I'm so happy to reveal that my new novella, Courier, will be narrated by Andy Stevenson.
Andy is an experienced voice actor and narrator, having narrated audiobooks for bestselling authors such as Alan McDermott, Shaun Hutson and Nick Albert.
Being an audiobook junkie, I was very excited about Courier becoming an audiobook. I tend to get through two a week and always have them on the go when I'm walking my dog, doing housework, washing the dishes, etc. I believe my passion for audiobooks has made my own writing 'voicier' and as I write, I often read my work aloud to get the voice just right.
In Courier, the protagonist, Bob, is a lonely, depressed, and quietly unhinged courier. He's fifty years old and lives in the English seaside town of Hastings. He hates his job and feels invisible, and although he gets on with his day and dutifully delivers his packages, there's a lurking mania to his psyche that's constantly threatening to overspill.
It takes seeing a vulnerable woman during his delivery rounds, who he believes is being abused, for Bob's unstable side to really come to the fore. He develops an obsession with 'saving' this woman, and in doing so, he thinks he can save himself. What follows is an unravelling of Bob's sanity as his obsession grows...
Courier is written in first person so the narration is in Bob's voice. Bob grew up in a working class family in Slough, but went to Durham University. He feels he's too good to be a courier and so there's a bitterness and apathy to his character that Andy captures perfectly.
Bob is well-read and a bit of snob, believing he's superior to most people he comes in contact with. Despite having studied literature, in recent years, his reading tastes have centred more around spiritual texts. He adores books like The Upanishads and he has a keen interest in new age spirituality. He meditates, practices yoga, and has a guru, Serena Soulful, and yet he applies concepts such as manifestation in the worst possible way...
Bob's pomposity and his delusional, irrational mindset comes across so well in the audiobook of Courier. Not all audiobooks feature genuinely compelling acting, but this one does (and I'm not just saying that because I'm biased!). I was truly blown away at how brilliantly Andy embodied Bob. The narration is powerful, sensitive, clever, and impactful. It really is quite special.
I'm so happy to be sharing this audiobook with listeners and I really hope they enjoy listening to it as much as I did.
To check out the Courier audiobook, click here.
To visit Andy's website, check here.