“New” HALO Audio Books
A while ago Allen pointed out the older HALO novels were on audible.com (read by Todd McLaren). Over the years I’d seen various versions of the early HALO books advertised...only to vanish before they materialized.But it really does look like there are now audible book versions of THE FALL OF REACH, THE FLOOD, and FIRST STRIKE available for download on iTunes and audible.com. CD versions look like they’re coming out soon, too.
To answer your questions Allen: No, I’m not in the loop on the decisions pertaining to the making and release of the audio versions.
Update: When I started downloading THE FALL OF REACH from iTunes it skipped over the first part with the dreaded “unknown error.” I paused the download, disabled simultaneous downloads, resumed, and that fix it. Both parts seem to play just fine on my computer/iPod.
I’ll listen to it on the way into work, and report later in the comments.
Cool.
posted by Eric Nylund at 6:18 AM
15 Comments:
Tried audio books in the car. Isn't pleasant when the volume is done poorly and/or things are loud outside. And it really does take away from the book when it's put in someone's voice. I'll stick to the books, which I've still got, but I'd be interested to know about the quality these have.
I second Jamez. The only audio book I've ever listened to was Contact Harvest, because, if I may speak frankly, the writing style was driving me nuts. So I couldn't take it anymore and bought the audio book to listen to.
These seem interesting however, and I might give them a try sometime.
Good luck on your projects, Eric!
This is just great! I usually drive pretty far on weekends for Gigs (guitar player) and this will give me some fun stuff to listen to! Thanks for giving us the great reads Eric!
On an unrelated note. I wanted to ask a writing question. How do you know/gauge the action in a scene? Do you tend to come back and read it to see if it is still exciting? I just feel that when I try to write a conflict of some nature, that it doesn't come across as very exciting.
I have read more than I care to recite on pacing lately, and it is helping some, but getting that edge of your seat feeling seems to be something I am missing somewhere.
THE FALL OF REACH audio book so far is a blast. I’m biased, of course, though. It’s strange to hear words you wrote seven years ago being read back at you. The narrator mispronounces a few words, but he does the voices well, which is critical since this in not full cast audio. I like it.
Jamez—to each their own...with a super tight schedule I have to make use of my commute time, so I’m always listening to an audio book.
UNSC trooper – Thanks for the well wishes!
Kurt—writing a good action is a lot harder than people think. It has to have emotional context (i.e. the reader has care about what going on), it has to be clear (not so easy sometimes when a lot of stuff is happening), and hopefully, something not entirely expected has to happen to keep the reader guessing. The most often omitted step is emotional context—why should your readers care about the people, places and things involved in the action scene? Is it all set up and explained—or at least hinted at? When I started writing, I remember going over and re-writing my action sequences a dozen times!
I think that audio books are an interesting thing. They're nice, but I honestly think that they, for the most part, suck when they don't have a full cast. The one exception is the Harry Potter series, because the dude that does the voices is really, really talented.
They aren't as well done as Ghosts Of Onyx but they are still great to listen to at work. :) The Fall Of Reach is my favorite book, I've read it three times. I'm happy to see it in a different form. I was sad to hear that you are not writting the next Halo book. I hope you will continue where you left off in a future book. Thanks and I'm looking forward to reading the new books and the comicbook mini series.
Fourty9er – thanks for the support! Very much appreciated.
I think the audio versions of your book are terrific. Audible.com has recently made a huge commitment to adding more quality science fiction and the inclusion of your books proves they are moving in the right direction.
Now if there was only a way to have them add a reading of "Game of Universe". Especially since “Game of Universe” is no longer in print. I think if it were available on Audible it would find an entirely new audience and would quickly rise to one of the best selling Science Fiction titles they offer.
It appears that Audible has started an in-house production company, “Audible Frontiers” to record titles that do not have an audio version. Now that Audible has several of your books in their catalog it seems they would jump at the chance to record a copy of such a sure fire best seller.
Yeah, I just wanted to second what Fourty9er said. I should hope that, by now, it'd be fairly obvious, but, I am ALWAYS disappointed whenever I find out that you are not the one writing the next Halo Novel.
I am keeping my mind open and hopeful for this new guy, and expect to be blown away. But even still, I just "trust" your storytelling when it comes to the Haloverse in a way that I don't "trust" others'. Whenever they pick someone new, it's like "But why didn't you pick the guy that's already written three of them??? And not just written them, but NAILED them?"
So yeah. I'm Captain Obvious, and I'm saying "I prefer Eric Nylund to all other authors when it comes to Halo novels past, present, and future." I'm more than certain that I have a lot of people who agree with me.
Captain Obvious, AWAY! *whoosh*
Eric has been assisting in the development of the Halo story since the VERY beginnings, so naturally, I'd be extremely happy to see him write the future novels, especially because he knows more about the Haloverse than all other authors. Along with Staten, of course.
I really hope Eric will get to write another novel after The Cole Protocol.
Massey59—good idea for A GAME OF UNIVERSE. I’ll follow up on that. Thanks!
Angel—thanks for the support. Tobias is going to do a great job. You should check out some of his other novels. Don’t worry about me and HALO; I’m sure there will be more novels out from TOR/Microsoft in the not-so distant future.
Unsc trooper- again, thanks for you support. It means the world to me to have readers like you guys.
I just listened to "The Fall of Reach" and I loved it. I hadn't read any of the "Halo" books before, but it made me go out and get the others.
I only wish you had written the second one as well. It would have allowed the story to flow better with the same author behind it.
I am looking forward to "First Strike" after "The Flood".
Great job on these, any plans for more?
Shad Youngblood
Huge Fan of your books, I have Signal to noise, signal shattered which are both fantastic.I also have all of your halo books.
I am really upset that they dont have you writing the next book by the way. But I was wondering, would they ever release your halo books in hardcover fashion? My reason is that I have read the books so many times that I have burned thorugh the first two copies and am now on my third copy.
If they made a hard cover limited edition book, that would be great. Or a Hardcover of your books in one book. If they took a signal to noise and a signal shattered and put those in one hardcover book. Or the same with your Halo books. Not sure if you have any say on this or not. Just thought I would ask.
Thank you for such awesome books, which are of the highest quality.
I enjoyed reading The Fall of Reach ten-fold as much as i enjoyed reading Lord Of The Rings! and I class you in a much higher writing League than Tolkien! -Hope that sounded as good as i wented it to.
I was somewhat upset when i found that you didn't write Contact: Harvest, but Joseph did end up doing a great job, but i was even more shocked that you wont be continuing the novels in future (Halo time-line perspective) from Ghosts of Onyx over to The Cole Protocol, but I guess he might do as well and Joseph or maybe even you.
Anyway thanks again for your books.
Regards, Aaron Horner
Just wanted to leave some input. I just got done listening to the HALO books, actually, all of them. I drive around A LOT to say the least, so I was able to listen to them. I really enjoyed them and your style of writing over everyone else. Good job and hope to be able to hear more in the future.
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