Rhea Hawke (Vali Gurgu)

In August 2019 I participated in several panels and workshops at Calgary’s writer and reader festival When Words Collide (WWC). One of them was a presentation I shared with voice actor Dawn Harvey.

Dawn had impeccably narrated the audiobooks of my science fiction / space adventure trilogy “The Splintered Universe”: a rollicking, fast-paced detective adventure that features a complex character and her sentient great coat, unique weaponry, aliens, bio-technology, intelligent space ships and compelling intrigue.

When Galactic Guardian Rhea Hawke investigates the genocide of an entire spiritual sect, she collides not only with dark intrigue but with her own tarnished past. Her quest for justice catapults Rhea into the heart of a universal struggle across alien landscapes of cruel beauty and toward an unbearable truth she’s hidden from herself since she murdered an innocent man.

The trilogy consists of Outer Diverse, Inner Diverse, and Metaverse. and is available in ALL THREE FORMATS: print, ebook, and audiobook.

You can listen to a sample recording of all three audiobooks through Audible. Read the Splintered Universe reviews on Goodreads.

In the WWC presentation, Dawn and I shared our experience with the auditioning process, the partnership between author and narrator, and the actual production of an audiobook. Dawn (who is a lawyer) brought thirty pages of notes and you can guess that we only covered a portion of them in the hour-long presentation; she needs to come back and have more time for an audience clamoring for more. The blurb for the WWC presentation read:

While paper sales dwindle, audiobooks continue to be the fastest growing segment of the publishing world with sales increasing by 30% year over year for the past decade. With our fast paced and connected society, audiobooks are the way of the 21^st century and it’s high time you got on the bandwagon! Join author Nina Munteanu and audiobook narrator and producer Dawn Harvey to learn what it takes to turn your masterpiece into an audiobook.

I’ve been told by many that this trilogy would make a cool TV series or movie: the strong and strange female protagonist, weird technology and worlds, create a visually stunning and compelling narrative. The audiobook series is a first step toward increased depth in a series just bursting with the energy to express beyond the confines of written narrative.

*****

The narration is addictive, leaving you wanting more… Keeps you listening far into the night—Book Addict

Rhea Hawke (Vali Gurgu)

RA feast for the senses; glorious worlds with complex inhabitants hurtle towards our unprepared ears!—QuirkyMezzo23

There’s so much I have enjoyed about this series so far. Rhea is a fascinating character from the start and she continues to grow throughout the tale. There’s her AI ship, Benny, her sentient great coat, her special made gun, and her own hidden shapeshifting abilities. Then there’s a cast of interesting characters, good guys and bad guys. I love that I don’t know how things will turn out; the plot keeps me guessing—Dab of Darkness

Full of surprises, action and twists!—Lilly’s Book World

Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” will be released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in 2020.