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0:49

Welcome to Behind the Mic with Audio

0:51

File Magazine. I'm Jo Reed,

0:53

Alex Richie is with me, she's here

0:55

for the whole week, Hello, Alex. Hello.

0:59

So we're talking about audiobooks,

1:01

obviously. And what book do

1:03

you want to start your week off

1:05

with? I would like to start with

1:07

The River Has Roots by Amal El

1:09

-Motar, read by Gem Carmella. This

1:11

is an audiobook novella. And

1:14

she's a Hugo Award winner, correct? To

1:16

co -author of This Is How You Lose

1:18

the Time War. Yes,

1:20

yes, she wrote that with Max Gladstone. That

1:22

was one I was desperate to read

1:24

a while ago. I haven't gotten to it

1:27

yet, but all of my librarian friends

1:29

swear by that one. And

1:31

this is her first solo

1:33

outing? Yes, and it

1:35

seems like we can expect more to come

1:37

because this one also featured a sneak preview

1:39

of a short story that's going to come

1:41

out in a collection that she intends to

1:43

publish eventually that I am holding my breath

1:45

to listen to when it comes out. Okay,

1:48

so so tell me about the river

1:51

has roots. Sure. So this

1:53

is an audiobook about two

1:55

sisters that sing to the

1:57

enchanted willow trees in their

1:59

forest. The willow

2:01

trees conjugate magic, which is

2:03

called grammar, that travels down

2:05

the magical river that comes from

2:07

Arcadia. And the older

2:09

sister Esther is pursued by a

2:11

very greedy man. He wants to marry

2:13

her, but he's really more interested in her

2:15

land and the magic that it contains. But

2:18

Esther's more interested in the

2:20

shape -shifting Arcadian Rin. And

2:23

the man is very upset by this, as you

2:25

can imagine. And he forcibly separates

2:27

the sisters on opposite sides of

2:29

the river, but nothing can stop the

2:31

bond between these two. And

2:34

probably the best part about

2:36

this audiobook is that

2:38

it features music made by the

2:40

author and her sister. You

2:42

also get singing by the author and

2:44

her sister and also by the narrator,

2:46

Gem Carmella. You get a lot

2:48

of sound effects like rain, the rushing

2:50

river, nature noises. This

2:53

is definitely one where

2:55

the audiobook elevates the

2:57

novel to a whole new level. So

3:00

it sounds like a fairy tale. It's

3:03

a lot like a fairy tale meets a

3:05

murder ballad. Oh, okay.

3:09

Then tell me about Gem Carmella, who's

3:11

the narrator. Gem Carmella has

3:13

this great wondrous approach to

3:15

the audio book, kind of like

3:17

just this world full of

3:19

magic. And I really, really enjoyed

3:21

that about her performance, but she's also

3:23

just a really fantastic singer. Well,

3:26

why don't we hear a little? Will we have singing

3:28

in this too? We will

3:30

get... Some sound effects

3:32

and some singing by the author in

3:34

the background of this clip. So this

3:36

clip is Esther singing to the

3:39

Willows right before she meets the Arcadian

3:41

Rin for the first time. Okay.

3:44

This is an excerpt from The River Has

3:46

Roots. It's by Amal

3:48

El -Matar and read by Gem

3:50

Carmella. It

3:53

was so loud and dreadful

3:55

that Esther began singing to

3:57

drown it out. The

3:59

false night on the road. A

4:02

riddle song with a

4:04

tune somewhere between jaunty

4:06

and mournful, Just as

4:08

she liked them. By

4:11

the end of the first verse, the

4:13

hail melted to heavy rain. By

4:16

the end of the second verse,

4:18

the rain began to taper off. By

4:21

the end of the third

4:23

verse, the storm fell away

4:25

like an unclassed cloak. And

4:27

late afternoon light glistened

4:29

on the wet granite like

4:31

grammar. She

4:34

finished the song. It

4:37

always felt wrong to begin a song

4:39

without ending it and stepped

4:41

out from beneath the shelter. Oh,

4:46

this is both enchanting

4:48

and immersive. Absolutely.

4:51

I really liked that about it. It's

4:53

like it really is meant to be heard. Yes,

4:56

yes, you really need to be listening

4:58

to this one. I love her voice.

5:00

I wish we could have a clip

5:02

with her singing as well, because her

5:04

singing voice is just as beautiful as

5:07

her narrating voice. So this is something

5:09

that... just kind of will sweep you

5:11

along. Is it good for younger listeners

5:13

too? I don't mean little kids, but

5:15

like, you know, young adults. I think

5:17

that the narration is approached a lot

5:19

like how children's fantasy is with that

5:21

tone of wonder. I do think that

5:23

children are capable of listening and enjoying.

5:25

I think that young people would

5:28

probably find the narration style

5:30

really approachable because it's similar to

5:32

how middle grade fantasy books

5:34

are approached by their narrators. Okay.

5:37

That was The River Has Roots

5:39

by Amal El -Matar, read

5:41

by Gem Carmella. That

5:43

is a great way to start your week, I

5:45

think. Absolutely. It did win an Earphones Award,

5:47

so I hope it gets a lot more listeners.

5:50

Oh, I'm definitely on it, and

5:52

it's short. Yeah, I listened to

5:54

it twice. I had such a good time with

5:56

this audiobook. Okay, this sounds

5:58

great. I'm taking a cartridge this

6:00

week. I am definitely...

6:03

Putting that on my playlist. Thank

6:05

you so much for this suggestion.

6:07

Absolutely. I'm happy to help. Support

6:09

for Behind the Mic comes from

6:11

Dreamscape, an award -winning audiobook

6:13

publisher with a catalog that

6:15

includes authors Viet Tong

6:18

Nguyen, Frida McFadden, and

6:20

Katie Robert. Discover your

6:22

next great listen

6:24

at DreamscapePublishing .com. If you

6:26

like behind the mic, leave us a rating

6:28

and don't forget to follow us on the

6:30

platform of your choice. I'm Joe

6:32

Reed, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Hey

6:38

everyone, it's Danielle from National Park

6:40

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