CAN YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ll know that I am a massive fan of The Dresden Files books. Urban fantasy with monsters and magic is absolutely the genre that I love but these books just spoke to me in a way that others hadn’t.

I was late to the party, not starting to read them until the series was well underway, but very quickly I was hooked. I devoured the first six during a holiday in Egypt and it was a perfect way to relax and let all of the pain and suffering of the real world drift away.

But reading them over and over again is one thing that I’d love to do but that does eat into the day somewhat. You have to actually read them so then being able to do anything else at the same time is gone.

Which led me to the audio books.

An audio book is the reading of the story, as you’d expect from the name.

It’s another medium to be used to welcome readers to a story and there are pro’s and con’s next to the ‘classic’ method of reading but for me, the greatest pro is that I can listen to the book while I’m doing something else. I’ve had to drive long distances for work and when traveling to London for shows etc. and Jo will admit that as soon as she gets in the car as a passenger for a long journey, she just wants to sleep so I get left alone with the radio, which I can’t turn up too far as it’ll wake her up. Audio books are just perfect to fill the gap.

With one ear bud in I could still concentrate on the road but keep the story bouncing along.

Perfect.

But as with every book, the audio version isn’t guaranteed to be a success.

The story itself will have gone through all of the same revision steps as always but an audio book introduces a new variable. The reader.

We’re all familiar with the idea of reading aloud and no doubt at some point during our time in school we had to do the deed for the rest of the class. It’s not the easiest of tasks but as with everything that goes on in the world, some people are better than others.

If an audio book reading is made at the hands of an expert, that story can be driven further on than just the words alone. Give the book to someone who isn’t quite so good to read and any suspense or excitement can be dragged out in seconds.

The Dresden Files audio books are read by James Marsters, a.k.a. Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it’s fair to say that the man is an absolute genius when performing the reading. The books are amazing on their own but with him doing the reading they discover shades and colours that fully formed the whole world of Harry Dresden. His performance of Toot Toot is just one of the standout points.

I love a good audio book and all the stories out there suddenly become more accessible because of them but all that story waiting to be accessed is now in the hands of the readers. Those readers are the ones who are tasked with bringing those words to life in the mind of the listener rather than them doing it themselves so they have a huge weight on their shoulders.

I think that those readers should be given special mention for the effect that they have on the stories that are out there and remember that just looking at the words, there can be a very real chance of something vital going missing.

Stay safe all.

WHERE DOES IT ALL COME FROM?

I was asked today how I was able to come up with something to say each week when writing on here and for a brief second, I didn’t have an answer to give.

How do we find things to say all the time?

Every time I blog, I’m reaching out to the whole world with whatever it is that’s crossed my mind in the hope that other people out there read it and connect with what I had to say.

We’re all searching for others to sit around the fire and recount the stories of our lives. To, laugh, to cry and to learn.

We’re all out here shouting into the world in our own way because we know we need people to listen to us, and whereas in the past we would have been constrained by our geography, we now have the whole planet to call to.

We have things to say, each of us, and having the people to hear us can be all we need to drive us to say our piece. We know people are listening so we just keep on talking.

Here’s to all of us shouting out to the world, and here’s to all of us always having something to say.