #21 from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Sir Wilfred Grenfell
Excerpt #21 from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Wilfred Thomasen Grenfell
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
Every soul in the village was on the beach as we neared the shore.
Every soul was waiting to shake hands when I landed. Even with the
grip that one after another gave me, some no longer trying to keep
back the tears, I did not find out my hands were frost-burnt,--a fact
I have not been slow to appreciate since, however. I must have been a
weird sight as I stepped ashore, tied up in rags, stuffed out with
oakum, wrapped in the bloody skins of dogs, with no hat, coat, or
gloves besides, and only a pair of short knickers. It must have seemed
to some as if it were the old man of the sea coming ashore.
But no time was wasted before a pot of tea was exactly where I wanted
it to be, and some hot stew was locating itself where I had intended
an hour before the blood of one of my remaining dogs should have gone.
Rigged out in the warm garments that fishermen wear, I started with a
large team as hard as I could race for the hospital, for I had learnt
that the news had gone over that I was lost. It was soon painfully
impressed upon me that I could not much enjoy the ride, for I had to
be hauled like a log up the hills, my feet being frost-burnt so that I
could not walk. Had I guessed this before going into the house, I
might have avoided much trouble.
To be continued.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
Every soul in the village was on the beach as we neared the shore.
Every soul was waiting to shake hands when I landed. Even with the
grip that one after another gave me, some no longer trying to keep
back the tears, I did not find out my hands were frost-burnt,--a fact
I have not been slow to appreciate since, however. I must have been a
weird sight as I stepped ashore, tied up in rags, stuffed out with
oakum, wrapped in the bloody skins of dogs, with no hat, coat, or
gloves besides, and only a pair of short knickers. It must have seemed
to some as if it were the old man of the sea coming ashore.
But no time was wasted before a pot of tea was exactly where I wanted
it to be, and some hot stew was locating itself where I had intended
an hour before the blood of one of my remaining dogs should have gone.
Rigged out in the warm garments that fishermen wear, I started with a
large team as hard as I could race for the hospital, for I had learnt
that the news had gone over that I was lost. It was soon painfully
impressed upon me that I could not much enjoy the ride, for I had to
be hauled like a log up the hills, my feet being frost-burnt so that I
could not walk. Had I guessed this before going into the house, I
might have avoided much trouble.
To be continued.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Getting Uncle Val cranked up again
CODCO veteran revisits character born in 1970s
Sep 28, 2008 04:30 AM
Susan Walker ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER
An actor, comic, writer, but most of all a storyteller with a great gift for mimicry and an ability to draw an audience into his wacky concepts, Andy Jones returns to his old haunts at Theatre Passe Muraille Wednesday with his latest one-man show.
An Evening with Uncle Val stars a character that Jones invented in 1978, a retired and ailing fisherman in his late 70s forced to move from his rural life in an outport to live with his daughter's family in the suburbs of St. John's.
In the 1970s, when Newfoundland was experiencing a cultural revival, Jones was at a folk festival when he met Francis Colbert, "a monologist from Job's Cove in Conception Bay and I struck up a friendship with him. I started to say things as him." Colbert never recognized himself as Uncle Val – a crusty crank with a dim view of contemporary mores – when Jones performed with him on the same festival stage.
Uncle Val's circumstances came out of Jones's own family life. He and his three siblings – TV veteran Cathy, filmmaker Mike, and health agency worker Mary Winifred – grew up in the St. John's suburbs. Some of Uncle Val's turns of phrase and ailments were borrowed from Jones's father, whom Andy credits as a co-writer on the CD, Letters from Uncle Val, released in 2006. As he was working up material to do a launch of the CD, he was pushed by his publisher to make a full show. With Lois Brown as his director, Jones went back to his writing desk and Uncle Val soon had company.
"I found this other thread that was this whole look at the cultural revolution in Newfoundland in the `70s. That's where Andy Jones comes in: my hopes, dreams and aspirations." As the piece grew, other figures emerged: John F. Kennedy, Bob Marley, people that loomed large in the years of Jones's coming of age.
If it all sounds a little surreal, that's to be expected. From the first of his five one-man shows, Out of the Bin in 1984, Jones has produced side-splitting scenarios with a lunatic edge. In Still Alive in 1994 he created a royal commission on reality and offered the audience a money-back guarantee if the show didn't generate 200 laughs.
Read the rest of this article.
***************************
Letters from Uncle Val, written and performed by Andy Jones is available as an Audio CD or Digital Download from Rattling Books.
CODCO veteran revisits character born in 1970s
Sep 28, 2008 04:30 AM
Susan Walker ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER
An actor, comic, writer, but most of all a storyteller with a great gift for mimicry and an ability to draw an audience into his wacky concepts, Andy Jones returns to his old haunts at Theatre Passe Muraille Wednesday with his latest one-man show.
An Evening with Uncle Val stars a character that Jones invented in 1978, a retired and ailing fisherman in his late 70s forced to move from his rural life in an outport to live with his daughter's family in the suburbs of St. John's.
In the 1970s, when Newfoundland was experiencing a cultural revival, Jones was at a folk festival when he met Francis Colbert, "a monologist from Job's Cove in Conception Bay and I struck up a friendship with him. I started to say things as him." Colbert never recognized himself as Uncle Val – a crusty crank with a dim view of contemporary mores – when Jones performed with him on the same festival stage.
Uncle Val's circumstances came out of Jones's own family life. He and his three siblings – TV veteran Cathy, filmmaker Mike, and health agency worker Mary Winifred – grew up in the St. John's suburbs. Some of Uncle Val's turns of phrase and ailments were borrowed from Jones's father, whom Andy credits as a co-writer on the CD, Letters from Uncle Val, released in 2006. As he was working up material to do a launch of the CD, he was pushed by his publisher to make a full show. With Lois Brown as his director, Jones went back to his writing desk and Uncle Val soon had company.
"I found this other thread that was this whole look at the cultural revolution in Newfoundland in the `70s. That's where Andy Jones comes in: my hopes, dreams and aspirations." As the piece grew, other figures emerged: John F. Kennedy, Bob Marley, people that loomed large in the years of Jones's coming of age.
If it all sounds a little surreal, that's to be expected. From the first of his five one-man shows, Out of the Bin in 1984, Jones has produced side-splitting scenarios with a lunatic edge. In Still Alive in 1994 he created a royal commission on reality and offered the audience a money-back guarantee if the show didn't generate 200 laughs.
Read the rest of this article.
***************************
Letters from Uncle Val, written and performed by Andy Jones is available as an Audio CD or Digital Download from Rattling Books.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Ron and Joel Thomas Hynes to perform at Canadian Mental Health Fundraiser Oct 9
St. John's, Newfoundland Fundraising Gala (Canadian Mental Health Assoc) October 9
Three course meal & entertainment by Ron Hynes & Joel Thomas Hynes, $100, Delta Hotel 757-7218
Three course meal & entertainment by Ron Hynes & Joel Thomas Hynes, $100, Delta Hotel 757-7218
Friday, September 26, 2008
1965 Stamp commemorated Wilfred Grenfell and his hospital ship Strathcona II
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sir Wilfred Grenfell, British sailor, author and medical missionary who founded a series of hospitals, nursing stations and orphanages along the New¬foundland and Labrador coasts, the Canadian Post Office, on June 9th 1965, issued a 5 cents stamp depicting Sir Wilfred at the wheel of his hospital ship Strathcona II.
Read more and view the stamp here at shipstamps.co.uk.
****************
Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, became a household name in the early 1900's with the publication of Adrift on an Ice-Pan . A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Read more and view the stamp here at shipstamps.co.uk.
****************
Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, became a household name in the early 1900's with the publication of Adrift on an Ice-Pan . A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
bangbelly (Recipe References from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English)
Until we announce the winner of our Recipe Redux Contest we're posting some recipe references found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English to inspire you. Here's one reproduced as found in the online Dictionary of Newfoundland English.(cartoon by Jennifer Barrett)
bangbelly n
Cp N & Q ([1914] 1940) 22 June, p. 434 W. A pudding, cake or pancake, originally prepared by fishermen and men in the woods, made with flour, fat pork, etc, and boiled, baked or fried, now usu served as dessert; also attrib. 1896 J A Folklore ix, 35 ~ a low and coarse word denoting a boiled pudding consisting of flour, molasses, soda, etc, and not uncommonly seal-fat instead of suet. 1937 DEVINE 7 Bangbellies. Pancakes made of flour, fat and molasses, fried on a pan. 1939 DULEY 17 In the winter the stomach was frequently filled with the bulk of pea-soup floating with fat white bang-bellies. [1894-1929] [1960 BURKE] (ed White) 41 "McGinnis at the Rink": And his bullseyes were plastered all over his face / Like the whorts in a bang-belly pie. T 96-642 You can make up the bangbelly with bread soda and flour, mix it together and fat pork in it, cut it into squares; it's lovely. C 69-10 To make bangbelly you put blueberries, sugar and hot water in a pot and add a pinch of salt. When it begins to boil you drop in doughballs and let it continue boiling until the doughballs are cooked and the blueberries are thick. Serve it hot. 1973 BARBOUR 47 [Tea] consisted of a slice of molasses bread, raisin buns, pork toutons, or bang-belly.
************* Rattling Books is running a recipe contest inspired by the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. We call it Recipe Redux, aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick, Recipe Contest.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Interview with Andy Jones about Uncle Val on eyeweekly.com
A retired fisherman wrested from his outharbor home to live in “big city” St. John’s, Uncle Val is cranky, despondent, and utterly sidesplitting in this one-man, one-act play, written and performed by Gemini Award–winner Andy Jones (of CODCO fame). Trapped in suburban hell with his daughter, her nauseating husband and their spoiled-rotten children, Uncle Val struggles to find a purpose in his old age while coming to grips with a modernizing Newfoundland. Set in the late ’80s, Val’s fear of mortality is mirrored by his uncertainty about the changing province. “It’s ultimately a story of hope for Newfoundland and it’s sort of reflected in [Val’s] hope for himself,” explains Jones. “At first he thinks he’s finished, but suddenly he realizes he’s got a role to play in the family. So at the end, things are looking bad, but he’s full of hope that things will change.”
I understand Uncle Val is a character you’ve been refining for the past 30 years. How did he originate?
[Laughs] Refining is right. He’s a character that I started to write around 1978. He’s an outport Newfoundlander, a retired fisherman, who through a series of unfortunate events ends up living in St. John. So he moves from a very rural traditional Newfoundland lifestyle to the suburbs of St. John’s. He was really based on friend of mine who actually was retired fisherman and a storyteller, and his name was Francis Colbert. He was a very funny guy, a very witty, dry fellow. I often used to imitate him and then, after a while, a character started to form and I came up with Uncle Val. Because I grew up in the suburbs myself, I started incorporating some ideas of the suburbs into some little monologues I started to do for CBC and the radio, and then it grew.
You grew up in St. John’s suburbs, but Uncle Val is disdainful of them. Why is that?
Well, there is a kind of an arc to the story. He arrives in St. John’s and he hates it; he hates his grandchildren, he hates everything and he’s very unhappy. But then he comes to realize that the suburbs are kind of interesting. Eventually, his daughter has another child and he’s in good shape physically, so he starts helping around the house with babysitting and stuff. So, he becomes more useful and fits into the family. So that’s kind of the end of the story in a way, as things are going well for him.
**************
An Evening with Uncle Val previews Tue 8pm. Opens Oct 1. Runs to Oct 19. Wed 8pm. Preview $15. $30-$35. Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson. Toronto, Ontario
416-504-7529. http://www.passemuraille.on.ca/.
Letters from Uncle Val written and performed by Andy Jones is available as an Audio CD or digital download from Rattling Books.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Excerpt #20 from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Sir Wilfred Grenfell
Excerpt #20 from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Wilfred Thomasen Grenfell
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
All the time I had been driving along I knew that there was one man on
that coast who had a good spy-glass. He tells me he instantly got up
in the midst of his supper, on hearing the news, and hurried over the
cliffs to the lookout, carrying his trusty spy-glass with him.
Immediately, dark as it was, he saw that without any doubt there was a
man out on the ice. Indeed, he saw me wave my hands every now and
again towards the shore. By a very easy process of reasoning on so
uninhabited a shore, he at once knew who it was, though some of the
men argued that it must be some one else. Little had I thought, as
night was closing in, that away on that snowy hilltop lay a man with a
telescope patiently searching those miles of ice for _me_. Hastily
they rushed back to the village and at once went down to try to launch
a boat, but that proved to be impossible. Miles of ice lay between
them and me, the heavy sea was hurling great blocks on the landwash,
and night was already falling, the wind blowing hard on shore.
The whole village was aroused, and messengers were despatched at once
along the coast, and lookouts told off to all the favorable points,
so that while I considered myself a laughing-stock, bowing with my
flag to those unresponsive cliffs, there were really many eyes
watching me. One man told me that with his glass he distinctly saw me
waving the shirt flag. There was little slumber that night in the
villages, and even the men told me there were few dry eyes, as they
thought of the impossibility of saving me from perishing. We are not
given to weeping overmuch on this shore, but there are tears that do a
man honor.
Before daybreak this fine volunteer crew had been gotten together. The
boat, with such a force behind it of will power, would, I believe,
have gone through anything. And, after seeing the heavy breakers
through which we were guided, loaded with their heavy ice
battering-rams, when at last we ran through the harbor-mouth with the
boat on our return, I knew well what wives and children had been
thinking of when they saw their loved ones put out. Only two years ago
I remember a fisherman's wife watching her husband and three sons take
out a boat to bring in a stranger that was showing flags for a pilot.
But the boat and its occupants have not yet come back.
To be continued.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
All the time I had been driving along I knew that there was one man on
that coast who had a good spy-glass. He tells me he instantly got up
in the midst of his supper, on hearing the news, and hurried over the
cliffs to the lookout, carrying his trusty spy-glass with him.
Immediately, dark as it was, he saw that without any doubt there was a
man out on the ice. Indeed, he saw me wave my hands every now and
again towards the shore. By a very easy process of reasoning on so
uninhabited a shore, he at once knew who it was, though some of the
men argued that it must be some one else. Little had I thought, as
night was closing in, that away on that snowy hilltop lay a man with a
telescope patiently searching those miles of ice for _me_. Hastily
they rushed back to the village and at once went down to try to launch
a boat, but that proved to be impossible. Miles of ice lay between
them and me, the heavy sea was hurling great blocks on the landwash,
and night was already falling, the wind blowing hard on shore.
The whole village was aroused, and messengers were despatched at once
along the coast, and lookouts told off to all the favorable points,
so that while I considered myself a laughing-stock, bowing with my
flag to those unresponsive cliffs, there were really many eyes
watching me. One man told me that with his glass he distinctly saw me
waving the shirt flag. There was little slumber that night in the
villages, and even the men told me there were few dry eyes, as they
thought of the impossibility of saving me from perishing. We are not
given to weeping overmuch on this shore, but there are tears that do a
man honor.
Before daybreak this fine volunteer crew had been gotten together. The
boat, with such a force behind it of will power, would, I believe,
have gone through anything. And, after seeing the heavy breakers
through which we were guided, loaded with their heavy ice
battering-rams, when at last we ran through the harbor-mouth with the
boat on our return, I knew well what wives and children had been
thinking of when they saw their loved ones put out. Only two years ago
I remember a fisherman's wife watching her husband and three sons take
out a boat to bring in a stranger that was showing flags for a pilot.
But the boat and its occupants have not yet come back.
To be continued.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Riddle Fence: Journal of Arts & Culture Returns for Second Issue
Journal of Arts & Culture Returns for Second Issue
For Immediate Release
September 22, 2008
Riddle Fence, a St. John's-based journal of arts & culture, is launching its second issue at 3:30 PM on October 6th at a private ceremony at Government House. A public launch party will follow at 8 PM at The Ship Pub.
Formerly a publication of the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador, Riddle Fence is now published by Riddle Fence Inc. and managed by a nine member board of directors; editorial content is selected by a six member editorial board.
"We're thrilled to be launching the second issue," says managing editor Mark Callanan. "When the first Riddle Fence came out, it wasn't clear that there would be another, but we received such an enthusiastic response, and such support from the community, that we were determined to make it work. The launch of our second issue has great symbolic significance: We're back and we're going to continue producing this journal for a long time."
The deadline for submissions to issue number three is October 10, 2008. Riddle Fence accepts "high quality fiction, non-fiction, poetry, artwork, and anything else that fits on paper and punches above its own artistic weight."
For submissions and general Riddle Fence information, see our website (riddlefence.com) or contact Mark Callanan (riddlefence@gmail.com; 709-739-6484).
Background Notes
Riddle Fence #2 Contributors
John Andrews, Nick Avis, Libby Creelman, Richard Cumyn, Tom Dawe, Danielle Devereaux, Stan Dragland, Terri Favro, Kym Greeley, Jason Guriel, Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen, Jim Hansen, Mike Heffernan, David B. Hickey, Joel Thomas Hynes, Steve McOrmond, David O'Meara, Elise Partridge, Michael Pittman, Gerald Squires, John Steffler, Lee D. Thompson, Leslie Vryenhoek
From Mark Callanan's Editorial, Riddle Fence #1
The title is a term recorded in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. You may know it as wriggle or riddling or wriggling fence; these are all permutations of the same basic element. The phrase has a great music to it—a vibrancy, an impish energy. What's more, the riddle is one of the oldest forms of literature; it is steeped in a history that reaches back even further than the printed medium, into the oral tradition. But mostly, the title owes its genesis to the fact that I've been thinking about fences and boundaries a lot lately in relation to this province. Fences keep things out or keep things in. They bisect land and define territory. I like to think of Newfoundland and Labrador as being constantly stuck between two things, two states—occupying a liminal space. It is partway between the Old World and the New, partway between being a country and a province; it is torn between its storied past (which is both burden and blessing) and the allure of the future; we love the word Newfie/we hate the word Newfie. The people here are border dwellers—lodged between the earth and the sea.
Riddle Fence
PO Box 7092
St. John's, NL
A1E 3Y3
709.739.6484
www.riddlefence.com
For Immediate Release
September 22, 2008
Riddle Fence, a St. John's-based journal of arts & culture, is launching its second issue at 3:30 PM on October 6th at a private ceremony at Government House. A public launch party will follow at 8 PM at The Ship Pub.
Formerly a publication of the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador, Riddle Fence is now published by Riddle Fence Inc. and managed by a nine member board of directors; editorial content is selected by a six member editorial board.
"We're thrilled to be launching the second issue," says managing editor Mark Callanan. "When the first Riddle Fence came out, it wasn't clear that there would be another, but we received such an enthusiastic response, and such support from the community, that we were determined to make it work. The launch of our second issue has great symbolic significance: We're back and we're going to continue producing this journal for a long time."
The deadline for submissions to issue number three is October 10, 2008. Riddle Fence accepts "high quality fiction, non-fiction, poetry, artwork, and anything else that fits on paper and punches above its own artistic weight."
For submissions and general Riddle Fence information, see our website (riddlefence.com) or contact Mark Callanan (riddlefence@gmail.com; 709-739-6484).
Background Notes
Riddle Fence #2 Contributors
John Andrews, Nick Avis, Libby Creelman, Richard Cumyn, Tom Dawe, Danielle Devereaux, Stan Dragland, Terri Favro, Kym Greeley, Jason Guriel, Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen, Jim Hansen, Mike Heffernan, David B. Hickey, Joel Thomas Hynes, Steve McOrmond, David O'Meara, Elise Partridge, Michael Pittman, Gerald Squires, John Steffler, Lee D. Thompson, Leslie Vryenhoek
From Mark Callanan's Editorial, Riddle Fence #1
The title is a term recorded in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. You may know it as wriggle or riddling or wriggling fence; these are all permutations of the same basic element. The phrase has a great music to it—a vibrancy, an impish energy. What's more, the riddle is one of the oldest forms of literature; it is steeped in a history that reaches back even further than the printed medium, into the oral tradition. But mostly, the title owes its genesis to the fact that I've been thinking about fences and boundaries a lot lately in relation to this province. Fences keep things out or keep things in. They bisect land and define territory. I like to think of Newfoundland and Labrador as being constantly stuck between two things, two states—occupying a liminal space. It is partway between the Old World and the New, partway between being a country and a province; it is torn between its storied past (which is both burden and blessing) and the allure of the future; we love the word Newfie/we hate the word Newfie. The people here are border dwellers—lodged between the earth and the sea.
Riddle Fence
PO Box 7092
St. John's, NL
A1E 3Y3
709.739.6484
www.riddlefence.com
Inviting submissions of short fiction for EarLit Shorts: a series of audio anthologies
Rattling Books invites submissions for EarLit Shorts
Have you got a gem of a story hiding underneath grandma’s aviator helmet in the back of the back of your closet? Or a diamond in the rough waiting to be pried out of its Word matrix, cut, polished and displayed before the world?
If you can provide the "jewels" Rattling Books might be able to give you the setting you're looking for. We're seeking previously unpublished short fiction for EarLit Shorts, a series of audio anthologies. Stories will be available on-line, singly or collectively, as digital downloads. Each anthology will also be published in MP3 CD format.
The series will launch this fall with works by Joel Thomas Hynes, Kathleen Winter, Carmelita McGrath, Russell Wangersky, Catherine Hogan Safer and others. If you would like a shot at being one of the "others," please read the following guidelines.
To be eligible, submissions must
· be previously unpublished;
· be between 500 and 10,000 words in length.
There are two ways to submit:
Send previously unpublished stories with self-addressed stamped envelope to Rattling Books, General Delivery, Tors Cove, NL, Canada A0A 4A0.
Send your story or stories and covering letter to earlit.submissions@gmail.com.
Deadline for submissions is October 6, 2008.
Website: rattlingbooks.com
Have you got a gem of a story hiding underneath grandma’s aviator helmet in the back of the back of your closet? Or a diamond in the rough waiting to be pried out of its Word matrix, cut, polished and displayed before the world?
If you can provide the "jewels" Rattling Books might be able to give you the setting you're looking for. We're seeking previously unpublished short fiction for EarLit Shorts, a series of audio anthologies. Stories will be available on-line, singly or collectively, as digital downloads. Each anthology will also be published in MP3 CD format.
The series will launch this fall with works by Joel Thomas Hynes, Kathleen Winter, Carmelita McGrath, Russell Wangersky, Catherine Hogan Safer and others. If you would like a shot at being one of the "others," please read the following guidelines.
To be eligible, submissions must
· be previously unpublished;
· be between 500 and 10,000 words in length.
There are two ways to submit:
Send previously unpublished stories with self-addressed stamped envelope to Rattling Books, General Delivery, Tors Cove, NL, Canada A0A 4A0.
Send your story or stories and covering letter to earlit.submissions@gmail.com.
Deadline for submissions is October 6, 2008.
Website: rattlingbooks.com
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Word of the Week over at REDEFiNE iT (Sept 21 - 27) brewis
Word of the Week over at our REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English Blog (Sept 21 - 27):
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Recipe References from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English: scotch dumpling
Until we announce the winner of our Recipe Redux Contest we're posting some recipe references found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English to inspire you. Here's one reproduced as found in the online Dictionary of Newfoundland English.(cartoon by Jennifer Barrett)
scotch dumpling:
scotch dumpling:
kind of haggis made with cod-livers. 1975 The Rounder Sep, p. 12 It was common for fishermen on the Labrador to bake and eat the fresh livers [of cod] as a cure for night blindness. Livers form the main ingredient for 'Scotch Dumplings' which consist of cods' stomachs stuffed with chopped liver and cornmeal.
*************
Rattling Books is running a recipe contest inspired by the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. We call it Recipe Redux, aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick, Recipe Contest.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Excerpt #19 from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Sir Wilfred Grenfell
Excerpt #19 from Adrift on an Ice Pan by Wilfred Thomasen Grenfell
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
So, slowly but steadily, we forged through to the shore, now jumping
out on to larger pans and forcing them apart with the oars, now
hauling the boat out and dragging her over, when the jam of ice packed
tightly in by the rising wind was impossible to get through otherwise.
My first question, when at last we found our tongues, was, "How ever
did you happen to be out in the boat in this ice?" To my astonishment
they told me that the previous night four men had been away on a long
headland cutting out some dead harp seals that they had killed in the
fall and left to freeze up in a rough wooden store they had built
there, and that as they were leaving for home, my pan of ice had
drifted out clear of Hare Island, and one of them, with his keen
fisherman's eyes, had seen something unusual. They at once returned to
their village, saying there was something alive drifting out to sea on
the floe ice. But their report had been discredited, for the people
thought that it could be only the top of some tree.
To be continued.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
(N.B. It was in 1908 that Grenfell, a medical missionary in northern Newfoundland was traveling by dog team to treat a patient, became stranded on an ice pan and came close to perishing. The following excerpt is from Grenfell's account of this adventure.)
Excerpt
So, slowly but steadily, we forged through to the shore, now jumping
out on to larger pans and forcing them apart with the oars, now
hauling the boat out and dragging her over, when the jam of ice packed
tightly in by the rising wind was impossible to get through otherwise.
My first question, when at last we found our tongues, was, "How ever
did you happen to be out in the boat in this ice?" To my astonishment
they told me that the previous night four men had been away on a long
headland cutting out some dead harp seals that they had killed in the
fall and left to freeze up in a rough wooden store they had built
there, and that as they were leaving for home, my pan of ice had
drifted out clear of Hare Island, and one of them, with his keen
fisherman's eyes, had seen something unusual. They at once returned to
their village, saying there was something alive drifting out to sea on
the floe ice. But their report had been discredited, for the people
thought that it could be only the top of some tree.
To be continued.
**************
The above excerpt is from Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. A true account of Grenfell's near death experience, the story was first published in 1909 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The unabridged audio edition, narrated by Chris Brookes, Jay Roberts and Janis Spence, is available from Rattling Books.
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