Hey guys and girls and all lovers and fans of Steven Erikson’s monumental bad-ass epic, The Malazan Book of the Fallen – the audio excerpt is ready! 🙂 Just check the right-hand column, right at the end. It’s the blue box with the file, final_edit_prologue. 🙂
But before I get to the background of it, lets get the legal stuff out of the way first. 🙂
Steven Erikson holds the copyright to Gardens of the Moon, and the publishers, Transworld Books, hold the rights to the book. Under no circumstances may the book be copied, sold, or used in any way without permission from the publishers.
To purchase the book, follow these two links: rBooks and Amazon!
Okay, now that that’s done, let me fill you in about what happened that led to this excerpt being recorded. I had the idea wayyy back, but only started doing something about it a few months ago when I saw a post at Malazanempire.com. They guys and girls there were talking about an audio book of Steven Erikson’s series, how it should be done, etc. and I thought that I would go ahead and start recording – being a fan of the work, and not getting any payment for it, I thought it wouldn’t be a problem.
So I started and recorded the prologue and just about all of the first chapter; only later was I told in no uncertain terms that I should get permission for it first before going ahead (and mentioning it anywhere that might cause trouble for the folks who owned the website where I spoke about it).
So I checked out Random House’s website, saw that I would need to write (or fax) and letter through asking for permission and I thought, Bugger that! I then contacted a very cool lady by the name of Emily van Hest at Random House’s South African offices and asked her if she could help me with getting permission for it in any way. A few days and emails later I had the permission, and I promptly set about getting the recording done, fine-tuned, edited (to fit the ten-minute limit) and ready to post. 🙂
So, thanks to Steven Erikson, first, for writing such a brilliant book, for writing all the books that followed, for creating a world that we all love and for telling a story we all want to hear with characters that we care about. You, Sir, are a god among the gods of fantasy. 🙂
Second thank you goes to Emily; thanks for putting up with a blogger from SA, supplying books to review, and everything else! 🙂
And thirdly, thanks to Zoe and Transworld! 🙂 This wouldn’t have been possible without your permission! 🙂
Last, but not least, thanks for all the people who have encouraged and supported me in this. 🙂
Okay, last thing, I promise:
I’m not a proffesional audio book reader. I don’t have a studio or a thousand-dollar microphone. I’m just a fan who took a chance, got permission, and did a recording of a book (damn, the whole series) that needs to be done as an unabridged audio book. 🙂 So please keep that in mind when you want to critisize me. 🙂
Be Fantastic!
P.S. I’ve moved the Blue Box up, it’s no longer right at the bottom of the right-hand blog-column, so it’s easier to see. 🙂
P.P.S. Once you’ve listened to it, wont you please click this link and vote whether you would like to hear another Audio Excerpt from me? Thanks. 🙂
edifanob
February 1, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Hi Dave,
I would like to listen but can’t find the link in the right column.
edifanob
February 1, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I got a hint from Jay (bookspotcentral) and finally found it. Now listenning…
edifanob
February 1, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Kudos! Dave.
Great job. Your pronunciation is clear and your reading speed is on the point. And based on your environment the quality is good.
Did you do it without breaks?
davebrendon
February 2, 2009 at 8:24 am
I recorded it all in one session, but I had to go back now and then to fix up some mistakes, edit out some coughing, that kind of thing. 🙂 Thanks Edi, I’m glad you liked it. 🙂
caladanbrood
February 2, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Not bad mate, well done. It sounds odd to me with a south african accent, but that’s just becuase I’m not used to hearing it.
davebrendon
February 3, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Thanks Caladanbrood, appreciation from malazanempire.com members is hugely appreciated!! 🙂
Emullet
February 4, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Love it!! Keep it up and I’ll be a subscriber.
davebrendon
February 4, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Will do, thanks for giving it a listen! 🙂
Shawn
May 29, 2009 at 8:46 am
Where do I find the link???????
Kevin
September 1, 2009 at 4:17 am
Love it, and suddenly want to buy the complete audio-book. Would love to know when or if it’s complete and then point me in the right direction to get it! I know just the person who *NEEDS* this in audio format.
Jake
June 15, 2010 at 12:12 am
Dave,
great job! I know this thread is old but can you expand on the details of bringing the entire series to audiobook. Where you looking to do the whole series? if not have you heard of anyone that has?
Thanks again.
Dave-Brendon de Burgh
June 15, 2010 at 7:27 am
Hey Jake, thanks for the great comments, man. 🙂 Well, I had the idea to record an audio excerpt of Gardens of the Moon and asked Random House South Africa how I could go about doing this, so they asked Transworld for me and then I got permission to record ten minutes of audio (that’s why it sounds as if I don’t take any breaths between reading). 🙂 My hope was that I would generate enough interest so that a full-on, professional production of audiobooks would take place, but that hasn’t happened yet. 🙂 I’d like to do each book in the series, but we’ll have to see what happens further. 🙂 The only other audio production I’ve heard of was something done by the publishers way back when Gardens was first published – apparently a CD was handed out at a trade presentation (or something similar) that had a excerpt-recording of Gardens on it, but I haven’t heard anything else. Thanks again for taking the time to listen and offer your thoughts, much appreciated! 🙂
Pieter
December 18, 2010 at 8:03 pm
Hi ! very nice! cuz i don’t got time to read, and i listen to audiobooks while doing other stuf i think this is great, your voice is nice.
Only one thing of comment is that the quality of recording could have been a bit better, but not meaning to critisize your work, not all, keep it going mate:d
Dave-Brendon de Burgh
December 19, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Thanks, yep, not as good as it could have been but the best I could manage at the time. 🙂 Thanks for listening!