#AudioTour “Search for the Holy Grail: A Thrilling Caribbean Sea Chase” by MJL Evans & GM O’Connor

August 24, 2022August 24, 2022 ~ Felicia Denise ~ Leave a comment

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Authors: MJL Evans; GM O’Connor

Narrator: Anne Marie Lewis

Length: 19 hours 20 minutes

Series: Volumes 1-3 (Box Set)

Producer: Audiobook Empire

Publisher: Megan JL Evans

Released: July 18, 2022

Genre: Mystery; Historical Thriller

Every pirate in the Caribbean is searching for The Holy Grail—a ship carrying the treasury of Hanover and the countess Aurora of Calenberg, suspected of orchestrating the theft. Prinz Maximilian will stop at nothing to catch her and regain the fortune, even if it means following her into the deepest, darkest recesses of Samaná Bay. With pirates and cutthroats at every turn, will she be reunited with her handmaiden, Helena and her portrait painter, Dodo? Aurora’s only solace is in a bottle of Cognac with a chaser of coca-leaf powder in this vibrant, fast-paced chase through the Caribbean.

MJL EVANS wanted to be a writer since she was ten years old and in 2014 she finally got her act together and pursued her dream. She is the co-author of No Quarter: Dominium, No Quarter: Wenches, and Search for the Holy Grail. A huge fan of Monty Python, Red Dwarf, and other BBC shows, her time is devoted to acrylic painting, photography, catering to her senior cat and of course, writing.

GM O’CONNOR is a visual artist, illustrator and writer who dabbles in guitars, acting, and sometimes wildlife rescue. A movie encyclopedia, he’s a fan of sci-fi and history. He is the co-author of No Quarter: Dominium, No Quarter: Wenches, and Search for the Holy Grail. He hopes to one day bring the No Quarter Series to film and/or graphic novel format.

Pittsburgh native Anne Marie Lewis has enjoyed a richly varied and long career in the performing arts. She has performed across the globe from Carnegie Hall to Boise to Little Rock to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as well as in Canada, England and Scotland. With the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s final novel, she performs Persuasion: A Musical Adaptation at Jane Austen festivals on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and in Bath, England in 2018. Chicago area credits: Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (Emma), Music Theater Works (Peter Pan, My Fair Lady, One Night in Venice, The Red Mill) Remy Bumppo Theatre Company (Northanger Abbey, The Skin of Our Teeth), Northbrook Theatre (Fancy Nancy, Elephant and Piggie: We are in a Play), Oil Lamp Theater (Love, Loss, and What I Wore), Refuge Theatre Project (bare), Lifeline Theatre (Midnight Cowboy), Chamber Opera Chicago (Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, The Sound of Music, Hansel and Gretel), Spartan Theatre (Jake’s Women), Jedlicka Performing Arts Center (Moon over Buffalo), Metropolis Performing Arts Center (The Diary of Anne Frank), Fury Theatre (The Merry Wives of Windsor), Provision Theater (Christmas on the Air), 16th Street Theatre (Graveyard of Empires), Chicago Opera Theatre (Shining Brow, Don Giovanni), and Idle Muse Theatre Company (The Scullery Maid). Regional credits include Lyric Opera Cleveland (Little Women), Pine Mountain Music Festival (Le nozze di Figaro), Muddy River Opera (Die Fledermaus), Quad Cities Opera (La bohème), as well as numerous appearances with regional symphony orchestras. International credits: Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Buxton Fringe Festival, Camden Fringe Festival and Jane Austen 200 in Winchester, UK. She is also a sought-after audiobook narrator, a genre she loves dearly as she gets to be producer, director, technical crew and all the characters! Anne Marie is a proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University and an even prouder mother to her four young men.

At Audiobook Empire, audio reigns supreme, narrators are hailed as heroes, and headphones are worn with pride.

Marrying pomp and circumstance with quality you can count on, Audiobook Empire is a full-service production house that produces and promotes audiobooks with gusto.

Give your audiobook the imperial treatment by producing it with Audiobook Empire.

#AudioTour “To Never Hear the Song (The Wing Cycle, Book 2)” by E.G. Stone

March 20, 2022March 8, 2022 ~ Felicia Denise ~ 1 Comment

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Author: E.G. Stone

Narrator: Anne Marie Lewis

Length: 11 hours 31 minutes

Series: The Wing Cycle, Book 2

Released: Feb 4, 2022

Producer: Audiobook Empire

Publisher: Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours

Genre: Fantasy

War is inevitable. But who will win and who will fall depends on what happens next…

Ravenna has returned to her people in order to save them from Davorin’s impending attack. But what she did not understand is that training a society of peaceful sylphs into the warrior Stormbringers from their distant past will ask more of her than she knew. She must make amends with her sister, the new Chosen Queen. She must play games of politics and tactics. And she must prove her worth to a people that never wanted her.

Miska set out to find Ravenna and beg her to help him save his people from Davorin. Instead, he ended up in the Iron Mountains facing a legend even older than the sylphs: a dragon. But when the dragon’s only offer of assistance is to help Miska train, he must learn to master himself in an unfamiliar place before he can help his people. The only problem is, the dragon is not the only legend hiding in the mountains.

Lenore has promised to wed Davorin in order to spare her people. Trapped and useless in her own Red Palace, she must discover precisely how far she’ll go to uphold a promise. And, who among her people she can truly trust.

To Never Hear the Song is the continuation of The Wing Cycle, an epic fantasy that asks whether who we are determines our struggles, or if the struggles determine who we are.

E.G. Stone is an independent author who has been writing, creating and causing vast amounts of trouble since the age of six. Since then, E.G. has improved rather a lot in both the trouble-causing and writing and now spends her time writing fantasy and science fiction. When not writing, she is off musing about the workings of languages, both real and created, or drawing and sewing. E.G. reads voraciously, perhaps to the point of slight-insanity. Weird, nerdy, perhaps a little crazy, she is having a grand old time writing, reading, reviewing, interviewing, and, naturally, continuing her endeavours in causing trouble.

Happy reading… and writing.

Pittsburgh native Anne Marie Lewis has enjoyed a richly varied and long career in the performing arts. She has performed across the globe from Carnegie Hall to Boise to Little Rock to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as well as in Canada, England and Scotland. With the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s final novel, she performs Persuasion: A Musical Adaptation at Jane Austen festivals on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and in Bath, England in 2018. Chicago area credits: Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (Emma), Music Theater Works (Peter Pan, My Fair Lady, One Night in Venice, The Red Mill) Remy Bumppo Theatre Company (Northanger Abbey, The Skin of Our Teeth), Northbrook Theatre (Fancy Nancy, Elephant and Piggie: We are in a Play), Oil Lamp Theater (Love, Loss, and What I Wore), Refuge Theatre Project (bare), Lifeline Theatre (Midnight Cowboy), Chamber Opera Chicago (Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, The Sound of Music, Hansel and Gretel), Spartan Theatre (Jake’s Women), Jedlicka Performing Arts Center (Moon over Buffalo), Metropolis Performing Arts Center (The Diary of Anne Frank), Fury Theatre (The Merry Wives of Windsor), Provision Theater (Christmas on the Air), 16th Street Theatre (Graveyard of Empires), Chicago Opera Theatre (Shining Brow, Don Giovanni), and Idle Muse Theatre Company (The Scullery Maid). Regional credits include Lyric Opera Cleveland (Little Women), Pine Mountain Music Festival (Le nozze di Figaro), Muddy River Opera (Die Fledermaus), Quad Cities Opera (La bohème), as well as numerous appearances with regional symphony orchestras. International credits: Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Buxton Fringe Festival, Camden Fringe Festival and Jane Austen 200 in Winchester, UK. She is also a sought-after audiobook narrator, a genre she loves dearly as she gets to be producer, director, technical crew and all the characters! Anne Marie is a proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University and an even prouder mother to her four young men.

At Audiobook Empire, audio reigns supreme, narrators are hailed as heroes, and headphones are worn with pride.

Marrying pomp and circumstance with quality you can count on, Audiobook Empire is a full-service production house that produces and promotes audiobooks with gusto.

Give your audiobook the imperial treatment by producing it with Audiobook Empire.

Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Instagram

Q&A with Narrator Anne Marie Lewis

When did you know you wanted to be an audiobook narrator?
- I am a long-time stage performer in opera, musical theatre and “straight” theatre. After I listening to many hours of audiobooks, I started researching the narrators and realized they were (for the most part) all actors and I just knew I had found my new vocation!
What type of training have you undergone?
- I am currently taking a non-fiction narration and business of narration course taught by the great Sean Pratt, who has over 1,000 audiobooks (mostly non-fiction) to his credit. I have also coached with quite a few other narrators – Andi Arndt, Vikas Adam, Hillary Huber, Helen Lloyd. I also think my undergraduate degree in the Great Books and exposure to a lot of the greatest literature, philosophical and scientific writings and having to analyze these great texts prepared me for audiobook narration. There’a a lot of prep involved before I walk into the recording booth and being able to suss out an author’s tone and intent is key to being a great narrator.
What about this title compelled you to audition as narrator?
- I was drawn to E. G.’s series for two reasons: it is so beautifully written and it features differently-abled main characters. There are often characters with disabilities but they are rarely the main character. I live with an adult brother who has Down syndrome. He is definitely a main character in my life! We need more of these characters in our books.
Who are your “accent inspirations”?
- Here’s a wonderful thing about fantasy with no official tie to place: you can make up your own accents! E. G. is a linguist herself and has great facility with the International Phonetic Alphabet – a naerdy narrator’s dream come true. We came to an understanding early on that different worlds/nations needed different accents. The humans in the Wing Cycle basically have a North American sound, the Sylphs have more Mediterranean sounds and the mountain people have a more Germanic sound. But because they really aren’t specifically Italian or German or whatever, I can play a bit with these accents.
If so, which ones stand out to you most, positive or negative?
- The best I’ve received was negative review: “I need ibuprofen after this book…..I really liked the storyline and thought it was written fairly well. However, the narrator’s voice ground on my nerves to the point I just had to stop listening. After several attempts at trying to re-listen to the book, I finally gave up. My head hurt too badly listening to her voice!” I hope that listener found that ibuprofen!
What type of the review comments do you find most constructive?
- That previous one was definitely not constructive. Review comments are most constructive when you find a common thread running through them. If more than one listener mentions slow pace, breathiness, pronunciation problems, for example, then it’s time to sit up and take notice.
Who is your “dream author” that you would like to record for?
- This is a tough one. There are so many! I love Neil Gaiman, Maggie O’Farrell, Jane Austen, Willa Cather, William Faulkner, Homer (the first audiobook, BTW!) – in fact there are a lot of classics I’d love to wrap my voice around.
If you could narrate one book from your youth what would it be and why?
- I couldn’t pick one. There are at least 4 series that got my imagination going and had me creating these wonderful worlds inside my head: Little House, Chronicles of Narnia, Nancy Drew, and The Boxcar Children. I’ve read a lot of these to my own children! I remember my brothers and I reenacting the Boxcar Children, setting up our own “boxcar” on our front step in Alexandria, VA, trying to “survive” on our own without adults.
What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as “cheating” or as inferior to “real reading”?
- I referred to this before when I mentioned Homer: the first “books” were passed on through oral tradition. They were actually audiobooks! There’s great discipline that comes from being a good listener – I feel modern society lacks that discipline – and to have the patience and concentration to allow a story or treatise or memoire to unfold slowly and deliberately over time through an audiobook. Hearing an author’s words free from the constraints of the printed page teaches us the musicality and rhythm and pulse of our spoken language. If that’s cheating, then I’m undeniably guilty as charged.

View the full tour schedule here!

Plugging you into the audio community since 2016.

#AudioTour “The One Who Could Not Fly (The Wing Cycle, Book 1)” by E.G. Stone

March 13, 2022March 8, 2022 ~ Felicia Denise ~ Leave a comment

audiobook cover

Author: E.G. Stone

Narrator: Anne Marie Lewis

Length: 11 hours 19 minutes

Series: The Wing Cycle, Book 1

Released: Aug. 24, 2021

Producer: Audiobook Empire

Publisher: Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours

Genre: Fantasy

For generations, sylphs have lived isolated on the island of Shinalea, forgotten by the world. But they, too, have forgotten their past. Until it rears its head and changes the very foundations of their world….

Ravenna has grown up isolated and ostracised amongst the sylphs for her small wing size and her unusual colouring. She lives with the Intellecti, a collection of sylphs dedicated to learning, to facts, to history, to thought. But she feels most free when she runs through the trees of her beloved home. Until, that is, she comes across beings that should have been myth. Humans.

Captured, Ravenna is taken from her home and into the vastness of the desert mainland. She is sold into slavery and thrown into a world that proves everything she knew about the humans right: They are nothing more than the cruel, bloodthirsty beings that filled sylph myths with horror. Until, that is, Ravenna makes a single mistake. She falls.

Suddenly, the world is not quite what she knew. Ravenna is thrust into this world of humans and their schemings for power, their political machinations, their hopes, their dreams.

Ravenna must decide whether humans are the nightmares of her people’s legends or just beings like her, finding their place in an unexpected world. And she must decide whether to save her world, or to destroy it.

The One Who Could Not Fly is an exciting fantasy adventure that asks questions of family, of independence, and of what it really means to fly.

Happy reading… and writing.

Pittsburgh native Anne Marie Lewis has enjoyed a richly varied and long career in the performing arts. She has performed across the globe from Carnegie Hall to Boise to Little Rock to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as well as in Canada, England and Scotland. With the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s final novel, she performs Persuasion: A Musical Adaptation at Jane Austen festivals on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and in Bath, England in 2018. Chicago area credits: Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (Emma), Music Theater Works (Peter Pan, My Fair Lady, One Night in Venice, The Red Mill) Remy Bumppo Theatre Company (Northanger Abbey, The Skin of Our Teeth), Northbrook Theatre (Fancy Nancy, Elephant and Piggie: We are in a Play), Oil Lamp Theater (Love, Loss, and What I Wore), Refuge Theatre Project (bare), Lifeline Theatre (Midnight Cowboy), Chamber Opera Chicago (Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, The Sound of Music, Hansel and Gretel), Spartan Theatre (Jake’s Women), Jedlicka Performing Arts Center (Moon over Buffalo), Metropolis Performing Arts Center (The Diary of Anne Frank), Fury Theatre (The Merry Wives of Windsor), Provision Theater (Christmas on the Air), 16th Street Theatre (Graveyard of Empires), Chicago Opera Theatre (Shining Brow, Don Giovanni), and Idle Muse Theatre Company (The Scullery Maid). Regional credits include Lyric Opera Cleveland (Little Women), Pine Mountain Music Festival (Le nozze di Figaro), Muddy River Opera (Die Fledermaus), Quad Cities Opera (La bohème), as well as numerous appearances with regional symphony orchestras. International credits: Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Buxton Fringe Festival, Camden Fringe Festival and Jane Austen 200 in Winchester, UK. She is also a sought-after audiobook narrator, a genre she loves dearly as she gets to be producer, director, technical crew and all the characters! Anne Marie is a proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University and an even prouder mother to her four young men.

At Audiobook Empire, audio reigns supreme, narrators are hailed as heroes, and headphones are worn with pride.

Marrying pomp and circumstance with quality you can count on, Audiobook Empire is a full-service production house that produces and promotes audiobooks with gusto.

Give your audiobook the imperial treatment by producing it with Audiobook Empire.

Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Instagram

Q&A with Author E.G. Stone

Tell us about the process of turning your book into an audiobook.
- I initially put out a question on how to find narrators in the 20Booksto50K Facebook group, and ended up getting introduced to Anne Marie Lewis through there. I also went through the audition process through Audible for book 1 of The Wing Cycle, but Anne Marie was still the best I had found. Once that was decided, I hired her, gave her a pronunciation guide, and then let her do all the hard work! She’s truly wonderful to work with and has made this process so much easier. Also, a fantastic narrator!
Do you believe certain types of writing translate better into audiobook format?
- I think any book can be turned into an audiobook, simply because there’s no reason why words cannot be spoken rather than written. Personally, I get second-hand character embarrassment, so I can’t listen to things like romance novels or stories where the characters end up in situations that are thoroughly unfortunate, because I get a little too invested in the situation. That’s just me, though, and I know that many people love such things!
Was a possible audiobook recording something you were conscious of while writing?
- Oh, golly, no. I have enough character voices running through my head that even thinking of translating them into audiobook wasn’t something I considered until after the fact. I’m pleased that I went with the audiobook creation, because it adds such dimension and depth to the book, but thinking about it from the beginning? I’m not quite that clever!
How did you select your narrator?
- Magic. Sheer luck. Mostly, I asked other people and got introduced that way. 🙂
Did you give them any pronunciation tips or special insight into the characters?
- I let Anne Marie do all the hard work once we had sorted out pronunciations. I was happy to listen to the 15 min check point that she sent in and give her the go ahead for character voices and style, but otherwise, I just waited until she sent the final product and gave it a check over. I try to let the people who know what they’re doing do what they’re doing, because frankly, I’m not an audiobook narrator and have no idea of all the technical bits and bobs. Mostly, though, Anne Marie is just that good.
Were there any real life inspirations behind your writing?
- This is one of those questions that can be anything from, “Yes, absolutely,” to, “I have no idea, my brain is weird.” I tend to fall in the latter part of that spectrum. I assume that my subconscious pulls inspiration from things that I see or read or hear and then tosses it all together into a story that appears fully-fledged (or even half-fledged) in my brain sometime during my sleep or while I’m brushing my teeth. I wouldn’t know, however, since my subconscious doesn’t actually tell me these things.
How do you manage to avoid burn-out? What do you do to maintain your enthusiasm for writing?
- My enthusiasm for writing has never diminished since I started doing it as a child. Maintaining the momentum to actually keep writing is an entirely different matter. I write during the work week, sometimes working on only one story or two, depending on what my mood is like. Then, on the weekends, I do entirely different things like sewing or reading or melting my brain by way of television so that I get a mental reset and can start the week afresh. Of course, this only lasts so long under the stress that is being an adult in the world, so every six months or so, I take a bit of a vacation to do absolutely nothing at all. Once I’ve done that, I’m usually so eager to get back to writing that any thoughts of burnout are long behind me.
Are you an audiobook listener? What about the audiobook format appeals to you?
- I do listen to audiobooks! I’m not very fast, since there are many hours of audio to get through, and I only tend to do it while sewing or crafting, things that require my hands but not my entire concentration. I am a speed reader, so the deliberate pace of an audiobook is refreshing. It’s also nice to have someone tell me a story rather than relying on the voices in my head to give a story life.
Is there a particular part of this story that you feel is more resonating in the audiobook performance than in the book format?
- This story, or rather the entire Wing Cycle, is one that is decided between characters. Yes, there’s action. But most of the intrigue and the development happens when the characters get stuck in the same room and are forced to work out their differences. In this regard, it’s almost magical to hear them come to life under Anne Marie Lewis’ narration, because they have such tone and depth and emotion.
Do you have any tips for authors going through the process of turning their books into audiobooks?
- Trust the professionals. They’re good at their jobs.
What’s next for you?
- Many, many more stories to write! And, eventually, turn into audiobooks!

View the full tour schedule here!

Plugging you into the audio community since 2016.

#AudioTour “WinterDream” by Chantal Gadoury

February 20, 2020February 9, 2020 ~ Felicia Denise ~ 2 Comments

Author: Chantal Gadoury

Narrator: Anne Marie Lewis

Length: 10 hours 22 minutes

Publisher: The Parliament House

Released: Dec. 31, 2019

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

This Christmas Eve, no creature was stirring, except, maybe, a mouse. At long last, can true love break the Nutcracker’s curse?

For Clara Stahlbaum, this Christmas means the end of her youth. A daughter of the aristocracy, Clara is expected to give up her dreams of adventures and the extraordinary for more normal days as the wife of a cruel viscount.

But when magical Uncle Drosselmeyer returns with his wondrous, dancing contraptions and one special gift for Clara, she is beckoned to the land of Winter Dream, where she is thrust into the greatest adventure of her wildest dreams.

But will she be able to break the Nutcracker’s curse? Uncle Drosselmeyer’s apprentice Anton is handsome as he is mysterious. But what is it about him Clara finds so alluring?

Winter Dream is a phenomenal retelling of The Nutcracker from the eyes of Clara Stahlbaum with all the magic of the Holiday season. If you loved S. Jae-Jones’ Wintersong, you’ll fall in love with this stunning tale of love, war, redemption, and Christmas magic. Listen to it now!

Amazon Bestselling Author, Chantal Gadoury, is a 2011 graduate from Susquehanna University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing. Since graduation, she has published The Songs in Our Hearts, and The Songs We Remember, with 48Fourteen Publishing. Allerleirauh, Between the Sea and Stars, Blinding Night and WinterDream with the Parliament House Press. Chantal first started writing stories at the age of seven and continues with that love of writing today. For Chantal, writing novels has become a lifelong dream come true! When she’s not typing away at her next project, she enjoys painting, drinking lots of Iced Coffee, and watching Disney Classics. Chantal lives in Muncy, Pennsylvania with her Mom, sister and furry-‘brother’ Taran.

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Singer and actor Anne Marie Lewis has enjoyed a richly varied and long career in the performing arts. She has performed across the globe from Carnegie Hall to Boise to Little Rock to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as well as in Canada, England and Scotland. Chicago area credits: My Fair Lady, Peter Pan, Into the Woods (Music Theater Works); 1776 (Porchlight Music Theater); Midnight Cowboy (Lifeline Theatre); Northanger Abbey, The Skin of Our Teeth (Remy Bumppo); Love, Loss and What I Wore (Oil Lamp Theater); bare (RefugeTheatre Project); Graveyard of Empires (16th Street Theater); Jake’s Women (Spartan Theatre); The Scullery Maid (Idle Muse Theatre); Moon Over Buffalo (Jedlicka Performing Arts Center); The Diary of Anne Frank (Metropolis Performing Arts Center); The Merry Wives of Windsor (Fury Theatre); Fancy Nancy, Elephant and Piggie (Northbrook Theater); Little Red Riding Hood, Camp Wonderland (Theatre at the Center), Don Giovanni, Shining Brow (Chicago Opera Theatre); Pride and Prejudice, The Sound of Music, Hansel and Gretel, Persuasion, Cosi fan tutte (Chamber Opera Chicago); Gianni Schicchi (DuPage Opera); La boheme, Die Fledermaus, Don Pasquale, Don Giovanni, Carmen (Opera Studio Highland Park). Regional credits: Die Fledermaus, Le nozze di Figaro (Pine Mountain Music Festival), Little Women (Lyric Opera Cleveland), La boheme (Quad Cities Opera, Arkansas Symphony, Battle Creek Symphony); Mozart Requiem, Schubert Mass in G (Carnegie Hall). International credits: Persuasion (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Camden Fringe Festival, Buxton Fringe Festival, Victoria, BC). Anne Marie, a Pittsburgh native, is a proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University. She maintains a private voice studio and has recently entered the wonderful world of audiobook narration and production, with fifteen titles to her credit.

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Music playlist banner

Music is such an important piece of my writing. I’ve always been the sort of person who thrives off of the music they listen to, in any given situation. Road Trip? I have a playlist for that. A love letter? You betcha, I have a CD Mix I want you to listen to. Writing a novel, let me share with you my spotify playlist I’ve specifically designed for it!

And that goes with all of my novels, ranging from “Blinding Night,” [A Hades and Persephone Retelling] to “The Songs in Our Hearts,” [A Contemporary High School Romance.] “WinterDream” was no exception.

Take a listen to my “WinterDream” Playlist that I listened to as I wrote. This playlist is mostly all classical/score music – as I avoid listening to music with words when writing. When I write, scenes almost unfold in my mind like a movie; so added dialogue can at times, kill the situation.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/35a0v8HlO7CcAQFtmUiS5n?si=29HekjVgQ8CreZIuDmnAdw

Highlights:

Natasha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPxASavXz2o

I think of this almost like it’s “Clara’s song.” This is your introduction to who Clara is instrumentally.

Miniature Overture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us6YGiWbsbw

Of course, the traditional opening to “The Nutcracker.”

La Fayette’s Welcome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nVL7W5t2-c

The party at the Stahlbaum’s House

Selbourne Wood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TFLDc8yxSg

This always reminded me of the time of the Nutcracker and Clara wandering in the wintry woods.

The Dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY7GQydpjrE

The Ballroom scene when Clara and the Nutcracker dance together – however brief.

Pas de Deux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI7rod5ue5E

Again – the Ballroom scene, but with the music that truly inspired WinterDream

Burdens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtEmilzXSnM

This takes a different tone to the novel – when some unfortunate things happen to a few of our characters!

Statues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sjkQX09tXA

And the battle for WinterDream begins!

Dance of the Knights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBsKplb2E6Q

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King are fighting each other at the end – and who will win?

Final Waltz and Apotheosis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVwPLr5dRyE

Was it all a Dream?

I also have a playlist of more “Various Artists” that seemed to fit in with what “WinterDream” was to me. Take a listen! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0M4SwfHaWMTnc4Ew00ifCa?si=2hvsxo-8QN-UtylC6yTMpQ

Top 10 List

by Chantal Gadoury

When writing “WinterDream,” – a retelling of the Nutcracker, there were a lot of things that inspired me to create the world and the characters! I’ll give you a glimpse into what helped bring “WinterDream” to life!

The Nutcracker Ballet: Of course when writing about the Nutcracker, one would be inspired by the ballet, first commissioned in 1891. It’s been a part of our holiday traditions for decades, and it’s a story that many of us have heard, know, and love. Without the story of Clara (or Marie) and her Nutcracker, “WinterDream” never would have existed!
The Nutcracker Music: I remember as a little girl, I used to dance around my living room as I listened to “The Nutcracker” ballet. There was something always so whimsical and magical about the music, and the love for the classical score traveled with me as I grew older. The song that speaks to me the most, and what started the idea of “WinterDream” was actually: The Nutcracker, Op. 71, Act 2: No. 14 Pas de Deux. When you hear this song, you’re hearing the entire novel in about 5 minutes.
The Nutcracker in the Movies: I might be dating myself a little, but back in 1990 there was an Animated feature of this holiday tale, entitled – “The Nutcracker Prince.” As a child, I remember seeing it on the Disney channel, and I fell in love with the Prince, with Clara – and their magical dancing scene. It remained in my memory for years – and was one of the stemming pieces in which inspired “WinterDream,” – and all the characters, including Uncle Drosselmeyer and the Mouse King. In 1993, Warner Brothers released a version of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker,” famously starring Macaulay Culkin. (And I remember eating that movie up!) In doing my research for this book, I watched several versions of the ballet, and there are so many to choose from!
Christmas at home: You can’t have “The Nutcracker” without the magic of the holiday. It’s true that the Nutcracker is centered around the holiday of Christmas – because without “Christmas Magic,” the wooden toy wouldn’t come to life! I actually started writing “WinterDream” right in front of my Christmas tree. There’s just something about being at home, during Christmas, with a tree and lights and feeling the love. All of that and more helped to fuel what I imagined for Clara and her family during the opening scene at her family’s party!
Queen Victoria and Albert: It’s no secret I’m a sucker for romance. I’d just started watching “Queen Victoria” on the BBC, and really loved the romance between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (which also led me to watch “The Young Victoria” over and over again. As I watched, I wanted to sort of capture this royal romance in Clara and the Nutcracker. I’m not sure if I did that entirely, but – they did stand as an influence in the way I wrote the two characters together.
Beauty and the Beast: Every fairytale has some sort of twist to it, to make it all the more interesting. Cinderella has to leave the ball by midnight. Rapunzel must keep her Prince a secret from the witch. Snow White must be kissed by her True Love in order to awaken. For the Nutcracker, in “WinterDream,” I needed there to be a spell – something to free him from his wooden bonds, and to give Clara a reason to be sent to WinterDream, and to fight for what she loved. Beauty and the Beast and the spell that Beast is placed under played a role in the way I viewed the Nutcracker – and a little of the struggles that he faced. He might not have been a fury beast, but he did have his own obstacles he had to face as a wooden soldier.
Mrs. Weasley: Mother Ginger was entirely based on the movie version of “Mrs. Weasley” from Harry Potter. I loved her spunk and her whit – but her kindness, and her willingness to place food in front of someone and make them feel at home. She just makes you want to stay forever, and bake in her kitchen.
The Princess Bride: The Nutcracker has these lines of dialogue that are very resonant of “The Princess Bride” – more important, Wesley. As he’s fighting against the Mouse King with a sword, he’s throwing out insults that are just as whity and beloved as the ones we hear in the classic ‘80s movie. I think anyone who reads this, is definitely going to get some Wesley vibes.
War and Peace (2016 Miniseries): I love anything that I can find on the BBC if it has to do with historical drama, and romance. And I was so intrigued by the idea of a miniseries of “War and Peace,” (starring one of my favorite actresses, Lily James.) After having seen the show, and listened to the score, I felt as though I was able to see an older side to St. Petersberg, and how society of the past had been. Having already been familiar with the story of the Romanovs (and having watched a ton on the family and the history) – along with classic movies like Doctor Zhivago, I knew I wanted to give a nod to the Russian Ballet origins. Traditionally, The Nutcracker is a German tale – but began as a Russian Ballet. I felt it only right to bring Clara and her Nutcracker to Russia – and used influence from War and Peace to make it happen!
Girl Power: It might seem a little cliche to say, but girl power was something I really wanted to bring to “WinterDream.” We all love a strong heroine/hero. I’m all about writing characters (and in this case, women) who are strong, independent, brave – but most importantly – real. We all have our moments of weakness; those times when we’re unsure of how to go on – if we can go on. . . but have the willpower to try. Clara finds herself in a few situations of battling against mice and facing unexpected villains – and doing so with her own sort of bravery.