Last month, Ruby Fink and I presented a 90–minute workshop on podcasting at the Willamette Writers Conference to keenly interested authors. Ruby heads Faux Fiction Audio, a podcast production company, and is my partner in podcasting my fiction. She’s also developing podcasts for other authors and publishers because podcasting, or audiobooks, is becoming a Pretty Big Deal in Media Land. Which is why I love finding podcasts for you to listen to each month. In my endless search for ever more interesting audio I came across “The Ferryman,” our offering this month. It’s one of the more bizarre listening experiences in the genre and I wish I could tell you more about it, but whoever  created it – and I suspect the name “Nic Antoine” is a nom de plume [a nom de mic??] – remains…

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As we bid adieu to August and prepare to surrender to September, one last LibriVox audiobook to treat your ears, one of the great adventure stories of all time: King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard. The notion of finding a long-lost treasure is a literary archetype which found itself reborn in the “Indiana Jones” movies, and it’s a powerful and captivating story – whether on page or screen. Sir Henry Rider Haggard [British; 1856-1925] was a major proponent of the “discovery of a lost world” genre, and is best known for King Solomon’s Mines and She, both of which have been made into movies several times. This LibriVox recording was done by a terrific narrator, John Nicholson. Here are the first 5 chapters. Be sure to visit LibriVox and download the entire novel.  

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This novel, first published in 1908, is a classic story of Mary Lennox, a quiet, withdrawn little girl who goes to live with her uncle. He lives in an enormous house which possesses a – yes, a secret garden, about which Mary grows intensely curious. Perhaps because of this fascinating novel, the secret garden has assumed the mantle of an archetype for the spiritual quest. We present here the first three chapters of The Secret Garden, read by Kara Schallenberg in this Librivox recording. If you like what you hear, you can download the entire work here. My three favorite Goodreads friends all give Kara’s reading five stars. Please click on the arrows below to listen to the first three chapters. More great Librivox stories in store for you in the coming weeks!  

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