Category: Audio Books

John Solo on Narrating and Leta Blake’s Smoky Mountain Dreams Audiobook (Blog Tour and Giveaway)

Today the narrator of Smoky Mountain Dreams, John Solo, is interviewed by the author of the book, Leta Blake. Come find out everything you want to know about narrating gay romance audiobooks and why you should read/listen to Smoky Mountain Dreams!

There are two options for this interview! You can read the answers below or listen to John’s smooth voice give you his more spontaneous answers in the following audio interview:

https://vimeo.com/242100856

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Interview with Narrator John Solo

How long have you been voice acting and narrating audiobooks?

For myself, the number for voice acting and narrating audiobooks is the same. 3 ½ years.

How many books have you narrated now and do you have any especial favorites that you’d recommend readers check out?

I’ve voiced over 90 audiobooks (I think the number is around 92 right now?). Some are under the pseudonym Jack Wayne, some are not available to the general public, but most are under John Solo.

Some of my current favorites are; “The Well,” by Marie Sexton (I’m just producing her newest book, “One Man’s Trash”, and if you are interested in the hot steamy side of things…), “Seven Card Stud” by Ava Drake (this one is kind of a hidden gem in my opinion… it has a very comedic, almost “Private Eyes” feel to it), and “Places in Time” by Cardeno C.

If you are interested in other genres and like my work, check out the Bubba the Monster Hunter series by John G. Hartness. Imagine Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Larry the Cable Guy. It is the funniest series I’ve ever had the privilege to work on!!! “The Malaise Falchion” by Paul Barrett (narrated by me as Jack Wayne) is I think my personal favorite piece of work ever (I got to do an ogre voice… I mean, c’mon, how fun is that?!?).

And, wow, “Smoky Mountain Dreams,” by Leta Blake may be one of the best romance titles I’ve ever read, and that’s saying something!

What was your favorite part of working on Smoky Mountain Dreams?

The character growth of Jesse was intriguing to me, and as an actor, it gave me a whole lot of meat to chew on. The backdrop of the Smoky Mountains gave the entire book this… atmosphere? The same kind of thing that happens in a Tarantino flick with the music track, you know? I had almost as much fun narrating some of the descriptive narrative as I did with some of the deep emotional scenes!

You were amazing at capturing all the emotions in Smoky Mountain Dreams. As a voice actor, how hard is it to put yourself in characters’ shoes if their lives are quite different from your own?

Awwww…. Thank you! When I read things like that about me my brain automatically fires off a sound clip of Han Solo saying, “Great, kid! Now don’t get cocky…”.

Are you implying that I’m NOT an 80 year old grandmother from Gatlinburg? Seriously, though, this is exactly what makes this career so much fun!!! Remember when you were a kid, when you had this imaginary world created in your head that you could play in for hours on end without ever getting bored? I had GI Joe and Star Wars action figures handed down to me by 3 older brothers, and I absolutely treasured them! One day I was playing in a medieval fantasy world, the next I was on a spaceship… Guess what? I get to do that every day now. And you know the best part? People PAY me to do it!!! Shhhh… don’t tell my clients that it’s kinda fun.

Is it hard? Absolutely, otherwise everyone would be doing it. As a studio owner and audiobook producer (I produce close to a dozen other voice actors as well) I can’t count how many times I’ve had friends/family/relatives/acquaintances/store clerks say, “You’re a voice actor? You know, everyone tells me I have a great voice, I bet I could do that!”. Not to discourage anyone from trying, but it’s not as easy as just having a good voice and reading a book. But if it was? I wouldn’t still be enjoying it and looking forward to going to “work” every day.

I try to attach at least one or two emotions or general states of being to each character (sometimes many, many more) that I can identify with. For instance, Chris’s grandmother got the mental tag of “ornery”. While I’m not an 80 year old grandmother from Gatlinburg, I can most definitely identify with “ornery”. From there I develop a voice and often mannerisms for the character, record a preproduction voice sample, listen back, make changes, and repeat the process until I like it.

Here’s a funny side note; when working on a book where I had to voice a fairy godmother type character, I found it best to hold a pink toy wand (look, there are real wands, OK?) in my hand and gesture with it while recording her lines. Whatever works, eh? Although, that particular wand made a sound effect when you waved it, which I kept forgetting… that was a fun time editing!

If you could give readers/listeners one reason to pick up Smoky Mountain Dreams, aside from your own awesome narrating skills, what would that reason be?

I’ve produced over 300 gay romance audiobooks. I have narrated close to 80 of them myself. This book kept ME entertained from beginning to end.

 
Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Audible US | Audible UK
 
Narrated By: John Solo
 
Length: 14hrs 46mins
 
Blurb


After giving up on his career as a country singer in Nashville, Christopher Ryder is happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee. But while his beloved Gran loves him the way he is, Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. Even when he’s center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.


Bisexual Jesse Birch has no room in his life for dating. Raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother, he doesn’t want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn’t want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart

https://player.vimeo.com/video/237399843
SMD Sample from Leta Blake on Vimeo.



November 13 – Gay Book Reviews, MM Good Book Reviews
November 14 – Alpha Book Club
November 15 – V’s Reads
November 16 – Diverse Reader
November 17 – Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, BFD Blog
November 20 – Gay Book Reviews, Reading In Sarah’s Corner, Valerie Ullmer, OMG Reads
November 22 – Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
November 24 – Bayou Book Junkie, Gay Media Reviews, Making It Happen

Author Bio

Author of the bestselling book Smoky Mountain Dreams and the fan favorite Training Season, Leta Blake’s educational and professional background is in psychology and finance, respectively. However, her passion has always been for writing. She enjoys crafting romance stories and exploring the psyches of made up people. At home in the Southern U.S., Leta works hard at achieving balance between her day job, her writing, and her family



Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/letablake
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LetaBlake
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letablake
Website: https://letablake.wordpress.com

Giveaway

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An Ali Audiobook Review: The Palisade (Lavender Shores #1) by Rosalind Abel and Kirt Graves (Narrator)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Confident businessman Joel Rhodes sees the small California town of Lavender Shores as nothing more than a business opportunity and a final stepping stone to the position he’s been working toward his entire life. It was supposed to be just one night in town to close the deal, and sleeping with one of the local men, no matter how gorgeous, meant nothing more than a few hours of fun.

Andrew Kelly is perfectly content with the life he has in his hometown. So much so that the only thing missing is someone to share it with. Going to bed with a tourist was never meant to be the answer to his dreams, just a beautiful distraction. He could get back to looking for Mr. Right the next day.
Both Andrew’s and Joel’s worlds are turned upside down when a few hours of pleasure get extended to a couple of days. Even that shouldn’t have been a big deal. You can’t fall in love in that amount of time. That isn’t how it works. However, if destinies collide, a few short days may be all it takes to find your soul mate. Even so, when secrets and motivations get tangled, fate may do nothing more than leave two hearts in pieces. 
 
I think this book is the kind people will love or hate.  It’s either your cup of tea or not.  The story is insta-love and full of sugary sweetness.  I tend to gravitate towards more gritty stories but this was a nice change of pace for me.  The small town the story takes place in is charming as are the characters.  I really enjoyed both of the the main characters and I loved seeing them get together.  
 
 I generally don’t care for insta-love story but something about this one was fun and made me happy.  There was something really romantic about many of the scenes.  It was also a very sexy read.  That’s not something that I necessarily look for in a book but I have to admit that some of these scenes were smoking hot.
 
As I noted from other reviewers, this author is a pen name for author Brandon Witt.  I haven’t read anything by him yet but I understand that this is different than his usual work.
 
This audiobook was narrated by Kirt Graves and I thought he did a very good job.  I thought both MC’s were well done and they were distinctive enough that I never had a hard time telling who was talking.  The narrator also did a good job on the many side characters.  I think the narration added to the romance of the story.
 
If you’re looking for a no angst, sweet, romantic story you should check out this book.  This is apparently going to be a multiple book series and I think you will all enjoy your time in Lavender Shores.
 
Cover:  I like the cover a lot.  I feel it’s visually appealing and I think the colors and flowers set the romantic tone of the story.
Sales Links:  Amazon | Audible
Audiobook Details:
Audiobook
Published September 13th 2017 by Wings of Ink Publications, LLC (first published June 20th 2017)
ASIN B075JPLHKQ
Edition Language English
Series Lavender Shores #1
setting California (United States) 

An Ali Audiobook Review: Horny by Anne Tenino and Nick J. Russo (Narrator)

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Ryan Caulfield is a devout avoider of risk, so it comes as a surprise when he agrees to help a group of supernatural law enforcers catch Zeus (the god voted Least Likely to Keep It in His Pants). But how could he say no? He’s nothing if not law-abiding, even if it’s a legal code from another plane of existence. Besides, it all seems harmless enough . . . at least until the half-naked and all-hot immortal with wings and horns shows up.

In his century as an investigator for the Olympic pantheon, Leander of the eroté has solved a lot of cases and slept with a lot of humans. But on this investigation, it looks like he won’t be doing either. His assigned task is bogus, and the most alluring mortal he’s ever met is determined to avoid hooking up.

But the pull Leander feels toward Ryan the bartender won’t let him turn his attention away for long. Soon, he finds himself interested in much more than his usual dalliances with mortals. Now if only he can convince Ryan he’s worth the risk.
Sometimes I forget how funny this author’s books can be.  This was a cheeky good time.  The story got off to a bit of a slow start for me and I wasn’t too sure about it.  It picked up about 30% and took off from there for me.  I loved the two main characters together despite it being insta-love.  (I hate insta-love in contemporary stories but I give it a lot of slack in paranormal).  I also forgot how well this author can write a steamy scene.  This two were smoking hot together. 
The plot of this was pretty creative and there was a decent amount of world building especially since this is a shorter book.  I liked a bunch of the side characters and to be honest I was bummed when I looked for more books in this world and found this was a standalone story.  I would love to read more stories about these characters.
This audiobook was narrated by Nick J. Russo and I thought he did a really good job.  I’ve listened to a lot books done by this narrator and I’ve enjoyed them all.  I like the fact that he’s consistently good.
This cover was done by Simone and I think it is well done.  It is very eye catching and I think it fits the plot well.  Between the character and the color it gives it a definite underworld feeling.
Audiobook Details:
Audiobook
Published September 20th 2017 by Riptide Publishing (first published August 10th 2014)
Original TitleHorny
Edition LanguageEnglish