Dean & Lucy from Australia Read Bedtime Stories (Podcast).

So...we're fortunate in our household that both our children have taken to reading and story telling with the kind of enthusiasm that makes bedtime a welcome part of the day. My wife and I take it in turns (mostly) to read to the children, swapping between our 9 year old son and 6 year old daughter. 

A few nights ago, my daughter Lucy, asked me - quite out of the blue I might add - what a podcast was. Apparently she'd been talking to her school friends and they were discussing story telling podcasts. I've no idea which ones they were talking about but Lucy told me that she wanted to do a story telling podcast of her own and could she and I record one. 

Evidently, the ability to record audio nowadays is pretty easy, so we decided to have a crack. So in the interests of sharing, I'd like to present to you our *ahem* attempt at story telling with a short read through of "The Night Fright" from the popular Australian "Billie B. Brown" children's books by Sally Rippin - one of Lucy's favourite authors.

DOWNLOAD .MP3 as read by Dean and Lucy Mayes. (right click and 'Save As...').

Billie loves hanging out with Rebecca's older sisters. They make her feel so grown-up! But is Billie grown-up enough to handle the scary movies they like? 

Sally Rippin was born in Darwin and grew up in South-East Asia. As an adolescent she studied traditional Chinese painting for three years in Shanghai and Hangzhou. Returning to Australia, her time overseas inspired her first novel Chenxi and the Foreigner. Sally has also written and illustrated many books for children, including titles from the Go Girl and Aussie Bites series and the popular Fang Fang stories. She is also the illustrator for many others, including the recent Me, Oliver Bright (2009) by Megan de Kantzow and Mannie and the Long Brave Day (2009) by Martine Murray. Sally lives in Melbourne and writes and illustrates full time.

Run time is a little under 15 minutes and we had a lot of fun recording this at bedtime. 

DFA.

Star Wars: Heir To The Jedi - The View From My Room.

Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne

The Galactic Civil War rages on after the destruction of the Death Star and Luke Skywalker struggles to learn more about the Force without the aid of Obi-Wan Kenobi – or indeed without any aid at all. 

But the few memories he has of Obi-Wan’s instruction point the way to a stronger control of the Force, and he is encouraged to pursue it by a new friend in the Alliance. 

When Luke, R2-D2 and his new ally are tasked with liberating a valuable asset from the Empire and delivering her to a safe planet where she can aid the Alliance, their journey across the galaxy is fraught with peril – and opportunities for Luke to discover the mysteries of the Force.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

With the transition of the Star Wars franchise from Lucasfilm to Disney and the announcement of what it, essentially, a reboot of the entire expanded universe, I was cautiously excited. My view of the Star Wars Expanded Universe was that it had grown to unwieldy over the years and many of the stories in it were patchy at best. The new Star Wars Story Group promised a much more disciplined approach to story telling and I was hopeful that the story output would improve accordingly.

Having recently signed on to Amazons Audible, in the hope of taking my first steps into the world of audio books, Heir to the Jedi was my first audio book title. It stood out to me as a formidable title that offered the reader a first person narrative from none other than Luke Skywalker himself - a first for a major Star Wars character in Star Wars literature.

Sadly, I didn't enjoy the story at all. 

I felt that it failed to capture the cinematic spirit of Star Wars - as with the case with so many of the previous EU novels. I understand Kevin Hearne is an accomplished sci-fi author and he has a proven track record in the genre, but his story feels out of its depth for the Star Wars universe. Throughout my 'read', I found that there was a lot of annoying exposition which added little to the plot and distracted me and I felt that the character interaction that felt awkward and unintentionally comical. Luke Skywalker, in particular, was poorly handled in such a way that I felt that he seemed even less mature than he was in "A New Hope". The character Nakari had potential, but I think Hearne struggled with her identity and he certainly struggled with crafting a convincing dynamic between her and Luke.

The audio book experience is a new one for me so I came to it a little green. However, I found the listening experience to be jarring. 

I think the greatest problem with this unabridged version was the voice talent. Again, I note that Marc Thompson has read a number of Star Wars titles so, apparently he has a track record with the franchise. Thompson's narration of the story was okay but his character voices were terrible to the point of embarrassing.

Would it have been so hard to cast a female voice talent into the female characters? This would have been far more convincing and would have allowed Thompson to hone his male character voices far more effectively.

Listening to his take on the female protagonist Nakari was like listening to a transvestite. His interpretation of Luke Skywalker was marginally better but I found it wanting.

Having looked forward to this title for a long time, Star Wars: Heir To the Jedi turned out to be a big disappointment.

DFA.

View all my reviews

Hear Me - Retrospectively.

In mid 2010, I sat down at my computer with a hope in my heart and a glass of the good stuff next to me, to record an audio book version of my novel "The Hambledown Dream". My intention was to release it onto the web as a way of enticing potential readers into the world that I had created, in the hope that they would run out afterwards and by the book itself. 


Recently, I made a passing mention to the audio book on my Twitter feed and I instantly got messages of interest from the 'verse as it were. "You made an audio book???" 


So, as a way of rewarding those who might still be interested and for those who love the sound of my accent ;) I would like to present the complete audio book sampler comprising the first quarter of "The Hambledown Dream" here for your listening pleasure once more. 


Download it, spread the word about it, give it a listen and tell me what you think and, most importantly, if you like it enough - consider purchasing the novel and treating yourself to the entire story. 


Part One.


Part Two.


Part Three. 


For now, I'm off on holiday for a week or so and I'll be planning a couple of great author features for when I return. Stay tuned.



DFA. 

The Hambledown Dream Goes Aural - Part Three.

I'm pleased to present Part Three of my audio book sampler of The Hambledown Dream.

In this week's episode, we continue the journey of Andy DeVries as he begins to sense something amiss following his near fatal overdose at a rave party in Chicago's urban fringe. He begins to view himself with revulsion and deals with the realization that his life is on shaky ground.

I would like to dedicate this episode to those citizens who lost their lives at World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville Pennsylvania 9/11/2001.

DFA.

DOWNLOAD MP3.

(Right Click on Download Link to save file to your computer).

Dean Mayes, Author of The Hambledown Dream reads part two of his novel.

The Hambledown Dream Audio Book Sampler is proudly hosted by

The Hambeldown Dream Goes Aural - Part Two.

Following on from a brilliant response to the release of Part One of my audio book sampler of The Hambledown Dream, I'm pleased to to present a freshly minted Part Two for your enjoyment.

In this week's episode, we are introduced to Andy DeVries, a troubled and destructive young man whose life seems dead end and aimless. He ekks out a meager existence in the inner northern suburbs of Chicago precariously balancing two lives - one characterized by a nefarious underworld and another that is more honest if a little aimless...

Oh!...and be prepared to experience a rather erotic facet of Andy's life in this episode.

DFA.

(warning - this episode, contains explicit content that should not be listened to by minors).

DOWNLOAD MP3.

Dean Mayes, Author of The Hambledown Dream reads part two of his novel.

The Hambledown Dream Audio Book Sampler is proudly hosted by

The Hambledown Dream Goes Aural - Part One.

Beginning this week, I will be making chapters of my novel "The Hambledown Dream" available in a high quality audio book, read by me, for you to listen to and enjoy. Readers from all over the world have discovered and fallen in love with the "Dream".

What I hope to achieve from this is to whet those undecided readers appetites for more and encourage them to purchase my novel either digital or printed format.

This week, Part One - the beginning of the story where one life, so full of promise, ends while another's - so far away - hangs in the balance.

Download MP3

(Right click on Download link to save file)

Dean Mayes, author of "The Hambledown Dream" reads his novel for an audio book preview series.