Hello again,
I am back for the final installment of my VO previews. As expected this time I am focusing on audiobooks. This is something I am looking to get into and so it has received most of my effort and focus. I've been practicing on a whole range of different material, while putting together my voice samples. I've also started recording an audiobook version of When the World Falls Down too. There is quite a mix of recordings here and there might even be a little preview of book 2.
As always these are only WIPs. My favourites will end up heading to clever sound engineering sort of people to be made pretty, and then hoisted up online as voice samples. For now listen and enjoy as I tell you a couple of stories. Well fragments of them anyway...
Fantasy
Let's begin with one of my favourite genres - fantasy. Here we have 3 very different pieces. One is an extract from the Hobbit - the first interaction between Gandalf and Bilbo, while the second is from A Game of Thrones - the prologue, and the third is from Truckers by Terry Pratchett. All of these are favourites of mine. I am a bigger book than T.V fan of A Game of Thrones, while I've just finished re-reading Tolkien's charming classic. The less mentioned about those 3 big film adaptations the better. Oh, and Terry Pratchett is just wonderful.
Young Adult Drama
We're going to go a bit more serious here. This next one is from a book called Bird by Crystal Chan. It is a book I discovered behind me on a bookshelf. Thought it looked serious. I believe when Beth read it when she was younger it upset her. Perfect for the sort of audiobook sample I needed. Here goes...
Non-Fiction
I like my history, and almost everything I read recommended you had at least 1 non-fiction sample. As such I grabbed The Battle for Spain by Antony Beevor (a book I had just finished for the second time), and started recording. If you are looking for any books about WW2 may I suggest Beevor's work. They are all very good and very detailed. Anyway here's a little bit about the bombing of Guernica.
Children's
I am sometimes a children's entertainer, and I'm pretty good at it. As such recording myself reading something for a younger audience was pretty much a guarantee. When I was little, along with Dinosaurs, Disney, and Warhammer (I got my first miniature at 4 years old), I also loved Thomas the Tank Engine. It was quite handy then to find Toby the Tram Engine on the bookshelf behind me. It was one of the first books I practiced on, and I really enjoyed it. Problem is I have a feeling the Stout Gentleman is actually the Fat Controller, and in some recordings I made him sound a bit too obese and creepy. More Vogon or Jabba the Hutt mixed with Winston Churchill than a friendly manager of the Sodor railway network.
My Work!
We now finally move onto my own material. I am slowly recording When the World Falls Down, with half a mind to put it up as a purchasable audiobook. Whatever I decide it has been really good practice and a lot of fun. The short extract here is from chapter 5 - when Bethany Hannah Morgan is visited by a charming little stick insect creature who enjoys cheese, lazy afternoons, and in this case, sounds a bit like the author doing a Sarah Millican impression...
And finally here's my little preview of book 2. This is from chapter 2 - Bethany has found herself on a putrid garbage planet, tailed by a gaggle of runtish goblinoid creatures called Gnobs. She is just about to confront the leader of their group. Enjoy!
Thank you for reading and listening. If you had any personal favourites feel free to send me a message on Twitter (I'm @JonBolithoJones), or comment on here. Who knows, in the near future you might be hearing me narrate one of your favourite books!
And with that it's bye for now. I'll be back soon!
Jon
