Murderbot: the audio drama

Here's some cool news: Martha Wells' Murderbot novellas are getting a new audio adaptation: a full-cast audio drama! Word of the adaptation comes from Wells herself, who noted that it'll be a "full cast, music, and sound effects."

The adaptions comes from Graphic Audio, which has done a bunch of these types of adaptations in the past. The adaptations will consist of the first four novellas: All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, and Exit Strategy. They'll be released over the next couple of month: All Systems Red comes out next week (August 28th), while Artificial Condition comes out September 8th, Rogue Protocol on October 13th, and Exit Strategy on October 26th. In a followup post, Wells noted that these won't replace the existing audiobook editions from Recorded Books (which are now available), but they will be slightly abridged, given the nature of the type performance it is.

I've listened to the All Systems Red audiobook, and enjoyed it, but this does sound like it'll be a pretty engaging project. (You can listen to a sample of the new drama on the product page.) The audiobook industry has been doing gangbusters in the last couple of years, and I've always felt that there's a lot of space for publishers to really do more with their audio production: sound effects and multiple voices can really add more depth to a story. There are some good examples out there: Lucasfilm's done a good job with a number of their audiobooks (it also helps that they have a huge sound bank to draw from.)

I don't know if these will end up on audio platform like Audible or Libro.fm: I don't see a product listing for them. The company's other production are listed there, so I imagine that we'll see them pop up at some point. You can order them directly from GA in the meantime. Also a bonus? The site says that they'll have copies available as a CD release as well: which means that it's not something tied to Audible's platform and app. That's a win in my book.