Audiobooks. Anyone into them?

ristow · **Posted:** Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:53 am

Audiobooks are the greatest thing ever. However, I only listen to them when I'm driving, or out for a walk, or doing some home improvement project. If I'm going to sit on a couch and be complacent, I want to at least the physical activity of turning the pages.

I just finished off "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" and I'm about to do "Colorado Kid"

sometimes, I rather do an audio book for something I actually don't want to read.

It's lazy! I know.

Raven Bower · **Posted:** Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:59 am

I used to be into them a lot when I drove back and forth to work. It kept sitting around in traffic amusing instead of annoying. But I had the same problem you did - I tended to wander and drift, missing some of the content and having to rewind it.

I don't listen to them at all any more. However, my kids love listening to them. They usually put them on when they're cleaning their rooms or playing. I think they absorb more of the story when they read it on paper though as they don't seem to remember most of what happens on the audios.

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

Ristow, are you able to catch everything you listen while driving? Did it take getting used to at the beginning?

One thing I've noticed is that if I listen while doing stuff, for example walking to the gym or fixing dinner, I grab more than if I just sit or lay down and listen.

Cesar

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Tue Apr 03, 2007 1:00 pm

I've listened to some short stories on audio but not any novels. I too find my mind drifting away on most longer forms of it. I can pay attention to the shorter stuff pretty well though. I probabley listen to at least three to four hours a day of podcasts, but each one I listen to is never longer than an hour and a half per program.

ristow · **Posted:** Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:36 pm

Cesar, Call me "rich" by the way. ---

I'm a huge NPR and talk radio listener, so for me, listening to an audiobook is no different than listening to the radio. Sometimes, however, I phase out of listening, just like when would get distracted a little while watching TV. It takes becoming passive to an extent, but if you're exitable, then by all means, don't do it. It's like if you have a song that pumps you up, you normally wouldn't want to listen to it while driving. I don't know....does that even make sense?

In short, I find it no different than listening to the radio.

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

My ride into work (and back home again, of course) is just over an hour, so my iPod is the greatest thing EVER! I listen to audio books, short stories, and/or podcasts on both trips every day (and on my occasional trip up to Connecticut, which is about 7.5 hours, one-way).

For the most part, I don't have a problem concentrating unless one of three things happens:
1. Some asshole pisses me off and I go on a five-minute bout of scream-infested road rage
2. Whatever I'm listening to is boring
3. I'm just not in a listening mood (I get daydreamy sometimes)

Otherwise, I can pretty much stay focused.

I have an account with Audible.com, where I download an audiobook every month. I should be getting my next one in the next couple of days. I'm trying to decide whether to get Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box or a book by some guy who claims to be his dad. Lisey's Story or some such. Steve Somebodyorother. Never heard of him before, so I may take a chance on him since he's related to Joe Hill.

If you guys are interested in FREE audio books, check out . They are an organization of volunteers that record books from the public domain...meaning they're old...most written prior to 1923. But they have some great classic horror like Jeckyll & Hyde, Dracula, Frankenstein, Turn of the Screw, Picture of Dorian Gray, and a gigantic library of short horror stories. Not all volunteers have the best recording equipment, but you can't argue with the price. They have just over 500 works recorded.

ristow · **Posted:** Tue Apr 03, 2007 8:09 pm

Ken....cool to know. I couldn't agree more about an iPod and driving. Right after I got one for the first time, I was blown away! Now I can't imagine a peaceful, contemporary life without one!

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

padrone · **Joined:** Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:22 pm **Posts:** 6

The DARK VOICES series from Borderlands Press?

It features writers reading their own stories (with music and f/x)

Monteleone
Lansdale
Ketchum
Straub
Paul Wilson

and more

http://www.borderlandspress.com/darkvoices.html

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

Padrone = Tom? ... Cool!

Eventually, I'd love to check one or two of these out, particularly the first three volumes. I think it's a cool concept, and I'm a sucker for unique packaging and chapbooks.

ristow · **Posted:** Thu Apr 05, 2007 10:35 pm

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 12:20 pm

I've been listening to lots of episodes of The Late Late Show here in the last few days (thanks to Kreep for telling me about the show). I can't find Marks story though. They must only keep them up for so long before you can't get them anymore. Too bad, I was really looking foreward to hearing it.

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 5:55 pm

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

ristow · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:06 pm

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

ristow · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:18 pm

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:32 pm

If I might jump in here, most all of them are good, but I particularly enjoyed the following:

1-Flat Diane (this one is long but I really liked it a great deal)
2-Upon the Midnight Clear
3-What You Wish For
4-Regis St. George

These are my favorite's from Psuedopod.

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

Cesar,

I seem to like a lot of the older Pseudopod stories the best. The first few are no longer on the feed, but you can download them directly from their web site.

I liked these:
Bag Man by Scott Sigler
Little Boy Leg Bone by Richard Warren
Returning My Sister's Face by Eugie Foster
Turista by Joel Arnold
Redmond's Private Screening by Kevin J. Anderson

Most of the others are pretty good too, but these ones really stuck with me.

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

Thanks Ken!

CPG

ristow · **Posted:** Sat Apr 07, 2007 12:16 am

Ken,

I would have to draw a line somewhere, and Psuedopod and escape pod would be it. To me, they're legit markets. They pay their contributors, which mean editorial competition and editorial processes. That's what it really comes down to. And people don't pay money for crappy sentence structure, or cluttery verbose language, (especially if it's an audio market)

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

Audiobooks. Anyone into them?

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