Countdown to Born to Darkness
February 28, 2012
21 days…
until Born to Darkness
hits bookstores and eReaders
Day Eleven.
UNSTOPPABLE, the 2-in-1 reissue of LETTERS TO KELLY and LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER is available today in paperback from HQN and in audiobook from Brilliance Audio!Join me this evening, at 7:00 p.m. EST on my facebook page, and chat with the amazing Patrick Lawlor, the narrator of most of my Brilliance audiobooks! (Including the upcoming BORN TO DARKNESS audiobook, also from Brilliance!)It’s always cool when a book comes out in audio format, because I get to hear other peoples’ interpretations of the book, the character, the story.
But at the same time, I love having input into the creative process, and working with Brilliance Audiobooks and Patrick has given me just that! (FLASHPOINT was the first audiobook that Brilliance produced, FYI.)One of the reasons I love Brillance so much was that they were open to the idea of having two audiobook narrators read my books — one male, Patrick, and one female. In the case of UNSTOPPABLE and BORN TO DARKNESS, the female narrator is Melanie Ewbank, who read the earlier TS series books, but then left for a short time to have a baby! I’ve also loved the other female readers who’ve stepped in for her, but I’m so glad she’s back, because . . . Well, she’s just really great.With BORN TO DARKNESS, it was easy for Patrick and Melanie to read the book, because each scene is clearly written from one character’s point of view. If it’s a male character (Shane or Elliot, or Bach or Diaz), then Patrick reads the scene. If it’s a female character (Mac or Anna or Nika) then Melanie reads the scene. Simple, right?But when Brilliance let me know that Patrick and Melanie were on board to read LETTERS TO KELLY and LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER, two of my earlier category romances being reissued in a 2-in-1 with the title UNSTOPPABLE, I had to stop for a second and think.
Both of those books were written before I’d established my current one-scene-per-POV-character method of writing. There’s head hopping (gracefully done, natch! ) in both books.So the big question was this: Do we have a single reader read the entire audiobook, or…Does Brilliance trust me enough to let me go through the manuscript and mark the places that Patrick should read and the places that Melanie should read…?
They trusted me – and I trusted Patrick and Melanie to tweak the instructions I’d given them when necessary. So that’s how these two stories are presented, with the same “he said/she said” feel, and they are a LOT of fun.
Particularly so LETTERS TO KELLY.
This is a book where the hero, T. Jackson Winchester the Second, is a writer. And in the course of the book, he spend some time writing his own book — and wrestling with the rebellious main character, a man named Jared.
So LTK contains scenes that include the story (an historical romance novel) that T. Jackson is writing — along with the outloud arguments that he has with his noncompliant hero, Jared.
Melanie narrates the historical romance in an absolutely pitch-perfect way. (Slight British accent! A hint of melodrama!) And Patrick reads the arguments between T. Jackson and Jared, and that really rocks, too. Together, Melanie and Patrick deliver the funny.
LETTERS TO KELLY is, hands down, my personal favorite of all of my earlier category romances. It is beyond fun to listen to Patrick and Melanie bring it to life!
(No intention to ignore LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER, which was a romantic suspense where a beleagured and legendary FBI agent (early shades of Max Bhagat, complete with a growing relationship with a younger FBI agent who is not afraid of him, shades of Jules Cassidy) hunts a black widow killer. Also a fun book — and quite possible, before the reissue of UNSTOPPABLE, one of the hardest of my backlist books to find!)
So, tonight! Chat with Patrick and me at 7:00 p.m. EST. at www.facebook.com/SuzanneBrockmannBooks
We’ll be talking about UNSTOPPABLE and BORN TO DARKNESS and, of course, Izzy (who I essentially wrote for Patrick to read!).
Post your questions and comments to my wall, and Patrick and I will answer as many as we can!
Hear an audio sample of Patrick and Melanie here. (scroll to the left side of the page where it says “Listen”
Read an excerpt from LETTERS TO KELLY here.
Read an excerpt from LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER
