The Door Within Audiobook is available NOW!

Hi, all! I just found out The Door Within Audiobook is shipping now, almost a month ahead of schedule. In case you haven't heard already, I spend some of the summer in the recording studio doing all the voices and narration for The Door Within and for Rise of the Wyrm Lord. Looks like I'll be doing The Final Storm this November, followed by Isle of Swords and Isle of Fire too!

If you'd like to hear a sample of the audio, click the movie below. This is a scene from Falon's Stair, one of my absolute favorite chapters to read aloud at signings. You should know that this sample is the unedited version, so you even get to hear my mess-ups!

Click HERE to PreOrder The Door Within audiobook!

Door Within Audiobooks and Studio Unknown!

Over the summer, I had the great pleasure of recording the audiobook versions of The Door Within and Rise of the Wyrm Lord. (I'll be doing The Final Storm too, this fall). I've always enjoyed reading stories aloud and have had tons of practice reading to my students over the years. But I've never done any professional reading. Oasis Audio purchased the rights of The Door Within Trilogy and was kind enough to invite me to read. Still, I was nervous. But I needn't have been, because Oasis found me an amazing studio in Baltimore called Studio Unknown.

Studio Unknown, Owned by Kevin Hill, is a cool and clever all-purpose audio/video shop that won't be unknown for long. Their slogan is "Discover Creative Sound," and they earn it every day. It seems there's nothing they can't do. Scoring movies, ADR, Sound Production, Foley--you name it, Studio Unknown can do it. Not only are they professional, but they are personable as well.

Shown above with me are Jon Krintz(mid) and Kevin Hill (right) who guided me through the process and showed me the ropes. And, in the process, I feel like I made two new friends. The studio itself is tucked away in a massive industrial park. In fact, if I hadn't been told exactly where to go, I would have been hopelessly lost. There was just a tiny doorbell that said: Ring for Studio Unknown.

But once the door is open, WHOOOSH!! You enter a completely professional, ultramodern recording studio--beautiful decor with lots of dark wood and track lighting. Upstairs is the main studio. Kevin and John worked their magic from behind a sound board that looked like the bridge console of the Starship Enterprise.

I was behind the glass in "The Booth," and I belted out The Door Within in 3 Days; Rise of the Wyrm Lord in 3.5 days. Along the way, I flubbed about 12,000 lines. LOL. Not quite that many, but I did make up some very interesting words such as "dilemina." Look for The Door Within and Rise of the Wyrm Lord on audiobook from Oasis this fall! I'll post links as soon as they are up.

And if you have any audio/video needs, please call Studio Unknown. They will help you discover creative sound.

You've got to hear it to believe it!

Like expectant parents, Christopher Hopper and I waited to hear the audio version of our first book together: Curse of the Spider King. OK, maybe not quite like parents, but still…you get the idea. We were very curious and a little worried. Would Oasis Audio hire serious voice talent? Would the voice actor/actress get it right? Would it be overly dramatic or too plain? Just as an actor or actress can absolutely make (see Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men) or break (see Natalie Portman* in Star Wars Prequels) a movie, the voice actor is everything to an audio book. But then, it arrived:

Order Curse of the Spider King Audio CDs!

Christopher and I were thrilled. No, that's understatement. The narrator, Greg Whalen did a terrific job with all 104 speaking characters. How does he come up with so many voices? I have no idea. The thing is, he got it right. The voices in my head somehow turned out to be the voices he spoke. Looking for something new to listen to? Click the link above or the link in my sidebar. If you'd like to hear a sample, click below:

Chapter 1 of Curse of the Spider King as read by Greg Whalen

* To be fair to Ms. Portman, Hayden Christensen shared the worst dialog in cinematic history! "I love you." "No, I love you more." Blech! Eaccchh! Hack! Cough! Of course, it was Lucas who presumably wrote the dialogue. And to be fair, Revenge of the Sith was actually the best of the Star Wars prequels. At least Jar Jar Binks didn't have a staring role. 'Nuff said.