So we’re walking out of the bank, after giving the title company all of our money, and the dude from the title company, who had come to pick the check up, says, “The two days of Texas winter are coming.”
He is right.
Speaking of dark and broody, folks on Facebook fan page are discussing options for a narrator for Hugh’s audio book. If you want to join in the recommendation fun, post link to narrators here, in the comments. Hugh’s reader needs to have range, because Hugh goes from polite and charming to cold killer in half a second. He needs to sound like an adult man in his thirties or forties. Don’t laugh. Some narrators sound too young or too old. Being able to do a female voice would be a big plus.
Since the book is split between male and female point of view, do you like when there are two narrators, a man and a woman, doing separate parts, or would you prefer a single narrator throughout? Inquiring public wants to know.
Update: Guys, Richard Armitage would be prohibitively expensive. We’re looking for audio narrator.
My vote goes for a single narrator. I agree with others who say the switch in narrators pulls me right out of the story. And I loathe full-cast narrations. (Like, really loathe.)
Lots of good names mentioned here. Some of them I love with certain material, but don’t really see them as Hugh (Luke Daniels, for instance–sorry!). My choices would include James Marsters, Bronson Pinchot (he’s come so far from Balki), Ray Porter, Scott Brick, and maybe MacLeod Andrews.
But I’m sure it will be great whatever route you go. So excited.
James marsters is awesome. Great range in accents and he can do two or three female voices. He narrates the Dresden files. 🙂
But any male voice would be fine as long as they can do at least 3 male and 2 female voices. I hate it when you can’t tell who is talking in a scene.
I only managed some of the first Dresden audiobook – I absolutely HATED it. It sounded like he was drinking a coffee_and_ had dry mouth. Horrific.
James Marsters would definitely do.
As for one narrator or two, the only book I’ve listened to with more than one was Wen Spencer’s ‘Black Wolves of Boston’s with 4 or 5 PVP characters and a narrator for each. I liked it very much.
Like Daniels
Luke Daniels
I would love to see Ian Hawkins do this. He is a newer narrator but has an amazing voice!
I would go with MacLeod or Holter Graham. They both have smooth transitions from male to female voice. So looking forward to Hugh’s book. I know it will brilliant, but not as brilliant as Kate 10. Enjoy the new house!
I agree about Holter Graham. He does an amazing job with Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega series.
Ooh yes. Totally agree with you both! One narrator to rule them all (so to speak).
Was just coming on here to suggest James Marsters or Holter Graham, and found that I’m not alone. 🙂
Holter Graham is my favorite, amazing voice. He would be perfect for your book 🙂
I vote to ask Richard Armitage!!! He has a wonderfull voice! I won’t speak about other traits, because you won’t be able to hear them ?! He is a british actor and I guess you will have just to ask him to do it for fun because we (you and your fans) couldn’t afford him ??! But give it a try!!! You can google him for a lot of narrator and actors examples. For the Ladies I recommend the BBC series of “North and South”, for the men it would be the series “Spooks”. For Tolkien fans it would be “The Hobbit”…. Happy browsing from Inga
I’m pretty sure the answer is obviously James Marsters. Dunno who would be the female narrator
…but I would pay serious money for it to be Sarah Michelle Geller.
…this has gone to a different place from where I started, but I like it. I’m going to go live there.
Yep: James Marsters is awesome with the Harry Dresden files. Stephen Briggs has a great range performing in the Terry Pratchett series as well
I prefer two narrators. I just finished the two released books in the Stormlight archive where they had two narrators and they were great. Previously, the only other book with two was Bujold’s “The Vor Game” and I also enjoyed that.
Is this a different version? My vor game is Grover Gardner only..
Love the Stormlight Archives and both narrators are some of my favorites of all. Love listening to them. ❤️
I prefer two narrators as well
Please, please, please for the love of all that’s holy, not James Marsters!!! I’m sure he is a very nice man, and I loved him in Buffy as Spike, but listening to him narrate is painful.
My vote is for one narrator, and my pick is Holter Graham. My second choice would be for Christian fox, but I’m not sure he does anything outside of erotic novels, so maybe not. I like his voice though.
My female pick would be Lorelei King, because she has more range then any other female narrator (save Renee Raudman) that I’ve come across. My second pick would be for Susan Ericksen. V Olivia
If Susan would do it that could be good (though I think as it is Hugh’s book, a fellow might be better). I got hooked on Susan’s abilities during the In Death series. You know who is speaking and she has a good range.
Two. But make sure that its mentioned on the cover so those who are single voice afficinados can get into the radio play mentality. ?
One narrator, Richard Armitage.
I find his voice repertoire extensive, and he really pulls you into the narrative.
Two, if it’s two peoples point of view, male/female. I had a hard time listening to Beautiful Ashes, I couldn’t tell which character was suppose be talking . It all ran together .
I despise multiple narrators so much I probably would not listen if there were 2. In addition to James Marsters, Holter Graham, & Lorelei King, I suggest Todd McLaren, who does the audio books for S. M. Stirling’s Emberverse series.
If you could get James Marsters, it would be wonderful. He’s Spike from Buffy, and the voice of Harry Dresden. Has a huge vocal range. From the Basso Russian Knight to Harry’s lighter middle American voice. And he can handle an assortment of accents. Does ok on the female voices.
Idris Elba. One narrator would work fine, but two would work as well. Just make sure if it is Kate who is narrating you get someone who has plenty of snark in her voice.
Congratulations on the nominations and for closing on you new unique property!
I’m voting for two narators to represent the female and male pov seperately.
I’m a big fan of Michael Kramer. He has significant range and does women well. He has of course also partnered with Kate Reading on the Wheel of Time and Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive. I expect you’ll have a hard time not using Renee again though, if you go with dual narrators. She’s done a great job for you so far. Oliver Wyman has also done very well with the Monster Hunter books by Larry Correia. If you don’t mind the British accent, Tim Gerard Reynolds has done a fantastic job with several series, as has Stephen Briggs. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the above.
2 narrators is best.
Please not Renee Raudman. She has a weird lisp that drove me crazy while listening to Wildfire. If I could have gotten my money back from Audible I would have. She also does a horrible job with male voices, especially Rogan.
Agreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I think you can return to Audible for a credit. It did take me a while to get used to Renee. I thought it more a sibilant S than a lisp but it does take a while. For the finale I chose to read the book.
Agree. I can’t handle her voice or inflection.
CONGRATULATIONS on the title closing!
So stressful, I imagine, but also so wonderful, I bet.
YAYAYAYAY!
Single narrator – double is too jarring
Luke Daniels – does a good job with feminine characters
Congrats on the new house! Lots of good suggestions on narrators. Hugh’s book will be awesome!
Please, please don’t have a male narrator do a woman’s voice. It is almost always cringeworthy. If the book is truly from both perspectives it would be better to have a man & a woman narrate or just a woman narrate. A woman narrator can pull off a male character much better than the other way around.
I have to agree. While I’ve heard female narrators do male voices very well, I’ve yet to hear a male narrator do a convincing female character. Usually is a jarring falsetto. I’m good with one female or 2 narrators.
I think 1 narrator and recommend TOM HIDDLESTONE who would be truly awesome. For some reason, I always imagine Hugh with an English accent so Tom would do a fine job. Plus he can go from polite and charming to cold killer in the blink of an eye – Loki! If you did go with a female narrator as well, then KATE WINSLET would be great, either with or without an American accent.
I don’t mind one POV or two. Both work as long as the narrators have range. As for the narrator….I have no clue. I want to say Sebastian York, b/c his voice is so darn sexy and despite Hugh’s tendencies I find him oddly sexy as well. Still i’m not sure Sebastian has enough range…..so maybe
I’ll just let someone else recommend the male narrator since I don’t like very many male narrators voices…. And if you decide on two narrators, maybe Elisabeth Evans. She narrated the throne of glass series and I loved it.
Or Renee Raudman if she’s not too busy……
Two please. I find I prefer two when the book is written from two points of view.
If it’s a story from two points of view then I definitely prefer two narrators. I don’t listen to many audiobooks because I really don’t like it when guys try to do girly voices and vice versa. It always throws me out of the story!
I’d actually go for a female narrator by the name of Jennifer Ikeda. She is flat out amazing. Accents. Male and female voices pitched to all ages across the spectrum. I’m a huge fan of her voice. She narrated the All Souls Trilogy among others.
Love, love, love Jennifer Ikeda.
Luke Daniels or MacLeod Andrews
What about Phil Gigante. Wow what a voice 🙂
I like Charles Lawrence from the Dark Stranger (IT Lucas) and B J Harrison from the Nocturnal Falls series. Lawrence has a nice rich voice. Harrison pulls off many accents and characters,consistently.
The two best audiobook narrators I have ever heard are Jefferson Mays and Nick Podehl. Please just nobody super cheesy. I’m not a fan of the current narrator.
Definitely one narrator. I’m a huge James Marsters gan as well.
I thought about this longer and think a male voice if it’s a single POV. Scott Brick, Luke Daniels and MacLeod Andrews are all excellent. Andi Arndt is great at snark and would be great as the female voice.
I prefer a single narrator usually. With two, it just seems to double the odds that you’ll get one you don’t like. We are clearly all persnickety about when a voice ‘works’ for us.
Will Patton (the Raven Cycle) pulls off coldly precise, gravelly, furiously raging, and warmly affectionate equally convincingly.
I really like Joe Manganiello’s reading of the Hurog Duology by Patricia Briggs, so much so that I’ve listened to it multiple times.
Luke Daniels would be my choice
Robert Petkoff is my first choice
Luke Daniels is good too
I like it when there is both a male and female narrator.
If going for single I would vote Luke Daniels. He’s done most of the Krewe of Hunters by Heather Graham and does a really good job distinguishing characters. He’s also got a gruff voice, I always think a cowboy who’s seen it all.
If done well, I like two narrators but if done badly it is jarring. I just listened to a book where they had the male and female narrator completely switching so you had two different voices for each character. They should switch narration depending on POV but always do the character voices. I actually can get into full cast if done well, there are some Y&A books (the Immortals series of Tortall books by Tamora Pierce) with full cast that are really fun to listen to (as long as they don’t switch actors between books).
I much prefer a switch in narrators. I like getting a different POV!
James Marsters! He gives awesome voice!!!!
Personally I like having male and female narrators if it’s done right. If the woman does all the female voices and the man does all the male voices I think it works very well (especially if the narrator doesn’t do voices of the opposite sex very well). If, as in some books I’ve listened to, the male and female narrators just trade off every other chapter then it seems pointless to me.
Not sure if he would be a good book narrator but I love listening to shows narrated by Mike Rowe!
I most definitely prefer dual narrators, particularly when POV changes. The female narrator reads the female POV chapters with the male narrator only performing male dialog. Then it’s reversed for the male POV chapters narrated by the male with the female performing female dialogue.
I also think this technique makes the POV shift clearer for the listener, which means less backing up to figured it out.
As for narrator, I agree with others that Luke Daniels is crazy talented, but it would depend on whether he could create the voice you’re looking for since his natural voice is a bit too young for Hugh.
I greatly prefer a single narrator. Lloyd James is the best narrator ever. His narration of The Curse of Chalion is a work of art.
I vote R. C. Bray as narrator. He is best known as the narrator of The Martian. He does male and female voices equally well and is adept at making the character voices unique. If you want to go with two narrators, then Renee Raudman of course.
While I LOVE James Marsters, did anyone think of Steven Weber. I was just listening to him do the Audible for IT. He REALLY nails all the roles, and the female roles do sounds very believable.
Listen to a clip from Richard Armitage in his Robin Hood series:
http://richardarmitageonline.com/robin-hood/RobinHood-TheWitchfinders.mp3
Phil Gigante is awesome. His male and female characters are both good, and as a bonus his lower range gives me the tingles 🙂
One narrator would be nice. I recommend Nicholas Boulton. I first heard him narrate the Laura Kinsale books and he can do all accents. If not him then Richard Armitage is always great.
You may not want Hugh to sound American. He was born French and was raised my a Middle Eastern God-Despot-Wonderful-Freaky Guy.
I think Richard Armitage.
Greg Tremblay is amazing. He has a wide range of work from Non fiction to romance. https://gregtremblay.com/