(Quick link to the audiobook on Amazon)
Over the last few years I’ve gradually transitioned to reading more and more books in audio form (in both Japanese and English), and I’ve found this format tends to allow me to enjoy the story more as well as manage my time better. While I’ve dabbled in short audio narrations for some of my translations, I hadn’t yet made an audiobook of any of my full-length books.
When 2023 came around I decided I wanted to do something new, so I finally decided to produce a professional audiobook of my collection of classic science fiction stories by Juza Unno (海野十三), which includes the first modern Japanese dystopian story “Eighteen O’Clock Music Bath”. Not only do I love these stories, but I have had the opportunity to really polish the translations during several ebook releases and a paper book release. In fact, this is the first release by Arigatai books that has a work in ebook, paperback, and audiobook format.
After a couple of weeks listening to auditions and going back and forth with 10+ candidates, I finally settled on Martyn Tallon, a pro narrator with a few audiobooks under his belt as well as a huge amount of experience doing radio and other vocal-related work. I’m planning on writing up a separate article to talk about the audiobook production process, but for now I’ll just say it was a real pleasure working with Martyn, and getting to hear the wide array of voices he used to breathe life into these stories.
I’m extremely pleased to say the audiobook is now available on Audible (link), as well as Amazon (link), and iTunes (link).
In the upcoming months I’m planning to make some more audiobooks from Arigatai Books’ selection of works, let me know if you have any suggestions.