To Look Upon the Sun will be an audiobook!

Usually the messages I receive through my website’s contact form are offers to write articles about weddings, or car manufacturing, or guides for heterosexual men, or some other random, bot-inspired subject. But a couple of months ago, I received a very different message.

It was an inquiry about the availability of To Look Upon the Sun’s audiobook rights, from an acquisitions editor at Tantor Media. I’ve listened to many, many audiobooks produced by Tantor, and I consider them to be among the best.

One of my biggest goals has been to find a way to turn my books into audiobooks. So when I got that message, naturally I floated above my body for a little while, and reread it a bunch of times to make sure my wishful thinking hadn’t produced the best hallucination ever. It was real.

As I’ve mentioned before, I inhale audiobooks, and every day I’m grateful that I can read so many more books now because of this new medium. I’m glad that it makes reading more accessible to those with dyslexia, ADHD, poor eyesight, and tired brains.

The acquisitions editor at Tantor was lovely to work with. I recently signed the contract and sent my casting notes, which advise that an eighty-year old man with an Alabama accent probably isn’t the best narrator to tell Ilse’s story. The book is now in the casting queue. I’ll get to listen to samples from various narrators and approve the final selection, which is very important to me—we’ve all started listening to audiobooks and had to quit because of poor narration.

I can’t wait for you to listen to the final product in a few months! More details to come.

In the meantime, summer seems to have ended early in Portland, and my writing assistant and I are back to work on new projects!