11 Questions With Louisa Gummer, Audiobook Narrator for A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Scott D. Southard

This is going to be fun.

See, I wanted to interview the audiobook narrator for A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM, but a old print interview felt so… normal. Nah, this a professional narrator, she is the voice of Jane Austen in the book! Let’s do this with the magic of audio! Louisa Gummer, our fearless narrator, happily agreed and after sending her 11 questions I received the following files which you can stream below.

If you visit England, it is a difficult task to avoid the voice of Louisa Gummer. She does voiceover work for commercials to the BBC. She is everywhere! She is also a comedian performing on the London Comedy Circuit and is a member of the London Liars League. You can learn more about her work and expansive resume via her site (here).

I think Louisa did an amazing job capturing the energy and spirit of the novel. It truly was a treat for me to listen to her performance, and I think you will see why in the interview below. Enjoy!

1. I was thrilled when I heard you were doing the audiobook. When did you start doing narrations? How did you fall into this gig?

2. What has been your favorite book to work on?

3. Do you have any dream books or authors you would like to read?

4. What is the biggest challenge in taking on a book?

5. What made you decide to work on A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM? What was the process like?

Continue reading →

Visiting Austen: Introducing My New Novel A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Scott D. Southard

A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM is published by Madison Street Publishing and can be purchased in print and as an eBook for only $3.99 via amazon.com here.

I went to England to find Jane Austen.

To be honest, I also went to find Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, George Elliot, John Keats, William Shakespeare (or whoever wrote his plays), J.R.R. Tolkien, and Winnie-the-Pooh.

(Winnie-the-Pooh? Yeah, with some research, I figured out where the real 100-Acre Woods is located and spent a day wandering the fields, visiting Roo’s Sandy Place, sitting at the Enchanted Place, finding the north pole, playing poohstick on the actual poohstick bridge. As a kid who has fond memories growing up with A.A. Milne’s classic books, I was in children literature heaven. It is a magical and natural place, please don’t tell Disney!)

That was me at age 23, Scott the explorer, the new college grad, future “bestselling” author (in my mind), chasing down the legends, my heroes. I’m not sure what lofty goals I had, per se, in making the six-week solo trip to England. I mean, I wasn’t expecting any “haunting” encounters or secret treasures to discover, but it was a voyage I needed to take. I needed to escape the confines of my small West Michigan world, and chase down the locations that made my heroes… well… heroes. Continue reading →

An Interview for A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM by The Jane Austen Centre!

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Scott D. Southard

I’m incredibly honored to have an interview for A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM (my new novel coming this April from Madison Street Pubilshing) in the Jane Austen Centre online magazine! (You can’t see me right now, but I am doing quite the happy dance.)

In the interview, I share some of my thoughts on Jane, the book’s influences, and how I found Jane. But that’s not all! There is an excerpt from the book included as well as the very first glimpse of the new cover of the book!

You can read the interview (and see the cover) here: http://www.janeausten.co.uk/an-interview-sd-southard-author-a-jane-austen-daydream/

A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM will be available in eBook and print in April.

Stay tuned for more information!

“Definitely a classic read with a humourous touch, well done!”

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Scott D. Southard

An interesting new review for A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM has appeared on The Jane Austen Centre.

In many ways it is “real-time” review (here) as a very well-read Austenite goes through the book almost chapter by chapter (she even calls me cheeky!). A lot of the clash of history versus fiction in the book is discussed and for her as an Austenite it was a little distracting seeing the very intentional differences (which to me is understandable, since I’m dipping into new fictional territory here, re-imagining a life as something very new), but the end says it is a “a classic read with a humourous touch, well done!”

Please be aware! There are a A LOT OF SPOILERS in the review, including the big twist in the book.

–So read this at your own warning!–

You can learn more about the book, read interviews and excerpts, and find links where to get it via the A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM page here.