Story Time With Ash

This week I finally had the chance to sit down with Stuart Bentley. Stuart narrated the audiobook of my novella, A Man of the Mountain, and is in the progress of narrating Whiteout, the first full length Nick Ventner Adventure. He's got a wide range of experience from stage to screen to booth, and has interesting tips for aspiring narrators out there.

In the middle of the episode, we also get a preview of his narration for Whiteout, coming later this summer!

In the meantime, if you want to listen to A Man of the Mountain, it is available wherever audiobooks are sold.

Check out Sean Pratt's video "So You Want to Be An Audiobook Narrator"

Stuart Bentley's Websites: https://stuartbentley.me/

Stuart on Instagram.

This week on Story Time With Ash, I'm sitting down with a professional.

Joel Simler has narrated more audiobooks than I've had hot meals, and he's going to be the voice behind my new short fiction collection, The Dark Humor Will Continue Until Morale Improves. Dry, sarcastic, slightly menacing — perfect fit.

Pre-order the ebook here (releases 6/2): https://books2read.com/u/bML2gV

We talked about how he got into narration, what the hardest thing to learn was, and tips for anyone who wants to do this themselves. Plus he gave a live preview of one of the stories from the collection, which was genuinely fun to hear out loud for the first time.

Here are some links Joel wanted to share for places folks can get started with coaching in the industry.

https://www.seanprattpresents.com/

https://carolmondavo.com/coaching-with-carol-monda/

https://actingforaudio.com/about-us

Who doesn't love a good dark humor short story about wartime escalation? This felt relevant when I wrote it last year, and unfortunately, it feels very relevant again with the newly minted war in Iran. Just a note, while this is a comedic story, I hope the message is clear. No, war isn't funny, but when times are dark, sometimes all you can do is laugh.

If you like the short story, please like, subscribe, and check out my other work: https://linktr.ee/MacAshton

Transition music by: transition 1R64 by Setuniman -- https://freesound.org/s/482931/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0

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This episode, I'm diving into one of my favorite holiday stories I wrote a few years back. Yuletide Loops is a short, dark comedy all about an alcoholic stuck reliving a yuletide alien invasion. But this time, things are different. This time, he's going to crack it.

Read along here: https://macashton.com/2023/12/18/yuletide-loops/

Purchase Ashton's books here: https://linktr.ee/MacAshton

Free Whiteout here: https://www.amazon.com/Whiteout-Ventner-Adventure-Ashton-Macaulay-ebook/dp/B0G62X9QNT

#Writing #Audiobook #podcast #Aliens #SciFi #comedyscifi #funnybook #Author #Holidays #Christmas #TimeLoop #writer

In this episode, Ashton revisits his story, The Agent. This tale delves into a realtor that is particularly good at selling haunted houses. It's funny, a little kooky, and seriously spooky.

You can purchase Ashton's other books here: https://linktr.ee/MacAshton

Ashton Macaulay is a nearly-critically acclaimed author living in Seattle Washington. He takes inspiration from all the ways his brain tells him the world is trying to kill him. More information can be found on his website MacAshton.com