Welcome to inaugural edition of “The Black Laser Reads”! A few days ago a call went out to Twitter and Facebook asking for suggestions for short stories that people liked. I got a lot of really good suggestions from people and have a running list on my Google Docs. I’m thinking Lovecraft, Bukowski, Carver, O’Connor, and so many more. The whole point behind this project is to build a body of audiobook work so that maybe somewhere down the line I can make it a professional pursuit. But, for now, it’s just fun to share stories with folks.
For this first one I picked Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” because it was my mom’s suggestion and it is Mother’s Day. Pretty perfect if you ask me. Happy Mother’s Day, mom. The story is also nice and short for this first outing. No reason to start with “Bartleby The Scrivener,” right?
[audio:https://www.theblacklaser.net/projects/tblr/TBLR_01_The_Tell-Tale_Heart.mp3|artists=Edgar Allen Poe|titles=The Tell-Tale Heart]
Download here.
I hope you guys enjoyed this. I had fun reading it and tweaking the audio all to hell. I’m thinking that I’ll try and do one of these once or twice a month. This was about 3 hours of work, but I imagine that I’ll get faster as I go along. And next time, I won’t have the mic pointing towards the fridge. Oops. Rookie mistake. I nearly re-recorded the whole thing when I heard it in the background.
What a fantastic idea!!!! YES on the Bukowski. Another suggestion: Neil Gaiman. I’m currently reading a collection of short stories called “smoke and mirrors” and it’s awesome so far.
Your voice is like a baby angel singing “Silent Lucidity” to me while I drift off into dream land.
Queensryche?! GOOD FUCKING CALL.
Love it. If I may make one small critique, it’s only that you spoke a slight bit too fast. But by the eight minute mark, you slowed down.
I second the suggestion of Neil Gaiman’s “Smoke and Mirrors” and up the ante with “Fragile Things”.
Yup, there are definitely some things I am going to do differently the next time. This was a good first run, though, and good practice.