Tag: Stephen King

Stephen King – Narrator

Stephen King – Narrator

LT’s Theory of Pets

Written by, Stephen King

Yes, everyone knows Stephen King the Author.   Born in Portland Oregon, in 1947.   Married to Tabitha, who he met while at college.  They have 3 children, Joe, Owen, and Naomi.  His first hit story Carrie, was the beginning of many horror stories such as Pet Semetary, IT, The Shining, The Stand, The Dead Zone, and many, many more.

He began directing movies in 1985 with Maximum Overdrive, based on his story, Trucks.  Many of his stories have become popular and even iconic movies.

But, do you know Stephen King……the Narrator?  Well, this is the first time that I ever heard his narration.

On a short story called LT’s Theory of Pets, written of course, by Stephen King!  And I have to say, I love it:)

Of course the story is great, but I have to say that I truly enjoyed the narration as well.

Often times I find that authors think they know their book so well that only they can give it the value it deserves.  However, I usually find the opposite to be true.  Professional narrators can flesh out characters in ways that authors typically can’t duplicate in voice.

Yet there are those rare occasions when an author can also narrate their works in stellar fashion, and this is one of those occasions.

There is a bit of the ‘horror’ story here, but for the most part I found the story to be funny and entertaining.  (Sorry to disappoint if you are only in it for the Horror!)

Even the preview (of my copy) when Stephen explains where the idea for the story came from…it was laugh out loud funny.  You have to love the way the man thinks!

I laughed when Stephen said, most of his stories started with ‘wouldn’t it be funny if…?’  Which is ironic considering that most of his stories end up horror stories, not comedies.  But as he states, they ‘don’t start out as horror, they just sort of drift that way’.

The whole premise of this story I found sort of sad.  A marriage that starts out happy, drifts to some regular conflicts after the addition of some pets, and leads to an unresolved ending.  Yet the tone still remains funny and slightly sarcastic.

I felt that Stephen did a credible job separating the character’s voices.  I really loved the accents chosen, and how the characters are portrayed.  Not as good or bad, just different and slightly flawed.

When the couple split up, neither one is angry or vengeful, just understandably unhappy.  I’m not going to tell you what happens, but it’s especially sad what happens to the dog.  (You will have to pick up the story to find out what that is.) 🙂

It’s a short story, but as much of King’s work does, it gives the reader a lot to contemplate.  The ‘what if’s’ and ‘maybe’s’ in life.

Brilliant as usual, I enjoyed this narrated short story by The wonderful and extremely talented, Stephen King.  Try it yourself, and let me know what you think.

Keep reading, and as always, from my family to yours..Happy Listening!

 

Ron McLarty – Narrator

Ron McLarty is an Actor, Playwright, Narrator, and Novelist. Originally from East Providence, RI, he now lives in New York City and Elizaville, NY.  He is married to actress Kate Skinner.

Author of The Memory of Running, Art in America, The Dropper, and Traveler.  The Memory of Running, Ron’s first published work, is believed to also be the first work to be published in audiobook format before being accepted and published in book format.  

As explained in the video above, Stephen King called it, “the best book you can’t read”, when it was first released.

As an actor, Ron has over 100 TV appearances including his recurring role as Judge Wright on Law & Order. Two recent film roles include St Vincent, and How Do You Know.

There are over 20 David Baldacci’s books narrated by Ron including Last Man Standing, Hour Game, The Whole Truth, Deliver Us from Evil, Simple Genius, The Sixth Man, and First Family.

Stated by David Baldacci, “Hail to the King, Ron McLarty, who brought his incredible talents to my works, and gave the listeners a whole new way to experience “reading.” “

Other Authors with McLarty narration include Stephen King, Anne Rice, Richard Russo, Scott Turow, Ed McBain, and many others.

While Ron has moved on from narrating other books, to writing and narrating his own, there are over 100 narrated works available for your listening pleasure.  

I recently experienced Ron’s narration from David Baldacci’s book Zero Day.  As expected, a great story by David with great co-narration by Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy.

I’m always curious when I find a Narrator that I like and I research their stories.   Often times I am surprised to find that they are in some way or another, unexpectedly familiar to me.

As with Ron here, who I never put much thought into when I saw him in the TV show Law & Order.  He is quite accomplished, quite talented, and according to his impressive list of works, been very busy.

I think that we tend to forget that the actors we see on TV and in the movies are real people.  Especially those who play supporting roles.  Yet seeing it broken down into all these respective jobs from audio, to TV, to film and theatre, is just inspiring.

I would have to place Ron as a 3 in my 1-4 Narrator scale.  If you would like to learn more about Ron, please visit his website, http://www.ronmclarty.com.

And as always, Happy Listening!