Locus, October 2014
Page 16
–Tim Pratt
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LOCUS LISTENS TO AUDIOBOOKS: AMY GOLDSCHLAGER
Skin Game, Jim Butcher
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
The String Diaries, Stephen Lloyd Jones
Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link
Rogues, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds.
Heirs of Grace, Tim Pratt
Skin Game, Jim Butcher; James Marsters, narrator (Penguin Audio 978-1611762945, 13 CDs, $49.95, 16 hr., unabridged [also available as a digital download]) May 2014.
Over a year after the events of Cold Days, Mab, the Faery Queen whom wizard Harry Dresden serves as Winter Knight, forces him to ally with the evil Nicodemus Archleone in a plot to break into the Greek god Hades’ vault of treasures. If he refuses, she threatens that the parasite currently and painfully lodged in Harry’s skull will burst free in a manner fatal to Harry and will then proceed to torment his loved ones. Obviously, Nicodemus will betray Harry at the earliest opportunity; it’s up to Harry to betray him first without compromising his oath to Mab. And then Harry learns that the so-called parasite is not what he thinks….
I’m a relatively late but reasonably ardent convert to Dresden fandom, and I was definitely pleased to discover that actor James Marsters is the voice of Harry Dresden. Obviously comfortable with the supernatural (although I think I would quibble with his pronunciation of ‘‘Hecate’’ and some other mythical names), the American actor demonstrates that he’s impressively capable of several sorts of English accents that don’t sound anything like the accents he used as Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And he absolutely gets Harry, a snarky, generally well-intentioned man who refuses to kowtow to authority, even when magically compelled to do so, and who’s uncomfortable with explaining himself to others, even when it would really be a lot healthier for him.
This book is tailor-made for audio: it’s character-driven, and offers plenty of action, twists, badinage, and awesome emotional scenes.
•
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman; Neil Gaiman, Derek Jacobi, Robert Madge, Clare Corbett, Miriam Margolyes, Andrew Scott, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Emilia Fox, Reece Shearsmith, Lenny Henry, and an ensemble cast, narrators (Harper Audio 978-006-236446-3, 7 CDs, $27.99; 8.5 hr., unabridged, [also available as a digital download]) September 2014.
A wandering toddler enters a graveyard, just steps ahead of the assassin who killed his parents and sister. He is embraced by the ghosts who inhabit the place, gains a new name, Nobody ‘‘Bod’’ Owens, and a vampire guardian. As he grows up, the ghosts teach him their ways and powers. But eventually, Bod will have to accept that he belongs to the living, not the dead, and confront the assassin, who remains on his trail.
In the original audio production of the 2008 book, Neil Gaiman was the sole narrator. As readers of this column must surely be aware by now, I love Gaiman’s speaking voice, and I’m sure the original is a lovely listening experience. But, with certain exceptions, I will generally prefer a full cast over a single narrator, especially when it’s such an impressive one, including Miriam Margolyes and Lenny Henry among their number. The refined, velvety croon of the book’s narrator, the always amazing Sir Derek Jacobi, was sheer aural pleasure. And I still got my Gaiman voice fix: he hilariously cameos as the ghost of a histrionic 18th-century failed poet.
This new production of the 2008 novel is a companion to a new commemorative edition of the book, and as such, includes an afterword dated May 2014 in which Gaiman describes how and why he came to write the book. I wasn’t entirely happy with this book the first time I read it – I’m never 100% on board with the self-fulfilling prophecy as a plot device – but the story resonated with me (in all senses) a lot more this time.
•
Audiobook Reviews continue after ad.
The String Diaries, Stephen Lloyd Jones; Gemma Whelan, narrator (Hachette Audio/Blackstone Audio 978-1478903215, 11 CDs, $40.00, 13.5 hr., unabridged [also available as a digital download]) July 2014.
Three parallel storylines – one in the late 19th century, one in the late 20th century, and one set in the present – explain the origin and the threat of Jacob, a passionate, vindictive, and self-obsessed shapechanger who is intent on recapturing the love and happiness he shared with a Hungarian peasant woman. Since she is long dead, any of her lookalike descendants will do… once he’s murdered and taken the place of the descendant’s husband, that is.
The novel is apparently intended to be a paranormal thriller, but it offers only mild frisson instead of shocks. Each of the three narratives break off periodically at pivotal moments, which presumably is meant to inject tension as we explore another storyline; instead, all it does is slow things down, which is fatal for an audiobook. The structure also comes across as redundant, because a lot of what happens in the two earlier storylines is recounted in the present-day one.
Additionally, the audiobook exhibits an issue that is probably present in many productions that feature a foreign accent of a less familiar language: the accent is unconvincing to anyone who actually knows the language. Presumably, the recording producer either doesn’t know enough to correct the narrator, or assumes that the pool of knowledgeable listeners is so small that it’s not worth the bother. Narrator Gemma Whelan certainly does well with the more popular languages: she provides the English accent of a native, a lovely Welsh accent, and a not perfect but reasonable French accent.
But she clearly doesn’t know very much about Hungarian. I don’t speak the language myself, but I grew up hearing it, and both her vowels and her stresses seemed uncomfortably off to me. I consulted with my expert (i.e., my Budapest-born mother, Agnes Pauncz Goldschlager). She confirmed that Whelan was incorrectly stressing the second syllable of many Hungarian names, when she should have been stressing the first. It’s particularly jarring because all the characters in the book are therefore continually mispronouncing the villain Jacob’s name.
I really wanted to like this book, but the flaws in both the story and the audio production were just too glaring; the setup was compelling, but it lacked considerably in the execution.
•
Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link; Mark Bramhall, Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbell, Robbie Daymond, Kirby Heyborne, Rebecca Lowman, Arthur Morey, Lorna Raver, and Meera Simhan, narrators (Random House Audio, digital download, $23.95, 10.75 hr., unabridged) July 2014.
Although Kelly Link’s critically acclaimed second short-story collection was published in 2005, this is the first audio production of the book, in conjunction with a new text edition. As with another Random House Audio production, Karen Russell’s Vampires in the Lemon Grove, each story is read by a separate narrator. Having multiple narrators for a single-author short-story collection means something different than having multiple narrators for an anthology of many authors. In an anthology, you are already thinking of each story as distinct, because you know each is written by a different person. However, a single-author collection seems to be more of a unit, a collective. Having a new narrator for every piece forces you to consider each as a unique item, a separate entity.
At the same time, certain themes predominate and unite the stories here. There’s a preoccupation with troubled marriages, zombies, dark secrets, and cannons. The stories reminded me of another favorite author, Jonathan Carroll, whose work is also unsettling, magical, beautiful. I wanted to take a visit inside ‘‘The Faery Handbag’’ and watch the TV show described in the title piece. ‘‘Stone Animals’’, a creepy story about a family moving to a new home, took on extra edge as I listened to it while hunting for a new apartment.
Sadly, the conversation between Kelly Link and Joe Hill, which is apparently in the text rerelease of the book, doesn’t appear to be in this audio production. Perhaps they couldn’t get the two writers to record it? Regardless, I’m glad to have had this opportunity to encounter this book, which I previously neglected.
•
Rogu
es, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds.; Gwendoline Christie, Julia Whelan, Roy Dotrice, Phil Gigante, Ron Donachie, W. Morgan Sheppard, Janis Ian, et al., narrators (Random House Audio, digital download, $32.95, 31.25 hr., unabridged) June 2014.
The third in a series of themed cross-genre anthologies (after Warriors and Dangerous Women), this book focuses on morally gray (and generally entertaining) protagonists. Not all of the stories are fantasy and science fiction, but certainly enough of them are to justify inclusion in this column. I particularly liked Gwendoline Christie’s coolly cynical rendition of Joe Abercrombie’s ‘‘Tough Times All Over’’, as various parties chase a package through a corruption-riddled city, and Rupert Graves’s spritely narration of Patrick Rothfuss’s story ‘‘The Lightning Tree’’, an amusing chronicle of a day in the life of Bast, the fae servant of Kingkiller trilogy’s hero Kvothe. (I’ve always found Kvothe both too talented and too gloomy, more insufferable than compelling, but I’d totally read a novel about Bast.) Roy Dotrice’s portrayal of the marquis de Carabas in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere story, ‘‘How the Marquis Got His Coat Back’’ is thought-provoking; he gives the marquis an extremely faux-sounding French accent. It seems to be a deliberate choice: we know the accent’s fake, because the story explains that the marquis created his persona from the story Puss in Boots; the marquis’ brother, who turns up at a climactic moment, does not sound remotely French. The choice paints a more complete picture of the marquis: he isn’t nearly as charming nor as good a con artist as he thinks he is, and the accent’s just more evidence of that.
My favorite narrator in the impressive group that participated in this production is without question W. Morgan Sheppard, he of the portentous tones and memorable guest appearances on Max Headroom, Babylon 5, Star Trek, and Doctor Who. He infuses everything he says with gravitas and meaning, even a predictable non-SF story about a stolen painting, David Ball’s ‘‘Provenance’’. He also provides the narration of Phyllis Eisenstein’s ‘‘The Caravan to Nowhere’’. I was initially delighted by this story’s inclusion; I’ve always loved Eisenstein’s tales about Alaric the teleporting minstrel, and there hasn’t been one in years. I wasn’t entirely sure what to think about this tale of a caravan led by a drug dealer whose own son has been destroyed by the product; we’re obviously supposed to find the dealer likeable, as Alaric does, but the caravan leader’s experiences haven’t caused him to stop harvesting the product, nor does he seem especially ethically troubled about selling it.
All anthologies are a mixed bag, and some stories were definitely stronger than others, but on the whole, this was a fairly pleasurable listen.
•
Heirs of Grace, Tim Pratt; Leslie Hull, narrator (Brilliance Audio 978-1491520710, MP3-CD, $9.95, 10 hr., unabridged [also available as a digital download]). June 2014.
Bekah was a foundling, raised by a loving adoptive family in Chicago. A previously unknown relative, Archibald Grace, has left the art school graduate some money and an incredibly cluttered old house in North Carolina. She sees her inheritance as an opportunity to work on some paintings free of financial worry… and to get it on with the cute lawyer handling the relative’s will. That’s before she discovers that Grace was her father and that he’s made her heir to his considerable magical power – if she can figure out how to claim it before one of her half-siblings murders her. Although she mispronounces the word ‘‘dolorous’’ toward the end, I really enjoyed Hull’s narration; she fully embodies the strong-willed, genre-savvy (well, savvy except for very occasionally, when a plot point requires her to be temporarily reckless or dumb) Bekah. Hull also does some very creditable men’s voices, particularly Bekah’s new crush, Trey.
A pleasant diversion.
–Amy Goldschlager
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MAGAZINES RECEIVED: AUGUST
Analog Science Fiction and Fact–Trevor Quachri, ed. Vol. 134 No. 11, November 2014, $4.99, 10 times a year, 112pp, 15 x 21½ cm. Novella by Arlan Andrews, Sr.; novelette by Derek Künsken; short stories by Robert R. Chase, Ian Creasey, Jay Werkheiser, Bud Sparhawk, V.G. Campen, and Auston Habershaw; a guest editorial by Howard V. Hendrix; a science article by W.R.L. Anderegg; poetry, etc. Cover by Joshua Meehan.
Asimov’s Science Fiction–Sheila Williams, ed. Vol. 38 No. 10 & 11, Whole Number 465 & 466, October/November 2014, $7.99, 10 times a year, 192pp, 15 x 21½ cm. Novella by Allen M. Steele; novelettes by Gord Sellar, Dale Bailey, Emily C. Skaftun, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch; short stories by Kate Bachus, Brendan DeBois, Joel Richards, James Patrick Kelly, Robert R. Chase, Jeff Grimshaw, Jason Sanford, Tim McDaniel; columns by Robert Silverberg, James Patrick Kelly, and Jay O’Connell; poetry, reviews, etc. Cover by Hisaki Yasuda.
Dark Discoveries–Aaron J. French, ed. Issue No. 28, Summer 2014, $11.95, quarterly, 110pp, 21.5 x 28 cm. Dark fantasy magazine with stories by Graham Masteton, Kevin J. Anderson, Tim Waggoner, and others; interviews with Graham Masterton, Owl Goingback, and others; features and columns by James R. Beach, Yvonne Navarro, Robert Moorish and others, etc.; and reviews. Subscription: $19.95 for four digital issues; $37.95 US/$46.95 Canada/$69.95 overseas for four print issues to Christopher C. Payne, JournalStone Publications, 439 Gateway Dr., #83, Pacifica CA 94044; website:
Fiction River: An Original Anthology Magazine: Universe Between – Dean Wesley Smith, ed. Issue No. 8, August 2014, $15.99 paper/$6.99 digital, bimonthly, 253pp, 14 x 21½ cm. Themed anthology magazine, each issue has a different editor and a different theme or genre with Kristine Kathryn Rusch & Dean Wesley Smith as the overall series editors. This issue’s theme is the ‘‘universe between’’ with original stories by Lee Allred, Darcy Pattison, Phaedra Weldon, and others. Subscription: $39.99 digital/US$79.99 paper (contact for international delivery costs) for seven issues to WMG Publishing, PO Box 269, Lincoln City OR 97367; website:
Galaxy’s Edge–Mike Resnick, ed. No. 10, September 2014, $6.99 for print or $3.99 for a digital download from Amazon.com or B&N.com/$3.99 for a digital download or free online directly from
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction–Gordon Van Gelder, ed. Vol. 127, No. 3 & 4, Whole No. 715, September/October 2014, $7.99, bimonthly, 260pp, 13 x 19½ cm. This issue includes novelettes by Jérôme Cigut, Phyllis Eisenstein, Albert E. Cowdrey, Matthew Hughes, and David Gerrold; short stories by Oliver Buckram, Tom Underberg, Jay O’Connell, Dale Bailey, Brenda Carre, Robert Reed, and Ray Vukcevich; a science article by Pat Murphy & Paul Doherty; reviews and columns by Charles de Lint, Elizabeth Hand, David J. Skal, and Graham Andrews. Cover by Bryn Barnard.
Smith’s Monthly–Dean Wesley Smith, Issue #11, August 2014, $6.99 digital/$12.99 print/$30.00 print sent internationally, monthly, 152pp, 17½ x 25½ cm. A monthly magazine written entirely by Dean Wesley Smith with five short stories; a complete novel, The High Edge (a Seeders Universe novel); chapters 21-33 of The Life and Times of Buffalo Jimmy and chapters 21-33 of The Adventures of Hawk; nonfiction and poetry. Subscription: Digital-only $29.99 (six issues)/$49.99 (12 issues); Print plus digital $59.99 (six issues)/$99.99 for (12 issues)/$30.00 per issue internationally, on his website
il to WMG Publishing, PO Box 269, Lincoln City OR 97367; website:
Space and Time–Hildy Silverman, ed. No. 121, Summer 2014, $5.00 + $1.50 s/h, quarterly, 48pp, 21½ x 28 cm. Smallpress fiction magazine with stories by Charles E. Gannon and others; an interview with Jody Lynn Nye; nonfiction articles, and poetry. Cover by Brad W. Foster. Subscription: $20.00 US/$22.00 elsewhere for four issues, to Space and Time, 458 Elizabeth Ave., #5348, Somerset NJ 08873; also available digitally from from Weightless Books
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