Congratulations to Morgayne69 and Sandi. Morgayne69 won the audiobook copy of Riding the Rainbow, and Sandi won the ebook copy of When Butches Cry.
Remember when movies went to sound? No? Before your time?
Okay, how about when black and white television bloomed into color? Yeah? More of you, but still not enough.
This might do it. Your very first Pride Parade! The thundering thrill of Dykes on Bikes, flamboyant rainbows strutting their stuff, seeing families that reflected your dreams, that unreal sense of shifting into a majority, being surrounded by more people like you than unlike you. You were never the same, again.
Yeah… that’s kinda how I felt the other day. Shadoe Publishing announced the release of my Riding the Rainbow as an audiobook. Publisher K’Anne Meinel sent me the first chapter to hear and that’s when I had the epiphany, a paradigm shift so profound it changed me forever.
As I listened to Melanie Carey read my words to an unseen audience, it first took my breath away and second, made me cry. Not because I’m such a brilliant author (although I don’t mind if you contradict me) but because I’d never heard my words read in another’s voice. I’d only heard my writing read aloud by myself alone in my basement during final edits, or during public readings where I’m not listening to myself read so much as I’m watching the audience for reactions.
Now, it’s true that Ms. Carey doesn’t read the words exactly the way I heard them as I wrote, but it brought home to me that every reader brings their own voice and cadence to Riding the Rainbow and each set of ears filter the story of Lily and Clara through personal experience.
I suddenly understand that books are like stones in a river. Each unique reader swarms over and around them, in the same way coursing waters envelop rocks, tumbling them along before releasing them again. My stories stay the same, but each new reader adds to the conversation and the steady movement polishes them to a shine that carries on to the next book, and the one after that.
Hearing my story read aloud by someone else changed how I’ll write forever. Now, I’ll not only hear my voice as I write, I’ll also be listening for yours.
In celebration of the release of Riding the Rainbow as an audiobook, leave a comment below and a winner will be randomly selected. And because it’s June, I’m throwing in an eBook copy of When Butches Cry to the runner up. HAPPY PRIDE, everyone!
*Mine, too, actually.
A lesbian with an imagination that burns up the page, Genta Sebastian’s short stories can be found in many anthologies from a host of publishers, including Bold Strokes Books’ Lambda Award winner, Stolen Moments, Bella Books’, Conference Calls, and Sapphire Books’, A Heart Well Traveled (Sci-Fi edition).
Published across several genres, her first YA novel, Riding the Rainbow, won Goldie and Rainbow Book awards in 2015. She branched into science-fiction short stories, including “Lost” and both “A Very Martian Christmas” and “Pouncing”, part of Ms. Sebastian’s “Where Earth and Mars and Pat and Tana Collide” series. Her latest work, an historical lesfic novel, When Butches Cry, is now on the reading list of a Diversity in YA Lit class taught at Amherst University. The long-awaited sequel, Get Yourself Another Butch, is in its final production stage.
Congrats on the audio! I’m such a fan…. please count me in!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re in the running, Hayde!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like a good read!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think so, Amanda!
LikeLike
Thanks for the chance to read or listen to your work!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re very welcome, Kim!
LikeLike
Sounds good! Count me in as well!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Countin you in, Trather!
LikeLike
I’m just getting into audio books and I am enjoying then but, as most are books I’ve already read I too, find someone else reading them, gives them a completely different outlook. Good luck in the sales and, if not a winner, I’m sure I’ll be purchasing it anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Alison! Good luck to you in the contest!
LikeLike
I agree with Alison. I love how the audio version makes the same story come alive to me twice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a really cool thing to know, Erin! Thanks.
LikeLike
Congrats Genta. I thoroughly enjoyed When Butches Cry.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Alison! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed Along Came the Rain!
LikeLike
Wow. And congratulations 🙂 I’m currently listening to my very first audio book, I never thought I could like listening instead of reading (my ears have a much shorter attention span than my eyes), but I’m really enjoying it, and looking forward to discovering more books, more authors, more readers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dive in, Jude! Listening, reading, just swim into the deep waters. We authors love to hear thing like this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d love to have a copy of one of your ‘stones in the river’. Thank you for your generosity.😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great name you have, Valden. I grew up with rivers tumbling rocks, guess the image never left me. Good luck in the drawing.
LikeLike
Audio dimensions vibrate the bones, waken the heart, create action. It is as a world within my world. Happy you shared with us, Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your metaphors, thanks, Debby!
LikeLike
I would like very much to read/ listen to your new book! Congratulations on your work.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Tonja! Good luck to you!
LikeLike
That’s a great point. I occasionally listen to the audiobook after having read the book and it is distracting to hear a different take on the words. I remind myself that it’s all a preference in the end. Audiobooks are the only safe way to read while driving, so I overlook a lot of things. 🙂 Congratulations on getting an audiobook!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know, right? Thanks, Butchjax! Good luck on the drawing.
LikeLike
Happy Pride! And congrats on Riding the Rainbow going audio!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy Pride to you, too, Morgayne! And, thanks!
LikeLike
Congrats on the audiobook. Looking forward to Get Yourself Another Butch as I really enjoyed When Butches Cry.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, cw!! Those are words that warm the cockles (yes, lesbians have them) of my heart! Good luck on the drawing!
LikeLike
Congrats on the audiobook. I can only imagine how that must’ve felt.
LikeLike
It was an eye-ear-mind opening experience, that’s for sure! Good luck on the drawing justdar!
LikeLike
It amazes me that in the last 3-4 years, the number of my students that have come out as LGBTQ!!! Times are changing so quickly that finding reading material for my middle schoolers is a challenge! This sounds like a winner to me! Congratulations!
LikeLike