Tag Archive for: audiobooks

RIP, Mac

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By Lois Winston

Sometimes, there are no warning signs, no odd symptoms that crop up which would make us suspect something is not quite right. Such was not the case with Mac. Nothing made me question his health, nothing that would lead me to seek out the services of an expert. One moment, he was fine; the next he wasn’t. Worse yet, he failed to respond to all my efforts to make him well.

This all happened three weeks ago. Mac and I had been in a deeply committed relationship for ten years. I wasn’t ready to let him go. So I picked up the phone and scheduled an appointment for a full diagnostic workup. Surely, whatever the problem, something would make him better.

After arriving, I was asked about his prior symptoms. When I said he’d had none, the diagnostician showed surprise. She rattled off a series of the usual suspects, to which I answered in the negative for each one. She shook her head in disbelief. I suspect she thought I was too ignorant to recognize obvious signs of impending illness. I ignored her condescension. I needed her expertise to heal Mac.

When I asked what she thought might be the problem, she offered possible afflictions, some with remedies but others that were fatal. I crossed my fingers as she spent the next hour and a half performing a litany of tests to determine why Mac had suddenly become comatose.

The test results confirmed my worst fears. Mac had suffered a catastrophic failure. Both his hard drive and battery were dead.

I think the ratio of computer years to human years must be greater than that of dog years to human years. However, even if it’s the same, that would have made Mac seventy years old. Ancient as far as my millennial diagnostician was concerned, but I’m at the stage of my life where I no longer consider seventy old. Still, I suppose ten years is considered ancient for a computer, even one as stalwart as Mac had been.

Mac had served me well. During our time together, we’d written nine novels, five novellas, several short stories, one nonfiction book, and countless blog posts. We’d edited two multi-author promotional charity cookbooks and two multi-author box sets.

However, it was time to lay Mac to rest, sending him off to the big Apple in the sky. RIP, Mac. But really, after all we’ve been through together, he couldn’t have died a day earlier before the weekend state sales tax holiday ended?

Scrapbook of Murder, the sixth book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, is now available as an audiobook. Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free download.

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

Audio Books

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 by Bethany Maines

On my first book, Bulletproof Mascara, the
novel was also spun off into an audio book and (guilty admission) I have never
listened to it. Or rather, I got ten minutes in, freaked out, turned it off and
never went back.  It wasn’t that it was bad. It was more that the voices
in my head had become external, but they weren’t actually my voices.  The process of publishing is, in many ways, about
taking something deeply personal and turning it over into the public domain. And
at the time, I had barely come to terms with my friends, family, and complete
strangers having opinions on my characters. Having the auditory sensation of
hearing them in different voices was completely disconcerting.

However, it’s been a minute since then (I love how that phrase implies
that it really was a short amount of time) and I’m a little more resigned to
the process of sharing my fake people with the world. So I recently took a deep
breath and dipped a toe back into the audio waters.  This time the process
was much better.  Not only did I get to select my voice actor, but I could
add my two-cents on her interpretation. I’m completely in love with this new
version of my novel The Second
Shot. It’s been so fun to hear the book with her voice. It has also been illuminating to realize when I’ve written something that looks so good on the page, but turns out to be difficult to read out loud.  

The Second Shot is
book one of the Deveraux Legacy series and I can’t wait for my voice actress to
tackle book 2, The Cinderella Secret,
and 3, The Hardest Hit (due out
10.18.21).  Currently the book is under going the Quality Assurance check with Audible and once approved it will hit the virtual store shelves.

Listen to an audio sample and learn more here:
https://bethanymaines.com/the-deveraux-legacy/

Or purchase the print edition here (¢.99!): books2read.com/The-Second-Shot

A drunken mistake in college
cost US Marshal Maxwell Ames the affection of Dominique Deveraux and six years
later, he’s determined to fix the slip-up. But there’s just one tiny
problem—someone wants the Deveraux family dead. Dominique Deveraux
never expected Max to reappear in her life, let alone apologize, but as
Dominique investigates the mysterious attacks on her wealthy family Max quickly
becomes far more than her one time college classmate. Now, Max and Dominique
must dodge mercenaries and bullets as they try to make sure that they’re the
only ones who get a second shot.


**

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Announcing An Audiobook Giveaway!

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Judy Penz Sheluk here: I’m beyond excited to announce the release of the audiobook version of Past & Present, Book 2 in my Marketville Mystery series and the sequel to Skeletons in the Attic.
To celebrate, I’ve got 1 free download code for US/Canada Audible members and 1 free download code for UK Audible members for two lucky listeners. Narrated by Kelli Lindsay, here’s a bit about it:

Sometimes the past reaches out to the present…
It’s been thirteen months since Calamity (Callie) Barnstable inherited a house in Marketville under the condition that she search for the person who murdered her mother thirty years earlier. She solves the mystery, but what next? Unemployment? Another nine-to-five job in Toronto?
Callie decides to set down roots in Marketville, take the skills and knowledge she acquired over the past year, and start her own business: Past & Present Investigations.
It’s not long before Callie and her new business partner, best friend Chantelle Marchand, get their first client: a woman who wants to find out everything she can about her grandmother, Anneliese Prei, and how she came to a “bad end” in 1956. It sounds like a perfect first assignment. Except for one thing: Anneliese’s past winds its way into Callie’s present, and not in a manner anyone—least of all Callie—could have predicted.

If you’d like to listen to a 5-minute sample, click here. Early reviews have been amazing (4.8 average). 
PS: the audiobook is also available for purchase on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. 
*For a chance to win, please leave a comment requesting UK or US/Canada code. Winners will be notified by May 9th. Note you must be an Audible member to use the code.  If you’d like to try Audible (free trial) I can send you a different code. So many codes, so little time! 

Hearing is Believing

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Recently, I stepping into a recording studio. Well, I
stepped into the comfortable production room outside the actual recording booth.
All the Country Club Murders are on audio, but my input as
to their production ended when I said, “Yes, I like her voice.” That voice, belonging
to Callie Beaulieu, is now Ellison’s voice.
Recording Fields’ Guide to Abduction was a completely
different experience.
A partner at Outpost Worldwide and I have been looking for an
opportunity to work together for years. Poppy’s adventure was that opportunity.
“I have a marvelous actress,” she told me.
And because I’ve seen Outpost Worldwide’s work, I believed
her.
I met Cathy—heard Cathy—the morning we recorded. I gave her
the briefest of character sketches then settled into a club chair. Cathy
disappeared into a box with a glass door and settled earphones on her head.
Then she read—acted—the first chapter.
Cathy Barnett – the voice of Poppy Fields

 I followed along in a word document.
And, wow. Poppy came alive.
Hearing Poppy and watching the people who sat on my side of
the booth react—such fun.
Hearing them laugh—more fun.
Saying, “He’s a bad guy. You might want to make him sound
less sympathetic”—beyond fun.
Especially when the villain, who sounds an awful lot Ricardo
Montalbán from Fantasy Island, came alive, too.
We paused for things like pronunciation (Chariss rhymes with
Paris), the odd bit of Spanish, and lunch.
It took two days. Two days when I learned more about the
music words can make, about pausing for a laugh, and about character arc. 
Poppy will be available on audio sometime in the next few weeks. I’m counting the days!
***
Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders and the Poppy Fields Adventures. 

She is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean–and she’s got an active imagination. Truth is–she’s an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions.

Happy Labor Day from Evelyn David

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Enjoy the Holiday!   

 
From a funeral home make-up artist, to a small town reporter, to a psychic doing ghostly social work,
our characters work hard for their money.
Check out our mysteries – available in 
e-book, trade paperback, and now two in audiobook formats!
 

Audible    iTunes

Audible    iTunes

 

Brianna Sullivan Mysteries – e-book series
I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Undying Love in Lottawatah- Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
A Haunting in Lottawatah – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Lottawatah Twister – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Missing in Lottawatah – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Good Grief in Lottawatah – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Summer Lightning in Lottawatah – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Lottawatah Fireworks – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

The Ghosts of Lottawatah – trade paperback collection of the Brianna e-books
Book 1 – I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries (includes the first four Brianna e-books)
Book 2 – A Haunting in Lottawatah (includes the 5th, 6th, and 7th Brianna e-books)
Book 3 – Lottawatah Fireworks (includes the 8th, 9th, and 10th Brianna e-books)

Sullivan Investigations Mystery series
Murder Off the Books Kindle – Nook – Smashwords – Trade Paperback
Murder Takes the Cake Kindle – Nook – Smashwords – Trade Paperback 
Murder Doubles Back Kindle – Nook – Smashwords – Trade Paperback
Riley Come Home (short story)- Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Moonlighting at the Mall (short story) – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords


Zoned for Murder – stand-alone mystery
Kindle
Nook
Smashwords
Trade Paperback


Romances
Love Lessons – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords