ozma914 | Entries tagged with audiobooks

Yes, Coming Attractions and the short story collection Storm Squalls are now audiobooks, available on Audible and Amazon, thanks to Kindle's virtual voice.

But be warned: The narration is done by, yes, a virtual voice.

I assumed, if you navigated your way over to the site and saw the words "Virtual voice is computer-generated narration for audiobooks", you'd assume that the audiobook had ... well, you know. Computer generated narration. But it's not so obvious, because my rating average for Storm Chaser was brought down by my first bad review, from someone who didn't like AI narration.

I can understand how it might bother some people. It's just that personally, if I didn't like computer narration, I wouldn't buy a computer narrated book.

They also didn't like the lack of adventure or Storm Chasing experiences. You people who've read the book will understand why that puzzled me, until I saw they didn't finish it. I guess if I didn't like the narration, I'd stop on page ten, too.

But never mind that. The point is, I can't afford professional narration right now, so this is the best I can do--and honestly, I think it's pretty good. But you know how writers are: It doesn't take much for us to start doubting ourselves.

Coming Attractions, in all three of its formats, can be found here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY9F5L4X

It's a romantic comedy about an epic battle to save an Indiana drive-in from developers, and has absolutely no storm chasing in it.

Storm Squalls, a short story collection that does indeed include some weather-related adventures, can be found in all three formats here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKRBR9NV

It has three stories in it that weren't in the original version, which was unfortunately named Storm Chaser Shorts. My personal favorite is the never before seen "High Horse--Or, a Horse Tail", which is about a girl, her horse, and a wildfire, and an unreliable narrator.

Storm Squalls is a sequel to Storm Chaser and, with a few exceptions, a prequel to The Notorious Ian Grant, which we hope to get re-released when people stop getting sick. You'll recognize one of the characters, Beth Hamlin, from my young-adult adventure The No-Campfire Girls.

Try them out! In the format of your choice.

Or, of course, you can pick up any of our other books at the usual places:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: Audiobooks make those chores go faster.

Current Mood: hopeful

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Four of our books are finally up as audiobooks! Do you hear me?

I know what you're thinking: "But Mark, you can't afford to engineer an audiobook!"

What's that? You're actually thinking, "I wonder if white socks have to be dyed, or if colored socks have to be bleached?" Fine. But just the same, they're up on that audiobook powerhouse, Audible.com.

https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter

The books, not the socks. I guess the socks would be in the category of Sole Music.

Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, in one of those cases of "We should have seen it coming", is offering authors a chance to use Virtual Voice to make their works into audiobooks. I was contacted to beta the service, as was, I suspect, every other writer on Amazon. But audiobooks have become a big thing, and I can't afford a service, or the equipment and time to do it myself.

The first one I tried was Storm Chaser. I found the process easy, and the voice acceptable. It is a virtual voice; the term "virtual" has become a dirty word among artists, but this one isn't stealing from someone to make something. Anyone interested in trying it should read a sample first, to see if they're okay with the voice.

https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Storm-Chaser/dp/B0CYB9RHFS

Pay no attention to the voice behind that book!

The second I converted was The No-Campfire Girls. Since the book is almost entirely from the POV of a teenage girl, I chose a female narrator for that one. The price I used for all four books is $3.99, which is low for an audiobook but within reason. Amazon's "free" service gets a cut of that, of course.

https://www.amazon.com/Audible-the-No-Campfire-Girls/dp/B0CY9TVJKC

Seriously, there's no one there. You're imaging those legs.

The other two are my straight humor books, Slightly Off the Mark and More Slightly Off the Mark. (This is as opposed to books like Hoosier Hysterical, which are a mix of humor and other things. But they're still funny. Trust me.)

https://www.amazon.com/Slightly-off-Mark-Unpublished-collected/dp/B0CYP4SR1J

https://www.amazon.com/More-Slightly-off-Mark-reconditioned/dp/B0CY7WWQPK

I'd love for these books to get popular enough to generate a series--I have lots of columns to go.

It was only, oh, this week that I found out Audible is now an Amazon owned service, so ... yay!

Of our other books, some I can't get converted to audio right now due to technical problems, which we're working on. Some I just don't think would work as audiobooks. Images of America: Albion and Noble County is a photo-heavy book, and I'm not sure I could do this without permission of its traditional publisher, anyway. Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights is a toss-up, but being a local history book on a niche subject, I'm not sure there's any point in trying.

Listen to a sample and let me know what you think. If it works, it's a great chance to expand our audience. If it doesn't ... well, all it took was a little time out of my life when I would have been watching "Resident Alien".

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter
Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter
Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

Remember: If you're going to hear voices, it's better to know where they're coming from.

Current Mood: hopeful

Tags:

I'm not saying I'm behind on book reviews, but Emily and I listened to American Gods while driving to and from Missouri—in 2015. So, I am saying I’m behind on book reviews, and since this one’s easy I thought I’d knock it out.

Not that Neil Gaiman needs any help from me, especially with American Gods on its way to becoming a TV series. (Wait, the show's first season is over; I'm behind on posting blogs, too.) Better that than a movie—I can’t imagine how they’d fit this story into a two hour or so time frame.

Main character Shadow is released from prison early, on the news that his wife has been killed in an accident. He’s flying home for the funeral when Mr. Wednesday appears next to him during a violent storm, and offers him a job. What’s the job, and how does Wednesday know so much about Shadow? That’s just the beginning of the mystery, and as close to normal as this book ever gets.

The grieving Shadow just wants to be left alone, but soon finds himself in a war pitting old gods against new gods as he wanders across the American Midwest, meeting every sort of odd character, human and otherwise. And that’s about as close as I can come to describing this mind-twisting novel in ten thousand words or less.

Although I like listening to podcasts and audio non-fiction, I haven’t had good experiences with fiction on audiobook. That changed with American Gods, which is narrated (performed?) by George Guidall. At least, my version was; I've since learned that there's at least on other audio version. Thanks to Guidall I can’t imagine Wednesday being played by anyone but Anthony Hopkins (well, I can now), but he does a great job with all the voices, as well as Gaiman’s wonderful narration.

This audio addition of American Gods is, I assume, unabridged, and so seemed to take forever. That’s a compliment. It was like an endless bowl of ice cream that you never get tired of. In fact, this novel is the reason why I usually give books I really like a four out of five rating. That way there’s room when the occasional perfect reading—well, listening—experience arrives. This is it: Five out of five.

https://www.amazon.com/American-Gods-Low-Price-MP3/dp/0062314297

(By the way, the series is just as mind blowing. Instead of trying to shove all this story and characters into one movie, there's actually room to expand it a bit. I couldn't imagine how they could turn American Gods into a TV series either, but they did it, and it's a work of surreal genius.)

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Slightly Off the Mark

Coming Attractions and Storm Squalls are now audiobooks

Four Of Our Books Are Now Audiobooks, Or So I Hear

Book Review: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

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