Author: Ryan Armstrong
Narrator: Christopher Sherwood
Length: 5 hours and 1 minutes
Publisher: LM Vintage Publishers
Released: July 17, 2018
Genre: Historical Fiction
World War II: A young Nazi guard stationed in a ghetto in Regensburg, Germany finds himself in a time and place that he hates. He has never directly participated in the bloodletting but has done nothing to stop it. He wonders if his soul can be saved. He saves a Jewish girl's life when ordered to murder her. He refuses despite the consequences. Perhaps the girl he saved can save him? Maybe she can be the key to his redemption and a light for his soul, to guide the way home.
Ryan Armstrong has always enjoyed history, reading and writing. He majored in history and English at the University of Oklahoma. He likes to tell stories that haven’t been told before, especially love stories. He is currently working on an anthology, The Darkest Hour, due out in January with ten best selling historical fiction novelists. He is married and has two boys. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas. Follow Ryan Armstrong on Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, Twitter or at ryanarmstrongauthor.com
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Christopher shares his time between London and New York. He grew up in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, England, before attending Oxford University to study Human Sciences. He was then recruited into the advertising industry where he spent 7 years and during which time he developed a love of theatre. It was this love that drove him to leave advertising in order to attend Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Since then he has performed various roles on stage, TV and film and more recently has enjoyed success as a voice artist earning commissions for corporate, commercial, drama, and audiobook work.
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Narrator Interview
- How did you wind up narrating audiobooks? Was it always your goal or was it something you stumbled into by chance?
As with so many artistic ‘breakthroughs’, there was a very fortuitous sequence of events that led to my first audiobook. It began with the daily trawl of casting websites earlier this year, when I stumbled across a call for a Germanic-looking male, local to Huddersfield, to appear in a trailer for a new novel called Love and Hate: In Nazi Germany. Being a London resident, I certainly wasn’t local to Huddersfield, but fancied my chances having played a Nazi Officer in a short film the previous year. I was willing to travel up from London, so learnt the lines and submitted my self-tape audition. To my delight I was offered the part, and drove up to Huddersfield through blizzards and snow-drifts for the shoot. After arriving with great relief at the director’s house on Sherwood Drive, I walked into his kitchen only to see that his wallpaper contained a repeating pattern of a London Street view that contained an image of the apartment building in which I live. It was at this point that it all felt like it was somehow meant to be. The shoot all went well and the end result certainly lived up to expectations. A number of months then passed before I got an email from the author, Ryan Armstrong, who asked me if I was willing to narrate the audiobook version of the novel. I was told that he had been auditioning voice artists for the role but nobody had felt quite right. Ryan then contacted the director of the trailer, Jonny Knowles, to seek his advice, who promptly suggested that I should be asked. It was a no-brainer for me having been making an effort to get more seriously into voice work and having undergone voice over training with Guy Michaels. Audiobooks was an area of voice work that I was certainly building up to, and suddenly I was presented with a perfect opportunity to make that transition. It also gave me the final push I needed to get my home studio finished and ready for production.
- A lot of narrators seem to have a background in theatre. Is that something you think is essential to a successful narration career?
I do not believe for a second that it is essential - good storytelling is a skill that can easily be honed outside of the theatre - but of course it can help, especially from a vocal and breath control point of view. I also don’t think, however, that such a background on it’s own is in any way sufficient to be a good narrator. It’s a very specific skill that requires practice and development.
- What type of training have you undergone?
I went to drama school for a year and continue to do acting workshops and training in my spare time. I also did a voice over training programme with Guy Michaels, which was incredibly useful for teaching me about the technical aspects of voice work, basic technique, and for developing an awareness of my own vocal strengths and weaknesses. I look forward to doing his advanced course at some point soon.
- How closely do you prefer to work with authors?
Every author has a different approach to their work. They are the most important person in the audiobook equation, so I will work as closely with the author as is required to ensure that they are happy with the product. I do like to work closely with them, however. It’s a collaboration, so it’s crucial to have a shared vision, and for the author to feel comfortable giving constructive feedback when required. With Ryan, I presented my take on the first chapter of the book, and gave him a series of feedback questions to answer about tone, pace, character voices, as well as the technical aspects of the production. I invited his assessment to set the tone for the rest of our working relationship. I then submitted one chapter at a time for him to feedback on as we went. Ryan did so as necessary and a few parts were re-recorded, but he was also very generous in praising the elements that he liked, which helped to keep me motivated as we progressed.
- How did you decide how each character should sound in this title?
An overall choice was made with the author to keep the vocal changes for the characters subtle. The story is told very much from the point of view of the lead character, so we decided to be sensitive to that and to keep the voices within that characters vocal range, but with enough differentiation to aid comprehension and to suggest the age, gender and basic character of that person.
- If you had the power to time travel, would you use it? If yes, when and where would you go?
I would go into the future to film the political, social, and environmental consequences of our current behaviours, before returning to show our current world leaders what they can do improve the situation for us and our future generations.
- Who is your “dream author” that you would like to record for?
I love idiosyncratic British humour, and nobody captures and conveys that better than Alan Bennett. I also know that nobody could narrate his work better than himself - I certainly couldn’t, so this really is a dream.
- If you could narrate one book from your youth what would it be and why?
I got so much from reading and studying Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird as a school boy. It’s a book that needs no introduction, but to me it’s a timeless masterpiece that brilliantly conveys the best and worst of the human condition.
- What’s next for you?
I’m busy learning a lot of lines for the lead role a new play called The Peregrine by Phil Holt which will play at the Stockwell Playhouse from August 27th to September 2nd 2018. I’m also having to learn how to Argentinian Tango for the role, which is challenging but a lot of fun
- Bonus question: Any funny anecdotes from inside the recording studio?
I live in a very hot apartment, and built my sound booth in a walk in wardrobe situated right next to the boiler. The recording and production of this book coincided with the hottest summer in London since 1976, so the booth became ridiculously hot - we’re talking around 40 degrees celsius. I therefore recorded the whole book whilst sweating profusely and wearing nothing but pants.
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Thanks so much for bringing to our attention another great book out there to read. I appreciate hearing about them since I have so many readers in my family.
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