T's Stuff: Audio Blog Tour: Alexandra’s Riddle by Elisa Keyston

Author: Elisa Keyston

Narrator: Blair Seibert

Length: 5 hours and 52 minutes

Series: Northwest Magic, Book 1

Publisher: Elisa Keyston

Released: Jul. 22, 2020

Genre: Romantic Fantasy

Lose yourself in the magical forests and charming towns of the Pacific Northwest, where picturesque Victorian homes hide mysteries spanning decades, faeries watch from the trees, and romance awaits...for those bold enough to seek it.

Cass is a drifter. When she inherits an old Queen Anne Victorian in rural Oregon from her great-aunt Alexandra, all she wants is to quickly offload the house and move on to bigger and better things. But the residents of the small town have other plans in mind. Her neighbors are anxious for her to help them thwart the plans of a land developer eager to raze Alexandra’s property, while a mysterious girl in the woods needs Cass’s help understanding her own confusing, possibly supernatural abilities.

And though little surprises Cass (thanks to her own magical powers of prediction), she never could have anticipated her newfound feelings for the handsome fourth-grade teacher at the local elementary school — feelings that she thought she’d buried long ago. Cass has sworn off love, but Matthew McCarthy is unlike anyone Cass has ever met. If she isn’t careful, he could learn her secret. Or worse — he just might thaw her frozen heart.

But falling in love could spell danger for both of them. Because it’s not just the human residents of Riddle that have snared Cass in their web. Cass’s presence has caught the attention of the fae that dwell in the woods. They know she has the Sight, and they don’t want to let her go....

Elisa Keyston is an author of sweet romance with hints of magic, intrigue, and suspense. She was the series lead for the first season of The Pioneer Brides of Rattlesnake Ridge, a shared-world historical romance series from Sweet Promise Press, and she’s also the author of the Northwest Magic series from Crimson Fox Publishing, a sweet contemporary romance series with a touch of magic and mystery set in her home state of Oregon. She’s a graduate of Sonoma State University with a degree in history, which inspired her love of historical fiction and modern stories set in historic places. When she’s not writing, Elisa spends most of her time gardening, collecting gnomes and fairies for her backyard, and fawning over her furbabies.

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Blair Seibert is a voice actor in Los Angeles. She provides voiceovers for non-fiction and fiction audio books, TV and radio commercials, online marketing videos, corporate training videos, phone messaging systems and more! Her voice has been called “magical,” soothing and reassuring at the same time. Her voice is warm, emotive, friendly and engaging and portrays a diverse range of characteristics, from corporate to “motherly” to sultry. She is enthusiastic, professional, and easy to work with, and strives to deliver services that exceed her clients' expectations.

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By Elisa Keyston

If my dream came true, the Northwest Magic series would be adapted into a series of Hallmark movies similar to the original Good Witch film series or the various Signature Mystery series. Here are who I would love to portray my characters if such a thing came true!

Cass: Kimberly Sustad

Kimberly Sustad fits my mental image of Cass perfectly. She looks just how I described her, with long, dark hair and dark eyes. But most importantly, I have seen her play characters with Cass’s no-nonsense attitude, so I know that she could nail Cass’s character perfectly. She could be funny, sarcastic, brusque, but also vulnerable and tender. Having her play Cass would be a dream.

Matthew: Michael Rady

Finding someone to dream-play Matthew was a bit harder, as all my favorite Hallmark actors (Jesse Metcalfe, Jeremy Guilbaut, etc.) have dark hair, but Matthew’s is supposed to be light brown. I wound up settling on Michael Rady, who was in a newer movie I really enjoyed called You’re Bacon Me Crazy. Michael Rady also looks quite similar to the model from the book’s cover, which makes him an even better choice!

Lily: Kimura Manatsu

Lily’s character was inspired by Yuiko from the Japanese TV show My Little Nightmare. In my mind, I pictured Lily as Yuiko, but it would be impossible to cast her actress, Kimura Manatsu, for several reasons: for one, I don’t believe she speaks English; and for the other, the actress is now 19 years old. However, if someone with a similar look and acting ability could be found, that would be great. Lily was not written explicitly as Asian, but I described her and her mother vaguely, picturing her mother as Japanese and Lily as half-Japanese.

Darcy: Tinsel Korey

Darcy is based on a friend of mine who is half-Native American, and I always pictured her looking like Emily from the Twilight series. Thus, Tinsel Korey would make a great cast! In this picture in particular, she really looks how I pictured Darcy.

Green: not CGI!

I would love to see Green and the other fae created through practical effects rather than computers. My ideal scenario would be like Disney’s Darby O’Gill and the Little People and The Gnome Mobile, which used tricks of the camera to create the illusion of fae-sized characters in a very realistic way. A show that I enjoyed in my childhood, Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, did something similar, but I believe they used a green screen and superimposed the “small” characters that way. Even puppets in the style of Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal would be great! Anything but CGI, please!

Q&A with Narrator Blair Seibert

How did you wind up narrating audiobooks? Was it always your goal or was it something you stumbled into by chance?
- Honestly, I got into voice acting with the goal of doing commercials or training manuals, not audio books. I enjoyed listening to and learning from audio books, but I didn’t know if I’d have the skills and stamina required to bring an author’s characters to life. Then while I was working with an agent on a commercial project, he said, “Have you done any audio books? Your voice is perfect for romance.” I wondered if that was a come-on line, but at that time I was getting frustrated and stressed over having to schedule my life around commercial auditions which were often posted on the East Coast when I live on the West Coast, so I thought, why not? And shocking to me, I won the first audition I submitted for a romance novel. So, maybe that wasn’t a pick-up line after all.
A lot of narrators seem to have a background in theatre. Is that something you think is essential to a successful narration career?
- I don’t believe a theater background is essential for success. But having a natural talent for telling stories is definitely a plus. The best narrators, even those with formal acting training, hone their craft by continuing to take acting and improv classes and workshops to stay fresh. So, what I do think is essential is constantly practicing and learning more about the craft as a whole.

What type of training have you undergone?
- I’ve had voice training as well as live acting and improv lessons. I’ve done a lot of online training to learn about the audio recording software that I use to record myself from my recording studio. I’m not naturally a techie, so the computer training has been as intensive as the others.

How do you manage to avoid burn-out? What do you do to maintain your enthusiasm for narrating?
- It’s interesting you ask that because for every finished hour you hear there is between 6 to 8 hours of work. I read the entire book once before any recording begins. I mark up speakers and note tongue-twisters that might trip me up as well as making sure I know how to pronounce every name and word in the story. Finally there’s recording and editing it. It takes a focus and stamina to keep the enthusiasm going because if you’re not at the same “level” of enthusiasm in a book, your voice won’t sound the same in the last chapter as it does in the first. It helps if I really like the book, but there’s no time to read an entire book prior to auditioning. If the “snippet” they’ve selected seems like a good fit for my voice and interests, I have to go for it and hope for the best. In the end, I live with a book for quite awhile, so I try to be very selective. I keep burn-out at bay also by only working on one project at a time and taking a day or two break between them if possible.

What are your favorite and least favorite parts of narrating an audiobook?
- My favorite part is reading the books and developing the characters’ voices in my head for the first time. My least favorite part is going back into the audio and replacing sections where I may have missed a word or something sounds wrong. Your voice is affected by foods you eat, the amount of sleep you’ve had, so getting back into character and making and edits sound seamless can be very time consuming.

Is there a particular genre you feel unsuited for? Have you ever declined a project because you didn’t think you were right for it?
- Because my voice has a smooth, sometimes motherly tone, having much “sinister” or “evil” sounding dialogue would strain my voice, so I don’t seek work in that genre. I have declined and always will projects with non-consensual sex (or even fantasies about them) or anything with child exploitation. After working as a building architect for 20 years, a male dominated profession, I’ve experienced the discomfort of an unequal boss/employee relationship, so I won’t do work with that in the storyline as well.
How did you decide how each character should sound in this title?
- In order to quickly change from one voice to another I have to “build” the character as I’m reading the book. It’s very helpful if the character reminds me of anyone I know or know of, like a celebrity. For main characters I spend a bit more time getting to know them so I can embody them more believably. One tool is writing what a “Day in the Life Of” the character would be. What do they eat? What do they do? Where do they go? All these things help me develop my characters. Often the character’s voice change is not as important as the attitude change.
Do you read reviews for your audiobooks?
- Yes, I make it a point to read reviews because I appreciate the time it takes people to submit them. I want readers to know their time and efforts matter. I also look at life as a place we must always continue to learn. So, I’m looking for all kinds of feedback.

What type of the review comments do you find most constructive?
- I think it’s helpful to learn if the listener enjoyed the story itself, the author’s work, or if there was anything in particular they found confusing. If a listener found anything about the narration “intrusive,” then I’d like to know so that I can work on that part of my delivery. If I helped the listener escape and forget that one person is “acting” like all the characters, then I’ve done my job.

What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as “cheating” or as inferior to “real reading”?
- The only “cheating” I think happens with listening to books as opposed to real reading is “cheating the clock.” Since I don’t have time to sit down and read all the books I’d like to, being able to listen to some of them makes me a happier and more knowledgeable person. My father, has been an avid reader for his entire life and my sister recently loaded a library app on his phone and he has been shocked at how much fun it is. He still reads hard copy books during the daytime when the light is good. And he listens at night to other books…says it beats everything he sees on television without a doubt. So, for any “doubters” I always say, “Just try it. I think you might be surprised.”
Bonus question: Any funny anecdotes from inside the recording studio?
- I recently purchased a heavier, more-sound absorbing recording booth. The door almost has to be slammed to get it to seal shut. After setting it up and trying it out, I was glad I had a friend outside the booth because after testing it for sound quality, I wasn’t able to get out! Thank goodness he was there and could help me open the door. While I never used to take my phone in the booth I do now along with a phone charger in case I need to call someone to let me out.