AMI Audiobook Review Accessible Media Inc.

this week, our co-worker in marketing at Accessible Media Inc, Cassandra Chaddock, schools us on the basics of fan-fiction. It's a strange world of boundless creativity with nothing holding back writers from creating the stories they and their readers really want. Without the constraints of sales, editors and publishers, the fan-fiction community cranks out truly weird, wildly imaginative and often beautiful stories based on the IPs we all know and love. Behind their eccentricities, there's an undeniably endearing quality to fan-fiction stories.

from shipping wars to Wattpad, we take our time unraveling this often forgotten realm of the literature world.

Link to the book Jacob mentions:
The Fanfiction Reader by Francesca Coppa
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/32072607

Link to Archive of Our Own:
https://archiveofourown.org/

What’s your biggest audiobook pet peeve? That one, seemingly insignificant thing that for whatever reason, drives you crazy.

We posed this question to the book club and got *a lot* of answers. From strong beliefs narrators should never do accents to hating misdirection, the book club came through this month. Thank you all for your contributions.

If you want to leave us feedback, you can call us at 1 866 509-4545 or leave us an email at feedback@ami.ca

Plus, in the latter half of the episode, regular contributor Sara Hillis joins us along with her husband, Michael Fehr, to discuss how couples can enjoy audiobooks together. Couples always watch movies together. Why not cuddle up and share an audiobook?

With the help of our friends at CELA, Karen McKay and Theresa Power, Ramya and Jacob are reviewing the latest book from best-selling Canadian author, Carley Fortune.

This Summer Will Be Different is a contemporary Canadian romance set in Prince Edward Island. With fantastic relationship writing, great prose and tons of delightful Canadiana, this title has charm but does it have substance? Listen to find out more.

Plus, Cora Coady is with us in the second half of the show for another edition of the Rapid-Fire Review.

This Summer Will Be Different on CELA: https://celalibrary.ca/node/25106074

This Summer Will Be Different on Audible: https://www.audible.ca/pd/This-Summer-Will-Be-Different-Audiobook/B0CGF7KDHD

This Summer Will Be Different on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197577126-this-summer-will-be-different

Cora Coady's RFR selections:

Moon of the Turning Leaves, by Waubgeshig Rice

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, by Cathy O'Neil

Warriors: Dawn of the Clans #1: The Sun Trail, by Erin Hunter

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett

Homes: A Refugee Story, by Abu Bakr Al-Rabeeah and Winnie Yeung, was recommended to us by our audiobook curator, Aamer Khan, as part of a previous episode where we discussed books that can make us shed a tear... or three. Ramya and I read it and we've reconvened with Aamer to record a proper in-depth review.

It's a great, accessibly written, true story about a tight-knit family as they try to find a place to call home. Originally from Iraq, they move to Syria, only to be caught up in the civil war. While they eventually make their way to Edmonton, the time they spend in Syria, anxiously toiling through the refugee process will mark them forever. This book does a lot to humanize the countless refugees around the world, who are too often reduced to simple statistics.

Here it is on Audible. Note that it's also available on CELA: https://www.audible.ca/pd/Homes-Audiobook/B07QHG7N5V

Plus, Jeff Ryman joins us in the second half for his turn at rapid-fire review. Here are Jeff's selections:

- Burke’s Law: A Life in Hockey, by Brian Burke
- Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game, by Colin Kaepernick
- Runnin' with the Devil: A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen, by Noel Monk
- I Am Ozzy, by Ozzy Osbourne
- The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band , by Mick Mars, Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Neil Strauss

CELA , the Center for Equitable Library Access, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. For over a decade, they’ve been maintaining a massive physical and digital library of books in multiple accessible formats for Canadians with disabilities. We mention them on the show constantly because it’s our primary way of accessing all the audiobooks we discuss on this show.

Karen McKay and Theresa Power are long-time employees at CELA and have been regular contributors to this show since the beginning and they’re with us on this episode to demystify the service.

Plus, Sarah Hillis informs us on what exactly is up with the Audies, the prestigious audiobook awards. We also go through the 2024 winners that were announced back in March.

CELA’s website:

https://celalibrary.ca/

The full list of winners from the 2024 Audies can be found here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=list+of+2024+Audie+winners&rlz=1C1GCEA_enCA1105CA1105&oq=list+of+2024+Audie+winners+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigAdIBCDc0MTJqMGo0qAIAsAIB&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

With over 700 audiobook titles to her credit, Anne Flosnik is a veteran amongst veteran audiobook narrators. When we got the chance to have her on the show, we jumped on the opportunity. In this episode, Anne shares her narration process, advice for aspiring narrators, insights on the industry and unveils many of the unexpected fascinating intricacies of audiobook narration.

Visit Anne's website: https://anneflosnik.com/

Link to Anne's Clubhouse page: https://www.clubhouse.com/house/narrator-uplift

And here is a link to the first book of the Liveship Traders series by Robin Hobb, which Anne narrated: https://www.audible.ca/pd/Ship-of-Magic-Audiobook/B071HRHRVP