A great list of ChiZine Publications books are coming to audio

A great list of ChiZine Publications books are coming to audio

Posted on 2011-12-02 at 13:10 by Sam

As a postscript to unrelated correspondence, I complained to CZP co-publisher Brett Savory that I wanted to see more audiobooks of CZP titles. Well, I should have been paying better attention, as there’s not one but two audiobook publishers working on CZP titles.

Firstly, the folks at Iambik Audiobooks have already produced the first of five CZP titles they have in the pipeline:

Chasing the Dragon by Nicholas Kaufmann is narrated by Alex Foster, and should go live at Audible.com soon — through it’s already available for direct purchase and download via Iambik. (For more on the book, and a peek at its lovely book cover, visit the CZP book page for Chasing the Dragon.)

Next up is People Live Still in Cashtown Corners by Tony Burgess, which should be available next week according to Savory. For Iambik, the following are in production:

• Horror Story and Other Horror Stories by Robert Boyczuk — a 93,000 word short story collection
• In the Mean Time by Paul Tremblay — a collection of 15 short stories
• A Book of Tongues and A Rope of Thorns by Gemma Files, the first two volumes of her “boundary-busting horror-fantasy” Hexslinger Series — A Book of Tongues was recently nominated for a Spectrum Award and was a Black Quill Award winner for Best Small Press Chill: “Two years after the Civil War, Pinkerton agent Ed Morrow has gone undercover with one of the weird West’s most dangerous outlaw gangs-the troop led by “Reverend” Asher Rook, ex-Confederate chaplain turned “hexslinger,” and his notorious lieutenant (and lover) Chess Pargeter. Morrow’s task: get close enough to map the extent of Rook’s power, then bring that knowledge back to help Professor Joachim Asbury unlock the secrets of magic itself.”

The second publisher with CZP titles in the works is none other than Audible.com itself, with three titles on the way:

• Napier’s Bones by Derryl Murphy — math, mysticism, and “great international adventure” per Cory Doctorow
• Nexus: Ascension by Robert Boyczuk —“After returning from a thirty-year trade mission, the crew of the Ea wake from cryonic suspension to find that their home world, Bh’Haret, is dead. “Screamer” satellites have been strung around their planet warning of a plague. A scan of the surface of Bh’Haret reveals no trace of human life—only crumbling cities.” —  (P)age-turning thrills aplenty . . . Boyczuk borrows from sources as diverse as Tolkien, Star Wars, and Alan Moore, and integrates the miscellany admirably into a fast-paced plot. The dystopian human dynamics, on the other hand, are the stuff of an epic nihilistic hangover. –Publishers Weekly
• Eutopia by David Nickle — which Oliver Wyman recently finished recording and regards as “Super creepy and HIGHLY entertaining. Good stuff.”

And, per Savory, there’s “many more to come!” Of the “many more” I’m crossing my fingers for:

Briarpatch by Tim Pratt — “Darrin’s life has been going downhill ever since his girlfriend Bridget walked out on him without a word of explanation six months ago. Soon after losing her, he lost his job, and his car, and eventually his enthusiasm for life. He can’t imagine things getting worse—until he sees Bridget again, for the first time since she walked out, just moments before she leaps to her death from a bridge. In his quest to find out why Bridget took her own life, he encounters a depressive (and possibly immortal) cult leader; a man with a car that can drive out of this world and into others; a beautiful psychotic with a chrome shotgun; and a bridge that, maybe, leads to heaven. Darrin’s journey leads him into a place called the Briarpatch, which is either the crawlspace of the universe, or a series of ambitious building projects abandoned by god, or a tangle of alternative universes, depending on who you ask. Somewhere in that disorderly snarl of worlds, he hopes to find Bridget again. . .  or at least a reason to live without her.”

Enter, Night by Michael Rowe — “Built on the site of a decimated 17th-century Jesuit mission to the Ojibwa, Parr’s Landing is a town with secrets of its own buried in the caves around Bradley Lake. A three-hundred-year-old horror slumbers there, calling out to the insane and the murderous for centuries, begging for release—an invitation that has finally been answered.”

Carolyn Ives Gilman’s dark fantasy Isles of the Forsaken — “The Forsaken Isles are on the brink of revolution. Three individuals are about to push it over the edge and trigger events that will lead to a final showdown between ancient forces and the new overlords of the land. Spaeth Dobrin is destined to life as a ritual healer—but as the dhotamar of the tiny, isolated island of Yora, she will be caught in a perpetual bond between herself and the people she has cured. Is it slavery, or is it love? Meanwhile, Harg, the troubled and rebellious veteran, returns to find his home transformed by conquest. And Nathaway, the well-intentioned imperialist, arrives to teach Spaeth’s people “civilization,” only to become an explorer in the strange realm of the Forsakens. These two men will propel Spaeth into a vortex of war, temptation, and—just possibly—freedom.”

Chimerascope by Douglas Smith — ”(T)he 16 stories in this collection showcase the inventive mind and immense storytelling talent of one of Canada’s most original writers of speculative fiction.” - Library Journal

The Door to Lost Pages by Claude Lalumière — ”Insanely imaginative. . . Lalumière’s talents are on full display in this cerebral, erotic, and hypnotically compelling tale of bibliophilic wonder.” - Publishers Weekly

Whew. I’m really, really excited about this development, and hope you are, too! And meanwhile, it looks like Iambik has also gotten started on some titles from Small Beer Press. Woo-hoo!

Posted in regular