The Voice

for Knots in the String...

(Sorry to pile on another email so soon, but this is sooo exciting for me!)

I LOVE audiobooks.

I had no interest in them initially until popular Head of Zeus writer and friend, Matthew Harffy, told me to try a Bernard Cornwell on audio. Suddenly, my hour and a half long car trips became a total reading escape.

Matthew’s own Bernicia Chronicles followed, even though I’d already read them in print. They’re a brilliant series – Dark Age narratives with one of the most interesting characters (Beobrand) I’ve read for a long time – a deep thinking (and sometimes brutal) leader with soul.

With absolutely no offence to Bernard Cornwell who is the master of writing men through the ages of time with soul, I do think Matthew may be his natural successor. That said, Matthew has his own very individual style – as all writers should.

But back to audiobooks.

What followed amongst a host of brilliant authors was more BC, Amor Towles, Simon Turney, Giles Kristian, Jeffrey Archer, Georgette Heyer (read by Richard Armitage – yum!), Rhys Bowen, Monty Don, Anna Belfrage, and the very special Cathy Kelly.

I say very special because Ms. Kelly was kind enough to give me a wonderful tagline for the cover of my contemporary fiction, Passage.

I discovered that I mostly preferred male readers and I began to acrue favourite narrators – Richard Armitage, Jonathan Keeble, Jack Hawkins and lately, Greg Patmore.

Greg has become my narrator. (He’s an award winner as well!)

He has just finished voicing Tobias for audio.

Tobias is the first book in The Triptych Chronicle and has been a multi-award winner and has a very special place in my heart because Toby himself is such a faceted character who has charmed so many readers. Toby is a dwarf, what we now call a little person, and in order to make him real, I approached the mother of a little person, Jenovesia Porteo, who at the time blogged about achondroplasia (dwarfism). I felt no one could advise me better of the vicissitudes that little people face. Thus Toby became very real to me and I think to many others as well.

The nice thing for me, was that each time Toby appeared in further books, even if it was just a cameo, my editor would send me a quick message – ‘Hurrah! Tobias is back!’

Aaaanyway, Greg’s package arrived via email today and I have listened to the first three chapters.

Wow!

I am sooo happy!

Greg had a difficult job – he had to individually voice 12th century Italian twins, an Arab galleymaster, a Jewish merchant, and a dozen others – even a 4 year old child with a lisp, and he had to cope with Latin, Norman French, Middle English and Arab sayings. His gorgeous gravelly voice tackles everything with depth and ease.

Simply, he makes my characters real. They have a voice!

I’ve got dozens of chapters to listen to, yet – I should be objective, sit listening with pen in hand making copious production notes, but I’m just enjoying the ride.

Audio is for listening, for being sucked into, for disappearing into colour and life via voice and tone.

Take it from me, I’m being sucked right into this narrative!

I’m not sure what happens once I approve the recording – how long it will be before it is available as an audiobook from a wide variety of distributors (especially Audible). I hope it will be a quick turnaround, but we’ll see.

In the meantime, watch for details either here on Knots in the String, or via:

www.pruebatten.com
www.facebook.com/Prue.Batten.writer
www.pinterest.dk/pruebatten
www.instagram.com/pruebatten/