The Fun Zone

Today was a big day in the world of audiobooks. Today, the Audie nominations were announced! Don't worry if you missed it. As far as I know, there wasn't a press conference on the morning news. We had to settle for an online press release.

The Audies are like the Oscars of the audiobook world. Presented by the Audio Publisher's Association, the awards honor the best recordings in several categories over the past year. So, I was scanning the press release, trying to see if I recognized any of the names, when I came across the Science Fiction/Fantasy category:

Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer, Narrated by Jonathan Davis, Audible, Inc.
Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke, Narrated by Eric Michael Summerer, Audible, Inc.
Ghost Radio, by Leopoldo Gout, Narrated by Pedro Pascal, HarperAudio
Skybreaker, by Kenneth Oppel, Narrated by David Kelly, Full Cast Audio
Sunrise Alley, by Catherine Asaro, Narrated by Hillary Huber, Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Wait, what? I stared at the screen for some time. I had read "Childhood's End" on the list, and my first thought was "that's weird, somebody else read Childhood's End. Huh." Then I thought it might be some sort of elaborate joke. Then everything got a little fuzzy while my brain tried to work things out. The Kid finally yelled at me from his high chair, snapping me out of my reverie. He may have thrown a Cheerio at me, but I'm not really sure.

So there you have it. My recording has been named one of the five best Sci-Fi/Fantasy recordings of the past year. There's a big awards gala in New York (they alternate between LA and NY each year) on May 29th. I'm pretty sure we'll be going, but I don't have all the details yet. Assuming that the bulk of the nominees attend, there could be some big names there. I saw Jim Dale on the list, as well as Tony Shalhoub, Neil Gaiman, Bronson Pinchot, Garrison Keillor, Wayne Night, John Slattery, and Lewis Black. Also of note is that I took an audiobook seminar with Hillary Huber, one of my fellow nominees, a few years back. It will be cool to see her again.

I've got to start looking for a tux...

The full list of nominees is here. Wish me luck!