Do you guys have favorite narrators? I’d love to eventually get some books into audio (Lucie is clapping and cheering right now), and because that is not a medium with which I’m familiar, I’m interested in folks’ experiences.
I’m playing with the idea in the abstract, but I find myself totally fascinated by it. Presumably it’d be something like a movie adaptation, that it could be annoying if you loved the book, or it could be inspiring, or it could have no real impact on your feelings about the book at all.
Would you buy an audiobook for the narrator’s voice the way you’d buy a book for the author’s voice? My books don’t sell well enough to be attractive to narratorsΒ today,Β but they will eventually. (Or I’ll make enough to pay up front.) I’d love to find a narrator who was interested in a sort of partnership, who wanted to sign up for more than one book, who felt enough creative leeway to vocally own the characters a bit. That sounds like delicious fun. (I’m thinking of the Scientific Method Universe here. The Home Series would be harder because of the different points of view; you couldn’t necessarily have the same person narrate all four of them.)
So. Tell me, hivemind. How do you like your audio fiction served up?
See, now I have Peter Serafinowicz reading the shipping forecast* in my head – lucky Fran π
I'm quite sure there are voices that have a similar effect on me, but I'll be damned if I can remember who!
*Black Books – if you've never seen it, you've missed a treat π
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Books
Black Books! That has been on my list for ages, I've got to make time for it. I mean, Dylan Moran, how can you really go wrong?
James Marsters! I love his voice. He narrates all of Jim Butcher's books, The Dresden Files. Most people probably remember him best as Spike from the Buffy/Angel universe but he also does narration. Mmmmm… now I want to re-listen to those books. I know he could pull off the diffrent POV's in the Home series. He'd be great with the Scientific Method. Anyone listening would be hot as hell after the first paragraph. His voice is something to lust after. What could be better for reading smut? π
Ohhh, yum. I don't know his American voice, but his English… *fans self* π
Mm, have you seen his "fight" scene with John Barrowman on Torchwood? Come on!
Alas, I think Lucie's right; unless JM decides to do some kind of audio recording charity event (hey, I would totally donate the proceeds!), we'll have to listen to his delicious voice in other forms! (Though I may just have to buy one of the Dresden books on audio now. Damn.)
Lucie is indeed clapping!!
As much as I enjoy James Marsters, I'm pretty sure he doesn't fit in your budget. π
The tough thing is going to find someone who is sex, kink and queer friendly. Ezra Masters (Tobias Ezra Queen) is one. He narrated Makai's BDSM Handbook, amongst other things. LostinBronx (David Rivera-Collins) could be another good fit. Both have very versatile voices. If you want them to audition for you, just say the word. π
(NSFW WEAR YOUR HEADPHONES)
Sample from Tobias: http://www.naughtysound.com/2015/01/29/preview-of…
(NSFW WEAR YOUR HEADPHONES)
Sample from David: http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/7/b/a/7ba8b8082d8b9460/…
I thought this would be right up your alley! (Guys, Lucie's been trying to get me to do audiobooks since *Hugh's New Dude* came out.)
I will listen to the samples in a bit when I am not hanging out with the toddler. It's still a bit of a pipe dream, but I need to start the mental processing so when I have the opportunity, I can jump! (And you know you'll be the first person I call!)
Hi Lucie,
I was just wondering how you got that avatar – it seems custom to me. When I made my comment it just auto picked an avatar for me, I never got the option to choose my avatar.
Hey Sine! I have an account with Gravatar (https://en.gravatar.com/). When I comment on a WP site, it recognizes my email address and attaches my avatar to it.
I do have favorite narrators, I really like Charlie David. In his case I looked up other books he narrated and got my next book from that list. I would look at the description too, but a good narrator goes a long way to convince me to buy a book I don't know.
I strongly prefer that all books in a series have one narrator – it bugs me when the next narrator pronounces names differently and such. (but if I like the story enough I will get over it)
Also I would like to mention that I prefer just reading; no music and such. Some books play a little music between chapters and that bugs me to no end and takes me right out of the story.
But all in all the most important thing is that the narrator have a pleasurable voice and seems engaged by the book.
Single narrator is my dream, but finding the right one might be a challenge for the reasons Lucie lists.
I think the "music" vs "no music" topic is really interesting. And there are extremists on both sides, who can't fathom how the other half survives in the wild. (For the record, I'm also anti-melodic chapter breaks, but I asked my grandmother–who consumes many more audiobooks than I do–and she kind of likes a little bit of intro-outro with her audiobooks. I think it wakes her up if she stopped paying attention!)
Sine, if you like straight reads (that's the name of an audiobook with a single narrator), Nathan Lowell is my all time favorite. And his audiobooks are all free on Podiobooks.com. (For the sake of disclosure, I volunteer as an intern for them. That's how much I love podcasts.;-) )
I like a bit of musical intro/outro with my narrations. I'm also a fan of the fullcast format (different voice actor for each character). The format I don't care much about is the audiodrama (like the old radio shows). There's too much going on at the same time, too much music and sound effects.
And if you don't stop me, I'll go on and on and on about audiobooks. π
Hi Lucie,
Thanks for the answer – and for reminding me of Podiobooks.com. I think I used that site a few times, but have since forgotten about it – so I will totally check it out again!
I am so not going to stop you talking about audiobooks at all! I have never tried a fullcast book, that might be fun. What I mentioned I dislike is when each book has a different narrator, so all the names and places are suddenly pronounced differently – or a characters accent is changed from book to book.
Could you recommend me a good fullcast book? I am pretty open regarding genre – just not too keen on spy novels or very action orientated books.
Oh dear, do I have a treat for you! Try Abigail Hilton's The Guild of the Cowry Catchers, available via Podiobooks, too. Don't let the furries deter you: they are a metaphor for race and queerness issues. I don't want to give you spoilers, but there's some boy on boy action along the way. And keep tissues at hand: it gets pretty intense in places. π
Thanks I will give it a try