The Return of Dr. Necropolis (Audiobook): Part 1

Friends, 

If you follow this blog, you already know I've been working on an audiobook version of The Return of Dr. Necropolis. I've actually been working on it for a few months now. This is the third or fourth rendition, and I think I'm finally happy with the way it sounds.

I'll put some thoughts after the jump, but if you're interested, you can listen to this initial section right now, either via the embedded GoogleDrive player below or using this link. 

It's a 32MB audiofile, so if you go to download it, just know what you're getting yourself into. The reading itself runs just under half an hour. Lengthwise, that's exactly what I wanted.

Now Playing The Return of Dr. Necropolis: Prologue + Chapter 1

For all the AI hate these days, I've got to admit that it really helps with these little coding problems. Before today, I would've had no idea how to creat and embed a player like this, nor that Google Drive comes with its own, admittedly bargain basement, embedded player system for just these kinds of files. And that's before I tried to figure out how to embed the cover image and label.

While we're on the subject of AI, we've seen a few articles lately hinting that the AI stock market bubble is about to collapse. That's a pretty interesting development. The best is this one, but this one and this one are also well worth a quick read if you've got some time today. Those first two explain a trend that I've personally seen recently, which is that Microsoft recently started throttling my (free) use of its Copilot tool. I therefore had to ask Google's Gemini how to finish coding this little player project.

That was fine, by the way. I have absolutely no attachment to any of these things.

For what it's worth, I don't know how much longer I think Copilot will survive. No one uses it, and it's got the least utility as an image generator. It probably understands writing a little better than Gemini, but friends, NO ONE CARES about writing. More to the point, the tool doesn't write anywhere near well enough to make its actual subscription price worth it.

Getting back to the Dr. Necropolis audiobook, I've got to thank my friend Elizabeth for whatever faith I have in this newest iteration. I've been podcasting for a good long time now, so I already had access to all the tools I needed to physically record the book. However, the act of performing it is its own thing -- and quite intimidating. I know I have a decent voice, but still... However, Elizabeth very kindly shared my previous efforts with her writing group, most of whom liked the performance save a few correctable issues. More than anything, I needed to slow down as I worked my through the reading.

I'm not saying this is perfect, but I really did try with this newest version.

I've also got to thank AFF's Rob Robinson for helping me with some of the technical issues here. For example, Rob's the one who provided me with the music for the intro and outro via a service he uses for just these occasions. I'd tell you what it is, but I honestly have no idea. Rob is my service. That's why he's (among other things) AFF's commo & tech guy.

Let me know what you think. My current plan is to put this out like a weekly radio serial after the Army-Navy Game. But right now, that's just a plan. I'm very much still taking feedback on it.

Thanks. Have a good one.