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I got a great call from my agent the other day. For anyone not in the acting profession, you should know calls FROM your agents are terrific by nature; calls TO your agent, not so much. We’d much rather be on the receiving end, because it means we’re in demand, y’know? GETTING calls from agents is great, usually meaning you have auditions pending. And in this day of caller ID, just looking at your phone and seeing your agent’s number pop up can be a grand feeling.

(Great story: Jack Benny and George Burns used to have the same agent, way back in the vaudeville days. Their agent was such a decent, caring man that he couldn’t bring himself to hurt their feelings and tell them he didn’t have any work for them. So, if an actor came into his office looking for work, he’d say, “Ah, sure, um, let me see… Where are those papers? They must be here someplace…” He’d proceed to bury his nose in each and every drawer of his desk until the actor took the hint and got up and left, thereby letting the agent off the hook. One time, George Burns walked out of the office and saw Jack Benny walking in. “Don’t bother,” George said. “He’s opening his drawers.”)

So, okay, I’m in bed the other morning, it’s late, I’ve slept in ’cuz I was up until about 1:00AM recording Harlan Coben’s latest title, HOLD TIGHT, for Brilliance Audio (more on that later, I promise), and the phone wakes me up. I don’t look at caller ID, I just grab it quickly before it goes to voicemail. “Hi, it’s Adrienne, from Abrams,” comes the voice from my voiceover agency. I’m thinking, “Great, an audition! But how in the world am I going to fit this one in? I’m under a crazy deadline here!” But the next words out of her mouth were a complete surprise. Adrienne was calling, she said, to congratulate me on the Audie nominations.

Well, bless her heart.

I wasn’t even aware my agency read the Audie results. But of course, it makes sense they would, and how kind to make the call and let me know they were happy for me. It was a delightful surprise, a wonderful way to start my morning. I had received an e-mail from the Audio Publishers’ Association just a day earlier, giving me the news, but to be honest I’d barely skimmed it. Between recording Harlan Coben’s HOLD TIGHT and the first of four non-DUNE Frank Herbert novels I’ve been working on, and locking down the rights to my next self-published venture, LORD FOUL’S BANE by Stephen R. Donaldson, I’m really busy these days, and even though it was in my best interest to read that e-mail, I’d let it go. The call from my agent was a nice reminder to do so.

It turns out two books I contributed to this year were nominated, both multi-voice recordings. I’m by no means the only person responsible for those books, but still, it’s awfully nice to be recognized. The first volume of George R. R. Martin’s short story collection, DREAMSONGS VOLUME 1 from Random House Audio was nominated, which made me very happy, as the Random House folks are always so good to me. But amazingly, DUNE by Frank Herbert, released by Macmillan Audio, got THREE nominations! Three, for one book! Just blew me away. DUNE is the only book I’ve ever gotten to record twice, the first time for Books on Tape, a solo narration, and this time as one of many voices bringing the book to life for Macmillan. It was a tremendous project to work on, and I was extremely proud to be a part of it.

The audiobook industry’s version of the Oscars, the Audies – and I should clarify that they are in fact pronounced AW-deez, not OW-dees; an Audi is a car, not an award (think AW-dee as in “audio”) – the Audies are scheduled for June of this year, and are going to be held in my home city, Los Angeles. Should be a blast. I’ve had a great deal of fun at the Audies over the years. I was very grateful to have won, back in 2003, for my very first nomination, the DUNE prequel, DUNE: THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD.

I’ve also been a presenter for most years since. If you click here you can see some cool photos at various Audie ceremonies over the years (and for listeners, if you’d like to see the photos, please log onto my website, scottbrickpresents.com, click on this blog entry, and you’ll see the link to the photos). This one of me and the late Kate Fleming, the immensely talented audiobook narrator, is probably my favorite – that was the first time I was asked to present, and we got to do it together. God, that was fun. What a great night. It still blows me away that Kate isn’t here anymore. I miss her every day. That’ll be a subject for another entry soon, I promise.

(You may not recognize Kate Fleming’s name, but you know her company and her work. Kate, who recorded under the pseudonym Anna Fields, was killed tragically in a flood in December of 2006. She was a dear friend of mine as well as the owner and publisher of Cedar House Audio. Kate won an Audie in 2004 for her lovely narration of Ruth Ozeki’s ALL OVER CREATION. You can read a memorial I wrote about Kate here, and if you’re interested in donating to the Kate Fleming Memorial Fund, you can simply mail or walk your donation in to any Washington Mutual banking branch. Please put “Account 030600001486459” in the memo field.)

Anyway, I’ll finish up by saying I’ve been very blessed to be nominated a lot these last few years, and I’m constantly humbled that people – be they commuters who listen to the occasional book in cars or high school kids who don’t have the time to read but need to write that book report or even the folks on the Audie nominating committee – enjoy my work enough to recognize me. I try to remain sanguine about whether or not I take an Audie home, but let’s be honest, I’m an actor and I’m as shallow as the next guy. Winning is nice.

Still, as in the case of the year where Kate and I presented together, or last year when fellow narrator and good friend Carrington MacDuffie and I were asked to replace Kate Fleming’s Audie that was lost when she was killed, these were some of the loveliest evenings I’ve ever spent in this industry, and they had nothing to do with any nominations or winning an actual award. It was all about spending time with my peers in the industry, people I love and admire, and who work tirelessly to make books all of us can listen to.

So thanks to you all for supporting audiobooks the way you do, and thanks especially for the attention and kindness you’ve given me. It means a great deal, and I’m always honored and humbled by your response. As long as you keep listening to books, I’ll keep reading ’em.

And given that it’s Valentine’s Day (not to mention Jack Benny’s birthday), I’d be remiss if I didn’t say hello to my lovely valentine, Wendy, who is actually going to record her very first audiobook this coming week. I love you, babe. So, Happy Valentine’s Day to all, and to all a good night.

Thanks for listening,

Scott Brick
February 14, 2008