Canada Post, the shipping and delivery company, will be opening Maple Grove, a city of commerce within SL that will hold many of the RL stores and brands that Canadians know and trust, including Toys'R' Us, Sears, The Shopping Channel, Brookstone, SkyMall, Red Canoe, Everything Olive, and Hudson's Bay Company.

"Today's net savvy consumer values convenience and relevancy in today's market," says Laurene Cihosky, senior vice president for Canada Post's direct marketing division. "Maple Grove is our way of meeting those expectations; a virtual place for friends to meet, shop, and enjoy the culture that Canada has to offer."

On Saturday, November 3rd, Maple Grove will officially launch in Second Life with a six-hour virtual live music festival, from 3 to 9 PM SLT. On the bill will be Grace McDunnough, Montain Gulruth, Juel Resistance, Rosedrop Rust, Shiger Seattle, and Louis Volare. You can get more information about the event here.

(Thanks, Schuyler!)

'Second Life: A Guide to Your Virtual World' is a new book by Brian A. White, and it's already available through Amazon. It's got a release party on the 15th at Menorca, twice, at 11 AM - 1 PM, and again at 7 - p PM, featuring DJ Doubledown Tandino, musician JueL Resistance, and of course the author, Ansel Gasparini. Best of all, you can pick up free, designed-just-for-this-event items by Ginny Talamasca, Dragontat Zagato, and Colleen Desmoulins, some of SL's most influential designers!

I've not read this yet, but it seems pretty thorough, and I love the design of the cover. If you're interested in anything more than this post mentions, you may contact Iris Ophelia, coordinator of the event.

(Thanks, Iris!)