Karen Grey's Blog, page 4
December 3, 2019
Voice Arts Awards Winner 2019
You have to scroll waaay down through all of the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences 2019 winners (where only a small fraction of the narrators are credited) to Audiobook Narration – Biography, Best Voiceover category winner. There you’ll find a book I co-edited and for which I wrote and narrated an essay. Nevertheless We Persisted #MeToo was a courageous labor of love for all of us and I was proud to be a part of yet another important production from Blunderwoman Productions even before this award.
If you choose to purchase the book, know that “half of the proceeds are being donated to https://www.rainn.org , a national sexual violence prevention and support resource. The other half of proceeds will be used to produce future BWP anthologies, allowing more writers to share their stories.” (from original Go Fund Me campaign)
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November 8, 2019
On Creativity with Suzanne McConnell
As a writer-in-progress myself, I feel so lucky to have been invited to record this title for Highbridge Audio. The book is filled with thoughtful, generous (and on Vonnegut’s part, often humorously grumpy) advice about writing well, the writer’s life, and really about any creative person’s place in the world. For a taste, just read Suzanne’s answers to my questions about her writing life.
KW: What contributes to flow in your work?
SM: Keeping in daily contact with whatever I’m working on,
by working on it, primarily—and/or by making lists of my intentions or
questions, if they are ‘listable,’ by scribbling notes or thoughts, or merely
by thinking about it. This abiding with it seems to set my subconscious in
motion. The result is that some of my
most productive ‘ah-ha’s’ occur in the middle of the night when I awake with a
brilliant solution, or just the right phrase or word, or—even in the mundane
outreach process, another person I forgot to email or who could make a terrific
connection.
I’ve long been interested in dreams. I once took a life-changing class in a method to change our dream, and one result was an eye-opening awareness of the subconscious at work. Over years. I’ve learned to trust it and my intuition. So if I am deeply engaged in my work in the daytime, night time often yields the answer.
KW: Do you have a mentor? What gift did s/he pass to you that you use regularly?
Embed from Getty Images
SM: Kurt Vonnegut bestowed many things but the biggest gift he gave me is simply by being a model in terms of his commitment and persistence to writing, fueled by passion to convey serious truths as he saw them.
KW: Do you have multiple creative outlets in your life?
SM: I think other outlets are very nourishing and teach you a lot about the creative process in general, but also what’s specific to each art. I play the piano, but was taught classically; I took jazz piano lessons from a wonderful teacher over the last two years while writing Pity the Reader, which was joyously freeing. It was a relief from the computer and writing, immediate and playful, and it reinforced my sense of my intuitive creativity. I went through a period of doing watercolors for several years, in my 30’s I took dance classes, I once took an improvisation acting class that was marvelous and fed my teaching and sense of spontaneity in general. Writing is sedentary and all these other creative endeavors are more physical and immediate. I also love to bake, take care of my plants, I was on a knitting jag for a few years…
KW: Is writing more of an escape from the world or a way to dig into what’s happening out there?
SM: Writing for me is a way of digging into what’s happening in there. That is, writing helps me discover what’s on my mind and heart, how I truly feel and see. This is not always separate from what’s “out there.” But it’s not about what’s out there per se as much as making sense of how I feel in there about what’s out there, or how what’s out there impinges on me and the world as a whole, that I’m striving for. This is more true of fiction writing, in which I often make discoveries I didn’t know about myself and how I’m feeling, than of non-fiction writing.
KW: Do you work on more than one project at a time?
SM: I can’t seem to work well on more than one writing project at a time. I tried, while writing Pity the Reader, because I craved writing something more of my own while writing about Vonnegut’s advice on writing—but it fell short. I couldn’t dive deeply enough. It was a shallow effort, restricted by time. It was like being married and having a couple of flings. Cheating on my own commitment.
KW: How do you keep yourself open to feedback while protecting the fragile new life of a creative impulse?
Author Suzanne McConnellSM: When I was a young writer—a long period of time, I don’t
mean this in terms only of age—I could be truly flummoxed by criticism. Once
when first in New York, I’d written a rough draft of a story in the voice of a
homeless guy at a time when I felt pretty lost myself, and a friend kept
insisting that I show it to her, as we were out writing together at a café. When
I did, she said “That’s good, but make it more…” whatever.I don’t remember what
she wanted, only that she felt it lacking.
That stopped me for weeks. Now I am utterly confident that if somethings
reads badly at first, I can, with persistent revision, turn it from fool’s gold
into the real thing.
That story, by the way, is the same one mentioned in Pity the Reader that I sent Kurt Vonnegut at a time I was discouraged. I sent it after it was finished, of course. He replied that he’d read it and the novel excerpt I sent “with a great deal of admiration and satisfaction,” called the story “serious and madly idiosyncratic” and said “On top of everything else, it’s a poem!”
It’s extremely important to be protective when you and your
work are vulnerable, and to find people who are smart, kindly honest and
perceptive in giving feedback. All feedback is not equal. Having a steady
writing group allows you, at the very least, to be acquainted with the members
individual prejudices, likes and dislikes in writing, and their personalities,
so you can more easily assess the feedback.
See Chapter 18, Pitfalls, in Pity the Reader for other answers to
this question.
Most writers, me included, are too impatient to show their
work and to assume it’s perfect and finished, and too defensive. Writing is a
craft that must be learned.
KW: Do you have words of wisdom for someone who has a desire to create but is held back by inner or outer judgment?
SM: Pay attention to the deep voice of your desire to say what you have to say. Listen to it, let it sound much louder than the judgmental voices chipping away at your confidence that say you or your work must be perfect. Become friends with failure. Become friends with work, patience, and revision.
About Suzanne McConnell
Suzanne McConnell has taught writing at Hunter College for thirty years, and serves as the Fiction Editor of the Bellevue Literary Review. She lives in New York City and Wellfleet, Massachusetts, with her husband, the artist Gary Kuehn. Kurt Vonnegut’s black humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America’s attention in The Sirens of Titan in 1959 and established him as “a true artist” (The New York Times) with Cat’s Cradle in 1963. Vonnegut passed away in April 2007.
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Nancy P. is the randomly selected winner. Thanks to all for entering! I give away lots of books – to find out about them in the future, please consider following this blog, or my Facebook page, or on Twitter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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September 24, 2019
On Creativity with Lauren Elliott
For the release of her third Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery, Lauren Elliott has waded in to answer some of my questions about her writing process. We have a copy of both books two and three to give away at the end of the interview.
Book Two
KW: Do you have
practices/rituals/habits that support your creative work?
LE: I wouldn’t say I have any rituals as I’m not a
superstitious person. However, part of my routine is to write at least 500
words every day, whether I feel like it or not. After that I generally, but not
always, find the words and ideas start to flow easier, and before I know it. I
have completed a chapter which for my books is approximately 2,000 to 2,500
words.
KW: What contributes
to flow in your work?
LE: Inspiration contributes to the flow of my work, and I
find it everywhere. My whole
life the stories have just come to me. I have always been an observer of people,
and I make up stories about them as I watch them. It might be something as
irrelevant as a woman sitting alone in a café and the look on her face, or the
set of her shoulders, or a twitch of her eye as she glances around the room. I
start to wonder what her life is like, what her story is, why she’s there, why
is she alone? Character development comes from the old who, what, where, when,
why and how of journalism-based observations we make daily. If I don’t write an
actual story about the woman in the café, I will at least file her away in my
memory banks to use for a character in one of my books later. I am
constantly sending email notes to myself when I’m out and about and see or hear
something that inspires me, and I think. That would make a good story, or I can
use that in my book.
KW: What actions are
helpful when you feel stuck or resistant to working?
LE: If I’m really stuck on a particular scene or can’t seem
to work through an idea, I have a shower or go for a walk or even a shopping
trip helps. After that, I can usually return to the keyboard with insight on
where to go next.
KW: Is the space in
which you work important to you?
LE: When I write, I enjoy the comfort of my home office. It
can become cluttered at times, but it’s always a cozy space and has a door that
I can close and retreat behind. Inside, I’m surrounded by whiteboards, stacks
of books, photos and memorabilia of my travels.
KW: Do you read books
in the genre in which you write? If so, is there a part of your process when
you avoid doing so?
LE: Currently, I’m taking a break from my usual mystery
genre and re-reading a book that I fell in love with years ago, Barbara Erskine’s—one of my favorite authors—Lady
of Hay, published in 1986. However, the busier I get with writing, the
more reading other authors’ works becomes a distraction. It doesn’t mean I
forgo books altogether though. If you were to take a peek at my ever-growing TBR
list, you’d find an assortment of genres. There’s everything from Michael
Crichton, Dan Brown, Agatha Christie, and time travel or gothic mystery
romance.
KW: How do you keep
track of the details of the worlds you’ve created?
LE: I develop a basic character, town/setting outline prior to writing a book or a series. However, since I’m a “pantser” (meaning I write by the seat of my pants, and not a gardener or plotter who follows a strict story board outline) many of the finer details in the story develop organically as the manuscripts progress. To help me keep track of those details, particularly ones I’ll use from one book to the next, I scribble notes on a whiteboard, frame my computer screen with post-it notes, and make notations in spiral note books, which can be found in every room of my house. Then in a pinch as in recalling the color of a character’s car, there’s always using the wonderful tool of Word Find on previous manuscripts. I’m certain that some authors out there would cringe at my disorganization, but my own brand of organized chaos works well for me.
KW: Was there a
moment when you felt like a “real” writer? Did it catch you by surprise?
LE: I don’t think there is a moment when you feel like a “real”
writer, being a writer is simply who and what you are. However, there is a
quote by Agatha Christie’s, which expresses, far better than I can, about that
“aha” moment when a writer truly understands when everything in their lives has
changed.
“There was a moment when I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don’t want to, don’t much like what you’re writing, and aren’t writing particularly well.”
KW: Thank you for sharing that as well as some bits of your creative process. And now we have two audiobooks to share with you all, just use the Rafflecopter below to enter.
ABOUT LAUREN
Lauren Elliott grew up devouring the entire Nancy Drew series and then graduated to Victoria Holt, Agatha Christie, Barbara Erskine, Lynn Kurland, and Michael Crichton to name a few of her favorite authors. When it came time for post-secondary education, journalism seemed like the logical choice as she had written for as long as she could remember. Soon after graduation, while working for a small publication, she discovered that reporting wasn’t what fueled her writing passions. As someone with an additionally strong background in professional theater who had the love of storytelling and captivating and holding an audience, her fiction-writing career began to take center stage.
Lauren Elliott – Author of Mystery, Suspense
and Murder
USA Today Bestselling Author Website Facebook Page
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Sally is the randomly selected winner and the CDs will be mailed out to her as soon as I get her address. Thanks to all for entering! I give away lots of books – to find out about them in the future, please consider following this blog, or my Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram.
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August 27, 2019
On Creativity with Edwin Hill
Edwin Hill’s second novel, The Missing Ones, releases today. You can find it at Highbridge Audio as well as in print and ebook from Kensington Books. I loved his unique crime solving heroine Hester Thursby in the first book, Little Comfort so I was so happy to find that she returns in this novel where most of the action takes place on a (kind of creepy) small island in Maine where, as the publisher says, “as she untangles the secrets at the center of the small community, she finds grudges and loyalties that run deep, poised to converge with a force that will once again shake her convictions about the very nature of right and wrong….”
I have a copy of The Missing Ones to give away, but first, let’s hear about Edwin’s creative process.
KW: Do you have daily habits that support your creative work?
EH: I go through a whole process in the morning that prepares me to get working. From the outside, it may not seem like it contributes to work, but it helps me get in the right place. I usually go to the gym when I get up, and either jog, swim, or bike. I don’t listen to music or podcasts at that time because I want to mull over what I created the day before, and what I might create later in the day. When I get home, I take my dog, Edith Ann, for a walk. Same thing, no radio, no music, no podcasts.
KW: I do the same thing when I walk my dogs. Walking without any aural distractions helps me bring my mind into the present.
EH: Once I finish with Edith Ann’s walk, I do listen to the radio for a while because by then my partner Michael is usually up as well. Once Michael leaves for work, any media that has been turned on goes off. I head up to my office and get started for the day with coffee in hand. I usually work on two chapters at once, one that I’m revising and refining, and one that I’m drafting. Revising helps remind me that I’m a good writer before I start writing really bad prose in draft form!
KW: How do you protect your work time/space from distractions?
EH: I bet I’m not the only person who thinks he’s getting stupider by the second. For me, most of this feeling stems from the constant distraction we face as active members of society these days. There’s e-mail and social media, not to mention mindless web surfing and good old-fashioned TV.
There is a
positive side to this, of course. As an author, I have so many more avenues
open to me to promote my work than I would have had twenty or even ten years
ago. This also means that it’s on me to take advantage of these promotion
opportunities, which can take valuable time and emotional energy.
So, I try to
set as many limits as possible to allow myself the mental space to get work
done. When I start writing in the morning, I do two important things: I leave
my phone downstairs where it’s harder to check, and I turn off the wi-fi on my
computer. It’s not that hard to turn wi-fi back on, but at least I have to
actively engage in turning it on, and nine times out of ten, I stop myself from
doing it.
I do feel that this problem is only going to get worse in the coming years. I, for one, will be trying my hardest to keep technology at bay!
KW: How do you counter the solitary nature of your work?
EH: I recently left my day job to pursue writing full time, and the solitary nature of writing has been new to me, so far. I was very much used to a day filled with meetings and phone calls with close colleagues, and I do miss that part of the day.
Having Edith
Ann at home helps. I take her for walks throughout the day, which helps keep me
from simply sitting at my computer without moving.
Edith Ann, Edwin’s yellow labI’ve been mindful to schedule time with friends outside of the house at least once during the week, too. I realize as I type this that I missed this week, and I am definitely feeling it. Note to self: make plans!
KW: What’s your earliest reading memory?
EH: Reading is very important to both of my parents, and one of my earliest memories is of having my father read stories to me as a child. Like any good crime writer, my favorite children’s stories were the most gruesome!
Their love of reading also helped introduce me to crime writing. When I was a kid, our family used to take month-long family camping trips across the country in a yellow Bronco. When I was about ten or eleven and was making the transition from reading children’s books to more adult fare, we stopped at a gas station (back when you could still buy books at gas stations) and my parents picked up a copy of The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie. I loved the book, everything about it, from the setting, to the language, to the intricate puzzle, and when I finished reading it, I knew what I wanted to do for my career. It only took me thirty-five years to figure out how to do it!
KW: Do you have words of wisdom for someone who has a desire to create but is held back by inner or outer judgment?
EH: I don’t think you can be a creative person without having some self-doubt. I certainly have plenty of it!
I would tell
anyone struggling with this type of judgment to try to work every day toward an
end goal, and to focus very much on the task at hand. If your task that day is
to write a thousand words, only think about those thousand words. Don’t think
about the larger project, which can be daunting and lead to that self-doubt. If
you goal is to write a single sentence, write the sentence.
Most importantly, whatever your assigned task is for the day, celebrate when you accomplish your goal. When you find ways to celebrate small, daily successes, you not only find that you make a lot of progress toward overall goal, but you also feel pretty good about yourself!
KW: I love this advice, setting small goals and celebrating achieving them. Thanks for joining me, here Edwin!
Edwin Hill is the author of two novels: Little Comfort, which was nominated for an Agatha Award for best first novel, and The Missing Ones, both featuring amateur sleuth Hester Thursby. He lives in Roslindale, Massachusetts with his partner Michael and his favorite reviewer, their lab Edith Ann (check her out on Instagram @edithannlab) who likes his first drafts enough to eat them.
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Cassandra is the randomly selected winner and the CDs will be mailed out to her as soon as I get her address. Thanks to all for entering! I give away lots of books – to find out about them in the future, please consider following this blog, or my Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The post On Creativity with Edwin Hill appeared first on Home Cooked Books.
April 21, 2015
THE BURMA SPRING by Rena Pederson plus GIVEAWAY
Available now from Blackstone Audio.
From the Publisher:
“Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s “woman of destiny” and one of the most admired voices for freedom in the world today, comes alive through this brilliant rendering of Burma’s tumultuous history.
Award-winning journalist and former State Department speechwriter Rena Pederson brings to light fresh details about the charismatic Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi: the inspiration for Burma’s (now Myanmar) first steps towards democracy. Suu Kyi’s party will be a major contender in the 2015 elections, a revolutionary breakthrough after years of military dictatorship. Using exclusive interviews with Suu Kyi since her release from fifteen years of house arrest, as well as recently disclosed diplomatic cables, Pederson uncovers new facets to Suu Kyi’s extraordinary story.
The Burma Spring also reveals the extraordinary steps taken by First Lady Laura Bush to help Suu Kyi, as well as how former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton injected new momentum into Burma’s democratic rebirth. Pederson provides a never-before-seen view of the harrowing hardships the people of Burma have endured and the fiery political atmosphere in which Suu Kyi has fought a life-and-death struggle for liberty in this fascinating part of the world.”
My recording experience:
This was a very challenging book to record. Not simply because of it’s length or because it is filled with words and names from all over Asia (including Aung San Suu Kyi, a name notoriously difficult to get right, and I’m sure I got it wrong, too). But mostly because of how sad it made me. I am embarrassed to say that my knowledge of the grievous situation in Myanmar/Burma before reading this book was nonexistent. Pederson has done exhaustive research for this book and I don’t think she missed detailing much of the suffering endured, not just by Suu Kyi, but by the millions of people she has valiantly tried to represent. I’d highly recommend the book to anyone curious about this inspirational woman or the country of Myanmar, still on a shaky road toward democracy as the book was published.
Listen to a sample here:
https://karenwhiteaudio.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/burma-spring.mp3THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. The randomly selected winner has been contacted and the CDs will be mailed out to her as soon as I get her address. Thanks to all for entering! I give away lots of books – to find out about them in the future, please consider following this blog, or my Facebook page, or on Twitter.
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April 7, 2015
TOTAL SURRENDER by Rebecca Zanetti
Available now from Hachette Audio.
From the Publisher:
“A fight he must win . . .
Piper Oliver knows she can’t trust him. They warned her that the tall, dark, and sexy black-ops soldier Jory Dean would try to win her over with his steel-gray eyes and deadly charm, but she won’t be conned by this man they call a traitor. All she has to do is figure out the science necessary to save his life, and she’s done. Something isn’t adding up, though, and she won’t rest until she uncovers the truth-even if it’s buried in his deep, dangerous kiss.
A passion she can’t resist . . .
Jory will do anything to reunite with and save his brothers-even kidnap the gorgeous woman who’s working to deactivate the deadly chip in their spines. But the forces determined to destroy his family won’t let them go so easily. Keeping Piper alive is more than he bargained for-and so is his burning desire for her. But with every second bringing him closer to certain death, can he afford to lose himself in her hot and willing embrace?”
From the review at Rabid Reads (which includes an interview of Rebecca & myself):
“The blame for my newly found heart condition doesn’t rest solely on the author’s shoulders because even though she brought the grenade, it was Karen White who pulled the pin with her narration. There were so many voices in this audiobook because all of the characters were in it, and yet the reader conquered every single one of them as though it were child’s play.”
From the review at Hot Listens:
“Karen White nails the narration of this series. There are a bunch of characters in this final book of the series. Zanetti gives all the characters we’ve met at least a little page time, so White had to keep all the characters straight and clearly defined with each having their own voices. The emotion that is delivered throughout the series is great, but it is ratcheted up several notches in this final story.”
From the joint review at The Book Nympho:
“Jonetta: She made all the characters distinctive. I particularly liked her interpretation of Pippa and Mommie Dearest.
Jennifer: Karen brought her A game again. She knows the right amount of sassy to bring to the heroines and roughness for the Dean boys.”
My recording experience:
Although I was very sad to have this series come to an end (I literally cried in the last scene) it was an amazing ride. The push and pull between romance and a ticking clock kept the tension high, I was in and out of battle scenes constantly – it was exhausting! but glorious! Piper was yet another fun and feisty heroine and Jory. Oh Jory. Even with my expectations high, he was such a great character. His emotional journey in the book is fascinating, his place in the family structure unexpected. I would truly be bereft after finishing this book. If I weren’t already immersed in recording Zanetti’s entire Dark Protectors series! Talk about a ride…
Listen to a sample here:
https://karenwhiteaudio.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/total-surrender_webclip.mp3[image error]
April 5, 2015
STILL THE ONE by Jill Shalvis plus GIVEAWAY
Book 6 in the Animal Magnetism Series. Available April 7 from Tantor Audio.
From the Publisher:
“Darcy Stone is game for anything—except sexy Navy vet and physical therapist AJ Colten, the guy who’d rejected her when she’d needed him most. Now the shoe is on the other foot and he needs her to play nice and help him secure grants for his patients. She needs the money to fund her passion project: rescuing S&R dogs and placing them with emotionally wounded soldiers.
AJ admits it—Darcy is irresistible. But he’s already been battle-scarred by a strong-willed, vivacious, adventurous woman like Darcy, and he’s not making the same mistake twice—until he and Darcy are forced to fake a relationship. Growing closer than they’d ever imagined possible, Darcy and AJ have to ask themselves: how much between them is pretend? What’s the real thing? And where does it go from here?”
From the review at AudioGals:
“Karen White brought her usual smart and sassy narration to this book – she has wonderful comic timing as well as all the emotions necessary for voicing the wisecracks and witty banter that Shalvis gives her characters. Although she doesn’t have an extremely low register, she conveys male-ness well in dialogue with more than just pitch, and all her characters are easily differentiated by attitude, timbre, register, accent and other vocal attributes. That of course includes Peanut the Parrot, who livens up the scenes with salty and inappropriate phrases, as well as the occasional dog and cat contribution to the dialogue. I paid special attention to the way she reads intimate scenes this time, after a recent listen to a different narrator where I felt the narrator took it a little farther than my comfort zone. White passed the test of conveying the emotions without making me feel like a voyeur.”
And you might also want to check out AudioGals’ Chat with Jill, Lea and myself!
From the review at Fangs, Wands & Fairy Dust:
“I also listened to the audio narrated by Karen White with just the right delivery of emotion and great voices for the characters of both genders. The production value was also excellent!”
My recording experience:
I was really looking forward to recording the next book in Jill’s Animal Magnetism series, for a variety of reasons. One, it’d been a year since the last one (she usually does one every six months).
Two, I got to meet Jill this summer when I went to RWA 2014 to speak on an audiobook panel, and she was every bit as funny and kind in person as I’d imagined.
And three, I am very proud to be an Audie Finalist this year for another book in the AM oeuvre, RUMOR HAS IT. This is like the Oscars for audiobooks, so it’s a big deal!
And finally, I just love recording Jill’s books. This one really impressed me in particular because it addressed some heavy subjects (PTSD, chronic pain, and animal rescue, of course) while maintaining the snappy humor Jill’s so good at. I’ve been speaking on a variety of audiobook panels this year, and one thing I realized about my work in particular is that I bring emotion, of all kinds, to the narrative as well as the dialogue. I think that I’ve developed this style, in part, because of great narrative writing like Jill’s. The characters’ inner monologues are so full of funny angst that I have to ride that roller coaster of emotion to squeeze all the humor out of it (and it’s more fun that way). The sample below reflects that, as well as a wee chance I took with the main characters’ voices. Darcy starts out this book in a pretty negative space and AJ has his emotions buried. So their voices reflect that (and aren’t “pretty sounding”). But as they grow and learn to trust each other and themselves, their voices grow to reflect that, too. I don’t know if it’s anything that listeners will even notice, but it was a big part of the journey for me.
As was spending a good 15 minutes perfecting the intention behind one, “Woof!”.
Listen to a sample here:
https://karenwhiteaudio.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/stilltheone.mp3THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Monique is the randomly selected winner and the CDs will be mailed out to her as soon as I get her address. Thanks to all for entering! I give away lots of books – to find out about them in the future, please consider following this blog, or my Facebook page, or on Twitter.
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March 18, 2015
THE KIND WORTH KILLING by Peter Swanson
Available now from Blackstone Audio.
From the Publisher:
“From the author of the acclaimed Girl with a Clock for a Heart—hailed by the Washington Post as crime fiction’s best first novel of 2014—comes a devious tale of psychological suspense involving sex, deception, and an accidental encounter that leads to murder that is a modern reimagining of Patricia Highsmith’s classic Strangers on a Train.
On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage that’s going stale and his wife, Miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him. Ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start—he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit—a contrast that once inflamed their passion but has now become a cliché.
But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she’s done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “I’d like to help.” After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse.
Back in Boston, Ted and Lily’s twisted bond grows stronger as they begin to plot Miranda’s demise. But there are a few things about Lily’s past that she hasn’t shared with Ted, namely her experience in the art and craft of murder, a journey that began in her very precocious youth.
Suddenly these coconspirators are embroiled in a chilling game of cat and mouse, one they both cannot survive … with a shrewd and very determined detective on their tail.
© 2015 by Peter Swanson”My recording experience:
One thing that’s fun about audiobooks and other voice acting work is that one can play characters that one would NEVER get to play on screen, or on stage (though I have played a 70 year old man on stage). Miranda, the character I recorded in Swanson’s twisty twisted crime novel, is, I am pretty sure, the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of voicing (so there’s that ego boost thing going on). She’s not the nicest, but that was the fun challenge. Getting to tell the story solely from within her mind, I could immerse myself in her way of seeing things and fall deeper into her own (admittedly skewed and somewhat sociopathic) justifications of her behavior. When I narrate in 3rd person I do my best to invest fully in each character and play from their perspective, but here, I didn’t have to worry about that. Even when it didn’t jive with how others see things. But enough, or I’ll be giving away too many spoilers!
Finally, I was honored to work with such a great pack of narrators: Johnny Heller, Kathleen Early and Keith Szarabajka (thank goodness I didn’t have to pronounce his name!) all bring broad talent to the table so I knew this book would be fabulous. Enjoy.
Listen to a sample here:
https://karenwhiteaudio.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/bjaw-kind-worth-killing-kw-sample-m1.mp3[image error]
February 11, 2015
BLIND FAITH by Rebecca Zanetti plus GIVEAWAY
Available now from Hachette Audio.
From the Publisher:
“A betrayal he couldn’t forget . . .
For Nate Dean, love is a four-letter word. As part of a secret black-ops military unit, he and his brothers were genetically engineered by the government to be ruthless soldiers with an expiration date. They were loyal only to one another . . . until Nate laid eyes on the woman who stole his heart and blew his world apart. Now, years later, his family is still paying the price for his mistake. But as time runs out, there’s only one person who can save his family: the very woman Nate swore he’d never trust again.
A love she couldn’t deny . . .
The moment Audrey Madison spies Nate across a crowded ballroom, she can barely breathe. He’s just as undeniably sexy as she remembers, yet there’s an edge to him now that’s as irresistible as it is dangerous. When he asks for her help, Audrey can’t refuse. But she has secrets of her own–secrets that, if Nate ever discovers them, may cost them both their lives . . . “
From the review at Rabid Reads:
“Karen White rocked the narration for a third time…I’m now unequivocally under Karen White’s spell after listening to BLIND FAITH. Her male voices are one of the best in the industry, and I had no trouble discerning which member of the Dean family was talking because her inflections promptly brought me back to books 1 and 2 when Shane and Matt were the dominant POVs. Her breakneck pacing transforms an already suspenseful audio into a Formula One worthy performance that’ll have you double checking to see if you pressed the playback speed option by accident.”
From the review at Hot Listens:
“This is the first series that I’ve listened to by Karen White. I’ve heard about her a lot, but she doesn’t do many, PNR or UF books, which is my main genre.
I’ve seen her name come up a bunch on contemporary romances, but they are not high on my list, though I do some here and there. She did a great job with the Sin Brothers series. She did a great job with both male and female characters. I hope to find more books with Karen White as the narrator. I really enjoyed her portrayal of Blind Faith and the other Sin Brothers books.”
You just have to go read the review at The Book Nympho. Jennifer and Jonetta give it four stars and their dialogue about the book to too funny to miss!
My recording experience:
Although I’ve loved the adventure of recording all of Zanetti’s SIN BROTHERS series (and am now having a blast recording her DARK PROTECTORS series) I have to admit that Nate is my favorite brother. Something about his wounded heart and the way he protects his brother’s hearts. And the fact that he has thumbed his nose the most at the directive to lose his Tennessee accent, gives him a special corner in my heart and imagination.
Listen to a sample here:
https://karenwhiteaudio.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/blind-faith-clip.mp3AND, the Giveaway:
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Mary C. is the randomly selected winner and the CDs will be mailed out to her as soon as I get her address. Thanks to all for entering! I give away lots of books – to find out about them in the future, please consider following this blog, or my Facebook page, or on Twitter.
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February 5, 2015
JUST THE WAY YOU ARE by Beverly Barton plus GIVEAWAY
Available now from Tantor Audio.
From the Publisher:
“Mary Beth Caine has always been the good girl in her small Mississippi town. But when a big, protective, shamelessly sexy stranger offers to console her on the night of her disastrous engagement party, Mary Beth lets him—only to discover that Parr Weston also happens to be the older brother of her fiancé, Bobby Joe.
Parr left Mississippi after spending years holding his family together. Now that he’s back, he can’t steal Bobby Joe’s woman, and he sure can’t offer Mary Beth the tidy happily-ever-after she deserves. But everything about the petite beauty—from her flame-gold hair to her artless sensuality—makes him crave her more. Love or lust, right or wrong, all he knows is that nothing has ever felt like this before, and walking away will be the hardest thing he’s ever had to do.”
My recording experience:
I was pleasantly surprised to find JUST THE WAY YOU ARE to be a good old fashioned contemporary romance. I’ve recorded a few of Barton’s romantic thrillers, including the DEAD BY…series as well as DON’T CRY and DON’T SAY A WORD. All well-crafted suspenseful books (and all set in the south, like this one) but a bit grisly for recording over the holidays! And boy do they give me nightmares. This sweet book was about as different as it could be and is sure to please anyone looking for an HEA, as well as an alpha male just tryin’ to do the right thing.
Listen to a Sample here:
https://karenwhiteaudio.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/jtwya.mp3AND the Giveaway:
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Donna is the randomly selected winner and the CDs will be mailed out to her as soon as I get her address. Thanks to all for entering! I give away lots of books – to find out about them in the future, please consider following this blog, or my Facebook page, or on Twitter.
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