Thank you to the group who gathered on Zoom to meet with author Emma Viskic to discuss her book “Resurrection Bay” which is the first in a four book series featuring deaf investigator Caleb Zelic. See below for a summary of what we discussed and our next book.

“Resurrection Bay” with Emma Viskic summary:

• “Resurrection Bay” is Book 1 in a 4 book series featuring Caleb, the books are: “And Fire Came Down”; “Darkness For Light”; “Those Who Perish.” You can find out more about the books here: https://emma-viskic.com/all-books/ 
• Emma learned Australian Sign Language (Auslan). There are some obvious differences, such as American Sign Language (ASL) is largely one handed and Auslan is two. I found a Video that shows the differences and also an Article
• Emma also talked about learning lip reading (or speech reading as it is sometimes called). Emma mentioned she used a UK site called Action on Hearing Loss. I did find them and they have changed their name to Royal National Institute For Deaf People. Here is their website and they do have a page on lipreading with a separate site for practicing lipreading at home.
• It was also recommended by one of our book club members that to work on your lip reading to watch something like a YouTube video first with captions and then without and no sound. (Good tip, thanks Ade).
• Emma also talked about having an Auditory Processing Disorder that she didn’t quite realize that she had until she was writing Resurrection Bay. Here ia a Mayo Clinic article on APD that explains it.
• We talked to Emma about the accessibility of the audiobook for those who had a harder time with accents or deeper voices but had to use the audio book. She recommended contacting her publisher and I followed up with her and she gave me some email addresses of who to contact. I will reach out and explain it’s a matter of accessibility so it would be nice if someone like NLS/BARD could have permission to rerecord those audiobooks.
• I have also wondered about using other resources for turning a book into an audiobook. I found:
  • You can use Accessibility “voice over” function with your Kindle app and it will read the book out loud. It’s not ideal because it’s the very computer/robotic monotone voice so it could be hard to listen to for long.
  • I synced my AirPods with my Kindle and turned on the accessibility feature on the kindle. This allowed the kindle to read the book out loud. I was having trouble with this, but will try again. Imagine it would be that computer/robotic voice and hard to listen to for long.
  • I have also seen apps like Speechify that read out loud written text (you can upload text files, etc.). I haven’t looked into this as it does cost but it might be worth a look.
• Emma also mentioned the series’ adaptation for TV  (Australian). She wasn’t sure if it would end up going to completion (as is the nature of the show business).
• Emma’s website has several resources, including a book group guide to the novel: https://emma-viskic.com/guide-for-reading-groups-resurrection/
• Her next book is set between the world wars. It features a female protagonist and takes place in Australia. (I forgot to ask when that would be published.)
• Emma’s website: https://emma-viskic.com/
• I found a few video interviews with her here (about the 4th book) but a good interview. And this one with her publisher interviewing her.

Next book and book club:

“Deaf Republic” by Ilya Kaminsky (Poems). Ilya Kaminsky’s astonishing parable in poems asks us, What is silence? BARD/NLS: Yes, Braille: BR 22694, BARD: DB 94920. Tuesday, NOVEMBER 26, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. [ZOOM-Register Here]. Amazon Book Summary: Ilya Kaminsky’s astonishing parable in poems asks us, What is silence?

To find out more about book club, visit our webpage.