“Falling, falling…. Maya was airborne again, suspended between a landless platform above and an inscrutable expanse of water below.” Maya’s headlong rush into marriage isn’t working out…and it isn’t the only collision course she’s on these days. Her saltwater distractions aside, her father-in-law wants her gunned down for reasons unknown, and her pesky bodyguard – when he’s around – seems intent on drowning her in want and regret.Maya is desperate to hold onto any small part of herself she understands. When escape becomes her only option, she finds herself in a race against a past – and a man – she can’t outrun.
Errin Stevens writes paranormal romantic suspense stories from her home in Minnesota. When not wrestling with unruly narrative – or reading literary and commercial fiction like a fiend – you’ll find her poring over seed catalogues (winter) or gardening (the other three days of the year).
The sirens of Griffins Bay are in trouble, and the recent slew of royal suicides looks to be the least of their worries.For one, unless a blood relative of the queen shows up, no one’s around to staff the monarchy. Well, except for a whack-job bureaucrat and he seriously won’t do. Worse is the community unrest threatening siren society, a problem caused by too many humans in the pool, which means Simon and his off-limit girlfriend will have to run and hide if they want to make more of their flirtation… The solution doesn’t inspire confidence at first, but the Blakes have everything at hand to set their world to rights – namely, a hidden queen, a dead prince, and a facility for human manipulation. Once they find their sea legs, they’ll restore order, distribute smart phones, and drive that conniving bureaucrat to a grisly, satisfying end.
Errin Stevens writes paranormal romantic suspense stories from her home in Minnesota. When not wrestling with unruly narrative – or reading literary and commercial fiction like a fiend – you’ll find her poring over seed catalogues (winter) or gardening (the other three days of the year).
Sean is an aspiring game developer who’s used his years of work on Youtube to excel at audiobook narration.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Errin Stevens. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
Q&A with Author Sean Posvistak
When did you know you wanted to be an audiobook narrator? How did you wind up narrating audiobooks? Was it always your goal or was it something you stumbled into by chance?
This was a suggestion from my mom. I was having trouble making ends meet at the time trying to pursue my personal passions, so she suggested a slightly different field of work that also took advantage of my voice. People always said I had a “radio voice”, so I figured I’d give it a shot. Turns out that wasn’t just my family being nice. Who knew?
What type of training have you undergone?
I was producing videos on Youtube for years before I started narrating audiobooks. It helped me refine my delivery style, and gave me plenty of opportunities to learn how to not suck from professionals like TotalBiscuit and Jim Sterling. Practice really does make perfect, in my case.
How do you manage to avoid burn-out? What do you do to maintain your enthusiasm for narrating?
Remind myself of my overwhelming need to eat.But seriously: I used to work retail. This is paradise compared to that, because I get to set my own hours. Being able to work when you feel like it and still make ends meet is a dream, and keeping in mind how fortunate I am to be able to do that is what keeps me going. Because I sure as hell ain’t going back to OfficeMax.
What about this title compelled you to audition as narrator?
I love fiction. Don’t get me wrong: I can’t complain about the steady paychecks the instructional books I usually get provide, but my heart belongs to exciting narratives meant to invoke a mood other than just self-help in you. I like getting lost in a world. I like going on a journey with pleasant characters. And I like bringing them to life in the way only a narrator can.
How did you decide how each character should sound in this title?
I pulled from real-world sources. Art imitates life, so I figured basing the voices on the delivery style and people I knew would give it that edge.
Do you read reviews for your audiobooks?
Of course! Feedback is the only way I’ll improve. It’s already hard enough to get noticed on the great expanse that is the internet, so when someone thinks you, specifically, are worth the time to explain what you’re doing right and wrong, I find it’s worth it to listen.
What type of the review comments do you find most constructive?
There are plenty of types of commenters, but my favorite are called “The Talkers”. As in, the people who can write more than one sentence breaking down exactly what about your delivery style they like or don’t like. That kind of information is immediately useful, be it positive or negative.
If you could narrate one book from your youth what would it be and why?
Nate the Great. That was the book that introduced me to the concept of detectives and made me a huge fan of the genre. I have so much respect got those with an analytical mind, because I can’t even beat a Phoenix Wright game, let alone solve a real-world mystery. Plus, they remind me of my personal hero: my grandfather, who actually spent his life solving real-world mysteries on the California Highway Patrol.
What bits of advice would you give to aspiring audiobook narrators?
Do it.
I’m not being facetious; that’s the best thing you can possibly do, and you will get that advice from anybody even remotely worth their salt. Keep recording. Keep improving. Keep learning and honing your craft. That’s the only way to get better at this. Study those
who have already gone down that road. And bear in mind: even those guys are still learning. That’s how they STAY at the top of their field.
Also: buy a huge jug for storing water in. You’ll thank me later.
What’s next for you?
The whole point of me moving to Ohio was to live the dream and start a game development company with my friends. We’re saving up and planning this out, and soon, we’ll have everybody living in the same building and making something awesome together. But until then: way more audiobooks. Even more than last year. 2018 will be the year of Sean Posvistak.
Bonus question: Any funny anecdotes from inside the recording studio?
Studio? Hardly. All those samples you heard were recorded in a bedroom with blankets held up on the walls by Command hooks for noise cancellation. My pop filter is propped up on the tripod of my camera. And here’s the part that’s really gonna tick off my fellow VO artists: they were all recorded on a Blue Yeti. I’ve used a Shure SM7B, and the only thing a sample size of 4 people could tell was different was that the Shure had slightly better noise cancellation.Moral of the story? Don’t think you can’t afford to do this job. You can get clever. You can find neat tricks as you experiment with the tools available. And you might have been lucky enough to be born with a voice that just works better on cheaper hardware.
For Kate Sweeting, love isn’t in the air. It’s in the water.
Since her father died, Kate Sweeting’s home life has been in the pits, her well-being on life support. Her future looks desolate until she and her mother, Cara, make another plan: abandon their shriveled existence for more promising prospects on the coast, where Cara can play small-town librarian-bachelorette and Kate can figure out what’s up with that secretive Blake family from the beach.
Everyone is eerily captivated with Kate and her mother, and Cara is the first to figure out why when the man of her dreams arrives all dripping and devoted and closed-mouthed about what he intends. Kate is willing to go along with their subterfuge for a while, but eventually makes a charge for the water to learn what her mother is hiding. Gabe Blake is there waiting for her…and so is someone considerably less friendly. By the time Kate navigates her way home, everything will have changed for her—what she feels, what she wants, and what she’ll risk to be with the man she loves.
Errin Stevens writes paranormal romantic suspense stories from her home in Minnesota. When not wrestling with unruly narrative – or reading literary and commercial fiction like a fiend – you’ll find her poring over seed catalogues (winter) or gardening (the other three days of the year).
Sean is an aspiring game developer who’s used his years of work on Youtube to excel at audiobook narration.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Errin Stevens. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
Q&A with Author Errin Stevens
Tell us about the process of turning your book into an audiobook.
Well, I went to the ACX web site and did a LOT of internet research while I considered how to best approach my projects. I decided I don’t much like how often we all get asked to create on the if-come, so even though it was expensive for me, I carved out a section of Updrift for use as a script and put the project up as a paid gig through the ACX production system. I got such wonderful responses from some truly talented narrators and was so agitated about choosing the right one. I co-opted the opinion of a longtime friend and actress to listen with me to help me figure it out! She told me to go with the one that pulled the “right” emotional response as I felt it… and since she and I both thought Sean’s read was the most compelling, I made him an offer. Thankfully, he accepted.Sean was an amazing professional to work with. He made every edit I requested, did everything smoothly and beautifully, and the second I could amass my next pile of cash to produce the sequel, I contacted him to see if he’d be interested, and he jumped all over it. I’m really grateful for the care Sean took with my stories and can’t recommend him highly enough.
Do you believe certain types of writing translate better into audiobook format?
My short answer to this is ‘yes,’ although with the caveat that I still prefer reading on paper because that process blurs a certain divide between my conscious and unconscious and results in the experience I’m seeking when I read. But. I’ve listened to a few audiobooks – it saved my sanity on two cross-country drives! – and I think the experience was similar enough to “reading” that I’d do it again. I think any nonfiction would play well (I adored “In a Sunburned Country” by Bill Bryson); and I think a good narrator will know how to bring a story across as the writer intended.
How do you manage to avoid burn-out? What do you do to maintain your enthusiasm for writing?
I don’t! Lol, no, really, I do write every day, although I’ve taken a few weeks off on occasion to let a piece rest or get a translation going or, ahem, audiobook produced. I also read a lot, and that always gives me ideas on how to storytell, too.
Is there a particular part of this story that you feel is more resonating in the audiobook performance than in the book format?
Oh my goodness, yes. Sean’s voice is just this terrific blend of compelling goodies, prompts for the listener to envision the story as well as hear it, and to feel more viscerally the tension the characters feel. And then I think his rich, resonant delivery does a much better job bringing both my hero and my antagonist to life.
If this title were being made into a TV series or movie, who would you cast to play the primary roles?
Oooo, that’s a hard one. I think I’d cast Mads Mikkelsen as Peter, Colton Haynes as Gabe, and Saoirse Ronan as Kate.
Were there any real life inspirations behind your writing?
Although my stories are not at all retellings, the inspiration for Updrift was The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. The little reflection of it I hope people see/enjoy is in the form of a character twist, since I modeled my bad guy after the original heroine. I.e., he was the one who risked everything and suffered the most for what he wanted.
What gets you out of a writing slump? What about a reading slump?
The questions are a bit funny to me because each is an answer to the other – reading makes me want to write and vice versa. But with what I do, writing is a job and I make myself do it every day, shooting for 500 words, which I sometimes don’t quite get to and sometimes surpass. Exercise is important to me because my walks are where I dream through some of my writing problems… and you just have to stay with it. Not very exciting, I know, but the real answer is to keep at it.
Do you have any tips for authors going through the process of turning their books into audiobooks?
If you can, pay your narrator rather than offer a royalty share. It’s a cleaner deal, it gives creatives just like you a little income, and you’ll get more response for your audition. Plus you’ll hear a ton of good options, capable professionals you’d want working on your baby.
What’s next for you?
I’m going to finish a fourth for this series, Crosstide, if it kills me. And it might. Seriously, I think my brain got broke last year… 😉
Errin Stevens’ “Mer” Top 10
“Rise Up” (song) by Thomas Jack & Jasmine Thompson. Addictive and hypnotic – give it a listen!
“Splash” (movie) is still as funny and adorable as ever.
“Mermaid” (book) by Carolyn Turgeon is a lovely reinterpretation of mermaid mythology, all adulted up.
“Robinson Crusoe” (book) by Daniel Dafoe is a revered classic for a reason. There are no merfolk but lots of ocean and it’s yummy and you should read it.
“Gift from the Sea” (poetry anthology) by Ann Morrow Lindbergh is dreamy and thoughtful and just right.
“Calypso” (song) by Suzanne Vega combines ocean nymphs, a Greek hero, and folk rock music in the cleverest of ways. What’s not to love?
“The Little Mermaid” (animated movie) will have you singing ‘undah da see’ for the rest of your natural born life.
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (movie) has the BEST, most convincing mermaids the movie world has ever given us.
“The Mermaid” (poem) by Alfred Lord Tennyson is a warm bath of beauty you can take anytime you want.
“Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” (song/video) by Veggietales is HILARIOUS. Charming for grown-ups and little ones alike.
Errin Stevens writes paranormal romantic suspense stories from her home in Minnesota. When not wrestling with unruly narrative – or reading literary and commercial fiction like a fiend – you’ll find her poring over seed catalogues (winter) or gardening (the other three days of the year).
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