Doppelgänger by Sean Munger released on Audio Realms! It should be up at Audible in the next few days as well.
It’s a Victorian horror story about a newlywed named Anine Atherton who moves from Sweden to her lavish new home in New York. But from her first terrifying impression of the house, Anine is haunted by strange events and an angry entity that uses the guilty thoughts and memories of others to get exactly what is wants. (see a longer synopsis below)
I enjoyed narrating this book. Sean Munger has an intelligence to his writing that kept me on my toes. While prepping the material I ran across what I thought were Ingrid Bergman references so I let her inspire the lighter accent for the main character, Anine Atherton. I revisited the movies Gaslight, Spellbound, and Notorious over the course of the book. The other characters were strongly written as well and so their inflections came easily, which is great because narrators typically get about a day with a book before it is time to move forward and record. The most challenging scene involved a seance. Dr Dorr, a professor and medium, who himself spoke with a strange high-pitched voice that was both squeaky and sing-songy, channeled the doppelgänger who spoke through him with much exertion and with the tinny voice of a trumpet. I remember narrating these descriptions and thinking, “Oh boy, how am I going to do this?” and “Stay calm but get ready to back up from the mic and give it your best high-pitchedsqueakysingymalechannelingevilentity.” Ha! Oh, and remember not to turn into a cartoon or a close-up. Good times.
I put a lot of effort into my audiobooks and love getting feedback from authors. So it was a treat that Sean Munger had some really nice things to say. Thanks, Sean!
“Audio Realms chose veteran voice talent Lesley Ann Fogle to do the narration, and it was absolutely the right choice. (Here’s Lesley’s website). Her sonorous voice totally draws you into the story and she made it sound so new and surprising that I forgot I had written the words she was reading. Ms. Fogle did an especially good job with the voices of the various characters. They really come to life in an amazing way. Anine Atherton, the novel’s heroine, is Swedish, and in addition to her quotations there are a lot of Swedish words and expressions in the narrative, and Lesley handled them perfectly. Her characterization of Miss Wicks, an important supporting character in the book, was so absolutely perfect that she sounded exactly like I imagined the character would sound. I also loved her characterization of Julian, the novel’s chief villain. Overall it was like hearing a radio play–much more than just dull droning narration!”
Read more here.
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Synopsis:
Transplanted from her native Sweden to the drawing rooms and gas-lit parlors of Gilded Age New York, Anine Atherton will want for nothing in the lavish row house her rich new husband bought for her. But Anine’s house doesn’t seem to like people. The caretaker hangs himself in the entryway. The maid drops dead her first day on the job. Anine herself is becoming anxious and terrified, and not just because of the ghostly laughter she hears in the middle of the night. Her gentle, charming husband is slowly turning into a domineering brute. And whatever shadowy entity lives in her house, it can read Anine’s mind and use her darkest secrets against her. The last woman to live in the house went insane. Will Anine be next in line?
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