Nancy asked Bruce Beckham:

I listen to audiobooks and I enjoyed the first two books. The third one and all future books are narrated by a virtual voice and I would like to know why?. It really takes away from the story. You don't get the feeling of the characters and I lose my concentration with the drone of that voice. I am sorry not to be able to continue the series.

Bruce Beckham Hi Nancy, thanks for taking the time to contact me and I'm sorry you did not enjoy the AI narration - you have highlighted something of a Catch22 situation. My publishers of audio books have been thrown into a quandary by the advent of AI. I understand it costs them something like $5,000 per audiobook to produce a single title with human narration by a professional actor. While I have been waiting for a decision on future books, Amazon have independently invited me to be included in their Virtual Voice program, in which they bear the costs. While the standard is not comparable, I have had many requests from readers/listeners who prefer audio accessibility, and I decided to go ahead with the AI option in the meantime. To reflect the quality, I have set the price at the lowest possible level allowed by Amazon. (For information, Books 8, 9 & 10 have human narration, by Emmerdale/Coronation Street actor, Nicholas Camm.). Kind regards, Bruce

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