This extra Friday post is for the purpose of picking your collective brains, O Esteemed Readership.

I’m looking at the prospect of producing audiobooks of my novels.

Generous friends provided me with equipment, and I think I’m near the point where I can make good enough quality recordings to satisfy ACX, the Amazon audiobook publishing arm.

My plan has been to start with the Erling books, but now I’m uncertain.

So I ask you – if you bought an audiobook where the narrator is declared to be an Irishman, would it bother you if the book was read in a Midwestern US accent?

I contemplated trying to master an Irish accent, but I’m pretty sure it would never be really right. I could probably carry the accent for a few paragraphs, but over many hours of reading, the illusion would wear off. I’d slip too often into flat Minnesota tones.

So now I’m considering hiring an Irishman to do the Erling books (if I can find one; you can hire narrators on a percentage-of-royalties basis) and just doing my Epsom books myself.

What do you think? Would it disappoint you if I had somebody else play Father Ailill?