Simon Vance » Earphone Winners

Scaramouche by Raphael Sabatini

Simon — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:11:08 +0000

The passionate Andre-Louis Moreau makes an unexpected entrance into the French Revolution when he vows to avenge his best friend’s death. His target: Monsieur de La Tour d’Azyr, the aristocratic villain who killed his friend. Andre-Louis rallies the underclass to join him in his mission against the supreme power of the nobility. Soon the rebel leader must go underground, disguising himself as “Scaramouche” in a traveling group of actors. In the midst of his swashbuckling adventures and his country’s revolution, he discovers the secret of his own identity.
Known as “The Last of the Great Swashbucklers,” Rafael Sabatini was an Italian-born author whose two lifelong passions—the demand for justice and the desire for tolerance—were common themes in his novels. His best-known works include The Sea-Hawk, Scaramouche, and Captain Blood, all of which were made into films. Sabatini was born in 1875 in the small town of Jesi, Italy. His English mother and Italian father were both well-known opera singers. They traveled extensively, so they sent Rafael to live in England until he was seven. Rafael then lived in Portugal and Milan with his parents until he was sent to school in Switzerland. He was a voracious reader and became proficient in four languages. At age seventeen, his father sent him to Liverpool to work as a translator. Sabatini began writing romances at the age of twenty, and his short fiction was published in a number of national magazines. In 1905, he quit his translator job to devote himself to writing full time, producing a book a year. That same year he married a daughter of a well-to-do Liverpool paper merchant, and four years later they had a son, Rafael-Angelo. Sabatini became a British citizen during World War I and worked in the British Intelligence as a translator. In the 1920s, with the publication of the international bestsellers Scaramouche and Captain Blood, he became an overnight success. In 1927, Rafael was devastated by the death of their only child, who was killed in an automobile accident. He fell into a deep depression, wrote very little, divorced his wife, and suffered financially from the Great Depression. However, in 1931 life improved when he moved outside London to Wye and remarried at age sixty. In his later years, he spent his time writing, fishing, and skiing in Switzerland, where he died in 1950.

We Shall See God by Randy Alcorn

Simon — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:10:24 +0000

No author in history has more material in print than Charles Spurgeon. During his lifetime, Spurgeon and his writings affected the world far and wide. Today, nearly 120 years after his death, countless people continue to have a passion for this London preacher, and more and more discover him every day. Some of Spurgeon’s most powerful sermons were those that he preached on the topic of Heaven. Up until now, however, very few of these sermons have been accessible to a mass audience. In what is sure to become an instant classic, best-selling author Randy Alcorn has compiled the most profound spiritual insights on the topic of eternity from these sermons and arranged them into an easily-accessible, highly inspirational devotional format complete with his own comments and devotional thoughts. Whether you are familiar with the works of Charles Spurgeon or not, you are in for a treat, as Alcorn invites you to sit at the feet of the Prince of Preachers and discover timeless pearls of wisdom from one of the greatest theological minds of all time.

The King’s Speech by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi

Simon — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 23:22:04 +0000

The “quack” who saved a king… Featuring a star-studded cast of Academy Award® winners and nominees, The King’s Speech won the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival People’s Choice Award and is generating plenty of Oscar buzz. This official film tie-in is written by London Sunday Times journalist Peter Conradi and Mark Logue–grandson of Lionel Logue, one of the movie’s central characters. It’s the eve of World War II, and King Edward VIII has abdicated the throne of England to marry the woman he loves. Never has the nation needed a leader more. But the new monarch, George VI–father of today’s Queen Elizabeth II–is painfully shy and cursed with a terrible stammer. How can he inspire confidence in his countrymen when he cannot even speak to them? Help arrives in speech therapist Logue, who not only is a commoner, but Australian to boot. Will he be able to give King George his voice? The King’s Speech tells an inspiring tale of triumph over adversity and the unlikely friendship between a reluctant king and the charismatic subject who saved the throne.
From AudioFile Magazine: This stellar audio production of the book that preceded the Oscar-winning film THE KING’S SPEECH is a must-listen for historians, gossips, royalists, colonialists, and everyone else. The audio begins with something the book can’t offer—a recording of King George VI’s actual wartime speech. It’s an atmospheric introduction to the story of two different men who become essential to each other and to Britain. An extrovert Australian vocal coach who helped create modern speech therapy and a shy, stammering Duke transformed into a fine and fluent monarch—Simon Vance inhabits them subtly, shading character with accent, tone, and pace. He also propels the plot by reading with the verve of fiction while keeping his narration behind the words. A captivating and exemplary performance. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh

Simon — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:51:47 +0000

Once upon a time an Indian writer named Amitav Ghosh set out to find an Indian slave, name unknown, who some seven hundred years before had traveled to the Middle East. The journey took him to a small village in Egypt, where medieval customs coexist with twentieth-century desires and discontents. But even as Ghosh sought to re-create the life of his Indian predecessor, he found himself immersed in those of his modern Egyptian neighbors. Combining shrewd observations with painstaking historical research, Ghosh serves up skeptics and holy men, merchants and sorcerers. Some of these figures are real, some only imagined, but all emerge as vividly as the characters in a great novel. In an Antique Land is an inspired work that transcends genres as deftly as it does eras, weaving an entrancing and intoxicating spell.

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Simon — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:21:44 +0000

This is not a new book, but I’m only now listing it because of the Earphone Award it has just received from AudioFile Magazine with this excellent review:
Only those who were born in Tigana can speak or hear its name and remember their homeland. But a small resistance band begins to gather in hopes of driving out the sorcerer who tried to wipe out Tigana. Simon Vance is a consummate storyteller. His characterizations are vivid and nuanced. Through an extensive repertoire of accents and judicious use of pace and tone, he differentiates a large number of characters. Vance creates a feeling of intimacy that is effective in maintaining a sense of engagement with the characters and the events that are unfolding. His narration skills are particularly welcome in a book of this length. J.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2011

A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay

Simon — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 02:56:26 +0000

From AudioFile Magazine:
Simon Vance is an ideal performer for this tightly plotted and beautifully made story about a French family whose stress fractures have widened into chasms. Antoine Rey still loves his wife, who has left him for a younger man. His beautiful sister, Melanie, is turning 40 alone after a romantic breakup. On a weekend trip to a place they haven’t seen since childhood, memories of their long-dead mother surface, and suddenly both are haunted by unanswered questions. Vance’s French accent is elegant and assured, but more important, his sympathy for these complex and interesting characters keeps the drama from crossing into melodrama. He is particularly strong with women’s voices and Antoine’s teenaged children, using deft changes of register that never feel forced. A performance to savor. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2010

Publisher’s notes: Antoine Rey thought he had the perfect surprise for his sister’s birthday: a weekend by the sea, at Noirmoutier, where he and Mélanie used to spend their childhood holidays and where they had never returned. Antoine is at a fragile point in his existence: his job no longer holds any excitement, his children are surly teenagers, and he hates being a divorced, single Dad. Noirmoutier triggers off a flock of forgotten memories and Mélanie has a shocking flashback. Trapped between a taboo family secret and a new crisis when his daughter is confronted with the death of her best friend, nothing is easy for Antoine as a son, a husband, a brother and a father. But then he meets streetwise, sexy Angèle, a mortician who will give new meanings to the words life, love and death.

Moscow Sting by Alex Dryden

Simon — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:04:42 +0000

Recorded June/July 2010 for release in August 2010 – Tantor Audio

From the Publisher:
When Finn, a former British spy, is poisoned by a Russian assassin, his ex-boss Adrian, the chief of MI6, wants vengeance. He also wants answers—information that only Finn’s widow knows. But Anna, a former KGB colonel who betrayed her country for love, vanished with her child shortly after Finn’s death.
Adrian isn’t the only one eager to find Anna. Finn accessed intelligence so sensitive that the KGB killed to protect it—and now Anna is in the KGB’s crosshairs, as the only person who knows the true identity of the Kremlin insider, superspy, and double agent called Mikhail. The CIA and Cougar, a giant American private intelligence company, are also hunting her. With the Kremlin still in the grasp of all-powerful Vladimir Putin, Mikhail is the West’s best hope for revealing Russia’s obscure intentions for its newfound oil wealth.
Anna holds the key to the secrets of her motherland, and now the former Russian agent faces her greatest test. To secure her freedom and protect her child, she must uncover the full truth before anyone else does—even as friend and foe set her in their sights.
Moving from Paris to New York, from the Kremlin to the American Southwest, Moscow Sting is an absorbing and timely tale of intrigue, betrayal, fatal lies, and complex truths, told with the authentic detail and chilling insight of an experienced insider.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

Simon — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:33:42 +0000

From AudioFile Magazine:
Simon Vance and Stieg Larsson are to blame for an exhausting 10 days in which I spent every spare daytime moment and most of each night listening to Lisbeth Salander outwit Swedish bad guys. Though I am groggy, I am grateful. This is a terrific finale to the worldwide bestselling Swedish series about the skinny, bisexual, socially hostile computer wizard Lizbeth Salander, ace reporter Mikael Blomkvist, and a host of nefarious criminals, bureaucrats, police, and politicians. The compulsively listenable Simon Vance personifies men, women, young, and old so well that one hesitates to interrupt their conversations by turning off the book. And he propels the narrative with fine timing and a seductive voice that leaves the listener satiated and happy. Get this book and start listening now. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2010
This book was nominated for an Audie in two categories – Distinguished Achievement in Production and Thriller/Suspense – it won in the latter of the two!

Earphone Awards History

Simon — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 01:26:49 +0000

Below, and on the next several pages, you’ll see all the books AudioFile Magazine’s reviewers deemed worthy of an Earphone Award. There are quite a few and, although I have listed them below chronologically by year, you may want to go back to the drop down menu above and isolate each particular year.

Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro

Simon — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 01:22:20 +0000

Read by Mark Bramhall, Kirby Heyborne, Lincoln Hoppe, Simon Vance
From AudioFile Magazine:
Each of the stories in Kazuo Ishiguro’s first collection is told by a musician, and each explores the theme of music’s idealism and life’s harsh reality. This production uses four narrators to great effect: Mark Bramhall reads the first and last stories, deftly moving between the Eastern European and American accents of the characters. Kirby Heyborne’s youthful voice is ideal for “Malvern Hills,” which is told by a young guitarist-songwriter hoping to make it in London. The masterful Simon Vance shows again that he one of the best at moving into the register of female voices, while Lincoln Hoppe’s languid delivery captures the humor of the title story without letting it slide into absurdity. This collection is brilliantly arranged, like a symphony in five movements. D.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2010