Title: Cassius and Ellendarra
Author: D. C. Armstrong
Narrator: Nathaniel Priestley
Length: 7 hours and 44 minutes
Publisher: D. C. Armstrong
Released: Apr. 19, 2022
Genre: Fantasy
Cassius alone stands between the realm of Evlontus and complete destruction in this riveting tale of swords, magic, and deception that rewrites the classic theme of good versus evil.
Imprisoned within Cassius’ soul lives a terrifying dark force threatening to destroy all existence. As his control over it weakens, it is up to his brother, King Magnus, along with his deceitful machinations, to repress and vanquish the evil entity and restore balance to the realm. Total annihilation looms over Evlontus, and the brothers’ efforts begin to unravel due to the interference of two soldiers, Japheth and Ellendarra.
When the truth is finally revealed, destiny takes them down an unexpected path toward the ultimate battle between good and evil.
Q&A with Author D. C. Armstrong
- Tell us about the process of turning your book into an audiobook.
- The audiobook process turned out to be the most fun I’ve had in my publishing journey! I used ACX to produce the audiobook and everything went very smoothly. I was able to select a narrator from the auditions very quickly and he was very responsive to my character notes and suggestions. After only a few revisions we were able to lock in the final product.
- Do you believe certain types of writing translate better into audiobook format?
- Absolutely. The early feedback I received often included something along the lines of – you should be a screenplay writer. I agree with this, but in the case of this specific story I felt compelled to push forward with writing a novel. The difficulty is that this story, and the way that it is written, doesn’t fit neatly in the Fantasy genre. It includes magic, sword fighting, good versus evil but it is intentionally limited to a small core cast and focused on dialogue and character development. The book does read more like a play and has less in the way of an immersive descriptive fantasy world as it was intended to appeal to those looking for a lighter read.
- Was a possible audiobook recording something you were conscious of while writing?
- No. It should have been. Funnily enough it didn’t even occur to me until nearly a year after publishing that audiobooks would give me the freedom to write in the way that feels most natural to me.
- How did you select your narrator?
- When I initially set up the book for auditions, I had selected an American accent for the narrator but the first message I got was from Nathaniel inquiring about whether I would consider a British accent. I told him I would certainly consider it and he promptly sent in an audition file soon after. I never even listened to the other auditions because I was so blown away by his characterizations and voicework. Felt like it was meant to be!
- How closely did you work with your narrator before and during the recording process?
- Nathaniel was great to work with. I felt very comfortable relaying any notes about the tone a character would speak with and letting him in on a deeper level about different plot points so that the dialogue could resonate the way I intended. He was very responsive and efficient with any corrections and enthusiastic to see the project come to life.
- Were there any real life inspirations behind your writing?
- The entirety of the novel is far more personal than I had originally intended. The plot changed from draft to draft as I began to incorporate more of myself into the characters. My own sense of humor changed the tone of the book completely despite it originally being written out with a much darker plot.
- Is there a particular part of this story that you feel is more resonating in the audiobook performance than in the book format?
- My favorite parts of the story are when all of the core cast of characters come together. I am a big fan of the show Arrested Development and love when the family comes together and I feel like that tone influenced a lot of those scenes and resonates better when you can hear the voices of the characters.
D. C. Armstrong is the author of Cassius and Ellendarra, and the upcoming sequel The Last King of Evlontus. A fan of character-driven stories, her work is light in the details and fast-paced but epic in scale nonetheless.
Voice Actor and Audiobook Narrator
Narrator for Penguin Random House, W.F Howes, Strathmore Publishing, Audible Studios, StoryTec, HarperCollins, RNIB and many independent authors.
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