July is turning into quite a busy month at Château Sainsbury! Book Four in The World Walker Series—The Unnamed Way— will be released on the 27th, and today’s the day Audible releases the audiobook version of The Seventeenth Year.
Audiobooks add a new dimension to this whole author gig. Who knows what people are listening to when they have their earbuds in? I was returning from a morning run a few days ago when a friend shouted at me from across the street. (I say ‘run’, because the English language has yet to produce a single word that adequately describes the physical event that occurs when I attempt to exercise. Imagine being drunk and, while stumbling back from the hostelry of your choice, suddenly finding—to your horror—that your jerky, weaving shuffle has become faster than a walk. Rather than stopping, you try to catch up with your own feet, unwilling to admit that you have lost control of your own body. People stop and point. That’s me, running.) Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, my friend shouted from across the street. I couldn’t help notice that, even walking, she was moving faster than I was. Having removed one earbud, she yelled,
“Seb1 and Seb2!”
For a disturbing moment, I thought she was swearing at me in Serbian but then I realised she was listening to the audible version of The World Walker. A very odd feeling. I lost control of my feet briefly and swerved into the path of a small dog, which gave me a look which was equal parts disdain and pity.
I really wasn’t sure how to respond (to my friend, not the dog. I looked right through the dog as if it wasn’t there. Ha! That’ll teach the furry little snob), so I gave her the thumbs up. Which always makes me feel like a tit the instant I’ve done it. Sometimes I try to stop myself mid-thumbs-up and leave people with the impression that I’ve just given them some kind of signal which they were supposed to understand.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I just finished writing my fourth book and may have gone a little stir-crazy.
Focus, Sainsbury.
Audible – The Seventeenth Year. Links at the top of the page. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks to Audible for producing, and Todd Boyce for narrating.
