Wayne June Blog

Interview with Audiobook Narrator Wayne June

2009-04-03T18:53:00.006-04:00

Hey;
I just did an interview with the online magazine, "The Southern Literary Messenger", it's up now, here:

Audiobook Narrator Wayne June Interview

If the link doesn't function, paste this URL into your browser:
http://www.southernliterarymessenger.com/index.htm

The Southern Literary Messenger is a revival of a 19th century magazine, published 1834-1864.

They publish articles on all subjects and are "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts". (It's really a cool mag, despite the fact they chose to interview me, check em out.) Publisher John Wright does a great job with it. They welcome submissions, by the way, so if you write, why not submit something?

April marks their 1 year anniversary: Stop by, wish 'em a happy birthday, and tell 'em Wayne says "Hi".

I'm getting ready to finally have my reading of Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" published any day now, pop on over to AudioBookCase to get your copy and get yourself on the mailing list for future releases. That's here:

http://www.audiobookcase.com

I'm on Facebook nowadays so why don't you head over there and drop a note on my Wall?

Talk to you soon!
~ Wayne

A Few New Audiobook Reviews

2008-06-16T18:52:00.003-04:00

Thought I'd share these... (I liked reading them!)

Review From
Science Fiction and Fantasy Audio by Jesse Willis
Discover the finest in Science Fiction Audiobooks, Fantasy Audiobooks, and Audio Drama

Into That Darkness Peering: Nightmarish Tales Of The Macabre - Vol. 1 By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Wayne June Publisher: AudioBookCase.com
3 tales from the original master of horror fiction, Edgar Allan Poe! Included in this collection are “The Raven”, “The Black Cat” and “The Cask Of Amontillado.”

Narrator Wayne June [has] done his research on this new series of definitive Edgar Allan Poe readings, and in listening you’ll absolutely have to agree... June never falters... captures the sympathetic first person narrative and then drives home the barbarity flawlessly... There are already many versions of these three classics available on audio, but I’d venture not a single one could come even close to match any of these three. Wayne June’s voice is perfectly matched to the melancholic material. As was the case with his superlative Lovecraft recordings, nobody else’s voice is more more morbidly macabre than is Wayne June’s. This is essential listening.

Review From: Amazon.UK:
The Shadow Over Innsmouth and Dagon By H. P. Lovecraft; Read by Wayne June

Wayne June, who reads all six available volumes, has once again done a magnificent job in bringing this audiobook to creeping, slithering life. Lovecraft's prose can sometimes be intimidatingly dense and complex but Wayne June paces the readings perfectly, allowing for all the charged emotional gravitas that these stories require."Shadow Over Innsmouth" is a tale of earth-shattering psychological horror set in a shunned and decaying coastal fishing town. This story could easily be destroyed by an over-the-top or uncommitted reading but Mr June convincingly conveys the narrator's growing unease and eventual blind panic as he slowly uncovers the grim secret of Innsmouth and pieces together the horrid truth of Obed Marsh's legacy. These readings... have proved to be exceptional and seriously deserve shelf-space in the home of anyone who appreciates high quality tales of fear, apprehension and (mostly) unseen terrors. Rated 5 Stars

Review From

Audiobook Fix by Scott D. Danielson
...the finest H.P. Lovecraft I’ve heard to date. Wayne June narrates, and he was born to read these stories. Narrating Lovecraft isn’t the easiest thing—there is not a lot of dialogue—but June is able to make these stories sound both dark and conversational. His deep voice and his spot-on inflection keep the exposition interesting, which makes this collection of audiobooks a perfect way to experience Lovecraft for the first time or the nth time. ... more

Wow... Tell me more about my eyes! :-)

The Latest

2008-05-24T09:24:00.010-04:00

Hmm....Where to start? Well, let's see; in the audiobook department, I've been working on a new production for the H.P.Lovecraft series I've been recording for the past few years, now. The series is called "The Dark Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft" and it's one of my favorite projects. For those of you unfamiliar with Howard Phillips Lovecraft, his stories of alien races, older and more powerful than humankind seeking to re-establish their position as dominant species on the Earth has spawned what's known as the Cthulhu Mythos. Literary critics credit him with being the inventor of modern horror and an influence on writers like Robert Bloch, Wes Craven and Stephen King, to name a few.

He was featured in sci-fi pulp mags such as Weird Tales, Thrilling Wonder Stories and Amazing Stories. His writing style is kind of Edgar Allan Poe-inspired, and his stories will creep you out. He gave me nightmares as a kid; hopefully I'll be able to pass some of that on to you. :-)

Speaking of Edgar Allan Poe, I'm narrating and producing a six-volume audiobook series of his stuff called "Into that Darkness Peering: Nightmarish Tales of the Macabre", got two volumes published as of now. Check out the link in the lower right hand column to "AudioBookCase Publisher's Blog" for all the info. Volume one has been getting good reviews. I won't go into all the details here, but I will say that SFFaudio just informed me that they're tagging it as an "SFFaudio Essential." (They gave me one for the Lovecraft, too!; Thanks Jesse!) Check out SFFaudio at http://www.sffaudio.com/

Also in the horror audiobook category, I've just finished a production of Jack Ketchum's "Hide and Seek", that's on the shelves now and I'll have some download information for you soon in case you prefer that format over CD. Lot's of other stuff happenin', I'll save that for another time. Hope you like the audiobooks, shoot me an email and let me know.

Seacrest Out ;-)

Where've I been all these years?

2008-04-19T17:34:00.002-04:00

I started as a musician, playing drums and singing in bands when I was kid. Never looked back. Freelancing in rock bands at first, then as opportunities arose or circumstance demanded, gradually became fluent in the musical "languages" of Blues, Soul, Rhythm & Blues, eventually picking up Swing, and Jazz.

Fast forward to the present and 30-something years later I'm still playing, still freelance. (So if you need a drummer and/or singer, you know who to call!) I've played covers of every ilk and played in original bands and general business bands for private events, I think I can safely say I've played in every type venue you can envision.

I toured and recorded for several years with one of my childhood heroes, Johnny Winter; that was a blast. We did several European tours during my tenure, as well as playing every state in the Union, and I'm fond of saying "I've seen the world... didn't really care for it." (An attempt at dry humor). We played everything from medium-sized clubs to huge concert stages and I had the privilege of recording with the Man on his Grammy nominated album "I'm a Bluesman" on the Virgin label.

In around 1998 I started to develop an interest in voiceover, and started an internet-based audio production and voiceover-narration business, which I'm happy to say is thriving and which you can learn more about if you're interested by visiting my website at www.WayneJune.com.

Having been an audiobook fan and an avid reader all my life, it was a natural development of interests, opportunity and circumstance that led to the latest branch of my business activities, which includes audiobook production and narration for independent publishers and authors, as well as an entrance into audiobook publishing with the recent birth of AudioBookCase. You can investigate that venture here: www.AudioBookCase.com.

So that's the thumbnail sketch of Wayne June. Mercifully, I'm tired of talking about it for now, so I'm going to go find something else to do. ;-)

~ Wayne

According to me...

2008-04-18T10:34:00.004-04:00

This is my initial post, just introducing myself to anyone who has wandered by. I'd like to be able to justify adopting the old "Outer Limits" voiceover intro: "You are about to participate in a great adventure..." But, that probably isn't true. I'll be chronicling what I've done, what I'm doing, what I intend to do, and more or less thinking out loud, sharing things I've found interesting and commenting on whatever I think worthy of comment... and hopefully keeping my foot out of my mouth. We'll see.

~ Wayne