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SCOTT BRICK PRESENTS: Interviewing Richard Matheson, the Full Voicebank Interview, AudioFile on CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE, a Shout-out by Slate.com, My Wikipedia Page, and Talking a Little Baseball Or, an audiobook narrator says, “Share the Experience is finally underway, so it’s time for a break!” and takes a short breather to update everyone on what else is going on

Scott — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:39:23 +0000

Richard Matheson (R) and Scott (Photo by Richard Parsons)

Greetings everyone, Scott here. To those of you who’ve been reading up on the Share the Experience contest, my thanks for all your input and support. It’s been extraordinarily exciting to see the contest go from just an idea to a done deal. I’m extremely grateful to the Audio Publishers Association, and all our participating publishers/judges. No way this could happen without them. As you may know, this past Wednesday saw us smash a champagne bottle across the bow of the contest, and we’re eagerly awaiting these next few weeks, to see just what kind of response we’ll get. Best of luck to everyone. We’ll post the results here as soon as humanly possible (meaning on or about July 10, as detailed on the contest page).

Now, to all of you who subscribe to this site for our commercial enterprises, the Brick By Brick Audiobooks we’ve been putting out this past year, thank you for your patience as I’ve taken time off from my production schedule to see this 10th year anniversary contest come to life. There are more audiobooks on the way soon, many, many more, and we’ll be getting back to them in the very near future. In the meantime, I thought I’d update you all on some recent events, some web postings I thought you might be interested in.

First off, I got a rare and treasured opportunity recently to interview my absolute favorite author of all time: Richard Matheson. Never heard of him? Crawl out from under your rock! He’s the author of a staggering array of classic tales, many of which have been turned into terrific films: I AM LEGEND, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, HELL HOUSE, THE NIGHT STALKER, STIR OF ECHOES, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, and my personal favorite, SOMEWHERE IN TIME. When you meet him, you can’t help but stare at the man’s head, just marveling at how many amazing tales came out of there, y’know? He also wrote episodes of the original STAR TREK, plus a cool dozen of the best TWILIGHT ZONEs of all time, including the classic William Shatner vehicle, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” Well, I wrote up a print version of the interview for this month’s AudioFile Magazine, who also posted an audio supplement. It’s an edited version of the complete hour-long interview, maybe 15 minutes long, just the first part of what will ultimately be a much longer audio interview that’ll be posted here on this site in the near future. Take a listen and let me know what you think.

Second, I was interviewed by Tracy Pattin of Voicebank recently, who also posted four audio supplements (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4). This was a great deal of fun — most interviews I do are done on the phone, but Tracy stopped by my house and we sat down in the studio, then just proceeded to chat about all sorts of audiobook-related topics. We posted the first part of the interview here on the site when it came out, but if you’re looking for the whole thing, you’ll find all four parts here.

Next, AudioFile also posted a roundtable interview, featuring myself, Simon Vance and Katherine Kellgren, all fellow citizens of the planet Arrakis in the DUNE series. Brian Price conducted this interview to commemorate the final installment in Frank Herbert’s original DUNE saga, CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE. You can also watch the three of us, as well as the great Euan Morton who plays Paul Atreides, in a video shot that same day. For my fellow DUNE geeks, er, enthusiasts, there’s a rare glimpse of Frank Herbert’s pronunciation notes for the series, unearthed from my ever-expanding DUNE Glossary and shown onscreen for your viewing pleasure.

If you’re a sports fan, you might enjoy a fun interview I did with Ron Kaplan for his website, Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf. An extremely knowledgeable baseball fan, Ron sought me out after listening to some of the baseball-themed audiobooks I’ve done these past few years, including biographies of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, the terrific look of the Oakland Athletics’ visionary leader Billy Bean in MONEYBALL, as well as the expose of Barry Bonds’ shameful exploits in GAME OF SHADOWS, the book that blew the lid off the Balco steroid scandal. Ron’s a very cool guy and a great interviewer. The thing I recall most clearly is not wanting the conversation to end.

(Of course, you can check out all of these and more on my Press page.)

I’ll also point you to Slate.com, where, during a recent discussion (or gabfest, as they like to call them), a listener recommended a few titles I’ve done that’re available on audible.com: THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA and UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN. It’s primarily a political discussion, but I appreciate the mention about halfway through and wanted to give hosts Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz my thanks for the shout-out.

Lastly, if you haven’t seen it yet, I have been graced with a Wikipedia page. Since it’s Wikipedia, we don’t update it, although we try to check it once in a while for accuracy’s sake. All I can say is, if you’re a Wiki person, please be kind.

Okay, that’s about it. I hope you’ll stay tuned to this spot for some cool announcements we’ve got coming up. There’s another charitable venture I’ve got in the works, and it’s something I could actually use a little help with, in terms of advice and suggestions, so I’ll be asking people to respond in a small online poll. I hope you’ll take a few moments and participate if you can, I’m hoping it’ll make a difference in the lives of students across the country.

In the meantime, I’m heading back to the studio. Contest or no, I’ve got five titles to record in June, and only so many hours in the day. As always, thanks for listening.

Scott Brick

SCOTT BRICK PRESENTS: Finally, Stephen R. Donaldson’s THE POWER THAT PRESERVES Is Here, The Final Volume Of THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT, THE UNBELIEVER – Complete And Unabridged – On Audio For The First Time Ever!Or, An Audiobook Narrator Offers His Advice On How Narrators New To The Field Should Tackle The Mountain Of Made-Up Words They’ll Face In Epic Fantasy Series

Scott — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 06:31:29 +0000

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Right-click here to download this Brickcast.

Click here to hear Scott read from THE POWER THAT PRESERVES, then buy POWER or the THOMAS COVENANT, THE UNBELIEVER trilogy on digital download or hard copy (both with bonus features).

If you have purchased LORD FOUL’S BANE and THE ILLEARTH WAR, in the next few days we will email you a coupon code for THE POWER THAT PRESERVES equal to 10% off the entire trilogy price. If you don’t receive the coupon, or need it earlier, please email admin@scottbrickpresents.com with “POWER Coupon” as the subject. Thanks!

Click here to read Scott’s TRILOGY DISCOUNT PLAN.

If you’re a regular reader (or listener) to this column, then you’ve already experienced me waxing poetic about THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT, THE UNBELIEVER numerous times before here and here), so this time I thought I’d branch out slightly, be a bit more all-inclusive with both my subject and my audience. Given that the Covenant saga is so replete with exotic words, made up completely by the mind of Stephen R. Donaldson, I thought I would perhaps give some advice on how to approach a problem that aspiring narrators face when doing a new fantasy series: how to tackle the difficult job of making an audiobook as similar as possible to the author’s intent by using their pronunciations instead of your own. I figured this would also be a cool bit of background, some making-of tidbits for the Covenant fans out there, to see just how all these particular wacky pronunciations were arrived at. (See? Two birds with one stone! Multi-tasking, baby, multi-tasking.)

A peek at the back of the latest Thomas Covenant novel shows that the series’ glossary has grown to 593 words. That’s 593 words that won’t be found in any language on Earth. If it were a standard fiction series, most of those words could be looked up someplace online. Alas, in fantasy novels that’s rarely the case. In such series, the language is usually what the author wants it to be, meaning there’s only one person who speaks it: the author him/herself. This means that you, as the narrator, are faced with only two options: guess how they’re pronounced, or go to the source.

In my case, I’d rather go to the source. Every time.

There was a recording done of DUNE, years ago, by an amazing narrator whose work I love, but unfortunately he didn’t have access to the author or his notes, and as a result, all the words were guessed at, and for me, I found it impossible to listen to. Part of that is my own particular preference as a science fiction/fantasy fan: I’m not interested in how I pronounce these words, or another narrator may pronounce these words, or even how a legion of fans may pronounce them; I only want to know the author’s take on things, that’s all, that’s it. Nothing else will suffice.

If you’re tempted to take your best guess and figure that’ll be good enough, my advice to you is, good enough usually isn’t. You may be a lifelong fan of the project, but that doesn’t mean your ability to guess is better than anyone else’s. If it had been up to me, I would probably have gone with the pronunciations from the David Lynch version of DUNE, but in almost every case those would’ve been wrong. (Crazy when you realize David Lynch hired DUNE author Frank Herbert as a technical adviser on the film and he STILL got them all wrong.) I also would have pronounced Terry Brooks’ mythical realm the wrong way: most people pronounce his seminal title as the Sword of Shuh-NAH-ruh, whereas he’s adamant that it’s SHAN-uh-ruh. And yes, I stumbled almost every time I said it Brooks’ way, but that’s because I’d listened to too many of the fans over the years pronouncing it THEIR way. And unfortunately, that way is just plain wrong. So SHAN-uh-ruh it is. Or, was.

All that said, I knew I had to speak to Stephen R. Donaldson for these Covenant words, and thankfully the publisher put me in touch with him. He was incredibly giving of his time, and we worked our way through each and every word in the glossary, which took over an hour to do. I recorded the conversation as we did so, then took the tape and transcribed it painstakingly into a Word document. (Narrator hint: recording phone conversations is alarmingly easy, and my advice would be to consult your local Radio Shack for the easiest method. Whichever you choose, however, experiment with it first. You don’t want to find out that the little suction cup attachment that’s supposed to work just fine didn’t capture any sound at all, especially if you’ve already had the author phone call and you now have nothing to transcribe, no way to recapture the sound you’ve lost. Trust me, I’ve done this, and you want to avoid it.)

Click here to hear Scott read from THE POWER THAT PRESERVES, then buy POWER or the THOMAS COVENANT, THE UNBELIEVER trilogy on digital download or hard copy (both with bonus features)

Be easy on yourself and arrange your unfolding audio glossary alphabetically. If characters have last names, list them under that, though you might also want to have duplicate entries for their first names if last names aren’t used that often. Cross-referencing things is a huge help. And if it’s a case like the Covenant books, where character names are often linked together with family member’s names, such as Mhoram son of Variol, or Hyrim son of Hoole, you’ll want to make sure and have separate entries for each of those names, parent and child. Sometimes you’ll be talking about Hoole without mentioning Hyrim, but if you don’t remember that he’s Hyrim’s father you won’t know where to find him in the glossary.

Sound confusing? Well, it is, but once you immerse yourself in a series, it gets easier.

My audio glossaries typically have two primary entries, one for the way the word is spelled in the book, and another for phonetic spellings.

lillianrill:   lih-lee-AHN-ril

But sometimes these crazy, made-up words defy translation to the page. Sometimes the individual syllables are so soft or subtle that it’s difficult to tell what’s correct. If the author gives any additional instructions, I always note it on the side.

Bannor:   BAAN-r is preferred, though
          BAAN-oer is fine

Sometimes the details are even more subtle, and require longer explanations:

dharmakshetra:   DAHR-mahk-SHET-ruh; slightly
                 aspirated H after the D,
                 slightly rolled R at the end,
                 consistent with all Waynhim names

And if you really want to be an overachieving nut like I am, you may also create individual sound files for each of these entries. I don’t recommend doing this every time, it requires a ton of work, but when you’re dealing with sequels (and name me a great fantasy novel that HASN’T had a sequel), having an additional first-generation source can be crucial. And this comes in especially handy when you’re dealing with phrases rather than individual words. It’s always handy to be able to hear something rather than reading it.

Kelenbhrabanal marushyn!
Rushyn hynyn kelenkoor rillynarunal!
Ranyhyn Kelenbhrabanal!
(Lithe calling Ranyhyn, THE ILLEARTH WAR, pgs. 371-2)

KEHL-n-BRAH-ben-ahl MAH-roo-shin!
ROO-shin HIN-in KEL-en-koor ri-lee-NAH-roo-nahl!
RAH-nuh-hin KEHL-n-BRAH-ben-ahl!

Once you’ve created your audio glossary, the hard part’s done, and now the fun can begin: you get to actually record the novel! Keep a copy of the glossary on hand, either a hardcopy if you’re working in someone else’s studio, or a digital copy if you’re working in your own. Keep it open and in the background, because you’ll reference it often, and if you’re working with a producer, make sure they have a copy of it, and provide a copy to whomever’s going to be proofing the recording once you’re done, as well. The more eyes you have double-checking that your pronunciations are correct and consistent, the better.

Click here to hear Scott read from THE POWER THAT PRESERVES, then buy POWER or the THOMAS COVENANT, THE UNBELIEVER trilogy on digital download or hard copy (both with bonus features)

Once the title is finished, and the proofing and editing are complete, it might seem that you’re done with your glossary, but trust me, you’re not. Keep a hardcopy in your files, and a digital copy on your hard drive, and make sure they’re in a logical, easy-to-remember location. The last thing you want is for three years to go by and find yourself the night before you’re set to record the sequel, looking frantically for the damn file. Trust me, I’ve been there too, and it’s a lonely place. If you’ve got a lot of these glossaries piling up, come up with a consistent labeling system so you can find the appropriate one swiftly.

For myself, getting to hear these words from Donaldson’s own mouth was an amazing experience, as I’d literally been wondering for 25 years how some of these things sounded. I also got to hear him clown around a bit, which was really cool, poking fun at his own words and their odd pronunciations. For instance, there’s a group of words mentioned in the series all the time, they’re essentially words of power:

     Melenkurion abatha!  Duroc minas mill khabaal!

In the story, by invoking them, powerful magics are often manifested. Powerful, POWERFUL magics. Well, when I asked him how they’re pronounced, he laughed softly and prefaced their pronunciation by joking, “Watching out for sudden thunder and appearances of mystical events…” It was a subtle thing, but it cracked me up.

He also told me that of all the words he’s ever invented, the one that generates the most debate among his fans is:

Elemesnedene:   EH-leh-MAYN-deen

Huh. Never would’ve gotten that one right. Thank God I called first.

Well, I hope you enjoy THE POWER THAT PRESERVES. It’s been an amazing experience, and I truly appreciate all the support you’ve shown by purchasing each volume of this trilogy. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

And, as always, thanks for listening,

Scott Brick

SCOTT BRICK PRESENTS: SHADOW OF THE SWAN, VOLUME TWO OF THE PHOENIX LEGACY BY M.K. WREN, ON SALE NOWOr, An Audiobook Narrator Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is By Offering An Iron-Clad Guarantee, Saying, “Don’t Like It? Exchange It!”

Scott — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:35:15 +0000

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First off, a word of apology for getting this second volume of THE PHOENIX LEGACY out more than a week late. Unfortunately, we here at SBP had a pretty trying holiday season; there were three deaths among family, friends, and neighbors. When faced with the decision to either show up for people in need or go into the studio so I could get the books out on time, it turns out there wasn’t much of a decision. Nevertheless, we know there are many of you who’ve been waiting patiently, so we’ve been working hard to get this second volume to you ASAP, and here it is. SHADOW OF THE SWAN, on audiobook. Hope you enjoy it.

Click here to hear Scott read from SHADOW OF THE SWAN
and buy the digital download

I’ve been very gratified to see how many of you have responded so favorably to this series, especially when many of you had never heard of it before I announced my publishing schedule a few months ago. Word of mouth is an important thing in our culture, especially among book lovers. Believe me, I understand. But last month’s blog, the ‘This is the best series you’ve never heard of’ entry, seems to have struck a chord with people, and copies have been flying off the shelves. Or rather, MP3s have been flying off the website, or download servers, or what have you.

Still, there were a few people who seemed skeptical, but given their previous support on my THOMAS COVENANT endeavors, I made them all a promise: I told them that if they purchased the first PHOENIX volume and didn’t like it, I’d let them exchange it for another book from my company. I admit, a few people here at SBP looked at me askance when I did this, but I never doubted it was the right thing to do. I mean, people who support this audio line of mine are putting their money where their mouth is, so how could I not do the same?

It took a few weeks, but I’ve now heard back from everyone to whom I made that offer, and you know what? Nobody’s taken me up on it. Not a single one.

Here’s the latest email I received about it; it’s from Christian Walters, a very cool guy who came to the site after hearing about THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT finally coming out on audiobook. “Man, you were right about THE PHOENIX LEGACY book,” says Christian. “I’m not quite done, but I still find myself sitting in the car waiting for a good stopping point, which never comes. I see that the next one is imminent, so that’s a relief. Not only are you an excellent reader, but I see you have outstanding taste in books.” Then came a smiley face, as well as a funny signoff: “If you ever decide to start up a side business recording voicemail answering messages in your Thomas Covenant voice, please let me know.” (Hmmm, I’ll have to give that some thought…)

Well, again, I’ve been so gratified by people’s response to THE PHOENIX LEGACY that I’m going to make everyone this same deal: if you purchase it, listen to it and for whatever reason just can’t stand it, you just let me know and I’ll replace it with another book. Email me and I’ll hook you up. Seriously.

Click here to hear Scott read from SHADOW OF THE SWAN and buy the digital download

This series is so damn good, it’s staggering. I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen any print editions of it, but if so you’ll see some nice praise on the covers. The first two editions had this lovely quote from Jean Auel, of CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR fame: “A new classic! Has the sweep and power of Asimov’s FOUNDATION TRILOGY.” [Ed. note: Scott narrated the FOUNDATION TRILOGY for Books on Tape: FOUNDATION, FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE, and THE SECOND FOUNDATION.] The most recent print edition says, “Full and satisfying. The society of the far future is superbly extrapolated, the action well-integrated, the characters interesting and idiosyncratic…” This from ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION. Hmmm, given my love of Asimov’s work, it’s no wonder this series appealed to me.

Still, despite these recommendations, even my girlfriend Wendy was just the slightest bit skeptical herself, but rather than offering her any kind of guarantee, I did something a bit sneakier: I hired her to proof all my audiobooks. (Proofing is when someone listens to the recording while following along with the text, making sure I didn’t make any mistakes, and that the final product is word-perfect.) The result? She was quickly and completely hooked. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t bug me to hurry downstairs into my studio to finish the damn thing so she can find out what happens between Alexand and Adrien.

Click here to hear Scott read from SHADOW OF THE SWAN and buy the digital download

So, there you go. I’ll repeat my offer one last time: Buy THE PHOENIX LEGACY. Don’t like it? I’ll replace it at no cost to you.

And that’s by no means the last incentive I’ll be offering. Volume Three of this series, HOUSE OF THE WOLF, will be arriving in just under a month, and if you’ve purchased the first two volumes of the series and want to finish it off with the third, you’ll be receiving a discount for doing so. A similar incentive will also be in place for the Covenant series. More details to come when the final volumes become available.

Okay, it’s time for me to get back to work, but I want to let everyone know what’s coming in just about a week here on Scott Brick Presents. For months I’ve been promising people I’ll be doing a blog on how to get into this wonderful world of audiobook narration, and at long last, it’s finally on its way. My next entry will be all about how to create an audiobook demo, filled with as much wisdom as I can muster on the subject. Hope it helps. See you back here soon.

Thanks for listening,

Scott Brick

SCOTT BRICK PRESENTS: SWORD OF THE LAMB, VOLUME ONE OF THE PHOENIX LEGACY BY M.K. WREN, ON SALE NOWOr, An Audiobook Narrator Learns You Can Never Judge A Book By Its Cover, But It’s Possible To Judge One By Its Title

Scott — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:57:29 +0000

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Right click here to download this Brickcast.

Years ago, there was this awesome science fiction bookstore in Santa Monica, A Change of Hobbit. The lady who ran it was pretty surly… she proclaimed herself “The Hobbitch” and it was pretty close to accurate… but man, did she have a jaw-dropping inventory of books. It was always the highlight of my week to head in there and browse. Through her shelves I discovered David Brin, Guy Gavriel Kay and Gene Wolfe, and it was between the stacks in that store that I personally met the man who made me love to read, Roger Zelazny. It was an amazing place, and even now when I drive by their old location, it pains me that they’re not here anymore.

Alas, the day came in the early ’90s when they had to shut their doors. Before I knew it, their amazing selection was rapidly dwindling away to nothing because of an “Everything Must Go” sale. I went in there on one of their last days in business and took a look around. Pretty sparse. There were huge gaps on the shelves, so any hope I’d had of finding titles by my favorite authors pretty much went out the window; it was only the more obscure books that they had at this point, a bunch of stuff by guys I’d never heard of. Yet I told myself this was a good thing: I didn’t want to get into any reading ruts, and the idea of being exposed to new, great authors was exciting.

But how do you know which authors are great when you’ve never heard of any of them…?

Click here to hear Scott read from SWORD OF THE LAMB
and buy the digital download

I decided to just play the association game. If a title struck me for whatever obscure reason, I’d give it a try. And that’s actually how I discovered Dave Wolverton for the first time that day: I saw a copy of ON MY WAY TO PARADISE, and it had the most amazing cover quote by an author I’d ever seen, this one by Orson Scott Card, an author I’ve always been passionate about. Card praised Wolverton relentlessly, saying he was an author to be reckoned with, and given what a huge fan I’ve always been of Card’s work, I knew my chances of enjoying an author that HE enjoyed so much was pretty high. The association game was a pretty safe bet in this case, but I wasn’t satisfied to take only one new book home that day; at the very least I needed two. I started casting my eyes around for another one, any one, any title that seemed to speak to me for whatever ephemeral, even ambiguous reason.

And then I saw it: SWORD OF THE LAMB by M.K. Wren.

I came really close to never picking this book up that day. Frankly, the cover was awful, and despite the old cliché, I really WANTED to judge this book by its cover, that’s how bad it was. But the subtitle of the book hit me: Book One of THE PHOENIX LEGACY. See, the X-Men had long been my favorite comic book, and Phoenix was my favorite X-Man. Seeing as how I was playing the association game, well, how could I turn down an association like that?

Click here to hear Scott read from
SWORD OF THE LAMB
and buy the digital download

Seriously, that’s the only reason I bought it: cuz it had a similar name to a favorite comic book character of mine. Don’t I sound highbrow?

Thing is, there were two other books right next to it, volumes two and three of this same PHOENIX LEGACY. Shouldn’t I pick up those other ones…? I thought to myself.

Nah. How do I know I’ll even like volume one?

I was an idiot.

How so? Cuz about six months later I finally picked up SWORD OF THE LAMB, and was blown away. I loved it right from the beginning – I loved its format, I loved its pathos, I loved its political intrigue, and more than anything else, I loved its characters. The relationship between the two central characters, Alexand DeKoven Woolf and his brother Richard, is one of the greatest I’ve ever read. It is amazingly well-executed, rich in detail and nuance, and unashamedly sentimental. I fell into this book so quickly, so completely, that I was about ten pages away from the end before I realized what a dilemma I faced.

See, I was dying to start the next part, but I hadn’t bought either of the next two volumes. How was I going to learn what happened next?

Thankfully the Hobbitch told me about another science fiction bookstore in LA that day before she closed, and even though they’d been competitors, she urged all of her clients to patronize this other store because it was an independent and deserved our support. So I ran out to this other dealer, Dangerous Visions in Van Nuys, another amazing store that’s sadly gone now, but thankfully, when I checked their shelves under W for Wren, there they were, parts two and three of the Phoenix Legacy. As I pulled them off the shelves, an impulse told me to grab their copy of volume one, as well, even though I already had it. And so began a tradition with me, one I’ll explain in a little bit.

As you might have guessed, I tore through the next two volumes just as quickly as the first, and found myself profoundly moved. THE PHOENIX LEGACY is a huge, sprawling epic of political intrigue in the 33rd Century, in which mankind has witnessed amazing technological advancements, yet its society has devolved into a new kind of feudalism. It’s a tale of class struggles across solar systems, it’s THE WINDS OF WAR set in outer space, it’s A TALE OF TWO CITIES meets DUNE, it’s… it’s its own unique creation, a gem that most people, even most science fiction fans, don’t know about.

I’ve asked myself why this is, why this gem exists in bookstores everywhere but has largely gone ignored, but it defies explanation. Maybe it’s because of those damn covers; they really were bad. (Come to find out those were re-issue covers: the first ones were even WORSE!) But hey, lots of authors have survived bad covers. Look at Orson Scott Card’s ENDER’S GAME and SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD. Talk about having nothing whatsoever to do with the stories themselves. And that’s not even getting into his earlier books like THE WORTHING CHRONICLE or CAPITOL.

To be honest, in doing some research on M.K. Wren, I may have found the reason some people haven’t heard of her science fiction series: it’s because the majority of the work she’d done previously had been mysteries. Having worked extensively in both bookstores and the publishing industry, I can tell you there’s an inherent distrust of authors who change genres, tons of resistance among fans and publishers alike. Even Stephen King has run into opposition when he wanted to write outside of his own genre. Who knows, maybe people didn’t pay enough attention to THE PHOENIX LEGACY because its author was a transplant to the genre…? It’s just a guess, but it’s as good as any other, I suppose.

Whatever the reason, I can tell you this with absolute conviction: whoever didn’t pay enough attention to this series has suffered for that decision. THE PHOENIX LEGACY is an amazing saga, and people are lessened for not having read it.

Every once in a while, I’ll run across people who’ve not only read it, but their response has been exactly like mine: like me, they’ll pick up stray volumes of the series, any volume they happen across on bookstore shelves, even if they already own a copy. And once they’ve amassed a complete trilogy among these extras, they give them away as gifts. I’ve done that multiple times, and the people I’ve given them to have always loved them. I’ve turned family members onto this series, I’ve turned girlfriends onto it, I once even turned my pastor onto THE PHOENIX LEGACY. Women especially dig it, I think because it’s got a great romance at its heart. Trust me, if you’re looking for good sci-fi, if you’re looking to discover new, great authors, or if you’re looking for a new series, a nice big piece of literature you can really sink your teeth into, then you’ve come to the right place.

Anyway, you’ve heard this often enough from me: I love this book, and I hope you will too! Now it’s time for me to put up or shut up. (Hmmm, a guy who talks for a living, I don’t think shutting up will be much of an option here, so I’ll put up instead.) Here it is, just in time for the holidays. Wanna give that science fiction fan in your life a great new series they’re sure to love? Then start them off with THE PHOENIX LEGACY, available for download right this very minute.

Click here to hear Scott read from SWORD OF THE LAMB
and buy the digital download

And for those of you who already love this series, you should be aware of a really cool bonus feature I’m proud to be able to present: an in-depth interview with the author, M.K. Wren, her first in years. The interview is scheduled to take place this coming month, so we’ll have it available as a free download soon thereafter. In it, she’ll talk about this trilogy, her other works, and what might be in store for the future of this series. Talking with her on the phone the other day was a real thrill, and she couldn’t have been lovelier. She’s extremely excited to see this series hit audio, so look forward to a fun and lively conversation.

You know, looking back on that last day at A Change of Hobbit, I walked away with two books, by two authors I’d never heard of before, M.K. Wren and Dave Wolverton, and they both wound up being amazing. Man, I was two for two that day! I should’ve grabbed an armful of titles.

And if you’re wondering about the possibility of seeing Mr. Wolverton’s work available on audio from this here website in the not-too-distant future, all I can say is, keep your eyes on this blog.

Thanks for listening,

Scott Brick

Finally, Volume Two of Stephen R. Donaldson’s THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT THE UNBELIEVER, THE ILLEARTH WAR, Hits Audio!Or, an audiobook narrator shakes his head in wonderment as he witnesses the second installment in his favorite fantasy series become available in audiobook for the first time

Scott — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:26:31 +0000

Want Scott to narrate this blog to you?

Right click here to download this Brickcast.

–> CLICK HERE TO BUY THE ILLEARTH WAR! <–

I knew this day would come. It’s been circled in red ink on my calendar ever since May 1st, 2008. I’ve looked forward to it with great anticipation at times, and at other times with dread. Those were usually the nights when I fell asleep bemoaning how many titles I’d committed to narrate that month, wondering how many hours of sleep I’d have to jettison from my schedule in order to finish them all – and THE ILLEARTH WAR – on time. (But don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, just tired.)

This is the day when part two of Stephen R. Donaldson’s amazing CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT THE UNBELIEVER, my favorite fantasy series of all time, becomes available as an audiobook. As anyone who’s read my post of May 1st can attest, this has been a dream come true. I’ve longed to record these books for twenty years, and now, finally, I’ve got my chance.

I’ve read this series a number of times, but it had been at least five or six years since the last time I’d read this particular volume, THE ILLEARTH WAR (click here to listen to a clip). I recalled various things about it in general: in the first volume, Lord Foul warned the Lords of Revelstone that war would come upon them soon, and in THE ILLEARTH WAR, he takes it to them in forceful, provocative, and horrifying ways. I recalled that, as its title implies, the book has a number of battle scenes in it, that the specter of war is pervasive even when nothing’s going on, like Fortinbras in “Hamlet,” looming imminently in the wings.

The thing I had forgotten, however, was how lovely a book this is. It is, perhaps, the most emotionally engaging book in the entire series.

Okay, I’ll admit that when I’m narrating books, there are the occasional moments when I can’t go on, when I get choked up and can’t continue without blubbering. With certain books you expect that: love stories, classics, or nonfiction accounts of tragedies, like REPORT FROM GROUND ZERO, the book I did on 9/11. With those books, tears are part of the bargain, the tax you pay on the trade. They’re understandable, even expected.

But a book with “war” in the title? Who expects tears there?

Be ready for it, this book will nail your hide to the wall. Character arcs that began in volume one begin to progress, until before you know it, you’re a puddle on the wall of your studio and you gotta run out for more Kleenex, only you can’t cuz your girlfriend is upstairs keeping the dogs really quiet since you’re recording and you don’t want to waste the silence…

Uh… I mean, well, maybe that won’t happen to YOU. Maybe that was more, uh, me. Hmmm. Projecting really sucks, doesn’t it?

Anyway, I kid about it, but trust me when I say, this book has got some harrowing adventure, and even more harrowing character development. Man, I wish you’d already listened to it so we could discuss it here, I so want to share with you my favorite parts, but I can’t cuz it’ll give stuff away. I envy you, getting to experience all this for the first time.

Well, enough from me, get to reading! Er, listening. You can click here to listen to a clip from THE ILLEARTH WAR, and if you like it you can buy the download. Remember, like all Brick By Brick audiobooks, this is the ONLY place you can get THE ILLEARTH WAR.

I truly appreciate all the help and support you’ve shown by investing your hard-earned dough on volume one in this series, and making the audiobook version of THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT a success. We’re now two-thirds of the way through the First Chronicles, and it only gets better from here. Part Three, THE POWER THAT PRESERVES, comes out April 1st, then after that, it’s on to the Second Chronicles!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to record STAVE TWO: THE FIRST OF THE THREE SPIRITS in A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Then it’s off to bed. Before nodding off, I’m sure I’ll glance at the next two dates circled in red on my calendar: Thanksgiving, and December 1st. Two new books in less than two weeks? Ah well. Sleep isn’t mandatory, is it? More just a suggestion…?

Thanks for listening,

Scott Brick

Stephen R. Donaldson’s FATAL REVENANT Audiobook Is Now On Sale!

Scott — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:02:55 +0000

–> CLICK HERE TO BUY FATAL REVENANT! <–

No big post today, ladies and gentlemen, just a quick note to announce that the new audiobook for Stephen R. Donaldson’s FATAL REVENANT is now on sale!

Yes, the latest novel in Stephen’s THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT THE UNBELIEVER – as well as the second audiobook from Brick by Brick Audio – is now ready for your listening pleasure. I hope you like it as much as I do. You can click here to go to my store and listen to a clip from the book, then buy the download.

And, while I’m very happy to have both FATAL REVENANT and LORD FOUL’S BANE for you in one week, I hope you’ll understand if I don’t make it a habit. Someone told me that sleep is actually a good thing…

If you haven’t had a chance yet, let me direct you to my previous post where I talk about what Stephen’s Thomas Covenant series has meant to me. Click here to go to that blog entry.

I’m going to post a couple quick blogs — one about a quirk when importing the files into iTunes, the other on a survey on the MP3 file sizes I’ve been using — and then take a long winter’s (spring’s) nap.

While I’m resting, why don’t you drop me an e-mail at scott@scottbrickpresents.com or a comment on the website to let me know what you think of these two books?

Thanks for listening,

Scott

FINALLY, Stephen R. Donaldson’s LORD FOUL’S BANE Hits Audio!Or, An audiobook narrator flagellates himself for taking so damn long getting THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT THE UNBELIEVER on audio

Scott — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:54:15 +0000

Want Scott to narrate this blog to you?
Right click here to download this Brickcast.

May 1^st, 2008. Mean anything to you? Maybe not, maybe it’s nothing more than any other Thursday, maybe you can’t think of a single reason to put a red X on that date in your calendar. But believe me, I can. It’s a huge day in the Brick household, my friends, a day I’ve hoped for lo these last 25 years, a day I’ve worked toward daily for almost a year now.

It’s the day THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT become available on audio. That’s right: both Part One, LORD FOUL’S BANE and the latest installment, Part Eight, FATAL REVENANT, are now audiobooks from Brick by Brick audio. (There will be a slight pause while Stephen R. Donaldson fans rejoice, and while I catch my breath. It’s been a lot of work.)

Click here to go to the Store to purchase and download LORD FOUL’S BANE right now. LORD FOUL’S BANE is EXCLUSIVE to ScottBrickPresents right now, you can’t get it anywhere else!

I first read this series back in college. I’ll never forget the day I spent studying for finals my freshman year in UCLA’s University Research Library. I had a huge dilemma on my hands: study for the Theater History class I was so woefully unprepared for, or learn Covenant’s fate at the end of LORD FOUL’S BANE.

Wasn’t much of a choice. I sacrificed my grades that quarter, because the idea of living with the anxiety of not knowing what happened to the Quest for the Staff of Law just didn’t seem plausible

I’ve never regretted my decision.

I learned a funny thing about those books: they sit with you long after the plots of most novels fade. A literature professor of mine once said the mark of a good fictional character is whether or not the readers spend time asking themselves, “I wonder what this character is doing now?” after they turn the final page. If that’s indeed the benchmark of literary success, then Donaldson succeeded wildly with Thomas Covenant. His dilemmas became my own, his ruminations on power and impotence resonated forcefully in my own relationships, unfortunately, and his bitter growl “Hellfire!” was never far from my mind when things went poorly in life.

I also learned I’m not alone in this. There are a TON of Covenant fans out there.

At first, I’d find them somewhat stealthily, unexpectedly. The first time was at a party when someone showed off a white gold ring (a major plot point in the Covenant saga). I mentioned the series to this person and was met with a questioning glance: have you read it, did you enjoy it, did the books resonate as much with you as they did with me, that look seemed to say. A nod, a narrowing of the eyes and a sly smile told me I’d just met a brother, a fellow member of an elite fraternity: someone who’d walked in Thomas Covenant’s shoes as I had.

Over the years, membership in that club expanded, and I found myself discussing its many virtues with acquaintances, girlfriends, even my mother got hooked on the series. There’s even a website devoted entirely to meeting other Covenant/Donaldson fanatics, Kevinswatch.com, a message board I recently (and proudly) joined. Yet with all the new members in the Covenant club I met, that sly feeling of exclusivity never faded; that feeling that you had participated in something huge, monumental; that you’d read something so painfully lovely that it felt wrong to refer to it as a mere BOOK. I feel it still, all these years later.

Of course now, the context has changed somewhat. Now, instead of being the casual reader, I’m what you’d call a PROFESSIONAL reader. I get to travel around the country and give talks, lectures, seminars and the like, sharing with people just what a cool job I have narrating audiobooks, and at these appearances I’m often asked to read a few pages of something, anything, to show the good folks what I do. And for years now, I almost always read a page from LORD FOUL’S BANE, my favorite selection from the entire series, in fact: page 182, where Covenant and the giant Saltheart Foamfollower sail upriver to Revelstone. Foamfollower asks a simple question about storytelling, which inspires an exchange that’s both heart wrenching and lyrical. (Right-click here to download an MP3 where Scott reads his favorite page). Whenever I read this, people always ask me, “Where can I get that, it’s so beautiful, where can I read the whole book?”

The first time this happened was a few years back at a lobster bake in Maine put on by the publisher of AudioFile Magazine. I was asked to read a few pages, so, since I was narrating RUNES OF THE EARTH for Penguin at the time, that being the seventh Covenant book and the first one I’d ever done professionally, I thought for nostalgia’s sake I’d trot out something from the first volume. Well, author Ben Cheever was there that day – Ben is the son of John Cheever, and author of THE PLAGARIST, as well as the editor of the recent LETTERS OF JOHN CHEEVER – and he came up to me afterward and said, “You’re recording that right now?” No, I told him, I’m doing part seven in the series at the moment; this is from part one. “Well, where can I get parts one through six?” Cheever asked. “I’ll buy them right now.”

That was the first time I ever considered doing what I did: optioning the entire series, and filling in all the volumes. Next time I see Cheever, I’m buying him a beer. And giving him complimentary copies.

Because you see, this is the definition of a labor of love. Recording these books doesn’t even seem like work to me. All I can think about is someone experiencing this story for the first time and being blessed by it as I was. That’s enough to make me forget about the long hours and the stifling heat of my non-air-conditioned studio. And getting to work with an author as generous as Stephen R. Donaldson, all to make sure that the pronunciations of this complex language and culture are accurate, is a fan’s dream come true. Stephen has spent hours on the phone, going through an ever-expanding glossary of terms that, by the end of the latest volume, ran to 593 entries. That’s nearly a hundred more than DUNE, folks.

Well, as SPINAL TAP’s good friend Marty DiBergi once said, “Hey, enough of my yakkin’!” It’s been a great deal of fun planning and presenting this gift, and now it’s ready. Off come the wrappings, off comes the tag that says “Do not open ‘til May 1^st”, out comes the card. To you, from me. Here is the first installment in the Thomas Covenant saga, LORD FOUL’S BANE, followed very shortly by the eighth and latest novel in the series, FATAL REVENANT, by Stephen R. Donaldson. Plans are to record the intervening titles at six month intervals, all of them ultimately becoming available by the time Donaldson finishes the series with Part Ten.

[Another plug from Mr. Admin, your friendly webmaster: Click here to go to the Store and purchase and download LORD FOUL'S BANE. And remember, LORD FOUL'S BANE is EXCLUSIVE to ScottBrickPresents, you can't get it anywhere else! 'Nuff said.]

I hope you enjoy listening to LORD FOUL’S BANE and FATAL REVENANT as much as I did reading them, the first time for myself and now for you. Leave a comment below or drop me an e-mail to scott@scottbrickpresents.com and let me know what you think.

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s been a bit hectic getting all the last-minute details ironed out, so I’m going to go be unconscious for a while.

Thanks for listening,

Scott

A Taste of Stephen R. Donaldson’s LORD FOUL’S BANE

Scott — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:48:22 +0000

I’m stuck in the studio this weekend, so unfortunately there’s no time for a long post. But I did want to give you a little something listen to.

As I previously mentioned, the audiobooks for both Stephen R. Donaldson’s FATAL REVENANT: VOLUME TWO OF THE LAST CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT and his LORD FOUL’S BANE: THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT THE UNBELIEVER, BOOK 1 will be available on May 1st. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to get these two great books to you – the first two audiobooks from my new company– and I think you’ll be very pleased with the results.

To thank you for your patience and enthusiasm, as well as whet your appetite for what’s to come, I’ve posted the opening chapter from LORD FOUL’S BANE below.

The first novel in his long-running Thomas Covenant series, Stephen’s LORD FOUL’S BANE holds a special place in my heart. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did recording it.

Listen to how it all began for Thomas Covenant!
Right-click here to download the first chapter of
LORD FOUL’S BANE.

Take care, and I hope it’s cooler in your neck of the woods than it is here in sunny Los Angeles (current temp = 92 degrees F).

Best,

Scott

April 13, 2008