Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Literature Killed the Radio Show?

Photobucket7th Son recently was brought to my attention by the sci-fi blog, io9. 7th Son is basically an audio book series by J. C. Hutchins which he released via podcast and which is now scheduled to be published in 2009.

So, the plot sounds amazing. I encourage you to go to the site and read about it. I even listened to the first few minutes of the first book and was immediately intrigued. The problem? After those first exciting minutes, my mind started to wander. You could blame it on the current state of our society, the need for every part of us to be stimulated, the death of radio at the hands of video...and you'd be partially right. I couldn't just sit and listen because my eyes would wander and my hands would wander causing my mind to traipse right along behind them. But it's not a film version of this story I am longing for. No, so much gets lost in film translations. I want the book. I want to hold the pages in my hands and get lost in looking at the print. I want my imagination to run wild, creating my own images of what the author is describing.

Perhaps it is the fact that I am a visual person which makes me less interested in audio-prose. I can handle books-on-tape or a radio show when I'm in a car...but that's the only time and place. Are there still people who sit at home and listen to radio shows? What do the 40,000 listeners of 7th Son do while they are listening?

2 comments:

J.C. Hutchins said...

Hey MK! Thanks so much for checking out "7th Son," and blogging about it.

Ultimately, I released my 7th Son trilogy as a serialized audiobook podcast (a new chapter being released each week) because I thought it wouldn't have a future in print. Thanks to the amazing support by my fans, the first novel in the series will be released by St. Martin's Press. It's been a crazy adventure, but mission accomplished!

I understand exactly what you mean, re: your mind "wandering" during a book reading. While I'm a big fan of audiobooks, I know a great many folks who simply can't get into them, and prefer the print medium. My hope with serializing 7th Son was that by releasing content in weekly 45-minute episodes (perfect for a commute), the aural "commitment" would be more manageable for my fans.

Again, I appreciate you spreading the word about my project! Thanks so much!

Mk said...

Thank you for your response. I look forward to completing the series!