Spartacus Speaks!

Very pleased to announce that there's going to be an audiobook version THE RISEN! It's been in the works for a little while now, but I'm mentioning because I have the visual of the cover to now:

Tantor Media is the publisher, and the wonderful Steven Crossley is doing the narration. Hey, he was good enough for the likes of Salmon Rushdie, David Mitchell, Ian McEwan, Jane Yolen, Peter F Hamilton, Alexander McCall Smith, Diana Wynne Jones, Garth Nix, Connie Willis... to name a few. I'm pleased he's now giving a Durham novel the treatment. I look forward to hearing it. It appears on May 3rd, same as the hardback! It's not up on Audible yet, but I suspect that will happen on pub day.

Audible.com Sale!

Audible.com is having a sale this week on selected titles that were produced through their ACX program. That's wherein authors work directly with narrators to produce audiobooks together, and then upload them to Audible.

I did that with the distinguished narrator Dick Hill, and he produced an epic reading of my historical novel Pride of Carthage.

I'm pleased to say that Pride of Carthage will be part of this sale! (Click here to check it out.)

Audible is temporarily reducing the price on these titles to $5.95 for a la carte purchasers at Audible.com. That's a great price, considering how much audiobooks usually cost. Audible Listener members get their usual, additional 30% discount off the a la carte price - so for some it's even lower. This special promotion will begin Saturday, August 25, and run through Sunday, September 2.

But, you may ask, is the book any good?

Yes, of course it is! Don't trust me, though, check out what other folks had to say if you need convincing...


Publishers Weekly (Starred Review): Known for his novels of African-American life in 19th-century America (Gabriel's Story; Walk Through Darkness), Durham leaps continents and centuries to tell the epic story of Hannibal and his march on Rome in this heady, richly textured novel.

Booklist (Starred Review): Durham's epic is truly a big, magnificent, sprawling story complete with a sizable cast of compelling characters, intricately drawn battle scenes, and fluid, graceful prose.

Library Journal (Starred Review): Durham's latest offers a rich, exciting, and panoramic view of the legendary Carthaginian general who almost conquered Rome... An epic tale well told.

The Christian Science Monitor: "Much that was lost is revived here in all its glory and gore, but ultimately what's more stunning is Durham's imagination, his sensitivity to the cost and exhaustion of war. It's a brilliant exploration of the tension between private destiny and historical force, as full of the sweep of geopolitics as the quiet intimacies of a marriage. He so clearly creates the hopes and fears of these people removed from us by time and culture that we can recognize our tragic, common heritage."

Dick Hill Interview

The Guilded Earlobe has a nice interview up with Dick Hill, the wonderful audiobook narrator. He's put his talents to good use four times for me - with the Acacia Trilogy and with Pride of Carthage.

You can check out the interview HERE.

Pride of Carthage Audiobook!

I'm very pleased to announce that finally, seven years after it's original publication by Doubleday, my novel Pride of Carthage is available as an audiobook. Hurrah!

I couldn't be happier with the way it came together. The deal was done as a partnership between myself and the narrator, Dick Hill. He's the very talented narrator that gave voice to the entire Acacia Trilogy.

Another cool thing - for me - is that if you look at the "publisher" information it says: David Anthony Durham. Heh. I'm a publisher!

Wondering what this book is all about? Let me dust off an old review. Here's what Publishers Weekly had to say in a Starred Review:

Known for his novels of African-American life in 19th-century America (Gabriel's Story; Walk Through Darkness), Durham leaps continents and centuries to tell the epic story of Hannibal and his march on Rome in this heady, richly textured novel. After Hannibal assumes command of the Carthaginian army in Spain and conquers the Roman city of Saguntum, Carthage refuses to accept Rome's demand that it abandon the city, precipitating the Second Punic War. In 218 B.C., Hannibal begins his daring march toward Rome, leading an army of upward of 100,000—complete with elephants and cavalry—over the Pyrenees, across the Rhone and through the snowcapped Alps. Ill prepared for the frigid weather, pummeled by avalanches and harassed by Celtic tribes, the army arrives in Italy reduced to perhaps 30,000. Against all odds, Hannibal brings his soldiers through the tortuous marshes of the Arno, and traps and massacres a large Roman force at Lake Trasimene and again at Cannae. The novel's grand sweep is balanced by intimate portraits of Hannibal, his family, his allies and his enemies, as well as by the stories of two humble characters: Imco Vaca, a soldier, and Aradna, a camp follower, who meet and fall in love as the saga moves inexorably toward an account of the beheading of Hannibal's brother and Hannibal's eventual defeat at the gates of Rome. Durham weaves abundant psychological, military and political detail into this vivid account of one of the most romanticized periods of history.

Kirkus and Booklist also gave it starred reviews, but I don't want to overdo it. So...

I'll just say I'd love for you to consider this audiobook. It's a novel I'm very proud of. It's similar to the Acacia Trilogy in terms of being the multiple points of view, large cast, politics and history, and it's got got a considerably higher body count. Unlike Acacia, this one's a true story!

You can find it:

At Audible

Or here, via Amazon.

Neil Gaiman's Record Label

I just noticed a piece at Salon.com that I found quite interesting: Neil Gaiman's Audiobook Record Label.

And then I got an email asking me about pronunciation for the upcoming audiobook of Pride of Carthage. The two things together prompted me to blog!

So, read up on Gaiman's audiobook publishing venture. It's cool, and certainly good news for audiobook fans. I don't have any connection to Neil on this, but the audiobook of Pride of Carthage that's going into production is related, in a way.

Audible.com and the ACX program are trying to make it easier for writers to connect directly with narrators to get audiobooks made that might not otherwise. That's exactly what's happened with Pride of Carthage. It's the only one of my books without an audio version. That had always bothered me. I mentioned this to Dick Hill - the narrator of my Acacia Trilogy - a while back, and he proposed that we partner on the audio version and publish it ourselves on Audible. So that's what we're doing.

If all goes well, an audio version of the book will be available sometime in the spring! It'll sound just as professional as any other version. It's produced in the same way, really. It's just that the "risk" of production is shared between us. As are the eventual sales. (Hoping that there will be some...)

The Sacred Band Audiobook!

Yay! Very pleased to announce that Audible.com will be doing an audiobook version of The Sacred Band. They have Dick Hill lined up to read it, which means we'll have continuity - the same narrator for all three books of the trilogy. And they're aiming to have it available on the October 4th pub date, just like the book.

I'm smiling.

TOL Available At Audible!

Yes, it's finally there. The Other Lands is now downloadable at Audible.com! I'm very happy about this, as it seems like a lot of the folks that enjoyed The War With The Mein did so by listening to Dick Hill's narration. They can now continue to do that with the new book!

If you're interested, please check it out HERE.

Audio TOL

I got some clarification about the status of the audio version of The Other Lands (Acacia, Book 2). The disc version is, of course, available. (HERE, for example.) But it's the Audible.com version that people most often ask me about. I just learned from Tantor that they've sent the discs to them and they expect for the Audible version to be ready by the end of the month. Doesn't mean that will happen, but here's hoping.

I've also been a bit frustrated that neither the audio or the Kindle version show up on the main Amazon page along with the hardcover. Apparently, the titles were slightly different, and in Amazon's automated world it's not easy to get things like that fixed. But hopefully it will be eventually, and everything will be available on the same page!