John Fehskens: The Voice of Section 8

I knew I wanted to bring Section 8 to audiobook. I also knew it would take the perfect narrator to bring this book and it's many diverse characters to life. I put out an audition script (with the help of my Girl Friday), and when we found John Fehskens, we knew we'd found the one. I asked John to write a guest post for my blog about his experience voicing Section 8 and he was kind enough to do so.

So here it is, from the voice of the new Section 8 Audiobook: 

"There is one major regret that I have about voicing the audiobook narration for Section 8, and that is that it was not longer. As a voiceover and narration artist, it is rare that I come to the end of a large work—in this case, over 350 pages read aloud—and feel, instead of a wash of relief, a wistfulness that the story itself is over. It’s extraordinarily rare that I am fortunate enough to find myself involved in a project of such humor, wit, strong characterization, and exciting events. I often found myself recounting lines, quips, and funny occurrences to my wife and my colleagues, aching for the day I could share the link to this book and spread the joy I experienced while reading it.

Standing head and shoulders above the rest of the cast is the Chief protagonist (pun intended), Tribal Accountant Welcome George Many Numbers. At times poignant, thought-provoking, and quite often hilarious, I was reminded as I read his sections of none other than the great Ignatius J. O’Reilly from the classic A Confederacy of Dunces. Both of them beings of great wit and astounding insight yet thoroughly displaced in their society; geniuses out of time. Welcome George is at times philosopher and clown, expounding great wisdom and also deadpanning wonderful asides that quite often take his peers by surprise; one of the normative reactions to being around Welcome George is simply staring in astonishment at this bizarre creation, and I found myself doing the same. He’s allowed his eccentricity; he is, after all, a Section 8 Marine, and combat fatigue is a temporary state, not like Utah, or New Hampshire.

I love this book. I’ve already ordered Johnnie’s back catalog onto my Kindle and hope this book is a rousing success for him, because I can’t think of a more worthy work. I can only hope that I did the book some kind of justice in my narration. I can certainly say that between PFC Gadfly and Private Hockenmeyer, between Sgt. O’Connor and Private Blaine, from Col. Jack Jilloby to Nurse Mellons, I was challenged daily in my portrayal of this vast collection of colorful characters and the book, time and again, made the work worthwhile. My thanks to Johnnie for the opportunity, and my congratulations to you as you embark on this crazy—excuse me, mentally fatigued—journey." - John Fehskens, Narrator of Section 8

The Section 8 audiobook is now available on Audible! Buy it in the Amazon store today (or get it free with an Audible subscription). https://www.amazon.com/Section-8/dp/B076H8YKLB/