The Madness of Theron,* or, THE FALL OF THE KINGS Audiobook, Part XXX

[ellen_kushner]

Now, where were we?

Right, yes:  Last week we recorded all the male actors' scenes for the bits of THE FALL OF THE KINGS audiobook (for Neil Gaiman Presents) that we're illuminating - and today, I returned to the Brooklyn Basement Studio to pick up where I left off my narration recording before the holidays.

We have just hit Theron's Nervous

Comments

[epithalamium]

Is it bad that the first thing I thought was 'Well, Theron is Alec's son. Of course he's bugfuck crazy'?

But now I miss this book. Better read it again while waiting for the audiobook! :D

[ellen_kushner]

I'm curious: Once you hear the audiobooks, does it change the way you read the book afterward (assuming, of course, that anyone would do so)? I mean, is it like seeing a movie and never after being able to picture your own version of a character?

[nohwhere_man]

I seldom get audio books (or movies of books) partly because they mess with my own interpretation of the sights and sounds; very few Get It Right, although IMHO the video version of Pratchett's Going Postal did manage it. OTOH, I suspect that not too many have as much author-ly involvement, and with an author that knows what things sound like.

Theron? Bugfuck crazy or "alternately aware and tormented by inner demons"? Both?

Time to reread the canon.

[achariya]

I haven't listened to yours yet, but this is absolutely the case for the Alex Jennings version of Susan Cooper's awesome series. He managed to make me hear Cornwall and Wales and Oxford, accents that my American brain could never have reproduced during reading. This gave everything a deeper character, that much more richness of detail...

[epithalamium]

It depends, really. As achariya said, the audiobooks do add detail and character to my initial perception of the book (and the narrative voice, I guess). English isn't my first language, so even though 90% of my reading material is in English, I don't usually hear it spoken unless I'm watching a foreign movie or something. There are probably details that I have missed, or details my imagination won't be able to cover because of that. Such as accents, or even the rhythms of sentences: my poetry professor once told me that I was tone deaf, haha.

I don't have this issue with movies either...

[em_nat]

I haven’t had an issue with the audio book “tampering” with my head-canon verisions of the character’s voices or in changing the way I read the book. Having read both the book (several times) and listened to the audio book of Swordspoint, I appreciate both book and audio book for different reasons. It’s like watching the same play performed by different casts, with different costumes and sets. The story is still the same; all the embellishments are different. Only in this case the cast of the book is in my mind and the cast of the audio book is in my ears. When I read the book, the vibe is one way. When it’s read to me, the vibe is Different.