I’ve turned in my most recent two novels in the span of six months (BALLISTIC in August of last year and ORDERS OF BATTLE in January of this year), and while doubling one’s output is on the whole a good thing, it can also have some unintended effects.
One of those effects is that I’ve outpaced the schedule of Luke Daniels, the excellent and highly popular narrator of the Frontlines series and the first book of the Palladium Wars. Luke is very good at what he does, and because he is so good, his schedule is very, very packed. Therefore, 47North has had to switch artists to avoid holding up both series by a year or more. BALLISTIC isn’t voiced by Luke Daniels, and the upcoming Frontlines novel ORDERS OF BATTLE won’t be done by Luke either. The new narrator is Angelo Di Loreto.
I love Luke’s work on Frontlines and Aftershocks, and I know that a lot of you really love it too because I get frequent comments on the quality of the Audible narration. I know that this may be a disappointment to those who have come to associate Luke’s voice with Andrew Grayson. But that’s one of the realities of the publishing world. A recent commenter took me to task for not writing my books faster, but the production schedule involves more than just me turning in a draft and then someone slapping it on the Kindle store a few days later. There are many people who have a hand in the publication: the lead editor, the developmental editor, the copyeditors, the cover artist, and so on. And the audiobook production isn’t the smallest item on that list because they have to slot in a narrator and plan for studio time, then produce physical media for the CD and MP3 versions…you get the idea. This is a team sport, not a one-man show, and very little of it is up to me except for turning in finished manuscripts. Whenever something alters the flow–like, say, the writer retooling their work flow and doubling their output schedule–it sometimes has unpredictable knock-on effects.
Luke leaves some pretty big shoes to fill for the further narration of both series, but we really liked Angelo Di Loreto’s narrative style and voice, and I believe he will be a great fit. (You can check out his prior work here.)
Changing narrators in the middle of a series isn’t ideal, but the only other option would have been to clone Luke and bring the clone up to speed, and my editor was pretty firm that this would have blown the production budget for the next decade or so…
And, I hope it didn’t sound callous that I didn’t mention Eric Dove. He did such a great job on Orders of Battle.
Sorry to hear about the challenges and about Angelo. I thought Orders of Battle was a great story and I’m so glad it’s here at last. We all love Luke Daniels — he and R.C. Bray are my personal favorites — but it isn’t always possible.
I’ll toast to your getting the stories into our hands despite the challenges, to the memory of Angelo, and to the hopes that some day Luke Daniels can return to the series.
Thank you so much for sharing your talent for storytelling with the world. Stay safe out there.
Bring back Luke, even if it’s later and you sell a second version, I will buy it. I understand the issue and a substitute is better than alexa but think about it… It’s worth it to me and I am sure others
So I’m looking at the Audible page now, and though you said it was going to be Angelo Di Loreto almost a year ago, this says it’s narrated by someone named Erik Dove?
Uh…?
Yeah and the reviews so far? Not good, Marko.
Angelo DiLoreto passed away unexpectedly late last year. We had to find new narrators, and that’s also the reason why the audiobook of Orders of Battle was delayed.
I am very sorry to hear Luke Daniels will not be narrating Orders of Battle. Angelo Di Loreto is not nearly as good in my humble opinion. All through listening to Ballistic, I kept missing Luke Daniels’ voices.
Your stories and characters are great, but if not performed for us by Luke Daniels, I’ll probably switch to reading them instead of listening.
I really, really like Luke Daniels and truthfully the new guy just does not do justice to the book. Please try a different narrator next time, someone with a distinct voice, a performer not just narrator.
The story is what matters and I anticipate it will be as good as the previous 6 in the front line series. It is by far my favorite book series.
Im hoping some miracle happens and Luke Daniels comes back into the mix! I hate switching voices so far into a series. Nonetheless I haven’t waited in this much anticipation for a book in my entire life!
I just finished the Ballistic audio book. It was very very good and Angelo did a great job reading it.
I have been a reader for 50 of my 60 years and your stories and characters are as good as any I have come across. Thank you for sharing them.
Hello! First, thank you for the great stories! I found your work through Aftershocks on Audible, narrated by Luke Daniels. I have been eagerly awaiting the second book ever since I finished it. I was disappointed when I saw that Luke Daniels did not narrate Ballistic, but once I found your post explaining the change, I can understand your reasoning. And thank you very much for doing your best to take care of your readers and get your stories out to us as fast as possible. 🙂
I’m on my second listen of Ballistic now, and wanted to offer some feedback. The first time through I had a hard time focusing on the story, and I just discovered why. I listened to the samples for Aftershocks and Ballistic on Audible one after the other, and that made the difference clear to me. Angelo does a good job reading the story, and I appreciate him also doing different, distinct voices for the characters. My one suggestion to improve for book 3 would be to ask him to project more. Luke’s narration is very clear and extremely easy to follow. Angelo’s almost felt like he was on the edge of a stage whisper when he wasn’t doing character voices. Just really low, and that made it hard for me personally to hear. I have to focus on it more than most other audiobooks. That could just be me, I do have tinnitus, but was hoping you could pass along my suggestion? I am enjoying the story, and do want to continue listening. Thanks again!
Listened to a couple of his samples from the link. I will surely miss Luke Daniels but this guy sounds like a great replacement.
yes I was surprised when there was no Luke he is one of my favorite narrator.
few hours in and Angelo is ok
Too bad it wasn’t possible for Luke Daniels to complete the Frontlines series. I really enjoyed his version of Dimitri. 🙂
It’s always nice to have the same narrator for an entire series but with really long series (7 book!! great job!) I imagine it isn’t easy to coordinate.
Thanks for the great stories. Looking forward to Ballistic and Orders of Battle.
Listening through the first hours of Ballistics, I have to admit that I am very anxious about Angelo narrating the Frontline saga.
I am sorry, but I really had trouble following the characters or getting familiar with them. Even though I should remember them from the first book.
Frontline lives from the characters and not knowing who is actually talking or why I should care would ruin this great series for me.