Listen!

I am a loyalist. I am stubborn. I am unbending.

eBooks, eReaders, Audiobooks were all pebbles in my shoe. Until recently.

Well, I'm still a bit anti-electronic books and still absolutely love the feel of a book in my hands and the sound of pages flipping.  But I have been introduced into the wonderful world of audio books. And I am not turning back.

Fantasy Football chat has been flying around the office since the season started and four of the ladies in our group were in the same league.  The IT guru on our team and I have a long-standing nerdy relationship up to this point where we've conversed about Ender's Game at length as well as really cool things you can do with Excel. He comes up to me one day and suggests I give the audio book, The Rookie by Scott Sigler, a chance. This was because he had been privy to many a conversation revolving around hurt Quarterbacks and ridiculous Defense/Special Teams and losing by just one point and if I had only started him instead of him I would have won! Round and round, and then repeat.

I was hesitant, due to my stubborn standing on physical vs. electronic books, but I took his suggestion and plugged in my mp3 player.

I was enthralled from day one. The story itself is interesting, combining the elements of football with a science fiction universe, and the author, who is the one reading it, wrote notable characters and a captivating storyline.  He reads very well, too. His pitch and intonation fluctuate in the right places and he does the voice changes between characters very well. I learned so much about football, I impressed myself!

I quickly followed up The Rookie with The Crypt, also by Sigler. I liked that one even more. I was mad when I realized I'd finished what was released thus far and that I would have to wait for him to complete the next part of the story. These two stories are available for free...yes, free...through his website.

He has recently released the sequel to The Rookie called The Starter...get it?...in physical book format, as well as eBook and audiobook, but has yet to be released for free. Soon, I hope...

Thank you, IT guru. He also introduced me to podiobooks.com where you can find free audio books by different authors in different genres.  You won't necessarily find tomorrow's best seller there, but you just never know!

I've recently started listening to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone read by Jim Dale and so far, I'm hooked. He does the voice changes and reads at a good pace and his actual voice is mesmerizing. There's just something about those English accents...

I'm a convert. I was steadfast through the heavy deluge of transitioning to electronic and audible literature...but I've caved ever so slightly with these newfound stories.

We'll see when I'll be willing to take on an eReader. We'll see...