Audiobooks as Builders of Community: A Guest Post by Court Stevens, author of Tell Me Something Good
Secrets begin to unravel in this suspenseful small-town mystery when a long-forgotten unsolved murder resurfaces — and nothing is as it seems. Read on for an exclusive essay from author Court Stevens, where she shares her love of audiobooks and the journey behind the audiobook version of her new adult novel, Tell Me Something Good.
Audiobook $25.99
Tell Me Something Good: A Novel
Tell Me Something Good: A Novel
By
Court Stevens
Narrated by
Marin Ireland
,
Charlie Thurston
,
Annalee Scott
In Stock Online
Audiobook $25.99
This is a story of the rich and the very poor. This is a story of an illegal auction with dire consequences. This is a story of murders past and present. This is a story of intertwined relationships and the silent ripples they leave behind, where love becomes a guiding force, revealing the lengths one will go to protect those they cherish.
This is a story of the rich and the very poor. This is a story of an illegal auction with dire consequences. This is a story of murders past and present. This is a story of intertwined relationships and the silent ripples they leave behind, where love becomes a guiding force, revealing the lengths one will go to protect those they cherish.
I’ve been in the audiobook game for a long, long time. Audiobooks became my favorite way to digest media back in 2001, when I bought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on cassette tapes. Yes, cassettes—you read that correctly.
So, when my publisher told me that the award-winning narrator, Marin Ireland, agreed to be the lead reader of my adult debut novel, Tell Me Something Good, I quickly proclaimed I had achieved a career milestone better than hitting the New York Times Bestseller list. If I don’t know what my next read should be, I search Marin’s name and choose a title. She is quite literally my favorite audiobook narrator of all time.
Why all the love for Marin? Because every performance she gives builds a brand-new community through her empathetic and relatable voice. How powerful and life-giving is that! And this time, she is joined by Charlie Thurston and Annalee Scott—three narrators combining their talents together around storytelling by using their voices. Storytelling has been an oral tradition for all of human history. It’s in our DNA. When you hit play on an audiobook, you’re joining an ancient community of listeners. When you hit play on Tell Me Something Good, you’re hearing the work of some of the best audiobook narrators in the business today. Lucky me as the author, lucky you as the listener!
This theme of building community is also important to me in my “day job” as a library director. When I go to my office each day to lead other librarians, the whole goal is to be a disrupter of loneliness. I want to remind and inform as many humans as possible that they aren’t alone in the world. This is also my mission as an author. Books are my microphone, and, in my opinion, they’re a frontline defense against the epidemic of loneliness. That’s why I write them. That’s why I read them. That’s why I’ve given my life to a profession that makes them available to everyone.
Tell Me Something Good takes place in a fictional Southern town nestled against the Ohio River. There’s some loneliness to be overcome, some fear and trauma to be reckoned with, some love to fall into, and the threat of automatic weapons making it into violent hands if the protagonist, Anna Ryder, can’t stop an illegal arms auction. When you meet Anna, I hope she reminds you that your voice could be the community that someone needs. In this fictional community, I am trying to model the importance of how essential each of us is to our real-life community. Raise your voice to stand up for something you believe in, or to offer assistance to a neighbor, or to offer a note of support to a friend or even a stranger.
Books give us the gift of hopeful questions. Like. . .what if there’s actual magic? What if there’s audacious love around the corner of my life? What if there’s friendship and joy after the pain of feeling alone? When I started writing seriously in 2007, loneliness reduction was on the forefront of my mind. And when I said yes to becoming a librarian several years later, I knew I was joining a profession where I could use love and books to build lasting community. I believe libraries are the most inclusive, equitable spaces left in our society. If you’re feeling lonely, Google “Library near me.”
Or download the audiobook of Tell Me Something Good, and let Marin and her co-narrators introduce you to Anna Ryder’s community. Like any town, there will be some good and some bad in this place. Almost nine hours of listening later, I hope you’ll feel a part of the town I created while recognizing some aspects of where you live, too. And that you’ll take away some thoughts about how communities are made stronger by those who seek to improve their value for all. Above that, I hope this experience helps us become better listeners. Of our communities. Of humanity. And, obviously, of audiobooks.