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Shocking. Intriguing. Compelling. These and other adjectives could be used to describe
the impressive rise in popularity of audiobooks, especially among drivers. Now a
multi-billion dollar industry growing at a rate faster than print books, audiobooks
combine the appeal of skillful storytelling with the freedom to do other things while
listening to a good tale well told. Things like walking, gardening, cooking, driving, and
flying. There is the radio, of course, with Top 40 tunes and golden oldies playing
endlessly amid all those annoying high pressure commercials. But at some point boredom
sets in, the mind goes numb, and as the saying goes, that's a terrible thing to waste.
Enter audio entertainment. Books on cassette now come in all flavors, for every taste.
Genre fiction, literary works, biography, self help --- take your pick. With almost a
hundred publishers now doing audio productions, the availability of both new and old
titles is vast and growing, in both abridged and unabridged formats and on both cassette
and CD. And the future of audiobooks looks exciting too. Already Blackstone Audiobooks has
over 50 unabridged titles in MP3 format, up to 12 hours on a single CD. Recorded Books and
Books on Tape are soon to follow. So, while the industry is dominated by Random House,
Warner, and Simon & Schuster, there are dozens of smaller publishers doing high
quality work as well.
Weeding through all the possibilities to find the best of these is the job of a reviewer,
and as such I've been privileged to interview some of the narrators whose voices and
acting talents add value to the experience of "reading" without eye strain.
Names like Frank Muller, George Guidall, Barbara Rosenblat, and Dick Hill may not be
familiar to those who have not yet tried audiobooks, but they are stars in their own right
along with the more famous film actors who also read into a microphone, like Burt
Reynolds, Ed Asner, Tony Roberts, Lynn Redgrave, and John Rubenstein. A great reader can
make a mediocre book sound good, and a bad reader can make a good book sound bad. The
trick is in finding the best readers for the best books, and when the marriage is great,
the awards come. These include Audie Awards from the Audio Publishers Association (of
which I'm one of many judges), the Earphones Awards from Audiofile magazine, and
the Reviewers Choice Awards from Audiobookcafe.com.
Now for some recommendations. These are independently published titles that are worth
purchasing, not just renting. Check off those that interest you and at least rent them,
and you may be hooked. Your sources for rentals are not just libraries, which tend to
carry mainly older titles, but also locations on the road, or online at www.earful.com.
Books in Motion carries unabridged originals at 300+ truck stops, with a range of prices
and times. And Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores has 423 locations inside their
restaurants in 40 states. In CB's case, you purchase a title at one location, and may
return it at another for a refund minus $3 per week the book is kept. If you can't find
the title you want, type in the publisher's name in a search engine and go to their
website.
Having heard Peter Bart's book WHO KILLED HOLLYWOOD? (Blackstone Audiobooks; ISBN:
07861196321), I'm wondering if the book industry hasn't gone the same direction. In
Hollywood it's all about mega hits now --- blockbusters with special effects instead of
story, cranked out on an assembly line. Meanwhile the actors and top writers are demanding
more and more while offering less and less. To escape the dismal flood of trendy but
unoriginal scripts and books vying to be the next megaseller, I am now listening to Radio
Spirit's THE 60 GREATEST SCIENCE FICTION SHOWS, science fiction chosen by Ray Bradbury
(ISBN: 1570193770). These stories are by the pioneers of the SF genre, and while their
presentation seems hokey today, utilizing melodramatic organ music, at least the stories
were original at the time. Now it's mostly about serial killers, natural disasters, legal
dog and pony shows, or battles of high tech weaponry! Come on, Hollywood and New York,
slash us a break.
24 HOURS by Greg Iles is read by Dick Hill. When a young girl is
kidnapped, her parents can't go to the police. Hill deserves every accolade for his
performance of a terrified child alone in the woods with a cell phone. If you have kids of
your own, this is a story you'll be thanking me and cursing me at the same time for
steering you to...because all your fingernails will be gone by the end.
THE WORLD'S SHORTEST STORIES, edited by Steve Moss. Each of these stories is only 55 words
long, with a twist, so don't snooze or you'll lose...in more ways than one! (Listen &
Live Audio, ISBN: 1885408307)
For a slapstick jaunt into hyperspace with Marina Sirtis of "Star Trek" (and 40
other actors), board the FLIGHT
OF THE BUMBLE BEE. This one is as if "Star Trek" and Star Wars were
spoofed by Monty Python.
You know the well worn detective novel setup that opens with a new or nearly bankrupt P.I.
looking for clients? Well, it gets an unusual twist in ANONYMOUS
REX by Eric Garcia. Imagine a gumshoe who is actually a dinosaur. No, really. A
Velociraptor in a latex suit, pretending to be human. Actually, dinosaurs faked their
extinction in this storyline and now wander the earth in disguise. A gimmick? Perhaps.
Addicted to the herb basil, Vincent the P.I. dinosaur now wanders New York, trying to
solve his partner's murder while staying out of Herbaholics Anonymous. Now if only this
comic novel depicted lawyers as sharks, it might actually be believable.
Robert Jordan, the bestselling author of THE PATH OF DAGGERS, has given new life to
Conan the Barbarian in THE
FURTHER CHRONICLES OF CONAN. This pulp fiction trilogy, as read by Bob Loza, is
populated with demon gods, muscled warriors, and seductive high priestesses. Jordan is an
appropriate choice as new chronicler of the series, having written many volumes of high
quality imaginative literature. I just wish that the lush and imaginative writing of the
originator of Conan --- the late Robert E. Howard --- was available too.
CALCULATED RISK by Denise Tiller is an award winning mystery about a
female actuary in Newport Beach, CA whose life comes unraveled when dead bodies start
turning up and she comes across a living rape victim on the beach. Then Liz finds out that
she has a half sister and that her sister is missing. The connection between her sister,
the murders, and the serial rapist is a Mardi Gras mask, and Liz, who owns a "black
belt in mathematics," uses her analytical skills to calculate what's going on here.
The best thing about this production is that it is full cast and sound, a combination of
narration and acted dialogue, with Kathy Garver at the helm. Garver evokes a familiar
no-nonsense style of telling this enhanced story and is therefore believable as Liz, while
the supporting cast and publisher each deserve kudos for their work at making an
interesting story sound more interesting than it is in print.
Dick Wilkinson has a versatile deep voice reading Dalton
Walker's BLOOD RIVAL (Shiloh Book 3) about an old west tycoon who hires a bounty
hunter to bring back his daughter. Wilkinson is the best of the Otis Audio narrators doing
western fiction because his voice is both appropriate for the genre and he possesses the
acting talent to generate distinctive character voices in dialogue. Otis Audio's trademark
guitar-strumming transitions are augmented by occasional gunshot or riding sound effects
at key intervals.
In the world of detective fiction there are P.I.s and there are police investigators. The
former tend to be freewheeling, while the latter grudgingly go by the book. In GROUND
LIONS by Lou Campanozzi we have another series, this one featuring Lt. Mike Amato,
whose search for the killer of a kid he once knew redefines the irony of lost innocence.
David Griffin narrates this tale of mob disguises with a nicotine voice paced to deliver
the punches. Occasional sound effects enhance a production that is appropriately
atmospheric.
Winner of an Audie for best unabridged fiction, THE
BREAKER by Kit Denton will remind you of the movie Breaker Morant in its
telling of the story of Harry Morant, a tragic but charismatic adventurer who was executed
in 1902 for the purported murder of civilians during the Boer War. Flawlessly performed by
Terence Donovan, every nuance and dialect is captured in this sweeping, compelling
audiobook that takes the listener to Australia, South Africa, and beyond.
Michael Somers has returned to the Pacific Northwest to uncover secrets from his past. No
one trusts him because of a night of violence perpetrated by him years ago. Then he
rescues a wounded falcon and, while nursing it to health, befriends a lonely boy who
hasn't spoken a word since witnessing his father's death in a hunting accident. Now they
face a hunter again as they prepare to release the falcon back into the wild. A first
novel by Stuart Harrison, THE SNOW FALCON is about redemption and healing, and
takes its lesson from nature itself. An excellent read, performed by the talented Dick
Hill.
A romance with adventure in the mix by the author of REBECCA, here is the story of a
pirate who wins the heart of Lady St. Columb in 17th Century England. Read by a masterful
English actor, John Castle, FRENCHMAN'S
CREEK by Daphne du Maurier will be of particular interest to women.
Jason Robards and Judith Ivey star in a play on tape, PARK
YOUR CAR IN HARVARD YARD, about an impossibly strict ex-high school teacher who is now
dying and whose new housekeeper has a motive of her own for taking the job. Originally on
Broadway and starring these same two actors, this powerful and emotional drama by Israel
Horovitz is witty and compassionate...a tour-de-force, which at its climax, cannot fail to
move you.
THE ENDURANCE by Caroline Alexander is read by Michael Tezler and
Martin Ruben, and in it, Shackleton's legendary Antarctic expedition is chronicled. An
Audie Award winner, this true story has the feel of an epic. Also from Highbridge is THE
KILLER ANGELS by Michael Shaara, read by George Hearn. The definitive Civil War novel,
true to history and grand in scale.
Surely the easiest way to break into audiobooks is by listening to a book with a full cast
and sound effects. SLEEPING
BEAUTY by Ross MacDonald has 35 actors in it, including Harris Yulin, Ed Asner, and
Veronica Cartwright. This Audie Award winner is a rare treat --- a fully dramatized
unabridged mystery running 7 hours, like an audio film noir. Costly to produce, it is
worth every penny.
They say if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself...or at least ask
for it. So I approached the editors of BlueMurder.com with the idea for a CD of mystery
road stories, and set them up with master narrator Dick Hill, who also reads his own first
published story. The result? SIX FOR THE ROAD, an audio "six pack" of mystery
stories for your driving entertainment. Here, editor is "head bartender,"
narrator is "designated driver," and producer is "arresting officer."
There's a full cast radio drama included on the CD, while road sound effects and stunning
artwork enhance the original production. (Blue Murder Press; ISBN: 0967880963)
--- Jonathan Lowe (JonFLowe@earthlink.net)
Jonathan Lowe reviews audiobooks for Audiofile, Cracker Barrel, and Audiobookcafe.com,
and is author of several novels on audio, including POSTAL, CARIBBEAN COUP, and DARK FIRE.
(c)
Copyright 2001, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
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