The Guardian's 40 Best Audiobooks

This Saturday The Guardian will feature its 40 Best Audiobooks which it has chosen with guidance from The Book Marketing Society. The promotion aims to illustrate the wide range of audiobooks available in the UK. The list was chosen from more than 160 books which were submitted by publishers. The public will be asked to vote for the winner which will be announced on 31st July.

It’s wonderful to see audiobooks being highlighted in this way and to celebrate we’re offering all the titles that are available as downloads for £7.99 or less. We have 37 out of the 40 titles in the promotion and we’re working on clearing download rights for the remaining 3 which are:

• The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John le Carre
• My Completely Best Story Collection: Charlie & Lola by Lauren Child
• Four Favourite Stories by Roald Dahl

The BBC’s recording of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is included in the promotion but unfortunately the title will not be available to download until after the promotion has ended. In the meantime we’re offering a free sample of the download which you can get here.

The good news is that as a result of this promotion we’ve been given permission to release the following audiobooks, all of which are now available to download from Audible for the first time:

• A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
• The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
• Flashman on the March by George MacDonald Fraser

Go here to see the complete list on Audible.

Audible Sounds of Crime Awards Announced

The winners of the Audible Sounds of Crime Awards were announced this weekend at Bristol’s CrimeFest. The awards for the best audiobooks went to Ian Rankin and James Macpherson for the abridged recording of Exit Music and David Hewson and Saul Reichlin for the unabridged recording of The Seventh Sacrament.

It is fitting that both abridged and unabridged recordings were recognized in the awards but here at Audible we find that the majority of listeners download only unabridged recordings. David Hewson has always been popular with our listeners and he first came to our attention with The Sacred Cut. When the book first became available as a download it went straight in to the top 10, no doubt because of the fantastic feedback in the book's reviews section. Fans of David’s downloads have consistently commented on the quality of the narrator so it is apt that Saul Reichlin also receives an award. On receiving the award, David Hewson said:

"It's incredibly flattering to have my name on the first of what I'm sure will become one of the most coveted awards in crime fiction. Audio is very important to me because it's the oldest form of fiction there is. People were listening to stories before they ever started reading them, and having your work performed this way is a real test of its durability. I'm proud to see my name on the award alongside that of Saul Reichlin too, since his extraordinarily sensitive narration of my Nic Costa series is as much a part of its timbre and character by now as my writing."

Saul Reichlin, the book's narrator said:

"I am thrilled to win. It is very satisfying, as an 'industry professional' and not a 'name' to be honoured with this prestigious award. The reader is only as good as his material, of course, and I'm truly grateful to have a writer of David Hewson's brilliance to work on."

To download more from David Hewson go here.
To listen to more from Saul Reichlin go here.

The Chopin Manuscript wins Audie Award

The Chopin Manuscript was recently named Audiobook of the Year at the 13th annual Audie Awards which are considered the ‘Oscars’ of the American audio industry.

Fifteen best-selling crime writers including Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child and David Hewson wrote consecutive chapters of the thriller, read by Alfred Molina, which came out in serial form last September. British contributor David Hewson said:

“It was a great honour, and an amazing amount of fun, to take part in this unique project which has, I think, helped put audiobooks firmly on the map as a vibrant and important part of the modern publishing world - and wonderful to be able to work alongside such a talented array of authors. All credit to my fellow authors, to the wonderful Alfred Molina for such incredible narration, and to Audible without whom this whole venture could never have happened in the first place. Chopin is, I think, the first of many such audio-based story-telling adventures to come.”

For the first time in the history of the Audies the winning audiobook is an audio-only story which is not available in print and is only available as a download.

You can hear the 30 minute first chapter of the book for free in Audible.co.uk Podcast 1 or download the complete story here.

Skulduggery Pleasant wins Red House Children’s Book Award

Skulduggery Pleasant has just won the Red House Children’s Book Award - the only national children’s book award to be chosen exclusively by children.

Landy was working on his farm in Ireland a few years ago and writing low-budget Irish zombie movies when the character, a wise-cracking, sophisticated detective in the vein of Philip Marlowe, popped into his head.

"I just had the two words - 'Skulduggery Pleasant' - but he immediately told me who he was and what he was," said Landy. "I haven't a clue how he appeared but I'm really glad he did.”

The first book to feature Pleasant swiftly followed and was an instant hit with children around the world. The second, Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire, has just been published, with a further seven in the series planned.

The Red House Awards are now in their 28th year. This year over 165,000 votes were cast through the Federation of Children's Book Groups. The awards have a record of being the first to spot the future big names in children's writing - it was the first major award to be won by Roald Dahl (1983), Jacqueline Wilson (1996) and JK Rowling (1998).

Find out more about Skulduggery Pleasant at his website here.

Bond is Back

The first seven copies of Devil May Care, the new Bond novel commissioned by Penguin Books to celebrate the Ian Fleming centenary, were brought up the river Thames yesterday aboard warship Exeter. A pair of Lynx helicopters escorted the boat on either side. The books were then taken ashore by model Tuuli Shipster (who appears on the cover of the book) on a hi-tech speedboat known as a Pacific 24.

It was a fitting launch for the latest instalment in the adventures of the world's most iconic spy.

Picking up from where Fleming left off in 1966 with The Living Daylights and Octopussy Sebastian Faulks has written the perfect continuation of the James Bond legacy. Devil May Care is set during the Cold War and features all the glamour, thrills and excitement that one would expect from any mission involving Bond... James Bond.

To visit the James Bond collection at Audible go here.

Audible Sounds of Crime Award at CrimeFest

CrimeFest, a new international crime fiction convention featuring interviews, panels, a Gala Dinner, and possibly one or two surprises, takes place in Bristol next month. Many of the world’s top crime novelists such as Ian Rankin, Karin Fossum, Jeff Lindsay and David Hewson will be attending.

CrimeFest will be presenting two awards: the Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel, and the Audible Sounds of Crime Award for best crime audiobook. Registered delegates and Audible Listeners have nominated the crime audiobook they most liked listening to in 2007.

The shortlist is:

• Blaze by Richard Bachman, read by Ron McLarty (unabridged)
• Bad Luck & Trouble by Lee Child, read by Kerry Shale
• The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen, read by Lorelei King
• The Seventh Sacrament by David Hewson, read by Saul Reichlin (unabridged)
• Exit Music by Ian Rankin, read by James Macpherson

The awards will be presented at the Gala Dinner on Saturday, the 7th of June and an award will be given to both the author and the reader of the winning entry.

For more information on CrimeFest visit: www.crimefest.com

Vote for The Best of the Booker

The public are being asked to vote for the winner of The Best of the Booker, a one-off celebratory award to mark the 40th anniversary of the Booker Prize. The six shortlisted books, chosen from the list of 41 previous Booker Prize winners, are:

• Pat Barker's The Ghost Road (Penguin)


• Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda (Faber)


• JM Coetzee's Disgrace (Vintage)


• JG Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapur (Phoenix)


• Nadine Gordimer's The Conservationist (Bloomsbury)
  
• Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children (Vintage)

The winner will be announced as part of the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre on 10 July 2008 where the winner will be awarded a custom-made trophy.

Voters have until midday on 8 July to select what they believe is the best novel to have won the prize since it was first awarded on 22 April 1969.

Of the six shortlisted titles only The Ghost Road is currently available as a download but for a list of all previous winners available to download at Audible, go here.