Hello, everyone, and welcome to 2019! I hope it’s a great year for everyone. On the professional front it looks like it will be a busy one for me; I hope to have Wearing the Cape #8 (still tentatively titled Repercussions) finished for a spring release. The printed edition of Wearing the Cape: Barlow’s Guide & The B-Files is at the printers and I’ll finally be filling the last part of the Kickstarter campaign over the next month. I’m very proud of the sourcebook, and also proud of the creativity of the readers who’s characters went into the book. They came up with heroes (and even a few villains) I’d never have dreamed of.
One big milestone, which arrived in late 2018 and continues to roll forth in 2019, is the Wearing the Cape audiobook! Tantor has contracted with me for the first four books of the series, and Book #1 has debuted with excellent ratings. Check it out on Amazon:
Tantor is now working on Villains Inc., and here’s the humorous bit; while I’m glad that fans of my books who’ve been asking about the audiobooks for a couple of years now are finally getting them, I can’t listen to them myself.
Seriously, I can’t listen to audiobooks. I’ve tried to listen to audiobooks, both fiction and non-fiction, and I can’t. After the first couple of minutes my mind starts to wander far afield and next thing I know I’ve missed whole “paragraphs” or “pages.” So I go back to what I last remember, and . . . yeah, it doesn’t work out. It’s very weird and not a little frustrating.
But between my books being published in German, the audiobooks, and future projects I can’t talk about now, things are happening. Among other events, I’m going to have my first Guest of Honor appearance, at VCon 43 in Vancouver this October.
From the Guest of Honor list, it’s obvious they’re focusing on the growing Superhero Fiction genre this year and it’s a huge honor to be tapped for it. It should be quite the experience.
But that’s all in the future. Back to today and writing at least 3,000 words.
MGH
Marion G. Harmon, A Writer in Vegas. 
Finally! Someone who gets how I feel about audiobooks! Mostly. They actually help put me to sleep, most of the time. The only audiobook I ever finished was Christmas Carol by Patrick Stewart. But I knew that one well enough to not need to rewind for missed sections.
I pushed for an audiobook! Me! And I said that since Hope is a soprano, the reader would need a voice in that range. I bought my copy right away.
I haven’t finished listening to it, yet.
I love audiobooks. There are nearly a hundred in my libraries at Audible and Downpour. I listen frequently, and sometimes read along with the narrator. I have Jennifer Crusie’s books, Lois Bujold’s books and novellas, most of Flint’s Ring of Fire series, a lot of the Dresden files (James Marster – Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer – is a fabulous narrator), and Patricia C. Wrede’s Books, among others.
I’m working on Wearing the Cape audio. I’ll share a critique, when I’m done. And I’m sorry, but I don’t think it will be five stars.
Whatever. I love the series and I’m looking forward to reading Repurcussions. Be well, Marion G. Harmon.
An update on that critique – pushing 4.5 stars. Her voice was different from my usual audiobook narrator, but she grew on me. Halfway through, now, and enjoying it. Wish I didn’t have the book nearly committed to memory, though.
I am not the best critic, so let me get the obvious items out of the way.
Narrated by: K.F. Lim. I don’t recall anything else narrated by Lim, but I frankly hope she becomes the voice of Astra in the series. At the same time, I hope a different person, with a lower voice, does Artemis/Bite Me. Just because. A test of a narrator is can they capture the emotions of the story in the voice(s) used. Kim could have done a better job in some of the most intense scenes. ****
Mechanically, I noted (only) two instances where lines got repeated. Perfectly tolerable. Intolerable would have been dropped text or paragraphs. I joked about wishing I didn’t have the text nearly memorized? I’d have noticed gaps. No gaps. *****
Overall experience. Not everyone can listen to audiobooks. I can. I love them. Someday, I’ll get a car radio that lets me plug in thumbdrives of books. This as a welcome addition to my collections. *****
I recently bought the Villains, Inc audio book.
Well I hope you enjoyed it!
I enjoyed it enough to pre-order the Young Sentinals audiobook. 🙂