Thursday, January 19, 2006

Joseph Nassise podcasts for free

The horror genre is not one which has ever appealed to me -- unless you count ghost stories -- so I am not up to speed on the stars of that variety of fiction. However, Joseph Nassise is a former President of the Horror Writers Association, and a nominee for the International Horror Guild Award, so he clearly has some standing in the field. And now, it seems, he and his publisher are making podcasts of his new novel available free of charge.

According to the press release which has come my way, this is the first time that a novel currently available on bookstore shelves, and released by a major New York publisher, will be podcast in its entirety -- beginning on 31 January. The book in question is Heretic.

This podcast enterprise is the result of a collaboration between the publisher (Pocket Books), The Horror Channel, and The Podcast Network. In the future, The Podcast Network hopes to work with authors to find suitable sponsors for the podcast versions of their work, so that they will still get a commercial return on their efforts even if listeners don't eventually purchase the book. Well, we shall see. Nassise, by the way, is acting as his own narrator (as have Gerard Jones and Ian Hocking).

Heretic is the first volume in a new dark fantasy series called The Templar Chronicles, a series which has its own web site. This is the place to sign up if you want to listen to the podcasts on your iPod (or whatever). There is also an interview with Joe Nassise on The Horror Channel web site.

I presume that this Horror Channel is the same one that I can get on Sky satellite here in the UK. I don't usually find much there for me, but I did see an intriguing interview with the actress Ingrid Pitt a while back. Doubtless it will be on again.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, Podcast network. Looks like the way to go these days.
I have had Gerard Jones try his audio book out on me, and though adio is nothing like the printed page, there are some moments.
I mention Gerard Jones because I stole a literary structure from him with his permission: "Take what you need," said Jones. "It's free. Like my audio book."
So, as l promised, here is my unofficial promotion of GINNY GOOD in podcast.
That Jones boy does deliver.