War is inevitable. But who will win and who will fall depends on what happens next...
Ravenna has returned to her people in order to save them from Davorin's impending attack. But what she did not understand is that training a society of peaceful sylphs into the warrior Stormbringers from their distant past will ask more of her than she knew. She must make amends with her sister, the new Chosen Queen. She must play games of politics and tactics. And she must prove her worth to a people that never wanted her.
Miska set out to find Ravenna and beg her to help him save his people from Davorin. Instead, he ended up in the Iron Mountains facing a legend even older than the sylphs: a dragon. But when the dragon's only offer of assistance is to help Miska train, he must learn to master himself in an unfamiliar place before he can help his people. The only problem is, the dragon is not the only legend hiding in the mountains.
Lenore has promised to wed Davorin in order to spare her people. Trapped and useless in her own Red Palace, she must discover precisely how far she'll go to uphold a promise. And, who among her people she can truly trust.
To Never Hear the Song is the continuation of The Wing Cycle, an epic fantasy that asks whether who we are determines our struggles, or if the struggles determine who we are.
Pittsburgh native Anne Marie Lewis has enjoyed a richly varied and long career in the performing arts. She has performed across the globe from Carnegie Hall to Boise to Little Rock to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as well as in Canada, England and Scotland. With the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s final novel, she performs Persuasion: A Musical Adaptation at Jane Austen festivals on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and in Bath, England in 2018. Chicago area credits: Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (Emma), Music Theater Works (Peter Pan, My Fair Lady, One Night in Venice, The Red Mill) Remy Bumppo Theatre Company (Northanger Abbey, The Skin of Our Teeth), Northbrook Theatre (Fancy Nancy, Elephant and Piggie: We are in a Play), Oil Lamp Theater (Love, Loss, and What I Wore), Refuge Theatre Project (bare), Lifeline Theatre (Midnight Cowboy), Chamber Opera Chicago (Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, The Sound of Music, Hansel and Gretel), Spartan Theatre (Jake’s Women), Jedlicka Performing Arts Center (Moon over Buffalo), Metropolis Performing Arts Center (The Diary of Anne Frank), Fury Theatre (The Merry Wives of Windsor), Provision Theater (Christmas on the Air), 16th Street Theatre (Graveyard of Empires), Chicago Opera Theatre (Shining Brow, Don Giovanni), and Idle Muse Theatre Company (The Scullery Maid). Regional credits include Lyric Opera Cleveland (Little Women), Pine Mountain Music Festival (Le nozze di Figaro), Muddy River Opera (Die Fledermaus), Quad Cities Opera (La bohème), as well as numerous appearances with regional symphony orchestras. International credits: Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Buxton Fringe Festival, Camden Fringe Festival and Jane Austen 200 in Winchester, UK. She is also a sought-after audiobook narrator, a genre she loves dearly as she gets to be producer, director, technical crew and all the characters! Anne Marie is a proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University and an even prouder mother to her four young men.
- When did you know you wanted to be an audiobook narrator?
- I am a long-time stage performer in opera, musical theatre and “straight” theatre. After I listening to many hours of audiobooks, I started researching the narrators and realized they were (for the most part) all actors and I just knew I had found my new vocation!
- What type of training have you undergone?
- I am currently taking a non-fiction narration and business of narration course taught by the great Sean Pratt, who has over 1,000 audiobooks (mostly non-fiction) to his credit. I have also coached with quite a few other narrators - Andi Arndt, Vikas Adam, Hillary Huber, Helen Lloyd. I also think my undergraduate degree in the Great Books and exposure to a lot of the greatest literature, philosophical and scientific writings and having to analyze these great texts prepared me for audiobook narration. There’a a lot of prep involved before I walk into the recording booth and being able to suss out an author’s tone and intent is key to being a great narrator.
- What about this title compelled you to audition as narrator?
- I was drawn to E. G.’s series for two reasons: it is so beautifully written and it features differently-abled main characters. There are often characters with disabilities but they are rarely the main character. I live with an adult brother who has Down syndrome. He is definitely a main character in my life! We need more of these characters in our books.
- Who are your “accent inspirations”?
- Here’s a wonderful thing about fantasy with no official tie to place: you can make up your own accents! E. G. is a linguist herself and has great facility with the International Phonetic Alphabet - a naerdy narrator’s dream come true. We came to an understanding early on that different worlds/nations needed different accents. The humans in the Wing Cycle basically have a North American sound, the Sylphs have more Mediterranean sounds and the mountain people have a more Germanic sound. But because they really aren’t specifically Italian or German or whatever, I can play a bit with these accents.
- If so, which ones stand out to you most, positive or negative?
- The best I’ve received was negative review: “I need ibuprofen after this book.....I really liked the storyline and thought it was written fairly well. However, the narrator's voice ground on my nerves to the point I just had to stop listening. After several attempts at trying to re-listen to the book, I finally gave up. My head hurt too badly listening to her voice!” I hope that listener found that ibuprofen!
- What type of the review comments do you find most constructive?
- That previous one was definitely not constructive. Review comments are most constructive when you find a common thread running through them. If more than one listener mentions slow pace, breathiness, pronunciation problems, for example, then it’s time to sit up and take notice.
- Who is your “dream author” that you would like to record for?
- This is a tough one. There are so many! I love Neil Gaiman, Maggie O’Farrell, Jane Austen, Willa Cather, William Faulkner, Homer (the first audiobook, BTW!) - in fact there are a lot of classics I’d love to wrap my voice around.
- If you could narrate one book from your youth what would it be and why?
- I couldn’t pick one. There are at least 4 series that got my imagination going and had me creating these wonderful worlds inside my head: Little House, Chronicles of Narnia, Nancy Drew, and The Boxcar Children. I’ve read a lot of these to my own children! I remember my brothers and I reenacting the Boxcar Children, setting up our own “boxcar” on our front step in Alexandria, VA, trying to “survive” on our own without adults.
- What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as “cheating” or as inferior to “real reading”?
- I referred to this before when I mentioned Homer: the first “books” were passed on through oral tradition. They were actually audiobooks! There’s great discipline that comes from being a good listener – I feel modern society lacks that discipline – and to have the patience and concentration to allow a story or treatise or memoire to unfold slowly and deliberately over time through an audiobook. Hearing an author’s words free from the constraints of the printed page teaches us the musicality and rhythm and pulse of our spoken language. If that’s cheating, then I’m undeniably guilty as charged.
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