In Full Leaf
The audiobook of The Memory of Trees comes out on March 17, read by David Rintoul. This gifted Scottish actor has now recorded five of my books and I've been really privileged to have him do it. To my mind he's absolutely the best there is.
He phoned me before recording Brodmaw Bay in which I'd written that the Bay's patriarch, Richard Penmarick, spoke with no trace of an accent. He said Richard would sound more sinister with just the faintest hint of a West Country burr. And how right he proved to be...
He also said he thought Bay was the best of the books (having already recorded The Magdalena Curse and The Waiting Room). Since then he's done The Colony and now Trees and I'd be intrigued to know if his opinion has changed. Or to put it more honestly, whether I've got better, which is every honest fiction writer's intention with every novel we begin.
Trees was written to a pre-determined length, because for production reasons, publisher Severn House limit their novels to 90, 000 words. I generally write just over 100, 000 word books, but didn't mind this. I like to give the reader value in terms of page volume but also enjoy the challenge of writing to length.
Recently I wrote a story for Kindle Single which has the title, An Absence of Natural Light. I decided at the outset it would be 100 pages or 25, 000 words long and it ended up at almost exactly that. The ability to write to a word count is probably the legacy of my past job as a features journalist. If you can write to length factually, you can certainly do it when you're making stuff up.
Anyway the 90, 000 words of The Memory of trees amounts to 9.5 hours of Mr. Rintoul's beautifully resonant speaking voice. I hope his recounting of my story diverts, entertains and delivers a chill to its listeners. It might also make some of you hesitant about taking a walk in the woods.
He phoned me before recording Brodmaw Bay in which I'd written that the Bay's patriarch, Richard Penmarick, spoke with no trace of an accent. He said Richard would sound more sinister with just the faintest hint of a West Country burr. And how right he proved to be...
He also said he thought Bay was the best of the books (having already recorded The Magdalena Curse and The Waiting Room). Since then he's done The Colony and now Trees and I'd be intrigued to know if his opinion has changed. Or to put it more honestly, whether I've got better, which is every honest fiction writer's intention with every novel we begin.
Trees was written to a pre-determined length, because for production reasons, publisher Severn House limit their novels to 90, 000 words. I generally write just over 100, 000 word books, but didn't mind this. I like to give the reader value in terms of page volume but also enjoy the challenge of writing to length.
Recently I wrote a story for Kindle Single which has the title, An Absence of Natural Light. I decided at the outset it would be 100 pages or 25, 000 words long and it ended up at almost exactly that. The ability to write to a word count is probably the legacy of my past job as a features journalist. If you can write to length factually, you can certainly do it when you're making stuff up.
Anyway the 90, 000 words of The Memory of trees amounts to 9.5 hours of Mr. Rintoul's beautifully resonant speaking voice. I hope his recounting of my story diverts, entertains and delivers a chill to its listeners. It might also make some of you hesitant about taking a walk in the woods.
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Brian
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Mar 02, 2015 05:06AM
I'm not usually one who will listen to audio books, but you definitely have me intrigued! I'm kind of old fashioned in that I like holding a real book, not reading on a tablet, too. I may have to branch out and check out Mr. Rintoul's audio presentation. Thank you!
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I'm with Brian on his preferences, but am intrigued by the audio book description. For me, The Waiting Room has become the gold standard upon which I will measure all other supernatural works by any writer. This is like Jack Finney's Time and Again is my standard for all time travel genre. Mr. Cottam is the best atmospheric writer there is. I can get chills walking through my own kitchen in broad daylight just thinking about it.
