Tag: Terry Pratchett

Stephen Briggs – Narrator

Stephen Briggs is an actor, narrator, playwright, artist, and more.

Winner of many awards including an Audie, Audible Download Book of the Year, Best Voice of the Year, and Earphones Awards to name a few.  

Member – Oxford’s Studio Theatre Club

Author of Children’s fiction

Artist

Stephen Briggs is an experienced and extremely accomplished Narrator.   He is also an actor, and accomplished playwright.  However, in respect to this site, NarrationZone.com, we will focus on his Narration skills.

As you can see from the impressive list of sample works listed below, there are many audio books to his credit.  But more than the number of books, is the complexity of the characters that are portrayed in these stories.

We are talking not only different accents, both female and male voices, but also vampires, trolls, zombies, talking dogs, and so much more.  Each distict, separate, and totally unique unto themselves.

Once you have listened to one book, I have no doubt that you will do just like I have, and you will come back for more.

In my personal narrator rating scale, Stephen is without a doubt a definite 4.  I almost want to say a 4+ even.  Currently Stephen is in my top ‘3’ favorite of ALL time narrators, so if you haven’t experienced one of his works, just check out any of the items listed on the below sample listing, and you will be coming back for more.

I started with Terry Pratchett’s ‘Thud’.  Of course I love Terry Pratchett’s writing, but combine that writing with Stephen’s narration….and I could, and have listened to that book over and over again.  Truly sensational!

So, go pick up something outstanding.  And from my house to yours, Happy Listening!

Sample work listing;

A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction Terry Pratchett

A Hat Full of Sky: Discworld Childrens, Book 3 Terry Pratchett

Children of the Different S.C. Flynn

Darwin’s Watch: The Science of Discworld III Terry Pratchett

Diggers: The Bromeliad Trilogy #2 Terry Pratchett

Dodger Terry Pratchett

Eric: Discworld #9 Terry Pratchett

Going Postal: Discworld #29 Terry Pratchett

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Propecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch Terry Pratchett

I Shall Wear Midnight: Discworld #38 Terry Pratchett

Judgement Day: Science of Discworld IV Terry Pratchett

Making Money: Discworld #36 Terry Pratchett

Monstrous Regiment: Discworld #31 Terry Pratchett

Nation Terry Pratchett

Night Watch: Discworld #27 Terry Pratchett

Raising Steam: Discworld #40 Terry Pratchett

Slave Soldiers William Butler

Snuff: Discworld #39 Terry Pratchett

Strata Terry Pratchett

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents: Discworld Childrens Book 1 Terry Pratchett

The Carpet People Terry Pratchett

The Fifth Elephant: Discworld #24 Terry Pratchett

The Globe: Science of Discworld II Terry Pratchett

The Last Hero – A Discworld Fable Terry Pratchett

The Science of Discworld Terry Pratchett

The Sheperd’s Crown: Discworld #41 Terry Pratchett

The Truth: Discworld #25 Terry Pratchett

The Wee Free Men: Discworld Childrens, Book 2 Terry Pratchett

Thief of Time: Discworld #26 Terry Pratchett

Thud: Discworld #34 Terry Pratchett

Truckers: The Bromeliad Trilogy #1 Terry Pratchett

Unseen Academicals: Discworld #32 Terry Pratchett

Wings: The Bromeliad Trilogy #3 Terry Pratchett

Wintersmith: Discworld Childrens, Book 4 Terry Pratchett

Nigel Planer – Narrator

Nigel Planer – Bio

Born February 22, 1953

Westminster, UK

English actor, comedian, novelist, and playwright.  

Best known for his role as Neil in the BBC TV show The Young Ones.

Wife, Roberta and 2 sons Stanley and Harvey.

Nigel has professed in interviews that he gets bored easily.  I think that aspect of his character is definitely part of what makes him such a great Narrator.

I found Nigel through the works of Terry Pratchett.  As listed in my Special Mention post for Terry, one of my all time favorite authors.

Nigel’s narration is outstanding.  Currently he is in my top 5 of the absolute BEST narrators out there.  No joke!

Nigel can take multiple characters, from broadly separated backgrounds, and turn them into strong, interesting, and completely separate  individuals.

I get caught up in the stories because of his narration and credible characters, and the books are never the same.  They’re so much better!

A great surprise for me, in researching more of Nigel’s narrated products, I have found some Terry Pratchett books that I will definitely have to track down.  Yeah!

The down-side for you is that it will take a long time to listen to every one of the many books narrated by Nigel.  The up-side is that you won’t be bored for a long, long time to come:)

I would place Nigel as a 4 in my 1-4 Narrator rating, which puts him in my current top 10!

If you like Fantasy Fiction, and you haven’t given Nigel a try, my recommendation is that you shouldn’t let this truly exceptional talent pass you by.

From my library to yours, Happy Listening!

 

Special Mention – Terry Pratchett

“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.” Sir Terry Pratchett

2015 a great loss to the Literary world.

Special Mention to the late Terry Pratchett, the author of the Disc World Series, and many other wonderful works.  One of the most amazing Fantasy worlds ever imagined.

The first audio book I heard of Terry Pratchett’s work was ‘Thud’.  Not the first one in the Disc World Series of course.  I rarely ever seem to go in order.  But I became so intrigued with his characters, and the subtle sarcasm that permeates every conversation.  I’ve never heard a writing style that was so subtle, and so obvious at the same time.  Maybe it’s because I tend to notice details in writing that I find the humor so prevalent and simply perfect, but I’ve never heard another like it.  Of course the fact that he had the most amazing narrators to bring his written words to life, only made the experience that much more astounding to me.  I believe that was the first book that I ever listened to where one narrator portrayed so many completely different characters in such a realistic and consistent way.  It truly opened my eyes to what I had been missing for so many years.

After I listened to the audio book, I found the physical book for sale at the library, and I read it.  What I found was now that I had heard the characters created in auditory form, when I read the physical book I could ‘hear’ the conversations in my imagination, just as they had been in the original audio book.  What a happy revelation!  It’s so much more than I could have imagined on my own.

For those out there who have never read or listened to a Terry Pratchett book, if you like Fantasy Fiction, you have to give these a try.  If you noticed from my previous posts, 2 of my very favorite Narrators noted here, Stephen Briggs and Nigel Planer, have many Terry Pratchett books to their credit.  And they are a credit to the books.  This is a perfect example of combining a great writer with a great narrator to create truly exceptional works.

I was terribly saddened to hear of Terry’s passing in 2015.  He was a one-of-a-kind special talent.  However, he left a fantastic library of his creations for us and future generations to enjoy.  When you think about it, that’s one heck of a legacy!