In this bonus edition of Behind the Mic, host Jo Reed speaks with actor Courtney B. Vance. His shelves are lined with awards—two Emmys, a Tony, a Critics Choice Award, and several NAACP Image Awards. Vance is also a dedicated audiobook listener and occasional narrator, nominated for a Grammy for his performance of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s and Avis Lang’s ACCESSORY TO WAR. Vance’s latest project is a monumental one—narrating historian David Levering Lewis’s two-volume Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of W.E.B. Du Bois, available as an audiobook for the first time. But it’s a recording that might never have happened if Courtney B. Vance hadn’t picked up the phone and called the author.
Read our review of W.E.B. DU BOIS 1868-1919: Biography of a Race:
Courtney B. Vance photo by Matthew Jordan Smith
Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website
Support for our podcast comes from Dreamscape, the publisher of The Intruder by bestselling author Freida McFadden. The Intruder is a deadly tale of survival that explores how far one girl will go to save herself. — on-sale 10/7.
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Stories of Resilient Writers
Host Jo Reed welcomes AudioFile contributor Kendra Winchester to Behind the Mic this week to discuss one memoir and two biographies which center three different writing lives: A deaf, mixed-race writer finding his voice in THE QUIET EAR by Raymond Antrobus, read by the author; a cultural biography of Octavia Butler, the groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy writer in POSITIVE OBSESSION by Susana M. Morris, read by Karen Murray; and an expansive biography of James Baldwin told through the lens of friendship and love in BALDWIN by Nicholas Boggs, read by Ron Butler.
Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:
THE QUIET EAR: Published by Random House Audio
POSITIVE OBSESSION: Published by Harper Audio
BALDWIN: Published by Macmillan Audio
Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website
Support for our podcast comes from Dreamscape, the publisher of The Intruder by bestselling author Freida McFadden. The Intruder is a deadly tale of survival that explores how far one girl will go to save herself. — on-sale 10/7.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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MOCKINGBIRD COURT, Book 6 in the Shady Hollow Mystery series
AudioFile’s Michele Cobb is joined by Golden Voice narrator Cassandra Campbell to chat about the sixth and newest audiobook in the Shady Hollow Mystery series, MOCKINGBIRD COURT. Vulpine reporter Vera Vixen finds herself the prime suspect in what looks to be a murder. Cassandra Campbell is the voice behind all six of the Shady Hollow mysteries, and AudioFile listeners may also recognize her from her Earphones Award-winning narrations of WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING and THE SCRIBE OF SIENA. Cassandra was named an AudioFile Golden Voice in 2021.
Read our reviews of some of Cassandra Campbell’s work:
MOCKINGBIRD COURT: Published by Random House Audio
SHADY HOLLOW: Published by Random House Audio
WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING: Published by Penguin Audio
THE SCRIBE OF SIENA: Published by Simon & Schuster Audio
Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website
This episode is brought to you by Random House Audio
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Dark Academia
AudioFile contributor Stephen Cummings is on Behind the Mic this week with host Jo Reed. This week’s theme is all about dark academia—suspenseful and often fantastical audiobooks that take place in a campus or school setting. Two graduate students descend into hell to get a recommendation from their professor in KATABASIS by R.F. Kuang, read by Morag Sims and Will Watt; affairs are revealed in a creative writing thesis in SEDUCTION THEORY by Emily Adrian, read by Jennifer Pickens; and a teacher at a magical school needs help wrangling demons in THE INCANDESCENT by Emily Tesh, read by Zara Ramm.
Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:
KATABASIS: Published by Harper Audio
SEDUCTION THEORY: Published by Hachette Audio
THE INCANDESCENT: Published by Macmillan Audio.
Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website
Support for our podcast comes from Dreamscape, the publisher of The Intruder by bestselling author Freida McFadden. The Intruder is a deadly tale of survival that explores how far one girl will go to save herself. — on-sale 10/7.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Behind the Mic talks Classic Crime Novels with David Timson
British narrator David Timson has recorded numerous audiobooks for Naxos AudioBooks, including the complete Sherlock Holmes stories, five Charles Dickens novels, and a complete unabridged reading of Edward Gibbon’s DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. During his time working with Naxos as actor, director, and writer, David has also directed five of the successful audio series of Shakespeare’s plays. In 2002 he won the Audiobook of the Year Award for his reading of A STUDY IN SCARLET. David Timson sits down with AudioFile publisher Michele Cobb to discuss narrating classic crime novels and Golden Age mysteries, including works by Anthony Berkeley (aka Francis Iles) such as MALICE AFORETHOUGHT, THE PICCADILLY MURDER, and TRIAL AND ERROR, and giving voice to the extensive Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin canons.
Read our reviews of some of David Timson’s work:
DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE: Published by Naxos Audiobooks
MALICE AFORETHOUGHT: Published by Naxos Audiobooks
THE PICCADILLY MURDER: Published by Naxos Audiobooks
TRIAL AND ERROR: Published by Naxos Audiobooks
Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Find your next great audiobook on our podcast, Behind The Mic with AudioFile Magazine. Every Tuesday, AudioFile Editors and host Jo Reed recommend the very best audiobooks and narrators. It’s the perfect way to keep up with new releases and hear about audiobooks you may have missed. Want more? Listen to our bonus episodes featuring in-depth conversations with the most talented voices in audiobooks today.
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Visit our website: AudioFileMagazine.com the #1 review source for audiobooks.
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