The Audio Publishers Association (APA) hosted The Audie awards for excellence in audio books on Friday, May 30, 2008 in Los Angeles at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. The Audies® are the audio industry's equivalent of the Oscars.
The following are just some of the categories of finalists and winners. For a complete list, visit AudioFile Magazine. As of the time of this post, the APA has not listed the winners, but I would assume they will do so soon. UPDATE: Here's the official Audie Award news release from the APA (opens as a PDF-- and I just fixed the link)
♥ROMANCE♥
• Beyond the Highland Mist, by Karen Marie Moning, narrated by Phil Gigante, published by Brilliance Audio (see commentary)
• Consequences, by Penelope Lively, narrated by Josephine Bailey, published by TantorMedia, Inc.
• Everlasting, by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, narrated by Xanthe Elbrick, published by HarperAudio
• On Tall Pine Lake, by Dorothy Garlock, narrated by Anna Fields, published by BBC Audiobooks America
• Sugar Daddy, by Lisa Kleypas, narrated by Jeannie Stith, published by Brilliance Audio
♥2008 Winner:
• Natural Born Charmer, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, narrated by Anna Fields, published by HarperAudio
♥SCIENCE FICTION♥
• The Draco Tavern, by Larry Niven, narrated by Tom Weiner, published by Blackstone Audio Inc.
• The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, by Jack Finney, narrated by Kristoffer Tabori, published by Blackstone Audio Inc.
• Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ravens of Avalon, by Diana L. Paxson, narrated by Lorna Raver, published by Tantor Media, Inc.
• Selections from Dreamsongs 1: Fan Fiction and Sci-Fi from Martin's Early Years: Unabridged Selections, by George R.R. Martin, narrated by Claudia Black, Mark Bramhall, Scott Brick, Roy Dotrice, Kim Mai Guest, Kirby Heyborne and Adrian Paul, published by Random House Audio
♥2008 Winner:
• Dune, by Frank Herbert, narrated by Scott Brick, Simon Vance and a full cast, published by Macmillan Audio
♥THRILLER/SUSPENSE♥
• Daddy's Girl, by Lisa Scottoline, narrated by Barbara Rosenblat, published by HarperAudio
• The Judas Strain, by James Rollins, narrated by Peter Jay Fernandez, published by HarperAudio
• No Time for Goodbye, by Linwood Barclay, narrated by Christopher Lane, published by Brilliance Audio
• The Secret Servant, by Daniel Silva, narrated by Phil Gigante, published by Brilliance Audio
• What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman, narrated by Linda Emond, published by HarperAudio
♥2008 Winner:
• Heart-Shaped Box, by Joe Hill, narrated by Stephen Lang, published by HarperAudio
♥MULTI-VOICE PERFORMANCE♥
• Dune, by Frank Herbert, narrated by Scott Brick, Simon Vance and a full cast, published by Macmillan Audio
• I Am America (And So Can You!), by Stephen Colbert, narrated by Stephen Colbert with Paul Dinello, Kevin Dorff, Greg Hollimon, Evie McGee, David Pasquesi, Allison Silverman, Brian Stack and Jon Stewart, published by Hachette Audio
• The Word of Promise™ New Testament Audio Bible, narrated by a full cast including Jim Caviezel, Louis Gossett, Jr., Richard Dreyfuss, Marisa Tomei, Stacy Keach, Ernie Hudson, Terance Stamp, John Heard, John Schneider, Chris McDonald, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and Luke Perry, published by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
• Hollowville: A Ghost Story, by Mary Jane Hansen, music composed by Will Severin, narrated by Bruce Dern, published by NYS Theatre Institute
♥2008 Winner:
• Inspired By … The Bible Experience: Old Testament, narrated by Angela Bassett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker and many more, published by Zondervan
♥AUDIO BOOK OF THE YEAR♥
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale, published byRandom House Listening Library
• I Am America (And So Can You!), by Stephen Colbert, narrated by Stephen Colbert with Paul Dinello, Kevin Dorff, Greg Hollimon, Evie McGee, David Pasquesi, Allison Silverman, Brian Stack and Jon Stewart, published by Hachette Audio
• Inspired By … The Bible Experience: Old Testament, narrated by Angela Bassett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker and many more, published by Zondervan
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick, narrated by Jeff Woodman, published by Scholastic Audio
♥2008 Winner:
• The Chopin Manuscript, by various authors, narrated by Alfred Molina, published by International Thriller Writers
Congrats to all the nominees and winners! When Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Natural Born Charmer started showing up on a whole lot of Best Of... audio book lists, often as the ONLY Romance entry (don't get me started on Romance being ignored by so many audio sites!), I had a feeling it might end up as the Romance winner this year.
But anyone that has been around this blog KNOWS what a Phil Gigante fangirl I am. He completely deserved to be nominated (note that he scored nominations in two categories- Romance and Thriller/Suspense) and had my vote for the win. Actually, the fact that he was nominated for what is considered to be the weakest of Karen Marie Moning's Highlander books, and had not quite hit his own stride in the series, but STILL earned a nomination, speaks for just how damn talented he is.
Hell, next year they are going to have to make up a new category just for the his entire body of work on the Highlanders!! I'm telling you, they should just give Phil the Audie now for Kiss of the Highlander alone! Have any other storytellers (he's more than a narrator) had a whole new word coined just to describe their performance? Nope, only our Phil gives multiple eargasms with his Aural Pleasures!
In other audio book news...
♥ Back in February, I expressed some concern over Amazon's purchase of Audible.com, particularly in light of their purchase of Brilliance Audio the previous May (see Amazon is Scaring Me).
Well, I guess I can't really bitch too much about it (yet) because Brilliance Audio productions are now showing up at Audible and, unlike Brilliance Audio's AudioBookStandDL, I can download them well below list price with my Audible member pricing!!
For example, Audible has just added all of Laurell K. Hamilton's unabridged audio books to their library. Download LKH's The Harlequin (unabridged) from AudioBookStandDL and you'll pay (on sale right now) $29.95; Amazon has the CDs for $29.15; download it from Audible for $32.87 or member priced for $23.01. So WOOT for THAT change! But it still concerns me that Amazon has control over such a large portion of the audio book market.
♥ Everywhere I turn lately, I'm running into reviews and buzz about From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris, her newest Sookie Stackhouse book. So, since narrator Johanna Parker has made Sookie an auto-buy audio-only series for me, I decided to set Phil G. and KMM's The Immortal Highlander aside temporarily **GASP- Oh no she di'int!** so I could listen to From Dead to Worse and could stop trying to avoid reading spoilers about it.I really need to figure out a way to listen to two audio books at once-- I DO have TWO ears after all.
9 comments:
I'm glad you wrote about this again. I looked into audible when you last posted about it, but didn't sign up due to the fact that it was not long after the holidays and I was broke, and I was concerned that Amazon's interest might screw up the fact that audible can download to iTunes, which is what I liked about it.
Now I can sign up and since I've been reading all the posts about LKH and am totally fascinated, I think it's perfect that I can catch up by listening to her books.
Unfortunately, MB, they are not all available in audio. The ABVH unabridged audio books start at book 11, Cerulean Sins, up through the most recent, Blood Noir.
Book 10, Narcissus in Chains, is available as an ABRIDGED audio book. But don't bother-- I bought it on ebay and it left me saying "WTF? What happened to THAT scene?!".
Supposedly, Brilliance has now contracted to produce the early ABVH books in audio but hasn't announced a release schedule yet.
Maybe try book 13, Micah. It's a novel lite, so the price is lower. And it takes place out of town with only Anita and Micah. I'm pretty sure it can be read as a standalone and will you give you a sample of her "voice".
BTW, ALL the Merry Gentry series are available as unabridged audio books. But that series is complicated and I use the audio books as a way to further understand the storyline. I don't have a clue whether someone who has not read the print books could follow along with the audio books and not get lost among the large cast of characters.
Oh, and some advice if you decide to join Audible-- they make their monthly plans the focus of their sales--- they're okay, if that's what you want. But, with a little searching, you will find that they have a $9.99/YEAR plan. It doesn't include any book credits like the monthly plans, but it lets you buy at member pricing, so you can easily save the $9.99 with your first purchase.
Hey thanks for the info. I just saw some of the Anita books and assumed they were all there. I will anyway consider signing up with audible. It will be another way to get a book in when I'm doing stuff and not able to read.
I might try the Gentry books anyway.
as an aside, I listened to "Blue Eyed Devil" on cd in the car on the way to our vacation.
Enjoyable, although at times the readers southern accent and her tendency to be a bit over dramatic got on my nerves a abit.
The reader can make or break a book, thats for sure...
Anna Fields/Kate Fleming was one of the best. I a sad that from now on, Susan Elizabeth Phillips books will be missing her touch with voices...
"Rosebud, your the worst kind of human being there is... a CEREAL Killer..."
That lady could make even lightweight books, sing...
Wytherin
MB- don't forget to check your library-- they may be part of a network that allows download of audio and ebooks.
Wytherin- Several people over on Smart Bitches have quoted that Cereal killer line in SB Sarah's post on memorable dialogue! I've never read a SEP story, mainly cuz, as far as I know, she writes contemps and I don't care for many of those.
But, yeah, I agree that the narrator can make a good book great or take an okay book and make it tank completely. I've been lucky and only run across one narrator that was completely wrong for a book, and one that could have been better but was saved because it was already an exceptional story.
The rest have elevated the story, often to the point that I can't imagine ever reading certain authors in print again because the narrator truly elevates the story above their original written words.
I never thought of the library and I did check, but it's all in DRM so I cannot put to my iPod and I want to mostly listen in my car or while power walking.
Same goes for the ebooks I think. And I hate to read a book on my computer. It's nice to know that it's available though.
I saw that the $9.99 deal is off, or I couldn't find it anymore. And anyway, I'm thinking to do a year membership. That works out the cheapest.
Thanks for all the info, you've been very helpful. :)
Bev, you really have to give SEP on tape a try... they are truly meant to be read out loud, and I don't say that often about books... Match me if you can, is a really good one to start with... Come on... I dare you... hey, if I am willing to keep an open mind about LKHs books (still reading merrys, though with more trepidation), you can try just one SEP and see if she sits well with you.. I am not a huge fan of contemporaries either, but these are really fun on tape... Along with Jennifer Crusies..
Wytherin
I tried, I really did. When Natural Born Charmer started showing up on all those Best Of... lists, I researched it a bit and listened to the sample. But it just sooooo doesn't interest me!
Now I have tried Crusie, and she just doesn't work for me either. Contemps just don't offer enough escapism for me, I guess.
I saw that the $9.99 deal is off, or I couldn't find it anymore. And anyway, I'm thinking to do a year membership. That works out the cheapest.
MB, my $9.99/year just renewed a couple of months ago. Call them and ask them how to get it-
Speak to a customer support specialist
Mon - Fri 9:00 AM - 10:00 PM ET;
Sat 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM ET
at 1-888-283-5051 (USA & Canada)
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