Free Audiobooks!

Got your attention?

LibriVox is a wondrously ingenious website. Basically, there are many books (mostly those published in 1920 and earlier) which are currently in the free domain, and which are therefore available online in places like Project Gutenberg for free. The folks who started LibriVox went one step further: Using volunteer readers, they have created and posted online for free listening and download a multitude of free domain audiobooks! Of course, this means that modern books covered by copyright are not included. But to a reader of my tastes, this does not matter. The variety is excellent, as since this is a database of basically fans reading books they like, there's many more obscure titles in audiobook form: Eddison, Dunsany, Chesterton, MacDonald, Morris, and other authors are represented, as are bigger names like Dickens, Melville, and Verne. I've even found a reading of 'The Song of Roland'!

The readers are all volunteers, but those I have listened to so far seem to read pretty well. I'm currently listening to The Worm Ouroboros, and the reader has a slight accent, perhaps Scottish, that I'm enjoying. It's not a professional reading, but it is certainly well done and makes for enjoyable listening. The audio is clear and of excellent quality. What really delights me about this website, though, is that it is for readers like me: Bookworms who have a penchant for obscure old books which normally would never be made into audiobooks. I mean, 'The Day Boy and The Night Girl' audiobook?? Whee!

So what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

*IMPORTANT* Writing Blog NOW Open *IMPORTANT*

Basically, what the title says. After airing the idea with various friends (all of whom were gratifyingly enthusiastic--thanks for the support, girls!) I've decided to go ahead with my perhaps-crazy scheme and open a new blog. This will be a PRIVATE, LOCKED blog, available to view and comment on only to co-authors. This is to ensure that the blog will be a safe, secure, and comfortable place for us to post our bits of writing for writers we know and trust to comment on.

As a result, if you want in on this blog, I will need your email address. I entirely respect other people's privacy, as well as safety concerns on the web, so if you do not feel comfortable with sending me your email address, then I respect that, but unfortunately I do not think the blog will be accessible to you. If you do send me your email address, I will use it to send you an invite to be a collaborator on the blog, and then will promptly erase it from my address book, unless you give instructions to the contrary. Fear no spam from me! If you do decide that you want to send me your email so that I can invite you to join the writers blog, here's my address: cpsk@hawaii.edu. Just put 'The Radish Room' as your subject line and make sure you mention who you are in your email, so I know who I'm inviting ^_^

I'm really excited about this new blog and the opportunity it is for us to cooperate, work, and grow together as writers. It's currently called 'The Radish Room', as a little nod to the Inklings' 'Rabbit Room' at the Eagle and Child pub, and the web address is http://www.theroomwithnoview.blogspot.com. You will not, however, be able to view the site until you accept an invite.

I hope to see you all there soon!

Lo and Behold . . .

. . . I've finally finished with a long-overdue blog revamping! Whee! 

Guide to the new look:

Header: A photograph I took in Tennessee . . . I love this gate ^_^

And the quote is from J.R.R. Tolkien's marvelous poem 'Mythopoeia', where I got my screen name from (No, my name is not really Mythopoeia. Sadly. And I'm not really a fae, either . . . though I also took the picture of the statue that I use as my profile pic.)

Sidebar:

1. In addition to my 'Book of the Month' shelf, I've added a little archive list which will show the titles that were featured in past months (the past three months, to be precise).

2. Yes, I have added a few quotations! It's a bit funny, really, that it took me so long, considering how quote-centric I am . . . 

3. Instead of scattering my book reviews helter-skelter, I have decided to assign a certain day towards the end of each month on which I shall post summaries and reviews for all the books I read that month. The 'Books to be Reviewed' section gives you heads-up on what books I will be talking about (that is, books I have already finished), and I've also added a 'Books I am Currently Reading' section as a taste and forewarning of what is to come. As I finish books here, I will transfer their titles to the 'To be Reviewed' section.

4. A few banners to sites for fan films I am anticipating have also been added, check them out!

5. I found a virtual fish pond, which I thought rather cute . . . you click on the water and feed the fish . . . it's a nice stress-reliever, something I tend to need a lot. And it's decorative. But I haven't fallen so far that I've started naming the virtual fishes . . . not yet, anyway ;)

6. A bit of blurb for Linden and my Facebook group. 

7. Blogs worth checking out and websites worth checking out are now listed also.

8. Aaaaand, as before, I have a music player at the very bottom of the page.

I am also quite pleased with the new background, so this will probably be the look of the blog for quite some time to come. Any comments or observations or critiques or suggestions are welcome! 

ALSO

I will be posting at greater detail about an idea I've had for starting up a private, co-owned blog for all us writers to gather at and share our writings on in security, something like an online version of the Bird and the Baby for our Inkling-esque storytelling. Let me know if you're interested! I will be posting soon with more details and such, so more information will be forthcoming, but I figured I'd just throw the idea out there already, for you to ruminate on until I can whip up a proper post.

Explore and enjoy, peeps!