It's online and free to download:

http://www.matazone.co.uk/shop/product_inf...?products_id=81

I'm not mailing this around widely because I want to trial this on a smaller basis, but feel free to pass the link on to your friends.

There will be another story online in a couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy it!

EDIT: I've also had a redesign of the shop. It's a lot nicer now! There are still a few rough edges, but it's getting there. Let me know how you get on with the interface to download things.

Ooo! Much shineyness will go down load it shortly and you'd better not scare the hell out of me!

No, it's not that kind of horror.

I enjoyed it! The ending wasn't predictable and each line kept me intrigued to know what he would do next.

Also, you have a very youthful sounding voice

Edit: Sean says that you sound like Jude Law, particularly as the narrator in Lemony Snicket

Jude Law! I guess that's just the English accent, but I think it's a compliment.

I'm glad I sound youthful The best thing is that no-one so far has said 'bah! What terrible reading!'

Most of all, I'm pleased you enjoyed it. It was possibly going to be much longer, but I realised I could tell the whole thing in one location and keep the tension building more quickly and intensely.

He said that after a full process of thinking he came to the conclusion that the combination of your tone and rhythm reminded him of a specific instance where Jude Law (playing as the narrator for Lemony Snicket) sounded very similar to your recording.

Meaning: It is certainly a compliment and it's not only because you have an english accent!

Hurrah! We have your newest creative venture at our fingertips! Now, if someone'll just publish that book of yours too, you'll be one step further to dominating all forms of media

...

Just listened to it. Very macabre :] Very Mata :] I enjoyed it very much indeed, and look forward to further productions.

I think the hardest thing about reading stories aloud is that it isn't just simply reading aloud, it involves a little bit of acting too - even if it is solely through vocal inflections and timing. Essentially, not everybody can pull it off succesfully. Fortunately, you did a grand job Dr. Haggis!

My ooooooooooooonly criticisms would be that the jump between memory and current events wasn't always immediately obvious (as it might be in a written form via paragraphing, text style, etc.). And slow down!

But only minor issues, which I find myself including just to give some balance to our otherwise total adoration of you and your work

The acting bit is really tricky! You're never quite sure if you're hamming it up too much!

Switching between timeframes is very tricky. I realised while I was reading it that it was hard to express in the performance. The speed thing is the same - sometimes you know that the speed is essential to the pace of the dialogue, but you also want to make things as clear as possible. It really makes you aware of just how fast you speak in everyday life and how slowly you need to speak when the listener can't see you and your body language. It's all a learning process, so thank you for the feedback.

I'm going to be dipping on an off line over the next few weeks, but it would be really nice to hear from as many people as possible what they think

I really enjoyed the story. I also have to agree with the speed of your speech, though at times it seemed like it was to go with the nervousness of the story. hmm

^ what they said. There were some points where it seemed a bit rushed. Overall it was very good and the pacing worked well to add a sense of panic to it, but there were a few places here and there where I felt that you moved between sentences too fast. Your storytelling was awesome though - it seems to have survived the transition from animation to audiobook pretty well

I'm still not sure whether I would pay for short stories though. I think I would be more interested in purchasing a collection of them rather than regularly buying them individually.

Also, regarding the little copyright notice at the end - have you considered licensing them under one of the creative commons licenses? It sounds like they are pretty close to what you want and using one would make it more clear what people can and cannot do with the storys/recordings.

I'll have a look into creative commons licenses. I'd been meaning to research into that.

Thanks for the feedback on the reading speed. I'm not sure I've got time to do much about it for this first batch (there are three more already recorded), but I'm already 7k into a longer short story, so when that's ready I'll be sure to take things slower. I had tried to use the speed to enhance the tension, but maybe I should just let the words do that by themselves!

Very useful feedback. Thanks everyone. A new story will be coming soon!

And there's now a whole bunch more in my shop...

Much more info here:
http://www.matazone.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=15076

For some reason when I try to download

Fresh Salmon for McTavish
Multibuy - Status Update & Fresh Salmon for McTavish
Salvatore's Birthday

it says

Products marked with *** dont exist in desired quantity in our stock.
Please alter the quantity of products marked with (***), Thank you

but

A Kiss On The Palm
Status Update

work just fine. Thought you would want to know.

Edit: And for some reason I'm waiting for the digital download of Status Update to be delivered?

Thanks, the shop should be working again now. There was a small mistake in the set-up.

I'm not sure about the delivery status though... I'll have a look into that.