Showing posts with label shona richmond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shona richmond. Show all posts
Raghnall's Revenge
The audiobook adaptation of the novel by Shona Redmond is finally complete!
The story continues as the group of friends persevere with their plan to recruit new allies in order to regain what was stolen from them. With the traitor seemingly unmasked houses Olden and Raghnall make it their mission to seek vengeance on all of those who cost so many loved ones their lives. The plot thickens when Finn discovers his uncle is in league with the same men that took his home. New enemies emerge causing the friends to separate from one another, in order to ensure their survival. As the mysteries unravel, the group begin to find out that everything may not always be as it appears. Secrets from the past come back to bite them, sacrifices must be made and lives lost proving even heroes can bleed in order to get to the truth. Can the group beat the odds once again or are they truly cursed and destined only for death?
Find it on Amazon and Audible here.
What do you do before settling down to read or work on a book?
I tend to walk my dogs....and cat! Our feline, Rosie, follows us on our twice daily outings, much to everyone's amusement. Here she is below following us along the canal and into the fields....
Shauna Richmond's Raghnall books
I asked Shauna Richmond to tell me a little about her books and the universe in which they are set, and what themes they explore.
Raghnall series is a dark fantasy series with hints of Norse, Celtic and Gaelic mythology. Trigger warnings for the book include strong language, sexual references, sexual assault and violence throughout. The books are told through multiple points of view, much like game of thrones, nobody is ever truly safe. The wrath of Raghnall is book one to this series, here we are introduced to Finn Olden and the rest of the Olden clan. Finn is the male protagonist, although he is part of the gentry, he is often ostracized and left to his own devices due to his infamous temper and foul mouth. The Oldens are a prestigious household, and one of the longest to rule in all the lands. They are known for their fighting spirits and kind hearts , though they seem to share the same flaw of a short life expectancy. Finn’s Uncles were died young and although it is understood that Gabriel died in an ambush, Tristan’s cause of death is not only vague, he is scarcely talked about. Freya Raghnall is the only daughter to Bjorn and Catherine Raghnall. Her mother was a renowned shield maiden , her father heir to a stolen throne. Freya escaped an attempt on her life when she was a well-being the only person from the massacre to make it out alive. She survived another attack at the hands of her betrothed resulting in his death and her rise to the throne of Rosefort. When Freya meets Finn at a banquet held in his homelands the pair soon find themselves attracting all sorts of trouble. As the series moves on, the characters start to unravel the mystery of Tristan and Gabriel’s death and also Freya’s family’s massacre. The Raghnall series is much darker than that of prequel (The Olden Chronicles) as the reader is seeing the aftermath of the wars and the decisions the fallen heroes made.
You find more books by Shauna here on Amazon.
Monitoring & Mixing my audiobooks
I've been using KRK Rokit 6 monitors for my audiobooks for nearly 4 years now, and I really like what I hear. My As I work in mono, I only need one monitor, no need for a stereo pair. I work using a digital audio workstation, AKA a PC with a half-decent audio-interface, namely a Audient ID4, which offers XLR & 6.35mm jack inputs and TRS balanced outputs for monitoring. It took a while for me to understand exactly what TRS was - initially I was hunting around fruitlessly for a USB interface that offered XLR outputs as I was fixed on having balanced output (for the initiated, balanced signals in audio terms are designed to minimise unwanted noise intruding into the signal, such as from nearby electronics). All the interfaces I looked at did not offer this, at least not the budget conscious variety I can afford. After consulting my slightly more knowledgeable elder brother I was realized that although TRS utilizes the 1/4 inch jack plug interface, it carries a balanced signal, care of the TRS wiring (TRS = Tip/Ring/Sleeve) follow this link for more information. With this new information I realised that I had a good choice of USB interfaces that will provide balanced output suitable for a studio monitor. After some investigation I plumped for the KRK Rokit 6, monitor. Opinions are a little divided but I find it more than enough for my audiobook needs.
I will say that it is a little bottom-end heavy, and combined with my Rode Procaster XLR dynamic studio mic, which has low-mid warmth, I found initially my recordings seemed pretty muddy and woolly sounding. For anyone possessing either of those two components, I have a few words of advice born of my own experience:
Rode Procaster: Requires plenty of gain to get the best frequency response, but has incredible signal-to-noise ratio, so it's very clean souding even if you EQ it heavily. I found that my Audient iD4 didn't drive it hard enough, and have since used a Podtrak P4 by Zoom, which has an insane 70db of gain. The difference in audio characteristics with the right gain is remarkable.
As for the Rokit 6 - this too needs a little attention - on the rear there are some EQ adjustments in precise 1, 2 and 3db increments. I rolled off the low frequencies by 3db to gain a more accurate sound that held up when I replayed the files elsewhere.
Please read this article from Sound on Sound.
The Wrath Of Raghnall, By Shona Richmond.
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| The Wrath Of Raghnall |
This book by Shona Richmond is my first entry into the fantasy genre, and it has been a fun one to do! There's a lot of classic fantasy elements here, but with a strong female cast and leading characters that make a refreshing change to the usually male-dominated fantasy worlds. Lord Theodore Olden counts it a blessing when his old friend Bjorn the Brave arrives at the celebration of his eldest son's betrothal. Soon after his arrival, demons from Bjorn's past come back to haunt him. To this day, he knows not of who murdered his family, with only his daughter spared from the attacks on his house and a son who is seemingly back from the dead. Both houses encounter a plague of demons that were thought long gone in their quest to get to the truth and to restore Bjorn's family to their throne. For their involvement with the Vikings, bandits and mercenaries attack house Olden, leaving the house divided between their loyalties to their ally and protecting their own family. The family of cursed Vikings must find a way to beat the odds once again and to recruit new allies to take back what was stolen from them.
Available soon on Audible.
