Great way to start 2024

I’ve just signed a contract with voice actor Maria Campos to narrate Dreams of the Moon. Maria has a gorgeous voice with excellent enunciation and expressiveness. I was frankly a bit blown away by her audition, and so am more than a little excited to have her produce my collection of short, speculative fiction.

Why return to live voice?

Indeed why? Mostly my reason to return to live voice narration rather than AI, or record myself, has firstly to do with principle, and secondly to do with my own technical limitations.

While AI narration is inexpensive and ridiculously easy through Google’s platform, I am all too cognizant of my hypocrisy in choosing that platform. If I don’t want to be replaced by AI as a writer and an artist, why shouldn’t I stand in solidarity with voice actors as well? AI has its place, make no mistake. But it should have no role in replacing live artists. And if I’m going to take that stand, I need to make it universal, not a choice of convenience.

One choice causes a cascade

The decision to return to live voice narration caused a cascade of events. While I did successfully narrate and produce Caliban as an audiobook, it would seem when my office was renovated, and I moved to my new desk, an acacia desktop acts as a drum, and even with a thick towel acting as a buffer, it’s not enough. Every keystroke or mouse movement to scroll through the script results in a faint but audible thump, a thump I simply cannot edit out. And so after putting in over 50 hours to narrate The Rose Guardian, I was unable to have the recording meet ACX’s very stringent and excellent standards. It’s available through Kobo and Google, but I cannot access Amazon, iTunes, or Audible (all controlled by ACX) because of that blasted drum. And Amazon’s/Audible’s market comprises over 50% of all audiobook sales.

I also learned the hard way that ACX will not accept any AI generated narration. I have to give some grudging respect to the Amazon empire, and also realized that if Amazon, for whatever profit-mandated reason, eschews AI (at least for now, until they develop their own), I should as well. Afterall, I’m allegedly a person of principle.

You need a lot of manure to grow a garden

Say what? Yes, you do need a lot of manure to grow a garden, or at least a flourishing, bountiful and gorgeous garden. And yes that’s also a not-so-very subtle metaphor, because were it not for those lessons in producing audiobooks, I might never have come across Maria Campos and her delicious voice and professional standards. I am more than a little hopeful, like every gardener in mid-winter, that what grows out of this partnership will be something flourishing, perhaps bountiful, and most definitely gorgeous.

The details

Dreams of the Moon should release as an audiobook June 15, 2024, and run about 2 hours in length. It will be exclusively available through Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. I will, of course, post updates when they become available.