SUMMER SHORTS ’14 BLOG HOP FEATURING TANYA EBY

SUMMER SHORTS ’14 BLOG HOP FEATURING Tanya Eby

I am so happy to be participating in Going Public’s Summer Shorts ’14 , promoted by Spoken Freely, a group of more than 40 professional narrators. They have teamed with Going Public, and Tantor Media to offer Summer Shorts ’14, an audio collection of poetry, short stories and essays. All proceeds from sales of the collection will go to ProLiteracy, a national literacy outreach and advocacy organization. (See the end of this post for more information on this program)

This year I had the pleasure of getting to know a new to me narrator Tanya Eby who was nice enough to answer all my questions and offer a giveaway to any book she has narrated (details at the end of the post).

Tanya Eby is an Audie-nominated narrator. AudioFile Magazine said "Listening to Tanya Eby is like listening to a full-cast recording". She has a BA in English language and literature and an MFA in creative writing. Besides narrating, Tanya blogs, and works on her own novels. She has published four novels and is at work on her fifth.

Free Listen: The Girl at the Gate, by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Bonus Track: The Perfect Neighbor, by Tanya Eby

Story Summary:

This is a fun little story about a man on his deathbed, young love, and a ghostly encounter.

Let’s get to know Tanya:

Did you get to pick your short story or did Xe assign them? If yes, What made you choose this story?

Xe gave us total freedom in choosing a piece we wanted to read. I decided right away that I wanted to read an L.M. Montgomery short story. She wrote the Anne of Green Gables series, which was a huge influence on me growing up. Also, I’ve narrated a lot of steamy romances and mysteries, and I wanted to do something that my kids could listen to (if they ever wanted to). It’s a bonus that it’s a little ghost story.

Let’s get the routine questions out of the way first…

How did you get started in audiobooks?

I was a Theater and English major in college. When I was having trouble figuring out a text, I’d read it out loud and suddenly the characters would come to life for me. I got into doing radio commercials for extra cash while finishing up school and trying to figure out what to do with my life. Eventually, I heard that some actor friends were narrating. I recorded a demo, sent it to companies, made wishes to the fairies, and was miraculously cast.

What was your first book?

Oh my gosh! Can you believe I don’t remember? I think it was a Debbie Macomber book. All I remember was that the first time I narrated a full book, I was completely exhausted after the first day. My voice was hoarse and my dinner was a big bowl of soup followed by an even bigger bowl of ice cream. When I finished the book after three days of non-stop talking, I cried with relief. Then I asked when I could do it again.

I see you are also an Author, which do you prefer writing or narrating?

I love storytelling in general. In writing, I get to build a different world and kind of shape things as I go. In narrating, I slip inside a world that’s already created and explore characters. They’re both really satisfying. My own work doesn’t sell as much as I’d like, but ah well. I keep trying. It will be great if I can keep doing both. 

Can you give us a scoop on any upcoming books you are especially excited about? Can be a book you are writing or one you are narrating or both.

There’s a book coming out in July called “Expecting” by Ann Lewis Hamilton. It’s funny, heartwarming, bittersweet, and has fantastic characters.

My book “Tunnel Vision &Other Stories From The Edge” was just released. It’s a novella narrated by Mikeal Narramore and then it also has two short stories I narrated. They’re dark stories. I guess I was exploring my dramatic side. My other work is comedic.

I enjoyed listening to your narrations on your website and your blog is a hoot I highly recommend everyone checking it out. I see you also have a food blog how did that come about?

Oh, thanks! I do a bunch of weird little stuff. I’m a foodie and I like to think I’m funny. When I’m not working on book stuff, I’m in the kitchen. My newest food blog is “Dips, Balls and Logs Blog” mostly because I laugh every time I say the title. It’s food for quirky people. You know, my soul mates. 

Thank-you so much for joining me and thanks to Xe Sands for asking me to join in the fun!

And thanks for the great questions!

I’d like to offer a giveaway. The winner can choose whichever book I’ve narrated on Audible for an instant download. There are all sorts of genres to choose from. Or they could choose a book narrated by my saucy doppelgänger “Tatiana Sokolov”.

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The entire collection Summer Shorts ’14 is available at Tantor Media.

Past post:

6/27  A Discussion with Author Jane Cawthorne and Narrator Dawn Harvey @ My Books, My Life

Upcoming

6/28   Tish Hicks, How They Broke Away to Go to the Rootabaga Country, by Carl Sandburg @ Going Public

6/29   Karen White, Sharks and Seals, by Susanna Daniel @ Every Day I Write the Book

6/30    Xe Sands, Virtue of the Month, by Kathleen Founds @ The Oddiophile

About the Program

The audiobook community is giving back! Spoken Freely, a group of more than 40 professional narrators, has teamed with Going Public andTantor Media to celebrate June is Audiobook Month (JIAM) by offering Summer Shorts ’14, an audio collection of poetry, short stories and essays. All proceeds from sales of the collection will go to ProLiteracy, a national literacy outreach and advocacy organization.

Throughout June 2014, 1-2 stories, poems and essays will be released online each day via Going Public, as well as on various author and book blogs. As a “Thank you!” to listeners, pieces will be available for free online listening on their day of release. As a bonus for those who purchase the full collection from Tantor Media in support of ProLiteracy, there are over 20 additional tracks only available via the compilation download. Full release schedule on the Speak Freely page.

ProLiteracy, the largest adult literacy and basic education membership organization in the nation, advocates on behalf of adult learners and the programs that serve them, provides training and professional development, and publishes materials used in adult literacy and basic education instruction. ProLiteracy has 1,000 member programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and works with 52 nongovernmental organizations in 34 developing countries. Its publishing division, New Readers Press (NRP), has for more than 40 years provided educators with the instructional tools they need to teach adult students and older teens literacy skills for functioning in the world today. Materials are available in a variety of media, including the flagship publication, the weekly news source News for You, which delivers articles online with audio. Proceeds from sales of NRP materials support literacy programs in the U.S. and worldwide.

Summer Shorts ’14 is made possible by the efforts of the Spoken Freely narrators and many others who donated their time and energy to bring it to fruition. Post-production, marketing support and publication provided by Tantor Media. Graphic design provided by f power design. Project coordination and executive production provided by Xe Sands. Nonprofit partnership coordination provided by Karen White.

Audiobook Month Audie 2014 Thriller/Suspense Winner Giveaway

Audiobook Month Audie 2014 Thriller/Suspense Winner Giveaway

#audiomonth #Audies2014

As you may have heard June is Audiobook Month, I am honored to participate in the APA’s @Audiobook Community #audiomonth campaign.

 Thanks to the Audiobook Community and Hachette Audio, I am giving away one copy of the 2014 Audie Thriller/Suspense winner:

 The Hit By David Baldacci Read by Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy

 Publisher: Hachette Audio

Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins

Description:

From David Baldacci--#1 bestselling author and one of the world's most popular, widely read storytellers--comes the most thrilling novel of the year.

The Hit Will Robie is a master of killing. A highly-skilled assassin, Robie is the man the U.S. government calls on to eliminate the worst of the worst--enemies of the state, monsters committed to harming untold numbers of innocent victims.

No one else can match Robie's talents as a hitman; no one, except Jessica Reel. A fellow assassin, equally professional and dangerous, Reel is every bit as lethal as Robie. And now, she's gone rogue, turning her gun sights on other members of their agency. To stop one of their own, the government looks again to Will Robie. His mission: bring in Reel, dead or alive. Only a killer can catch another killer, they tell him.

But as Robie pursues Reel, he quickly finds that there is more to her betrayal than meets the eye. Her attacks on the agency conceal a larger threat, a threat that could send shockwaves through the U.S. government and around the world.

One winner receives The Hit By David Baldacci Read by Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy

Prizing courtesy of the APA

Giveaway open to US addresses only

Giveaway open to entrants age 13 and up.

Winner will be chosen via random drawing on July 4 and notified via email. 
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Upcoming giveaways

28-Jun Classics Cubicle Blindness

29-Jun Short Stories/Collections Literate Houswife

30-Jun Business/Educational Audiobooker

Evergreen by, Rebecca Rasmussen

Evergreen by Rebecca Rasmussen

Expected publication: July 8th 2014 by Knopf

This book was sad yet uplifting at the same time. These characters are flawed but flawed by things done to them by others and how they dealt with the hurts that were done to them. My favorite character was Lulu she was an amazingly strong woman who conquered whatever life threw at her and was strong for everyone around her, she was the kind of friend I think anyone would be lucky to have. Hux was my second favorite he had a quiet reserve and so much empathy for people.

Of course it is hard to agree with some of the choices made by these people especially Evaline but if she had made different choices then it would have been a very different book. The treatment Naamah received in the orphanage is tough to read but it is one of those instances where it made her who she was flaws and all and her choices when she left the orphanage were caused by the treatment she got there.

Parts of this book will break your heart and parts will make you smile, this is one of those books that is hard to review because I don’t want to give anything away because I want you to experience it for yourself. This one will give you such a book hangover I can’t get these characters out of my head. I finished this book 3 days ago and am still thinking about these characters and miss them and it makes me tempted to go back and start again at the beginning just to be close to them again.

My only qualm would be I wish I knew Naamah's journey after Racina ended up in the hospital and how she ended up where she did. And there were times I wish she hadn’t jumped quite so far in time but I think that was more about me missing the characters.

I don’t want to say too much more as I don’t want to spoil the experience for anyone so I will just say this book is a must read!

5 Stars