麻豆传媒AV

Wes Funk is a Saskatchewan author with rural roots, from Mayfair, who has had the opportunity to have his first audio book released by Aurora Audiobooks. The audio is on Funk's first publication Dead Rock Stars and, to add to the uniqueness, the recording was the first release by the new Saskatoon-based audio company.

"I've worked closely with Wes to make sure that we've brought his story to life, and am thrilled that we've got something that both he and I are exceptionally proud of," commented Matt Josdal whose voice captures the listening audience and leads them on the crazy journey.

"I founded Aurora Audiobooks in order to address what I saw as a gap in the audiobook industry," explained Josdal. "Having worked as a narrator and voice-over artist for some time, I saw that the vast majority of Canadian authored books were either being produced by American audiobook companies, with American narrators, or weren't being produced in audio form at all.

"I think that we have a wealth of talent right here in Canada, actually Saskatchewan, and, as a result, I began reading selections from Saskatchewan authors. Aurora Audiobooks is my way of being able to provide Canadian authors with a voice."

"When I read Dead Rock Stars, it came across to me that it would be a good fiction story for an audio book," commented Josdal in a recent telephone interview. "Wes's book has a good storyline that moves along making it a 'digestible' book."

Josdal says recording an audiobook is a time-intensive process completed in block format, a bit at a time. A one-hour read can easily develop into three or four hours by the time the editing and mastering is completed.

"I've been fortunate to listen to the book already and it is just fab! Josdal has a gift for capturing a character full force and totally nailed the personality and quirkiness that is Jackson Hill." says Funk.

Dead Rock Stars, self-published by Your Nickel's Worth Publishing in 2008, is a short easy-to-relate-to fictional novel that reads like a biography. As one critic stated, "this personalized fictional story teases us with anecdotes about growing up as a gay pop-culture-infatuated youth in a small Saskatchewan town."

Funk does a superb job in capturing the essence of small-town Saskatchewan as he writes about real life, sibling rivalry, acts of forgiveness and growing up gay on the Canadian Prairies. The inclusion of mainstream rock stars and their lyrics is indicative of Funk's generation and is significant as each chapter title is named after iconic rock songs.

This has led to the next venture of creating a series of illustrations for each chapter title. Funk recruited well-known Saskatoon illustrator and artist, Kevin Hastings. Hastings is an accomplished charcoal artist specializing in drawings of rock bands, sports figures and wildlife subjects.

Hastings has been successful in resonating with his subject matter, which in turn inspires him to create realistic illustrations. These charcoal images strikingly resemble the likenesses of the identified rock stars named in Wes's book.

A recent conversation with Hastings confirmed he has 17 of the 24 illustrations completed for the project. They will be unveiled and displayed in June at Saskatoon's Frances Morrison Library. The completed drawings of Freddie Mercury, Chuck Berry, The Beatles (Abbey Road scene), The Allman Brothers and Alice Cooper can be viewed on Hasting's website.

"I have enjoyed the opportunity to create these realistic resemblances of rock stars to complement Wes's book," commented Hastings during a telephone interview.

"Years back, when I began penning this book, I really had no idea of the ripple effects and the many different forms the story would also manifest in," says Funk, "I guess my novels are a lot like me, they just keep chugging along."

Dead Rock Stars was shortlisted in the Readers' Choice category of the Saskatchewan Book Awards and received an Honourable Mention in Writers' Digest's International Self-Published Book Competition. Currently in its fifth printing, the book has now sold close to 1,500 copies and has been incorporated into both university and high school curricula and is also an ebook available on Kobo, Kindle and iTunes.

For two years running, Funk has been grateful to be voted one of Saskatoon's Most Favourite Authors in Planet S magazine's annual Best-of-Saskatoon survey.

What does the near future hold for these inspiring young men? Funk continues to captivate the literacy world with his writing capabilities. He is currently working on his memoirs entitled, Blood, Sweat and Tears, which is expected to be published in 2014.

Josdal is extremely pleased with the outcome of the audio book. When asked about attempting audiobooks on poetry, he optimistically replied he will definitely test the marketability for it.

Hastings has strategically paced himself to complete the charcoal illustrations well in advance of the June exhibition.