Narrator: Sean Posvistak
Genre: Young Adult (Romantic Fantasy)
Date Published: November 2, 2015
Publisher: Liquid Silver Books
For Kate Sweeting, love isn’t in the air. It’s in the water.
Since her father died, Kate Sweeting’s home life has been in the pits, her well-being on life support. Her future looks desolate until she and her mother, Cara, make another plan: abandon their shriveled existence for more promising prospects on the coast, where Cara can play small-town librarian-bachelorette and Kate can figure out what’s up with that secretive Blake family from the beach.
Everyone is eerily captivated with Kate and her mother, and Cara is the first to figure out why when the man of her dreams arrives all dripping and devoted and closed-mouthed about what he intends. Kate is willing to go along with their subterfuge for a while, but eventually makes a charge for the water to learn what her mother is hiding. Gabe Blake is there waiting for her…and so is someone considerably less friendly. By the time Kate navigates her way home, everything will have changed for her—what she feels, what she wants, and what she’ll risk to be with the man she loves.
The Mer Top Ten
1. “Rise Up” (song) by Thomas Jack & Jasmine Thompson. Addictive and hypnotic – give it a listen!2. “Splash” (movie) is still as funny and adorable as ever.
3. “Mermaid” (book) by Carolyn Turgeon is a lovely reinterpretation of mermaid mythology, all adulted up.
4. “Robinson Crusoe” (book) by Daniel Dafoe is a revered classic for a reason. There are no merfolk but lots of ocean and it’s yummy and you should read it.
5. “Gift from the Sea” (poetry anthology) by Ann Morrow Lindbergh is dreamy and thoughtful and just right.
6. “Calypso” (song) by Suzanne Vega combines ocean nymphs, a Greek hero, and folk rock music in the cleverest of ways. What’s not to love?
7. “The Little Mermaid” (animated movie) will have you singing ‘undah da see’ for the rest of your natural born life.
8. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (movie) has the BEST, most convincing mermaids the movie world has ever given us.
9. “The Mermaid” (poem) by Alfred Lord Tennyson is a warm bath of beauty you can take anytime you want.
10. “Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” (song/video) by Veggietales is HILARIOUS. Charming for grown-ups and little ones alike.
1. Tell us about the process of turning your book into an audiobook.
Well, I went to the ACX web site and did a LOT of internet research while I considered how to best approach my projects. I decided I don’t much like how often we all get asked to create on the if-come, so even though it was expensive for me, I carved out a section of Updrift for use as a script and put the project up as a paid gig through the ACX production system. I got such wonderful responses from some truly talented narrators and was so agitated about choosing the right one. I co-opted the opinion of a longtime friend and actress to listen with me to help me figure it out! She told me to go with the one that pulled the “right” emotional response as I felt it… and since she and I both thought Sean’s read was the most compelling, I made him an offer. Thankfully, he accepted.
Sean was an amazing professional to work with. He made every edit I requested, did everything smoothly and beautifully, and the second I could amass my next pile of cash to produce the sequel, I contacted him to see if he’d be interested, and he jumped all over it. Same with my third. I’m really grateful for the care Sean took with my stories and can’t recommend him highly enough.
2. Was a possible audiobook recording something you were conscious of while writing?No, but I found when I listened to auditions I did in fact have beliefs about how my characters should sound. As I write my fourth - and having produced three audiobooks at this point - I can say I do think of it, now. And it’s a helpful perspective to have, has helped me refine my own narrative voice on the page, I think.3. How did you select your narrator?Sean was one of several people who auditioned for Updrift on the ACX platform. His audition really stood out to me and my actress friend.4. How closely did you work with your narrator before and during the recording process?Very closely, and Sean was the consummate professional throughout. He may remember the process differently, but just as proofing a written manuscript results in copy edits, the same little things come up in voice narration. I think there have been only two sentences in the whole of all three works where I asked Sean to re-read with a different tone. The rest was small stuff.5. Is there a particular part of this story that you feel is more resonating in the audiobook performance than in the book format?Oh my goodness, yes. Sean’s voice is just this terrific blend of compelling goodies, prompts for the listener to envision the story as well as hear it, and to feel more viscerally the tension the characters feel. And then I think his rich, resonant delivery does a much better job bringing both my hero and my antagonist to life.6. If you had the power to time travel, would you use it? If yes, when and where would you go?Okay, so my imagination has been completely captured by the Starz series, Outlander, and as long as I could bring soap and moisturizer with me, I’d go back to 18th century Scotland in a flash!7. If this title were being made into a TV series or movie, who would you cast to play the primary roles?Oooo, that’s a hard one. I think I’d cast Mads Mikkelsen as Peter, Colton Haynes as Gabe, and Saoirse Ronan as Kate.8. What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as “cheating” or as inferior to “real reading”?Try it! Especially on a long drive or if you have a headache! Seriously, hearing Sean read Updrift and Breakwater and Outrush was like listening to my dad read A Wrinkle in Time to me when I was a little girl. The human voice is a powerful storytelling tool, and while it needn’t replace traditional reading, it can add an amazing dimensionality to a story.9. Have any of your characters ever appeared in your dreams?Do you mean have I been haunted?!??? YES!!!! Since I started writing these books, I seriously think about them all the time, even when I’m supposed to be paying attention to something or someone else. I’m pretty sure I’ve annoyed every single one of my family members and friends who have to repeat portions of their conversation to me. And yes, I think about scenes and what-ifs even in sleep!10. What’s next for you?I’m going to finish a fourth for this series, Crosstide, if it kills me. And it might. Seriously, I think my brain got broke last year… ;-)
To learn more about Errin Stevens and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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