ANDREW BISS

Yes, the day has finally arrived! The End of the World audiobook edition is now available for sale at Audible.com (and soon to be available on iTunes and Amazon). Narrated by the outrageously talented Wayne Farrell (seriously, he could make the online Yellow Pages sound fascinating). So if you or someone you know enjoys listening to audiobooks, grab a copy of The End of the World , sit back, and let Wayne take you along on a journey unlike any other. And right now Audible is running a promotion on over a thousand titles, so there's another reason to head on over there!

There's a great article in the Guardian Book Blog today, highlighting some of the winning entries for the The Bulwer-Lytton award for brilliantly bad starts. Here's the classic inspiring opener from the contest's namesake: “It was a dark and stormy night ; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.” — Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830) Do check out the article; it's especially worth it to read this year's winning entry .

The Joneses. Yes, the third and final story in my "Broken World" trilogy will soon be completed, so in the meantime here's a peek at the book cover. Think of the tree as representing the tree of life...but in a broken world. This one is all about the travails of parenting. The Joneses, you see, didn't have much of a clue about just what they were taking on in their rush to "adopt" Ali and Omar. And mistakes, as we all know, almost always have to be paid for. More to come...

Yes, today's post has nothing to do with books or writing and everything to do with a little 11 month old boy named Noah. I hope you'll forgive me going off topic today, but I came across this on Boing Boing  and was very touched by it, so I'd like to do my part in helping spread the word. I've attempted to embed the video below, but in case it doesn't work, please click on one of the below links to find out more. I'll let Noah's father, Mike, take it from here: Dear Friends and Supporters, On July 5th, 2012, my 11-month-old son, Noah, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Please consider giving in support, as well as helping spread this link. The proceeds from your contribution will go towards getting Noah the best care possible, as well as helping keep our family afloat while we focus on little Noah’s treatment and comfort. Anyone who contributes will receive a downloadable audio version of this rendition. A special thanks to Jesse, and ...

The next installment from the Broken World collection is out now! Foreign Bodies is a darkly humorous dystopian short story that is part political commentary, part dark satire. Foreign Bodies is adapted from the stage play I wrote of the same name, way back in 2004, which was originally produced in New York by Emerging Artists Theatre in the spring of 2005. At the time I wrote it there was a conflict going on that I was deeply opposed to and had been since before its inevitable onset. The play was intended as a futuristic, blackly humorous vision of the result of this conflict, where the spoils of war were likely to blow up in your face. Interestingly, though, my dark vision of a future where people vacation at hotels located in war-torn areas of the world has now seemingly come to pass to some degree, which, in case you didn't see it, you can read about here . Anyway, here's a little more about Foreign Bodies : Victoria and Max have just arrived at their ho...

I'm pleased to say that an audiobook edition of The End ofthe World will become available for purchase sometime over the next couple of weeks at Amazon.com , Audible.com (a subsidiary of Amazon), and iTunes . It's being narrated by the scandalously talented Wayne Farrell , who is turning in such a great performance of all the characters in the book. This is no small feat, either. As well as characters of different ages and genders, he's also had to contend with a number of different accents. Wayne, though, has more than risen to the challenge, giving each character its own distinctive voice without ever drifting into the realm of caricature. Hearing his readings of each chapter as they've been completed has almost been like hearing the book again for the first time. From books on tape, to audio CDs, and now MP3 downloads, audio editions of books have for a long time now enjoyed a significant following. They're great for listening to when taking a long car,...