I have been wanting to listen to audiobooks for quite a long while now, and although this is technically not a traditional ‘audiobook’ per se, it is an author reading his novel aloud via live video feeds on YouTube! Therefore, its a non-traditional audiobook sequence of events! What drew me into wanting to listen to the story as it evolves each Friday, is the fact that one of his tweets about his book series caught my eye in my twitterverse feeds! I’m always searching for Steampunk authors & titles that I have not stumbled across as I have blogged about my sojourn into this realm previously; specifically my exploits at my local library!
I felt perhaps this might be an excellent way to get to know a new-to-me author & his story! Each Friday, I’m taking the chance on listening to a story I’ve only read the premise about and the author’s note on behalf of his novel on his book’s listing page. Perhaps on Fridays, you will join me!? I cannot be the only nightowl blogger!?
On a side note: I joined his newsletter as an “Adventurer” and cast my hat into the running to win a hardback copy of his novel! I did this the first time I saw his tweets, which was over a week ago!
Specifics:
Discovering Aberration by S.C. Barrus
They were all gone by the end of the night! pic.twitter.com/sWRc9CKWgj
— S.C. Barrus (@SCBarrus) May 19, 2014
Published By: Away & Away Publishing (author owned), 26 March, 2014
Official Author Websites: Site | Twitter | Facebook
Available Formats: Hardcover Softcover, & Ebook Page Count: 434
Authors of Inspiration:
Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, & H.P. Lovecraft
Converse on Twitter: #DiscoveringAberration
Prior to the Broadcast:
Considering the fact I am more or less going into listening each Friday night @ 10:30pm PST (technically, this is 1:30am Saturday morning!) a bit blind to knowing about the author, his writing style & voice, as much as his characters and narration makes this quite the exciting treat! In fact, it recollects to mind what it must have been like for generations who grew up listening to radio broadcasts of their favourite fictional heroes and characters! Instead of telecasting via radio signals & waves, we have the age of the internet and the ability to have an author set up live feeds on YouTube! What bookish bliss, eh!? Noting that his inspirational authors include one mutually respected author (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle); one deeply curious about author (Jules Verne); one on the fence about author (Robert Louis Stevenson); one author I’ve changed my opinion of (Edgar Allan Poe: Read my “Mrs. Poe” review); and one author I’m curious about due to what I have heard of his works (H.P. Lovecraft) you may already denote an itching of excitement growing inside me to hear his voice share the opening bits of his Steampunk novel!
The fact that he wrote an unorthodox novel which does not specifically fit within the perimeters of modern tales of his respective choices of genre, delights me to no end! I love it when authors give a rambling narrative voice to their stories, to where we have to read the whole of the novel and story in order to understand the exact heart of what they stitched into their character’s lives! I love character-centered stories as much as I like the deft hand of a wordsmith who has the eloquence to build a world that we want to absorb inside and spend time navigating the finer details and points he has etched into the atmosphere of the world itself. I like slow-moving stories which allow the words to flow through us rather than over us, and have the tangible glistening of an evolving picture emerge out of the well of what is inside the chapters.
I am nearly on the edge of my seat in full expectation of a narrative journey about to begin!
And, of course the mere fact that my dyslexic math skills projected the start time @ 7:30pm EST rather than 1:30am EST, clearly proves my dedication! The YouTube channel designated for tonight’s broadcast has been counting down the hours in earnest since it was a bit past 7 hours left to go! Laughs with mirth. Sometimes you just have to find the cheeky irony in your life!
Tweets Leading Up to the Reading:
#DiscoveringAberration Live Reading Chapter1 http://t.co/oCtgFxXq3s via @SCBarrus | You might want to check this out @SGZimmer! Wicked idea!
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
Live #author #bookreading taking place tonight! @SCBarrus is going to be reading a chapter of his #steampunk novel #DiscoveringAberration :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
@SCBarrus You're welcome! :) I'm looking forward to listening to what you'll be sharing tonight! I've had the count-down clock running! :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
@SCBarrus Will you be answering Qs via Twitter as well!? I'm not on YT, but was hoping I could tweet if something came to mind!? #liveauthor
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
@SCBarrus Sort of misunderstood the original start time which I PM'd you earlier about! lol Therefore, ever since 7+ hours were ticking down
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
#amreading The Road Back by Liz Harris whilst awaiting my first #liveauthor event where I will hear S.C. Barrus read bits of his story! :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
I am simply happy I #amreading after such a long hiatus! My eyes simply were struggling to adapt & getting back to where I was took time :(
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
@KarenBridget777 Do you like #steampunk!? Are you a nightowl writer like me!? IF yes to either of these Qs, there is a #liveauthor event! :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
@KarenBridget777 Not to worry — it is becoming a weekly event! :) Each Friday the author is going to read another chapter out of his novel
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
#amreading The Silent Touch of Shadows by Christina Courtenay, which I originally began reading in early May! Happy to return to the story!
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
My weekend is going to be spent finishing my #ChocLit novels in-progress & getting a bit caught up on #JLASblog! :) Lots of exciting things!
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
And, of course I never had the chance to tweet out that #ChocLitSaturdays is being held as well! Sighs @BooksByViolet, @SKWillsAuthor Happy!
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
30 minutes until @SCBarrus's live #author event!! He's reading a chapter from his #steampunk novel Discovering Aberration! #scifi #amreading
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
Ooh, my dear ghouls! Less than 10 minutes now until a liveauthor #bookreading for a #steampunk novel! @SCBarrus! Whoa! Time flew! #randomjoy
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
During the Broadcast:
@SCBarrus You're voice sounds fine. Video is a little jolting in / out but your voice is fine. A pause for buffering when you said 'short Q'
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
.@SCBarrus begins to read his #steampunk novel #DiscoveringAberration! Tune in via his #liveevent YouTube Channel! http://t.co/tRMMMKf5Ey
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
Chapter 1 Notes:
a professor is in the middle of class, relaying bits of a book and reading to his class when the story begins. given a degree, a grant, and a residency on publication of a book based on the character’s journey to the Orient. bored beyond repair. the status que was found wanting rather than exciting as the opportunity had felt when given. ms. Olivia Newton is a cheeky student with questions that test the Professor’s patience. taxidermy ensembles attached to the clothes in the gathered crowd of students. a curious attention to elephants. survival of the fittest and cunning independence. a battle of classes. (“Gangs of New York” flashed through my mind, which made sense lateron!)
missed a bit when his voice went mechanised. (as i wrote ‘mech’ all I could think of was Midsummer!)
@SCBarrus Your voice is mechanised and breaking up! :( It is not coming through as clear as it was; & then it evened out.. hmm,… wonder ?
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
an interruption when someone interrupts the class. protesters are in the background in the streets. atmospheric setting. an urgency to know something that is most important. a humble home of a Professor in a mixed neighbourhood of residences.
missed a bit more when he read the words too quickly for me to hear them properly. the quicker he reads the more the mechanised effect happens.
@SCBarrus Slow down — your reading a bit too fast; the action & dialogue is running a bit together; the technology is mumbling it a bit :(
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
pitched to write a book about his friend. crime lords & black markets. antiques. money to be had. an out of print book. parchment which was actually a map with writing which was particularly precise. an intricacy of details. an island. a key. a lost civilisation. a dead language. a mathematical connection of origin. a gypsy spirit of adventure pulls at the heart of the lead character. an adventure begging for him to embrace. a tempestuous proposition. an implorous consideration. a stolen map from a sailor who was dying & whose belongings thus belonged to a beguiling and foul man.
Chapter 2 Notes:
a back-story history of a particular place. a broad stroke of how one particular country and area progressed forward and slid backwards through time of it’s people. a particular empathsis on how violence threaded through the young persons and grew from there. this chapter is to explain a history of who the Professor’s friend stole the map from and to draw the reader into an understanding of the larger scope of the evolving picture being painted into full view. describing the hierarchy of the gangs and who became the crime lord to be feared by all.
@SCBarrus Your reading of Chapter 2 was still a bit fast, but your voice came through clear and could be understood. Just don't rush! :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
Concluding Takeaway Thoughts:
Sharp and crisp descriptions are given to purport his imagery and connective tissues of his novel, allowing the reader to be placed directly into the scene at hand. Sharp as glass, cuttingly convincing, and precise, his narrative voice is glistening with a bluntness and an honesty of where his characters are taking the reader on the journey about to be taken as his narrative bespeaks of a clarity of a writer’s pen for detail oriented story-craft. The manner in which he opens the novel and of which it is thus told, gives me the impression that the blunt strokes are mindful of a bloke’s approach towards relying a particular turbulent slice of history, whereas a lass might soften the edges a bit. The story eludes to being set within the perimeters of an adventurous historical fiction, half fantasy, and equal measures psychological suspense. As I have not yet heard where the dialogue nor the narrative broaches into horror. He does have an eloquent descriptive voice, and for the rougher characters and rougher bits of prose delves into stronger language as it is warranted, but not overtly so, nor unnecessary.
Despite the fact this novel is clearly outside the scope of what I regularly read, I cannot deny that it has me curious to hear more bits and bobbles of its full essence! I am most surely marking down the next ‘Friday Chapter Series’ event, in order to partake of another rousing night of wickedness, rebels, rogues, and the lot most likely found in Captain Jack Sparrow’s crew! I might be a lass who is bent more on the cosier side of literature, but even I found a heap of joy in the revelry of Sparrow & the crew in which boggled the mind half the time of their exploits!
I appreciate the notations he gives to clue the reader in on his classical literature roots of inspiration, and how he attempts to pay homage to the story-tellers that most likely will eventually knit together on my tCC List! I always knew Oliver Twist would be an interesting novel for me to read, and perhaps between now & a fortnight thence when we recommence to listen to Chapters 3 & 4, I can make a bit of headway into the story! I’d learn a bit more about the gangs of the street & the layout of power, and perhaps get my head to wrap around the gist of the story without asking too many elementary questions! I was most appreciative of his kindness and attention to his ‘readers & listeners’!
I do suppose its a sign, that I happen to have a pocket edition of Oliver Twist staring at me from my bookshelf?
Afterthoughts from the Author:
Scuttlters (All I could envision were the pirates from ALL the Caribbean films I adore so much!) were based on Victorian gangs & were based on historical facts, including the crime lord in the story. He showed to camera a deck of cards, which looked most curious! I missed a bit about why the deck was being shown to camera as I was attempting to compose my thoughts; going back and forth between YouTube & my blog! All I could think of in that moment is what a conversation piece that deck would be! I love playing board games & card games; like Hand & Foot or Shanghai Rummy? I’m most definitely a ‘vintage gamer’ both for traditional games and for video games alike! And, technically speaking I’ve been collecting ‘card decks’ since I was quite young! I always wanted to collect & gather interesting decks of cards because I felt that they would help open a conversation when you sit down to play!
Two of my favourite decks are an American flag deck, and a Mayan ruin deck I brought back from Mexico after climbing pyramids! I even have a deck with the Mt. Dew logo on it as I used to guzzle that curious green drink by the bottle attempting to ‘win’ a skateboard!
He answered my Qs first:
@SCBarrus Where exactly does the novel take place? During which timescape & the title character's names!? The tech blurred out finer details
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
@SCBarrus What as your inspiration to write a novel based on the underworld and crime factions? And how does that inter-relate to the island
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
@SCBarrus I enjoyed listening to the story because your voice does compel one to get into the story once the technology quits acting up. :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
Fictitious country in a real world: (artistic license) Franklin P. Fitzgerald (Freddie) and his sidekick friend Thadeus Lumpkin. Early Victorian Era as advanced technology is beginning. (for me, this sort of felt Neo-Victorian rather than straight-up Steampunk, as it has a curious alter-history feel to the world.)
Originally wrote the story without the crime lords, and turnt into a quick story full of satire. Shelved the novel and re-wrote the novel. Twenty pages turned into sixty pages, with research into the time period. Fell in love with the characters and wanted to expand the story. Developed the criminal underworld into the story, and fleshed out a bit too much, to where it had to be cut out. Based on “The Gangs of London” a non-fiction book out of print where the scuttlers were based upon in the story.
Other listeners had trouble tuning in to the broadcast.
Another reader asked about how the first book ties into the second: a complex story he doesn’t want to discuss the plot if we haven’t read the first book as it would be a spoiler for us. PC (I need to ask how to proper have that title spelt!) takes place in the same world, but ten years before the first story. The Scarlets are a gang featured in “Discovering Aberration”, and goes into how the structure of their gang works. A mixture of “Oliver Twist” and “Ocean’s Eleven”. Freddie is not a protagonist, but the sequel after PC has Freddie return.
@SCBarrus Thanks for answering my Qs! How would you explain the story to someone who is approaching it for the first time!?
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
@SCBarrus THANK YOU! I appreciate the playing cards because I'm a #vintagegamer! I <3 board games & card games! Eek. I'm beyond excited! :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
He gave me an ‘on air’ thank you note of gratitude for tweeting out the word leading through the countdown. He appreciated my tweet about his voice. He listens to more audiobooks than he reads books, and always felt he did not have the voice for it. He’s listening to Harry Potter (Order of the Phoenix, I believe!) at the moment and felt that the voice on there is better than his. (I disagree!) He is going to take a break from next Friday, and join up again the following Friday instead. He’s going to a convention – will note be able to return for a fortnight. If its the convention where we purchased the bowler hat for then I can only hope he looks as dapper as the hat he’s wearing in his author’s photograph! (via his website biography) I personally fell into the Steampunk genre by way of the artwork & fashion long before I entered the fictional worlds set around them! Laughs.
@SCBarrus That's alright! I was composing it as you were talking — and I had no idea you were going to be talking 'to me' as I was tweeting
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
@SCBarrus I had a wonderful time listening to a story which has me curious about how it will evolve & I look forward to Chapters 3 & 4! :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
@starchambershow A wicked new #IndieAuthor is on the #Steampunk scene with #DiscoveringAberration! I rec @SCBarrus to be a #GuestAuthor! :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
#amediting my #blogpost about @SCBarrus's live #author #reading of his #debutnovel! :) So, so happy I staid up to listen to this! #steampunk
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 28, 2014
My goodness! I cannot wait for the next installments of this live author event! I am hopeful that if I made any grievous errors, the author will be kind to let me know either through PM or in the comment threads! I am so happy that I ‘caught’ sight of that tweet about “Discovering Aberration” on Twitter the other week! IF I had not seen it, and I might not have, as I’ve been taking a break again from hitting the ‘Home!’ button! (your aghast I can tell!) There enters a bit of a kismet factor to reading & the discovery of authors & their works. There is a season for everything in life, and I always felt that the timing of stories has a particular curiosity about when they are revealed! For me, I am properly full of gratitude for being caught up in this unique event and for being the winner of a giveaway I did not even know was happening! How delightful! And, may this post inspire you, dear hearts to stay up later than late and listen to the next chapters of this tale that simply bewitches you to listen! Please share your thoughts!
Discovering Aberration Kickstarter Intro via S.C. Barrus
I decided to share this because I should have known to scope out his previously uploaded videos to find out more information about his novel once I had read it originated by a Kickstarter Project! Whoopsie! He mentions a bit about the plot and how it evolves forward! I can say, that listening to his first two chapters was an adventure in of itself, and I do not regret going in ‘blind’ without understanding a few of the finer points ahead of time! Enjoy!
This post is part of:
{SOURCES: Audiobook Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. The intro video for “Discovering Aberration” via S.C. Barrus had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. The Friday Night Reading Series badge created by Jorie in Canva.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.