Summer’s just started, and many things are a’brewin’…

First thing you’ll notice right off—I’ve moved from my blogspot home to my very own site. Now, you can bookmark https://www.sieworld.com/category/blog/ to get to the blog. It’s all part of sieworld.com, which will cover my life in voiceover, writing, and blogging. I’m sure t-shirts and personalized knitted tea cozies are not far behind… kudos to Julia Wyson of Julia Wyson Design for putting it all together.

On the writing front:

My book launch is set! It’s going to be Friday, August 14th, at Vroman’s Bookstore in lovely downtown Pasadena, 695 E. Colorado Blvd. If you’ve never been there, it’s a really beautiful space, and it’s got parking, to boot. Many fine restaurants in the area, too. I’ll be there, reading and talking, and so will the illustrator, Sungyoon Choi. Libations and noshies will be provided, and I hear rumor of some chocolate accordion pieces for those in the signing line… I’m pretty excited (and nervous, of course). Hope some of you can make it! Apparently, book tours have fallen out of fashion these days, supplanted by more cost-and-time efficient internet hobnobbing. However, I am slated to read outside of Las Vegas (naturally) at the Barnes & Nobles in Henderson, NV, on Saturday, August 22nd at 3 PM, so if you’re going to be hitting the slots that weekend you might take some time out and mosey on down! Other than that, there’s talk of a Denver reading sometime after, and a Chicago reading in October. Details to come.

On the Voiceover front:

You wouldn’t think that being listed as “Additional Voices” in an animated movie would be such a big deal, but it’s pretty thrilling to me, especially when the movie is produced by Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio who produced Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. I’ve deeply loved those films and thought the American-dubbed versions were really well done. The voice acting was always nuanced, the English translation was always carefully written to fit the “mouth flaps” of the animation. It’s been a dream of mine to work on one of those films, and I got to with the film When Marnie Was There, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Voice director extraordinaire Jamie Simone called me in, and I got to play in a room with such VO heavyweights as Kari Wahlgren, Bob Bergen and Eric Bauza, amongst others. I do a few parts in the movie, just a few lines, but the one I loved most was being the sensitive, emo boy, the kind that are so insanely attractive in animé. That was me! The film has been in limited release but I’m sure will be coming to DVD anytime now. It’s a much deeper, darker film than the movie poster suggests, but definitely worth watching. On a bittersweet note: Studio Ghibli is on indefinite hiatus now that Hayao Miyazaki has retired. I managed to squeak through the door just in time.

And the worlds colliding? I get to bring both my superpowers together next month, when I head into the booth and record the audio version of Still Life Las Vegas! Woo hoo! Just got the word that Macmillan (parent company of St. Martin’s Press) is going to go ahead with an audio version, and that I get to narrate. It’s been interesting, working on how to translate the graphic novel sections into aural narrative. I think I’ve come up with a convention that works. And I’m glad they’ve vetted me to do the narration; it’s what all my bedtime stories and library readings have been leading up to. Now, to work on my Greek accent…