Wanted on Audio

I'm almost halfway through recording an audio version of Wanted, which has been a very interesting experience. I've just finished reading Chapter 18, and the midpoint (based on page count) is about three quarters through Chapter 19. The big question is going to be whether I have any voice left by the time I've got to the end...

I don't do 'voices'. At least I'm not doing voices. I had a go at the first two chapters, and since more than half the characters are female... well, you can imagine the result. Put it this way, it wasn't pretty.

Anyhow, once it's all edited together, it'll come out somewhere in the region of sixteen hours, which is ballpark for this length of audiobook. However you won't be able to buy it as an audiobook. No, I'll be releasing it as a podcast, in roughly thirty-something weekly instalments. For free.

Yes, you heard right: It'll be free. Okay, you have to listen to my voice, and as I said, I'm not doing the voices, and it'll be the best part of 9 months before you get to the end. But still, free. (And there might be the odd ad in there too.)

Keep an eye out here or on http://www.tim-arnot.com or on the Facebook page for further details.

The Well of Lost Plots

The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is book three in the Thursday next series. Swindon has become too hot, and so Thursday decides to hide out in book world, where she gets a job within the Well of Lost Plots (where unpublished novels languish) as part of the Character Exchange Programme, as a character in the unpublished novel, Caversham Heights. (funnily enough, I was in Caversham earlier today...)

We get all the witty dialogue and characters out of classic literature that we've seen in the previous books (not that this, or anything else will ever persuade me to *like* Dickens or Bronte - the horror of them is too deeply embedded), but the discussion on the "had had and that that problem" was simply priceless.

But I knew I was going to like this as soon as Thursday set foot aboard the one-engined Sunderland she called home. Why? Because my mum worked on Sunderlands for Short Bros during the war, and consequently it has long been one of my favourite aircraft, and any book with a flying boat in it (even a non-functional one!) will automatically get my vote!

Fforde's sense of humour tickles me in just the right places, and although I haven't read (and don't necessarily intend to read) all the classics he references, that doesn't in any way diminish the experience. Can't wait for the next one.

BTW the version I "read" was the unabridged audiobook from Audible.co.uk, narrated by Gabrielle Kruger, and I'd definitely recommend this format and narrator if you're interested in listening rather than reading.

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The Dirty Streets of Heaven

The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bobby Dollar isn't your average angel! Sure, he takes the occasional trip to Heaven, but his job as an advocate - arguing the fate of the recently deceased - keeps him pretty busy on Earth, and he's more than happy to spend the rest of his time propping up the bar with his fellow immortals. Until the day a soul goes missing, presumed stolen by "the other side".
A new chapter in the war between heaven and hell is about to open. And Bobby is right in the middle of it, with only a desirable but deadly demon to aid him.

This is the first Tad Williams novel I've read, and I really enjoyed it. Loved the gumshoe aspect to the story, and an interesting take on angels and demons, although there were quite a few seeming inconsistencies between the way heaven & hell operated, and their relative capabilities.

The narrator of the audiobook was brilliant , APART from his rendering of the Solihull sisters, who would appear never to have been anywhere near Birmingham in their entire lives. Just imagine they were called the San Antonio sisters, and they had Montreal accents... Well you get the picture. Otherwise, as I say it was pretty good.

Available from Audible.

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