The Fat Lady’s Low, Sad Song is now an audiobook.

Marlin May is a stage and voice actor living in Windsor, Colorado. Marlin reached out to me through Facebook to say he’d been contracted for the audiobook version of my novel. It didn’t take me long to discover that I was familiar with his work—he has a credit list of over 80 plays, and I’d seen two of them (one on OpenStage and the other at the Bas Bleu Theater, both here in Fort Collins). My novel wasn’t his first shot at audio books either—his credit list includes more than twenty books, including both fiction and non-fiction.

I like audiobooks. They allow me to listen while I commute, filling dead time with words. I hadn’t considered the idea of an audiobook of my own work. My previous small press publications didn’t include audio.

Happily, my publisher (Black Rose Writing) pursued that option, and I didn’t have to wait long to listen to the result. Marlin messaged me to let me know he’d finished his work just two weeks after our first contact. Shortly thereafter, the book was available on audible.com. I bought a copy—waiting until I got home to listen. I popped open a beer, went to my study and turned out the lights.

May’s voice was outstanding, and his delivery was pitch perfect. I wondered if the rhythm of the words would sound as I’d imagined, but I punctuate toward that end (see https://authorbriankaufman.com/2018/04/26/punctuation-is-sound-direction/).

I loved the result. May is an outstanding voice actor.

I had one unexpected reaction, however.

I was not prepared to have my thoughts sounded out in another person’s voice. Eerie as hell. I kept stopping the book and starting again, trying to calm the feeling that someone had invaded my skull—someone with a calm, reasonable voice. If one, dark night, I encountered a ghost, I think I’d react with the same unnerved sense of the not-quite-normal.

I finished the book with the lights on. That said, I can heartily recommend the audio version of The Fat Lady’s Low, Sad Song.