Mike Mullins is a friend of mine with a deep, expressive voice. Several years ago, he recorded "Just Hold Me" -- a short piece I wrote a long time ago. It is about a young man who goes to his college campus on his first day back from Nam rather than go home. Several Vietnam vets have expressed affection for this story as it seems to reflect the confusion many felt as they made the long journey back home.

I was tickled by Mike's thoughtfulness and intrigued by the passion he put into the narration. I finally got around to doing something with it a few months ago and it's now on YouTube and as an App on the Android Market. Here's the Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yQgSN...

As a result of Mike's reading of "Just Hold Me" and after thinking about it for a long time, I asked Mike if he was interested in reading my thriller, USERNAME, for an audio book. It's not something I've tried before...and it's certainly not something I wanted to do myself what with my nasally, faintly-accented Arkansas twang. My villain is evil and I doubted a woman's voice could capture his casual menace. Mike agreed and with John Denham of John Denham productions (https://www.facebook.com/pages/John-D...), he spent weeks working on it -- reading each chapter carefully, trying to understand my strong women characters -- and grasp Rod's depravity enough to communicate it. He practiced reading -- correcting for things like pace and expression. With John, they worked to make the sound levels consistent from chapter to chapter. John worked to provide the right sound quality and put the work in the right formats.

In short, I had no idea just what I was asking of Mike in terms of time and dedication. However, the result was stunning ... I wrote USERNAME and Mike scared even me. Of course, this was my baby...a warning to the unwary ... my way of dealing with so many tragedies I've experience or been witness to ... of course, I would love it.

However, I was more than thrilled to discover that USERNAME the Audio Book, performed by Michael D. "Moon" Mullins is a finalist for the Military Writers Society of America Book Awards Program in Audio Books. Congratulations to Mike and John Denham. I'm forever grateful and in awe of your talent.

If you are interested, here's the Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Username/dp/B00...

Also, if you are interested, Pat Avery of Red Engine Press, Mike Mullins and John Denham will be at the Military Writers Society of America Conference in Dayton on September 28, 2013 -- and they will talk about just how they created this audio book -- from what was involved in preparation, recording, editing, and publication. Contact me at joycekfaulkner@gmail.com if you would like more information about the conference and the panel discussion.