At the publisher’s suggestion, a podcast with a reading of The Last Track will be available for download in the next month or so. Starting shortly after the release date–an announcement about this soon–every few days another scene will appear, until a large portion of the novel is available in audio form. Spent much of this weekend editing down the files narrated by the magical ( ok, he’s not particularly magical, more like  insanely talented ) Chris.

If I was sick of the story by this point–after all this time malaise affects anyone, familiarity breeds contempt–hearing someone breathe life into the characters at this point is energizing. One of the great things about working with Chris is he performs with minimal direction, perceives subtle intricacies about the characters, and works them into his vocal performance–all while honoring the story and characters. Just give him a stack of pages and answer the occasional answer and he handles the rest. That says something about his talent. Intuitively he senses exactly which scenes or passages could be played in different ways, then works them from one of those viewpoints, and leaves it for me to decide which approach works best. I want to believe I have chosen wisely.

Of course, this means listening to a lot of audio files, but man, this is a good problem to have.

Now about the release date. A tiny issue reproducing the cover at the printer became clear this past week. Because there is some go between between the publisher and proofs and notes about them from both sides flying back and forth in the mail ( really can’t know what something renders until the many colored inks hits the paper ) there’s a small chance the date will be pushed out a bit. It will still make February, but whether it’s the 13th or the 27th, is a big question mark right now.

Again, a good problem to have, really.