The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life. –Frances Perkins
This month marks the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Manhattan, New York City on March 25, 1911. It was the deadliest industrial fire in U.S. history killing 146 workers, mostly immigrant women under the age of 25. The event was a catalyst to create laws that enforced minimum standards for safer working conditions.
From a Narrator Who Has Made It through Several.
By Graham Halstead
In no particular order…
Find your crew. All good zombie apocalypse survivors have a close-knit crew of two or three battle-hardened companions they can rely on. Find yours and keep them close.
Kill it. Kill it dead. In the zombie apocalypse, remember the classic mistake of the supervillain vs. the hero: This is no time for monologuing, taunting, or otherwise carrying on. If you have a kill shot—take it.
Secure your homestead. Whether it’s a string fence with cans tied on to make noise, a barbed wire and chain link affair, or even shipping containers laid end to end—make safe the castle. Everyone needs a home base and its security can make or break your struggling community.
Don’t trust strangers. Only the living can help you in the fight against the undead hordes, but that doesn’t mean they can’t also be your undoing. Never let your guard down, trust your instincts, and keep your weapons handy.
There’s always a zombie. You’re exploring a new area for your blossoming community to inhabit; you’re scavenging a warehouse for food and supplies; you’re looking through the library for that last Hunger Games book you never got to read: guess what? There’s always a zombie. Don’t ever think just because it’s quiet, that you may have found the one place that lucked out and missed the zombie takeover. Trust me, you didn’t. Also, look behind you.
Never forget what makes us human. Just because it’s the zombie apocalypse and it seems like The Purge may finally be here, never forget your human decency and decorum. It’s what separates us from them, and in the end, acting humanely will go a long way to helping convince your fellow survivors that you too belong in the brave new world you’re fighting to create.
Don’t lose your head. You may think this goes without saying, but many a survivor can lose their cool at the most inopportune moment. Yes, it’s the end of the world. Yes, things do not look great. But by golly, you ARE somebody darn it, and you can do it. Keep your calm and use your noggin. It’s the best weapon you have against the brainless.
Lighten up. Yeah, okay. Killing zombies all day can get pretty depressing. But life’s short these days, and you might as well make the most of it. Kick back once in awhile and try to blow off some steam. You know what they say: all zombie-killing and no play makes Jack a dull boy…
Know thy zombie. Zombies come in all shapes and sizes, speeds and threat levels. Learn how to handle walkers, runners, crawlers, and more, and you’ll be more than prepared for whatever the end of the world has in store.
Keep your gun close, and your stabbing tool of choice closer. Guns are a great tool for putting down the undead, but most situations are helped by a little stealth and strategy. Guns are loud and will draw the attention of the dead—and the living. Plus there’s only so many bullets out there and this ain’t your grandma’s action/adventure film. Keep a knife or pick somewhere close at hand. Heck, get creative! Use a screwdriver or a sharpened stick to get the job done.
On February 1 the culinary world was shocked with the loss of one of its stars, chef Benoit Violier, in an apparent suicide. Violier was the executive chef of Restaurant de l’Hotel de Ville, which had been given three Michelin stars (the highest honor Michelin grants), and was recently designated by La Liste as the best restaurant in the world. The recent tragedy has brought attention back to the issue of mental health in the restaurant business. The long hours, pressure to perform at perfection level, and lifestyles of many chefs (including drug and alcohol use), make the restaurant life a breeding ground for mental illness that is ignored because of the “toughness” that is expected from its workers. A reoccurring comment in this growing conversation is how, in the age of blogs and Yelp, people are so quick to critique the food they eat without realizing the amount of work that the person behind the food put into it. So here are a couple of stories about the chefs behind the food:
There are many things you can do while listening to audiobooks and you can double your productivity. With the New Year starting, people set goals. Here are some achievable goals that would be easy to reach while listening to an audiobook.
# 1 Clean your house or your living space. This is a task that few people enjoy. If you are concentrating on a juicy love triangle, or a suspenseful journey, you won’t care as much that you are cleaning the fingerprints off of your stainless steel appliances. You will be so wrapped up in the story, that time will pass, and a boring task won’t be so bad. Just blast it on some speakers throughout your house, and you are in cleaning heaven. Before you know if your place will be spotless and you will be caught up with your favorite latest novel. Continue reading 10 Productive Things to Do While Listening to Audiobooks→
Last week we brought you an exclusive interview between narrator Karen White and author Ellery Adams. This week we bring you a twist on the interview with the fans of Ellery Adams asking Karen White some questions!
Ellery did a Facebook post asking her fans for questions about audiobooks. Several people asked similar questions, so we grouped those together in the post.
Laura, Terry and Donna all had questions about how Karen got started as an audiobook narrator: When and how did you decide that narration work would be something you wanted to do? How did you get started? Do you consider yourself to be a performer or actor and did you “plan” to be a narrator? I think this interview will be fun! How did you get into this business?
Karen White, narrator of Ellery Adams Books by the Bay series, recently had a few questions for the author. Read on to find out some interesting facts about the author, her processes, the series, and even her take on audiobooks!
Author Ellery Adams
Dixie! What a character! Is she completely sprung from your imagination or was there a human inspiration? You describe her movements so clearly it makes me feel like you must have seen someone of her stature skate around inside a diner somewhere! (And I was kind of sad she was not around for most of this book – though I made her voice a little bit difficult to do, so I was also kind of relieved.)
Dixie is totally fictitious (though there are times she seems so real to me that I can imagine her skating around my kitchen). I was a big fan of the movie Xanadu when I was a kid and later, of the play, Starlight Express. Dixie brings all the flair and color of those stories—and on roller skates!
You mix some real life events into these books. For instance (p.11) a crewman on the ferry to Palmetto Island tells Olivia about the lady that was killed in a boating accident at the Quarantine Pad. I remember when this happened a couple years ago, since I live quite close by. How do news events like this work their way into your stories? And might there be some shark attacks coming in future books since they were the big news in coastal NC this past summer?!
The holidays are the best time of the year. It is time off from work and school that you get to spend with your family and friends. Everyone has holiday traditions and special things they do this time of year. One of the most exciting things is the holiday music on the radio and in all the shops. In between the festive music, there is always time for a good audiobook!
One feel good audio that I listened to last winter was Christmas Letters by Debbie Macomber narrated by Renée Raudman. It is a festive and cozy story, perfect for this time of year.
My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity. –Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen
It seems appropriate as we consider the sacrifices made by the men and women of our armed services on Veterans Day to remember a famous poem written by Wilfred Owen, a British officer killed in France during the final week of the First World War. Owen was among the thousands of well educated young men who volunteered to serve for ‘King and country.’ Arriving on the western front in the early summer of 1916, he was overwhelmed by the horrors of trench warfare. Appalled by the endless slaughter and nightmarish conditions in which the men existed, Owen set about opposing the war through his aspiring poetry.
Siegfried Sassoon
In early 1917 Owen was diagnosed with ‘shell shock’ (what we would now define as combat fatigue) and was sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh. There he met the noted British poet and fellow infantry officer Siegfried Sassoon. Owen gained not only a close friend but a mentor for his writing. It was at Craiglockhart that Owen first drafted what was to become his most famous work, Dulce et Decorum Est.
The first words of this Latin saying, Dulce et Decorum Est, are taken from an ode by Horace. The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean, “It is sweet and right.” The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori–it is sweet and right to die for your country. This was the kind of classical literature heaped upon generations of young schoolboys before the war, then fighting and dying by the countless thousands on the battlefields across France. Owen’s poem, perhaps the finest of its kind, reminds us the true cost of any war.
I had the wonderful opportunity of interviewing C.S.E. Cooney. Ms. Cooney is an in house narrator at Tantor and her smile and personality lights up the place. It is always a great day when she is here recording. She is very talented, and I am thrilled to share her interview with everyone.
C.S.E Cooney
How did you get into narrating?
This is a question that people have been asking since I landed my job at Tantor back in April! I find it tricky, because there is no short answer. Some of it was luck: right place, right time, right email address. But to get to that time and place and email address, I spent two years stopping everyone I met who had any connection whatsoever with the audiobook industry to say, “I want to do this; how do I do this?” Some of it is my BA in Fiction Writing with an Acting minor from Columbia College Chicago (a peculiar combination of education that makes this job peculiarly ideal). I began by narrating for such short-form fantasy podcasts such as Uncanny Magazine, Podcastle, Tales to Terrify, and Goblin Fruit.
Mostly though, after looking into a job as a proofer for Tantor, I heard from a friend—at the time employed in that same position—that the company was also looking for narrators. I sent in an email with an audition reel, made an appointment to audition, and landed a trial run with two cozy mysteries (later mentioned). After that, I got a 13-week contract, and found myself booked through the summer and early fall doing the Best Job Ever. It was the most glorious, double lightning strike of luck and work.
What was your favorite audiobook to narrate?
Well… I think that’s a toss-up between Combat Ready Kitchen and Tales from the Back Row. This surprised even me, for I read and write fiction primarily, and these were two of only three non-fiction books I narrated. I felt like I was learning loads of interesting things in the process—not just about narrating, but about cheese bacteria, and New York City Fashion week—and on a very basic sentence level, I found the sentences conversational and cathedral-like. Sometimes in fiction a sentence can get very basic, making way for a forward-driven plot, snappy dialogue, and colorful characters. With these two memoirs/histories, the focus was on conveying new and often useful information with clarity and beauty and wit; I found it extraordinary.
Today we talk with Shane Gericke, author of The Fury, released on September 4th in print, eBook, and audiobook by Tantor Media. The Fury weaves a multi-layered web that entangles the Deepwater Horizon disaster, global terrorism, Mexican drug cartel kingpins, Adolf Hitler, human experimentation, cops, robbers, and a brave Chicago policewoman who risks her life to stop a madman. Shane, thank you for joining us today!
It’s a pleasure to be here. I’m delighted with the extraordinary effort Tantor invested in publishing The Fury. From cover design to editing to interior maps to the narration of the audiobook, this ride is an author’s dream come true. Talking about it here is a privilege.
The Fury has been endorsed by David Morrell (author of First Blood, which introduced the iconic character “Rambo”) and Steve Berry (author of The Amber Room and the Cotton Malone series). They are two of the best—and bestselling—writers in the thriller genre, and they both chose to endorse The Fury. Your reaction?
Pure admiration and gratitude. Not only did Steve and David enthusiastically endorse The Fury, they spent a fair amount of time showing me a subtle, but crucial, way to refine my writing style, which elevated the book from “Well done” to “Un-put-down-able!” That was an extraordinary gift, because top-ten international bestselling authors are swamped with their own work demands. The thriller community has a lot of heart.
The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life. –Frances Perkins
Tantor Media 