Mark Wheaton

As THE CURIOSITIES hits 50 reviews on Goodreads, I thought I’d collect/highlight what folks have been saying about our collaborator on the project, the imminently versatile, multi-cat-voicing reader, Annalee Scott, who has been narrating many a kiddo car trip this summer, it seems:

The narration is pitch-perfect, bringing every character to life in a way that makes the story easy to follow and hard to put down. Whether you're reading aloud to a child, sneaking in a few chapters yourself, or listening as a family, this book is a blast from beginning to end.” – Crystal, Goodreads

“The narrator, Annalee Scott, told the story wonderfully, the voices for the different characters allowed to differentiate between each one and portrayed their emotions and how each situation impacted them really well. I can't wait to share this beautiful story with my sons…” – Nikki2403, Storygraph

“The narrator did an amazing job in narrating the book.” – Angelynn23, Goodreads

“I listened to the audiobook version and was especially impressed by Annalee Scott’s narration, she brought the characters to life with clarity and warmth, making it easy to stay immersed in the story... I’ll be adding both the book and audiobook to my elementary school library. I think my students will really enjoy the atmosphere of suspense and the puzzle-like plot. A great pick for readers who love a good mystery with strong characters and just the right amount of intrigue.” – Nikki Ruzick, Goodreads

“As I mentioned earlier I got a copy of the audiobook, and this narrator is wonderful I hope I can listen more of her in the future, if the story on its own its good, with this narrator it was even better, superb even. I recommend this book to anyone, but specially for those looking for more diverse reads.” – Pay De Limon, Storygraph

“This was such a fun book to listen to!” – Cindi, Goodreads

“This was a fun read, and I thought the audio was great. My favourite part was the pirate ship as a house! As a kid that would have been so cool to me.” – Leah Lannin, Goodreads

“I want to start off by saying that the narrator did such a good job making the voices of the characters distinct and match the characters' personalities. The voice effects that were done for animal noises were very cute and immersive. Listening to it at 1x speed or 2x speed is both fitting, the pronunciation, pacing and flow of sentences is fun to listen to.” – Dani Readz Bookz, Storygraph

“I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook as the narrator did an amazing job.” – Katherine Loves Books

“Wonderfully descriptive of the setting and the circumstances and well read by Annalee Scott who did great with differentiating the characters voices. I did listen to this book and highly recommend it. I think it would a fun dual read with parent and child. Or a perfect listen on a road trip with the family. It's a (rare) 5 star story!” – Melissa A. Timko, Amazon

“Thank you to NetGalley and Southbound Films. for a chance to review this audiobook. I had a riot on this adventure that made me smile and worry at the same time. There were a few surprises and I like that the focus was on an environmental issue. The sections with the kids were faster in narration, but it really made me feel like I was in the room with these excited and anxious children. Overall a very engaging story with perfect narration.” – Kari’s Book Club, Instagram

“Narrator Annalee Scott does a wonderful job voicing the cats and humans alike. THE CURIOSITIES is a perfect audiobook to take along on a road trip or vacation for all your middle grade kids. This will keep the adults entertained as well, I suspect.” – Dogs and Books and Dogs and Books, Instagram

“The audio narration hooked me from the very beginning and I thought it was very well done.” – B-Rex, Goodreads

“This was such a fun audiobook, the story was super fun, and pretty funny, I was smiling or laughing a lot of times during this story…this narrator is wonderful I hope I can listen more of her in the future, if the story on its own its good, with this narrator it was even better, superb even.” – The Delulu Books, Goodreads

“The audiobook narrator was fantastic!” – Emily, Goodreads

“An added bonus, along with the book, I listened to the audible. Kudos to the narrator for doing a fabulous job with all the characters, even the animals. I will be recommending this book to my students and teachers.” – Karen Mazzaferri, Goodreads

This is neat - as Off Limits Press closes its doors this month and reverts rights to authors, Little Ghosts Books in Toronto grabbed a last stack of Off Limits paperbacks for their shelves, including WHO HAUNTS YOU. So, if you just so happen to be on Dundas Street looking for a spooky summer read, they've got you covered... (Long Live Off Limits Press! And if you haven't read J.A.W. McCarthy's SLEEP ALONE or J.V. Gachs's EPIPHANY, you're so missing out!)

Book publicist/author marketing specialist, Sarah Shaw, who I worked with on three crime thrillers at Thomas & Mercer*, wrote me today to say that she got inspired from being on the NDAF podcast and actually created a course for neurodivergent authors on different strategies for handling social media if, well, you're as social media averse as some of us are!

It launched today, it's called SOCIAL MEDIA YOUR WAY - A SUSTAINABLE STRATEGY FOR NEURODIVERGENT AUTHORS, and I just signed up myself. If this is something you're looking for, click here and sign up, too: https://sarah-shaw.systeme.io/neurodivergentauthorcourse

*as a testament to her efforts, the first one sold over 200,000 copies?!

Sales page Tired of trying to keep up with overwhelming, neurotypical marketing tactics that just don’t fit? You don’t need to be louder, more polished, or someone you’re not to build a powerful online presence.

Wyatt was *delighted* to see that his name got cut off from the Spotify promo cards. *DELIGHTED*

With THE CURIOSITIES just starting to get out there*, I wanted to post some of Leticia Lacy's in-progress art as she created the cover. If you primarily know her from her animation work on SAMURAI JACK, CLONE WARS, TRON: UPRISING, etc., you should check out all her recent paintings on Instagram (leticia_lacy)!

*yay, teachers and school librarians!

And if you have middle-grade kiddos in your life who like cats and mysteries, well, listen to Annalee Scott read THE CURIOSITIES from your local library via Overdrive/the Libby app or after picking a local indie bookstore to support at Libro (mine is set to Vroman's in Pasadena), as well as anywhere else you snag audiobooks (Spotify, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Audible, etc.).

Forgot to post about this, but it's been around social media for a bit - Off Limits Press is closing its doors on June 1st of this year after a wonderful and triumphant run under the stewardship of first, Samantha Kolesnik, and currently, Waylon Jordan. They've published a number of truly great indie horror books over the years including some of my favorites like J.V. Gachs's EPIPHANY, J.A.W. McCarthy's Stoker-nominated, SLEEP ALONE, and the book of essays edited by Jordan himself, DIVERGENT TERROR: AT THE CROSSROADS OF QUEERNESS AND HORROR.

My own novella for Off Limits, WHO HAUNTS YOU, will fall out of print on June 1st as far as the eBook and print editions, but the Annalee Scott-narrated audio edition will live on. I will always be grateful for my experience with Waylon and Off Limits given the breadth of the response to it and how many doors it opened for me.

Off Limits Press to Close in June The boutique horror press will shutter on June 1, per an announcement posted on Bluesky.