31 Days of Horror-- Day 17: Horror Audiobooks-- A Narrator’s Perspective

Back in 2011, I had this post about the merits of horror in audio form and included a great resource for reviews.

For the lazy, the short version of that post is that horror on audio harkens back to childhood times spent telling ghost stories on sleepovers or around campfires.  Horror is as much an emotion as it is a genre and hearing it read only enhances the fear and terror-- those feelings that horror readers crave from their stories.

When I was preparing for my 31 Days of Horror blog-a-thon, Paula Slade, a seasoned actress who had recently narrated the horror novel, The Haunted by Michaelbrent Collings, reached out to me.

She is very passionate about narrating audiobooks, and has quite a bit of experience, but this was her first horror novel.  As Paula told me:

"I was initially drawn to the book's rich use of language, and almost cinematic visualizations...

When I auditioned for The Haunted, I felt it begged for a storyteller approach along with a versatile interpretation of the many characters. And, even though I knew I was up against male narrators (who we all know dominate the Horror genre in audiobooks) that is the approach I took in bringing the author's words to life."

Paula was very moved by her experience and wanted to let people know more about audiobooks and narrating horror as a female.  I told her I thought her mission fit in very nicely with mine.

So today, think about helping your horror listeners at the library with the aid of Paula and me.

• Click here for all posts on the horror blog labelled audio
• Click here for the MANY, MANY more posts on RA for All which talk at length about audiobooks in general and their appeal to readers. 
• Click here to read or listen to an interview with Paula about being a narrator.
• And, finally, click here to listen to a snippet of The Haunted, read a plot summary, download a copy for yourself, and/or to read listener reviews.

For my part I think The Haunted is a solid haunted house story in the tradition of The Turn of the Screw. Paula’s narration, in my opinion, only improves the story. It is a great choice to add to your horror audio collections, especially because what Paula says above is correct, there really are no good  female narrated horror audiobooks out there, and I know there are people who would want to listen to one.