Hey all. Greetings from snowless central Maine, where there is bare ground showing and snow is decaying as we speak, leaving dirty crystalized stuff that we usually see in late March. We’d love some new snow, and I’m sure there are many of you to the south who would gladly ship us some. Strange weather.
Anyway, won’t keep you too long today but I spoke last week with someone in the audio book biz. I’m wondering how many of you out there in readerland would like to have McMorrow and Blake available in downloadable form. Something for the commute, the walk, mowing the lawn. Me, I like to hold a book and flip the pages. But I’m recognizing that I’m becoming a bit of an anachronism. (I remember the plastic folders full of tape cassettes, numbered 1-8)
Let me know. Your response will help us decide how quickly to move on this.
Enjoy the weekend.
In PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN, the first Brandon Blake novel, Brandon gets a full dose of bad guys. A brawl in a funeral home introduces him to Joel Fuller, a sociopathic hustler. Fuller is fresh out of jail and determined to take Brandon out—after Fuller and his sidekick Kelvin shake him down.
Rocky isn’t a tough guy. He’s a skinny little kid with crooked glasses, and he shouldn’t be homeless in Portland, Maine. When McMorrow and Roxanne pluck him from under the stomping feet of a gang of street kids, Rocky latches onto McMorrow–and drags him into a world of murder, both old and new. Why is McMorrow protecting Rocky? The cops want to know. Why is Rocky on the run? McMorrow wants to know. Why does death follow in Rocky’s wake? Jack and Roxanne need to find out before they’re added to the list. 
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Indifferent, truthfully. I tend to like books, too (no Kindle for me), and I work out to video when I do. And I only commute to my spare bedroom. I’ve never been an audio book guy. I guess pencil me in for ‘not for me.’ (Altho I can think of several people I’d like to give an audio books of yours to, so.. maybe? )
These days, our mp3 players and the car drive is our major source of “reading” – excluding textbooks. With a terrific reader, an audio book can be wonderful.
I spend about 2 hours a day in the truck.I’ve heard just about all the music there is so I’ve gotten apretty good set of audio books to listen to now.I will admit I only buy unabridged versions to get the whole story and it makes the travel time much more interesting.
Well, i have to say that I prefer books with pages. And audio books are not for me, either…but I suspect I’m in the minority. I know lots of people who listen while they drive.
Good luck!
A lot of people don’t like audiobooks because they think they are going to replace printed books. That people are going to stop reading if they start listening. It doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition, and listening to audiobooks should not *replace* reading (God forbid). But fortunately, there are enough good books/audiobooks, old and new, to fill all of anyone’s reading AND listening time.
I, too, still like books–the physical objects. I like the feel, the smell, the “tangibility” of the thing. I like to watch the stack of pages in my right hand dwindle as the one in my left hand grows. I like the simple act of turning pages. (That being said, the last several books I have read have actually been read through either the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Reader, or Stanza applications on my iPod Touch. The iPod is always in my pocket and it has about 350 books on it at the present time. Whenever I have a spare minute or two, I can pull it out and find something that suits my mood. Lately it has been “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”–not sure what that says about my mood of late.)
However, that does not preclude me from liking audiobooks…and I listen to A LOT of them. I can’t read a book during my 40-minute commute (although I often see others on the road who think they can), or while I’m snowblowing (especially when there’s no snow to blow), or while I’m mowing the lawn (I can count on the green stuff growing, even if I can’t count on the white stuff falling), or when I’m walking (chewing bubble gum is optional). But I can listen…and I’d rather listen to “The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” or “Under the Dome” than Lady Gaga, The Rolling Stones, or even NPR.
Listening to a book is also a very different experience from reading it. You don’t only hear the words in the book, but (especially with the good ones) you also get to hear a performance. A good reader can add a whole new level of enjoyment to a story. For a stellar reading performance–easily the best I have heard–I recommend “Q&A” by Vikas Swarup. There is no way I would have enjoyed that book as much if I had read it to myself.
(Somewhat tangential aside: I consume a lot of sci-fi and fantasy novels. They have a lot of made up words and strange sounding names in them. After reading a book, I often find that, when I want to discuss it with someone else, I have no idea how to pronounce a lot of things. Conversely, when I listen to a book, I know the pronunciations, but not the spellings. I wanted to send an email to Stephen King after listening to “Under the Dome,” to tell him what a great job he did at making Jim Renny…I mean, “Reny”…no, I mean “Rennie” such a despicable character without making him unbelievable, but realized after I started the writing, that I had no idea how to spell his–or many of the other main characters’ names. I had to go to Wikipedia to make sure I got it right.)
So, back to Gerry’s question: Yes. I would love to see (or hear) all of your books as audio books. It opens up whole new markets and audiences for you, Jack, and Brandon.
Thanks, Rob. I’m sold. This is about as good an argument for audio books as I’ve ever read. Aloud.
Give me a good, solid BOOK any day. Though I do agree with Rob’s arguement for audio books, they don’t work as well for me. My commute to work is for planning my day…my commute home is for planning my evening, and neither is long enough to get a quarter of the way through a good audio chapter. My escape is reading, and curling up in a quiet, comfy place is great “therapy” after a bustling day at my business. Might be old fashioned, but works for me…and no batteries required! But, by all means, make electronic books available to those who prefer them…it’s also a no-brainer when considering the potential for brand new Gerry Boyle fans!
Now on to the real reason I’m here. Just finished the newest book, DAMAGED GOODS, and I think it is the best yet in the Jack McMorrow series. My husband got it for me and graciously waited his turn…he’s now chewing through it with gusto.
There are many reasons this book resonates with me, the location of the story is “home”, where I have lived for many years and the place I chose to start and operate my business of 21 years. The characters are familiar and reading about the place I know and love is a thrill of it’s own. Jack, Roxanne and Sophie are so well depicted it’s easy to imagine them as real, breathing people you could bump into on a trip to town. The double-dilemma story line is filled with realistic and believable events, people and places. It’s the “real” Maine in many respects and in spite of the blemishes, the biggest reason many of us live here.
Though DAMAGED GOODS is a rather short book, and a pretty quick read, it is packed with content and leaves one hungry for more. Near the end I was actually holding my breath in anticipation of what would happen next. And it was not what I expected! Great story, smoothly told, with believable dialogue, and one you will want to share so you can talk about it. My friends and family are either fans already or will be…this series is worth sharing. And it gets better and better…