It has been noted that Stephen King is one of if not the most prolific authors of the 20th century. It is said that his body of work numbers more than seventy pieces. He has written screenplays as well as serial books and books and stories that are only available online. Getting cozy with Stephen King audio books is a great way to spend an evening.

His interesting career really took off with the publishing of Carrie. From that moment on, he has taken his fans on a rollercoaster ride of fear and terror. He has the knack for taking an ordinary situation and making it extraordinary - sometimes leaving the listener astonished, or outright terrified!

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There is more than just music worth listening to these days, and kids audio books can certainly be described as such. Downloading kids audio books to their personal listening devices, such as an iPod, can keep them happy on long car rides, waiting in line, and at night when just one or two stories you have read them just isn’t enough…

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With DRM-free audiobooks continuing to make inroads into the retail market and scheduled shortly to trickle into the library arena, several panels at BookExpo America (BEA) and the Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC) (both in late May) centered on the issue of digital rights management (DRM).

DRM has been the talk of the audiobook industry since late 2007, when eMusic launched the first-ever audiobook catalog (now offering some 2500 titles) in the universally compatible MP3 format.

After months of testing DRM-free audiobook downloads on eMusic, Random House Audio determined through a digital watermark experiment that all instances of piracy came not from the DRM-free editions but from DRM-protected editions that had been hacked and ripped from CDs. And so it, too, announced that it would, through eMusic, be selling mostly DRM-free downloadable audiobooks (some ten percent of the publisher’s authors, Christopher Paolini among them, continue to hold out).

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Is the soul real and what happens to it after we perish? Is the end of the world near at hand and does the year 2012 have any real significance? These are the two main questions that the author, Whitley Strieber, tries to answer, combine, and twist into an audio book called 2012: The War for Souls.

I wish I could say that this audio book stirred my imagination immensely, but it did no such thing. At it’s best, this audio book was fun, but more often than not, it seemed more like an attempt at preaching, with religious connotations spread throughout the novel.

Narration

I had three major complaints with this audio book - and the first (to me the most important) was the narration. Simply stated, they picked the wrong narrator for this novel - Joe Barrett. Although he seems to be an accomplished narrator, and his voice does have the quality needed for that type of work, it was just wrong for this particular story. He had a “happy-go-lucky” voice that would seem more appropriate for a children’s book, or some other story with a lighter tone, rather than 2012. If you would like a good example, make it to the first 20 minutes (when the action starts). Although the scene was shocking, with people dying, his voice just made me want to think: “oh, isn’t that nice and lovely”.

Oh, and one more thing, if you can’t dramatize a character (such as a child), then you should probably skip trying it entirely. Giving kids weird nasally, “cartoonish” voices just didn’t seem right.

Now, other than that, I think he did fairly well.

Characters

Whitley Strieber did a good job with Martin and Wiley. Although Wiley, being from one world, was supposed to be tougher and feistier than Martin (according to the author) I didn’t quite see it that way. The only thing that set the two apart in terms of their demeanor was the dialogue (Wiley being the wittier of the two).

Sampson, on the other hand, was the one gripe I had about his character development. It’s not as much of a gripe as it is just annoying. Strieber went a little over-the-top with Sampson’s behavior. He was just a little too rash, crude, mean (and a few other things) to be taken seriously. Especially when in the presence of the President of the United States.

Other Notes

Aside from the issue I had about the narrator, there were two other points that detracted from the story. One was the incessant flashing back and forth between realities. It was just a bit too much, such that it took a bit of effort to keep track of where I was and what was going on.

And finally, the last gripe I had was with the plot itself. Whitley Strieber, in my opinion, did a great job up until midway (roughly). The story fit together fine, and I was able to suspend my disbelief for a while. And then it just all went to hell, and quickly. It was almost as if the author started rushing/forcing the story at that point, and things got to be a bit too comically weird. Soul-occupied cars, simple vacuum tubes to store souls, you name it. I won’t go into the ending, as I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

This was the first time I’ve read (or listened to) a work by this author. It may not be the last, because it seems like I’m not the only one with my thumbs-down opinion on this particular audio book. According to others, this one was a definite sub-par for his talent.

Have you listened to 2012: The War for Souls by Whitley Strieber? If so, feel free to drop us a line and let us know what you thought about the audio book. We’d love to hear from you!

What do you suppose would happen if we were ever contacted by an intelligence greater than ours? Would you run in fright? Or would you find a way to fight? Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson, is a wonderful novel  backed by scientific speculation, and full of end-of-the-world fanaticism.

The “end of the world” begins when a young Tyler Dupree, along with his friends, Jason and Diane, witness an incredible sight: the stars in the heavens simply disappear one night. With that, all three embark on a journey that’ll span across millions of years, and two different worlds - meeting strange characters in the process, and stretching their sanity to the limit.

This isn’t an invasion story, it’s an adventure that’ll take you through one turn after another, leaving you amazed and shaking your head page after page.

Narration

Scott Brick, a successful narrator for many audio books, was chosen to narrate Spin, in which he did a fantastic job. His trained and classy voice added another couple of notches to the quality of this audio book.

Characters

Robert Charles Wilson has a knack for developing characters with truly rich 3-D personalities, including Tyler Dupree, Jason  Lawson, Diane Lawson, and E.D. Lawson. Instead of describing each character and their psychological makeup (a novice‘s mistake), Robert Charles Wilson grows each character, and displays their unique personalities to readers through actions and dialogue in the book, rather than by simply “telling” us.

Also, as I‘ve stated in the past, any novel that can make the reader emotional is one of many signs that you‘ve found a good read. In particular, it was frustrating to listen to how naïve Diane was throughout the novel, and was even worse to how she treated Tyler. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the equally annoying relationship between Forrest Gump and Jenny…

Other Notes

Aside from the wonderful Sci-Fi  that Spin provides us, it also goes into another hot topic: religion, apocalypticism, and the effects it has on those too willing to believe without questioning. The doomsday cult depicted in this book is an eerie reminder to how naïve people can be, and how faith (taken in the wrong context) can be an extremely dangerous thing to practitioners and those around them.

Interested in listening to the story too? You can download Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin audio book for free, by signing up with Audible today. Please feel free to drop us a comment and let us know what you thought of the story.

Hardships, friendship, regret, and redemption - This is the focus of the fantastic audio book, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.

The story begins in the 70’s, with a boy named Amir, and his most loyal friend, Hassan. Amir, vying for his father’s attention and approval, struggles constantly to come to grips with his apparent inability to do so. Hassan, a servant of the family, is always there to serve and protect Amir from Afghanistan’s unruly neighborhood kids. Together, they formed a bond that was as tight as the bond of brothers.

Amir, his courage and integrity tested over and over, finally broke that bond with Hassan, in an afternoon of horror, betrayal, and weakness. With that fateful afternoon, the two drifted apart. Life moved on for both kids, until years later, Amir was called upon to redeem himself with one final request - one that would change his life forever, and to find within himself, a small measure of peace.

Narration

Written and narrated by the author, Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner audio book was fairly simple in it’s delivery. It’s one of a few audio books that I’ve listened to where not much effort was given to distinguishing the characters. However, this doesn’t detract from the audio book. Instead, Khaled Hosseini did a wonderful job in describing characters, and their subtle nuances within the novel, that it wasn’t terribly hard to imagine exactly what he wanted us to imagine.

Characters

When a book can stir up deep emotions, you know you’ve found a good one. The deepest emotion I felt (within the first quarter of The Kite Runner) was anger, embarrassment, and unfortunately, some hatred. This was all aimed towards the little boy, Amir, and his regrettable acts, particularly when Hassan was the one in trouble, and Amir did nothing to help. I’m sure his portrayal, in this manner, was the author’s intention, and he did a fantastic job in that sense.

Amir’s father, Baba, was a character that was developed well, and I could relate to Amir’s struggles with him. I felt saddened near the end of the story, with his passing. The other characters: Hassan, Rahim Khan, and Sohrab were also developed well, with Hassan being the better of the bunch.

Other Notes

There was a movie, starring Kevin Costner, and Robert Duvall, called Open Range. Have you seen it? It’s good, but that’s beside the point. There was one quote in that movie that’s stuck with me since I’ve watched it: “…there’s things that gnaw at a man worse than dying.”

If I could pick a quote that best described this audio book, it would be that one. A story of cowardice, life-long regret, and redemption.

Interested in listening to the story too? You can download The Kite Runner audio for free, by signing up with Audible today. Please feel free to drop us a comment and let us know what you thought of the story.

“I can do this” is Edgar Freemantle’s mantra - one that he often repeats to himself in order to overcome many of the tribulations that Stephen King presents throughout the novel, Duma Key. And believe me, there were many.

The story begins with Freemantle’s arduous, and painful ordeal in recovery, after being nearly crushed to death by a construction crane. The fateful event leaves Edgar without an arm (at least initially…), a terrible limp, rage, and unfortunately, the loss of his marriage - just to name a few.

Close to suicide, his therapist suggests a change of scenery and to pickup a hobby, as a “hedge against the night”. Little did Edgar know that his particular “hedge”, on Duma Key, would lead to something so much more than simple recovery - it would lead inevitably to death.

Narration

What makes this Stephen King audio book a good listen? Well, for one, John Slattery is the narrator. This would mark the first time I’ve listened to his narration, and was impressed. He’s no Frank Muller, but he did get the job done. His ability to differentiate the characters, particularly between Edgar Freemantle and Jerome Wireman, made it engrossing.

Characters

King took his time in slowly developing the main characters of this novel, giving them a richer personality. This is more than true for Wireman, whom I think Stephen King (and a certain Peter Straub) had practice, with the earlier character of Henry Leyden - from Black House. The two characters, Jerome and Henry seem awfully alike.

Other Notes

The length of the audio book is 21 hours. If you’re a die-hard Stephen King fan, you likely wish that some books would never end. It gives you ample time to immerse yourself into his world(s). This is likely why I fell in love with the Dark Tower series, and am not too fond of his short stories.

Oh, and don’t be concerned when the paranormal doesn’t happen right away. Duma Key is one of those novels that builds the suspense, and presents more, and more, to the reader as time goes on.

Overall, Stephen King’s Duma Key audio book was enjoyable, and gave me my usual King fix. If you’re interested, you can download Duma Key here.

Have you already listened to it? Feel free to drop us a comment to let us know what you thought of it.

Howdie folks, just a quick post to let you know that our product line has been updated with the newest audio books available.

Make sure to take a minute and browse around our shop (www.audiobookgeek.com) - who knows, maybe you’ll find something good to listen to!