Category Archives: Lands of Hope

Spotify Promotion! A Month of Infamy-to-Senility

I distribute my audiobooks via Findaway Voices— the “wide” option. They are always adding new retail outlets to their stable. I never see a reason to say “no”, I just click OK and watch for the returns. Somewhere along the way, the company I always associated with music– OK, with Taylor Swift– signed on. I was yesterday-years-old before I realized this.

But even better, Findaway makes it EASY to promote my tales now.

New Promotion for the Shards of Light series

If you haven’t picked up the first book in my Shards of Light tales yet, I’m running a special promotion on The Ring and the Flag (book 1) as well as Fencing Reputation (book 2). Spotify sets the final price but I’ve tagged it for a deep discount starting tomorrow and running for the next month.

The dates are central to my theme, Infamy to Senility. December 8th is the day FDR actually used an SAT word to call for America to go to war (fabulous History trivia- on December 8th, my home state of Vermont also voted to recognize a state of war, in complete violation of the Constitution. The next day, Congress followed suit, but for a few hours it was just us against the Japanese Empire). And January 7th when the sale ends it will be my birthday; I think that explains the second half of the title.

Audiobooks at a Great Price

Semi-seriously, if you enjoy fantasy, storytelling audiobooks, need a great Christmas gift item, or just want to make me happy (and honestly, doesn’t that cover everyone?), these titles would fit the bill. If you’re on Spotify already, how can you NOT check one or both of these tales out? If you have an answer to that question, don’t tell me.

Have a wondrous holiday season!

The Ring and the Flag on Spotify
Fencing Reputation on Spotify

Sounds of the Season: Stone Statues

Because Sometimes Only Hearing is Believing

I believe good sound FX are always in season and for those interested I’ll be sharing some on my site, while I work through projects as an audiobook narrator.

Many times my FX are drawn from a marvelous website called Freesound.org.  I cut, slice and alter them using effects found in the Audacity tool (also free to download and use). Sometimes I create the sound myself, using my voice or things to hand.

Featured Sound: Stone Statues

In Harbingers of Hope, the adventurers are in a strange, glass-walled dungeon of sorts known as the Hopeward. In a bisected chamber stand two ten-foot tall marble statues of armored warriors, one white and one black. And just as you would expect, when the glass-doors open to admit them, the statues move to attack. Here’s the sound:

How It Sounded

I built most of the sound from two FX on Freesound:

  • “Ertfelda” created hidden wall opening (#243699)
  • “Jamesrodavidson” created dinosaur footsteps (#192365)

I added some Distortion and lowered the pitch a step.

How It Looks

Here’s a quick attempt at him (the black one, natch), from another wonderful site where you can design and print out your own figurines, called Hero Forge:

So now you know what a pile of carved marble sounds like when it’s coming to make you a part of the cavern floor. Harbingers of Hope will be out in audiobook format this fall.