“What’s the weirdest thing you have discovered today mark?”

Why, I am glad you asked…

The Strange World of H.P. Lovecraft: A Guide to the Characters and Creations of the Cthulhu Mythos is due out in the UK on September the 1st. It is already out in the US, but for reasons unbeknownst to me the publishers staggered the UK release. However it is already available in one format in the UK and indeed everywhere and that is the Audio book version. This surprised me for the very simple reason that I was utterly unaware that the publishers were releasing it in an audio version.

This however is not the weird thing…

I should also perhaps point out that while I was unaware they were doing an audio version, I was contracted and paid a flat fee to write this book. The publishers paid for the words, they can do with the words what they wish and to be frank I am pleased that they have. It does me no harm and while I have no real skin remaining in the game as the contract was a flat fee no royalties deal, I would obviously still want the book to do well. It has my name on it.

But that’s not the weird thing

The weird is the voice artist they contracted to record The Strange Worlds of H P Lovecraft is actress and voice artist Sarah Ovens.

Sarah has a large body of work, and is clearly well respected and well known within the industry. I know this because having discovered the publishers had commissioned an audio version, and therefore who recorded it I looked her up because I was curious, obviously. Sarah really does have a large body of work, both as a sole narrator and on ensemble pieces. So of those audiobook, to judge purely by reviews and amazon stars, have done very well. Which one hopes bodes well for The Strange World of H.P. Lovecraft , because it would be nice to see it successful in both formats.

Having discovered the book has been narrated by someone successful and well thought of within the field I am utterly delighted. Which brings me to the weirdest thing I discovered today…

The very first first book to come up when I clicked on Sarah Ovens as narrator on amazon was Enid Blyton’s the Wishing Chair… Which I have the vaguest memory of reading when I was a child…

So, the narrator of the audio version of The Strange World of H.P. Lovecraft also is the voice of Enid Blyton’s the Wishing Chair series… I mean that’s a juxtaposition of weirdness right there.

I will have a new audible credit in a few days, right after I finish Kate Baucherel’s second slim caviller trilogy all 28 hours of it… At which time I will get the thankfully shorted listen of The Strange World of H.P. Lovecraft and listen to it because I genuinely have no idea what to expect of the audio version but and deeply curious to find out how the voice of Enid Blyton’s The Wishing Chair pronounces…

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”

(“In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”)

May the great old ones have been kind to Sarah on that one…