You can get FREE DOWNLOADS of Chapters 1 and 2!
Just click right here:
The complete audiobook can be purchased from Conlan Press in the following editions:
The complete audiobook can also be purchased in two bundles:
Please note: The LU-CD edition consists of 7 CDs, plus a bonus 8th disk containing an hour-long interview with Peter S. Beagle.
Availability: Everything is finished on the LU-CD and LU-MP3C editions except for manufacturing, which we are on hold for now (see the Updates page for details). These products will ship in 2008.
Before now, there has never been an unabridged audiobook of The
Last Unicorn. Given the book's classic stature, and the explosive
growth of the audiobook marketplace over the last two decades, this
is surprising.
Mind you, there was a seriously abridged edition released on cassette around 1990, one that chopped out more than half the book and just about all of Peter's songs...but that evil memory is best left to wither into complete obscurity. Just the thing to do with an author noted for his magical skill with the English language, right? Throw away 50% of the words. Next up, the greatly-shortened version of the Kng Jms Bbl. All the grace in half the syllables!
But we digress. The real point is that when we got the opportunity to do this project, we wanted to do it right. In every way.
We went and got the best possible living reader for the book (who, by huge coincidence, turned out to be Peter S. Beagle himself).
We brought in the best voice recording guy in San Francisco, Jim Lively, to engineer and co-produce.
We called up Jeff Slingluff in Los Angeles, and talked him into writing beautiful music that was all directly inspired by the text. No needle-drop cues, no fitting squarish pegs into roundish holes, no pre-recorded anything. Not for this project. Carefully-crafted original material only, featuring Jeff's virtuoso guitar work and amazing gift for melodic structure.
We recorded and mixed everything on Pro Tools HD (High Definition), the acknowledged top of the line in multitrack audio technology.
For the downloadable version, we went with MP3-LAME encoding, which despite its unfortunate acronym is the highest-quality encoder publicly available.
And when it came to cover and packaging art, fate stepped in. Peter's ideal choice was the award-winning husband/wide team of Leo and Diane Dillon — the only people who have ever earned back-to-back Caldecott Awards. (For those who don't already know, the Caldecott is basically the Academy Award of Children's book illustration). Peter and Connor had both known the Dillons for a long time, so they had an in. But they also knew there was no point in asking, since the Dillons are typically booked up years in advance. What they didn't know was that tucked away in Leo and Diane's basement there was a detailed cover sketch for The Last Unicorn that had been commissioned in 1982, then never actually painted because of artistic disagreements with Peter's publisher. For 22 years they'd been hoping someone would come along and give them an excuse to finish it. Which they did, gloriously, for our project. Thank you a thousand times over, Leo and Diane!
As for the audiobook work itself, well, we took all the time it required. Over a year, in fact, from first recording session to final mix. We did everything just as many times as it took for us to be completely satisfied, because we knew we were working with a classic. Anything less than our best would simply not do it justice.
When you listen to what we have all come together to create, we hope you will be pleased.
Yes, I would like to go to the storefront so I can select and order an edition of the unabridged Last Unicorn audiobook.
