Jove Belle

Speakies! by Genta Sebastian (Plus an awesome giveaway!)

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.Riding the Rainbow Audible Book Cover 2

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.

When Butches Cry Book Cover

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.

Genta2017A 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.

 

31 comments

  5. 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.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. 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.

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    • 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.

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  10. Audio dimensions vibrate the bones, waken the heart, create action. It is as a world within my world. Happy you shared with us, Thanks.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. 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!

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    • Thanks, cw!! Those are words that warm the cockles (yes, lesbians have them) of my heart! Good luck on the drawing!

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  16. It was an eye-ear-mind opening experience, that’s for sure! Good luck on the drawing justdar!

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  17. 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!

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