Wednesday, April 30, 2025

This is the thirty-third installment of West Wind, your daily drop of thoughts, ideas, and info for this Season.

Happy Wednesday everyone! I’ve got some exciting news, specifically that the audiobook edition of Avalon Lost: A YA Fantasy Adventure Novel by is available for your listening at long last.

You can hear to a sample chapter at that post, and find links to buy it as well. Though it’s labeled as YA, it’s definitely better suited for older kids since it’s a little more intense than other books in the genre. Not too bad, but definitely read (or listen!) to it before giving it to a younger reader.

The story behind this production began long ago at LegendHaven ‘24, when I had already decided to produce audiobook versions of my own stories. During discussions with other authors about how they had been asked for audiobooks by their readers, I realized I was in a position to do something about that. I approached Mary Rose about doing Avalon Lost, and the stage was set.

I had already read the book during the beta read phase, so I thought I knew what I was getting into. After reading through it again for clarity and pronunciation questions, I realized that every character has a European accent, either Welsh, north Scottish, or BBC English. One even has a French accent (but isn’t French). The only person speaking with an American accent would be me, the narrator! That required a little bit of research to make sure I got it right, but I think it turned out pretty good overall.

Fun fact about this audiobook: the last two chapters are actually recorded with a different microphone! I couldn’t tell the difference, even when listening to it over and over for editing.

I learned a lot about audio production during this project, so if you ever feel like recording something yourself, I can give you all the tips. Also, you may be thinking: I have a book that I’d like to turn into an audiobook; I wonder if he’s willing to do it? Unfortunately, the answer is currently no. I could spend the rest of my writing career recording other people’s books and never get any of my own done. Doing Avalon Lost was a way to give back to Mary Rose for all of the support she’s given me so far, and as a way to learn how to do a full-scale audio production. I’ll be focusing on my own projects for now. If that ever changes, though, stay subscribed to find out.