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TALKING BOOKS

TALKING BOOKS

By: Simon Mattacks
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About this listen

 The Podcast for People who love Audiobooks! In the past few years, I've recorded over a hundred Audiobooks. I thought it would be great to talk to some of the authors whose books I've narrated, to find out what they thought about the whole process. We talk about characters, voices, accents, the writing process, the recording process, in fact, all things audiobook related. As well as some things not! If you're a fan of audiobooks and want to find out a bit more about how it all works, then this podcast is for you.Simon Mattacks 2023 Art Literary History & Criticism
Episodes
  • Talking Books 9 - T.A. Williams

    Talking Books 9 - T.A. Williams
    Apr 27 2023

    Author TA Williams chats about his bestselling 'Cozy Mystery' series set in Tuscany featuring ex Met Police Detective Dan Armstrong and his faithful labrador, Oscar.
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    54 mins
  • TALKING BOOKS 8 - CATHERINE THOMPSON - AUDIO MANAGER ISIS AUDIO

    TALKING BOOKS 8 - CATHERINE THOMPSON - AUDIO MANAGER ISIS AUDIO
    Mar 1 2023

    This week I get back in my car and travel to Oxford, home of Isis Audio, to chat with Catherine, head of all things audiobook related and the lovely lady who gives me work. We take a behind the scenes look at the birth of an audiobook and meet 'Barry' the most in demand narrator working today.
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    48 mins
  • TALKING BOOKS 7 - STEVE MCHUGH - HELLEQUIN CHRONICLES AND OTHERS

    TALKING BOOKS 7 - STEVE MCHUGH - HELLEQUIN CHRONICLES AND OTHERS
    Mar 1 2023

    Hugely successful Urban Fantasy author Steve talks about his writing journey and what drew him to fantasy fiction. He talks about favourite characters, connecting with some of his author heroes and his latest novel, Blessed Odds.

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    54 mins
All stars
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loved this. real rapport between Simon and Catherine. And Barry at the end was a treat.

interesting insight into casting audiobooks

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Simon Mattacks is one of my favourite Audible narrators, and this conversation is really enlightening.

Lovely voices, fascinating content.

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Simon Mattacks proves himself to be not only a brilliant narrator but also a deft interviewer and a very funny man. Surprisingly engaging podcast series and the satirical extracts at the end of each episode are a real treat.

insights into writing & recording audiobooks

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Some of the author interviews (notably T. A. Williams and Mark Edwards) were interesting, and I was glad to hear one or two of the contributors making the point that readers should be subtle with the regional accents and the male/female voices (or, in my view, not do them at all). Nobody, unfortunately, made the point that readers should live up to that description and read the book, not act it; histrionic readings are painful to listen to.

However, overall I found the general tone of jokiness and mutual back-slapping a bit much. Not to mention one author recounting the plot of one of her novels in such detail that nobody who heard her would ever need to read it; it was like listening to someone recounting their latest dream in tedious detail, and one could practically hear Simon Mattacks' eyes glazing over.

But, all of that said, there were some very interesting insights into the process of producing an audiobook.

Some interesting insights, but a bit over-jokey

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