24 February 2022: There have been a few updates to the site, particularly on the Audiobooks page. Also touched up the biography page. We have removed the link to Navaladventure.com. Amazon has dropped the link type used on the site, so it’s turned into a lot of pages with nothing on them and considering sales figures even before everything disappeared there doesn’t seem much point in trying to fix it.
1 April 2020: The War Patrol Reports series has gone out of print and those pages will no longer be included in the navigation for this site.
17 November 2018: The site is now using secure hosting. I’m not selling anything here, but Google has decided that the connection still needs to be encrypted. We’ll be losing the Twitter and Facebook buttons, at least until we can figure out a way to get them to work properly in the new environment.
15 November 2018: My latest audiobook narration, Sherlock Holmes Through the Microscope, by Carl Heifetz, is now available at Audible.com. This is a fascinating collection of essays and short stories that no Sherlockian will want to miss.
12 February 2018: On 29 January, I created a GoFundMe campaign to try to raise some money to pay for a new septic system for my house in Georgia. So far, the campaign has managed to raise exactly nothing. Since I can’t convince the bank to just forego four months of mortgage payments, this has gone from a “help me pay for the septic repairs” campaign to a “save my house” campaign. More details here.
19 January 2018: My story, We’ll All Die in the Morning, has been published by C.E.B. Pubs and is now available in Amazon’s Kindle format. You can also read it free if you have Kindle Unlimited.
11 January 2018: Attended a screening of Ben Brown’s new film, After, at Studio 35 Cinema & Draft House. Brilliant film. First time I’ve seen myself on something bigger than a television screen. Thinking I should probably avoid full profile shots these days.
3 January 2018: Stewart Giles’ latest DS Smith mystery, Horsemen, is now out in audiobook, again with me narrating the story. This time Smith travels to America, and there may be something happening with DC Whitten.
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15 November 2017: Returning is now available as an audiobook.
11 October 2017: Complete update of this site.
5 October 2017: Very nice review of Returning today from By Rite of Word.
4 October 2017: Bacalao has now been published in a Dutch eBook edition. Currently available from Apple, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. A paperback version of the Dutch edition should follow shortly.
9 July 2017: Finished recording Stewart Giles’ sixth Detective Sergeant Jason Smith novel, Selene, a couple days ago. I’ll be starting on the next, Horsemen, this afternoon. Horsemen is the seventh and final novel for now, and when it’s finished I’ll have narrated six of the seven. I’m also doing some site updates, now that I’ve recovered things from the (hard drive) crash. This includes re-
20 June 2017: Had a major computer crash that managed to not only knock out my PC, but somehow damaged the backup drive as well. Among other issues, that means rebuilding this entire site from an old backup. This has no effect on the site itself, but since it wiped out the file WebPlus uses to maintain the site, there’s still a problem.
3 April 2017: Returning is released for sale in Kindle and trade paperback editions at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and all the other Amazon sites. I’m rather hoping for some good responses from the UK site, considering how much of the action in the novel takes place there. (Note that the Kindle edition is on all Amazon sites, while the paperback is only on some of them.)
4 March 2017: We’ve announced a release date of 3 April 2017 for the paperback and Kindle editions of Returning. Also added an article about the book. You can pre-
1 March 2017: Audible released Eric Robert Morse’s Indy 500 novel, Ricky Wills It, which I narrated. This is a little unusual, as it’s only the second audiobook I’ve done using an American accent.
25 January 2017: Audible has just released Mark Barnard’s The Jerry Carnaby Collection, narrated by me. This includes two novellas, The Man With the Electric Voice, and The Vulture Murders, featuring Scotland Yard Inspector Jerry Carnaby. Be sure to check it out.
8 January 2017: In rehearsal for The Taming of the Shrew at the Columbus Civic Theatre. I’ll be playing the role of Vincentio, the father of Bianca’s young swain, Lucentio. One of those small but fun roles where there’s a lot of fun involved.
16 October 2016: Rehearsing the role of Captain Southard in the Arena Fair Theater production of Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, opening Veterans’ Day weekend in Delaware, Ohio.
7 October 2016: The third audiobook in Stewart Giles’ Detective Sergeant Jason Smith series, Ladybird, is now available at Audible.com. I’m having a lot of fun narrating these quirky British detective thrillers, and I’m currently working on the fourth in the series, Occam’s Razor, which should be available before the end of the year.
30 September 2016: In Cleveland shooting a public service spot. Lots of coffee drinking (faked, as I still don’t like the stuff), and a good bit of walking around downtown in the rain. The rain wasn’t planned, it was just what we got, so the director decided to make the best of it.
10 September 2016: On location shooting my scenes in Ben Brown’s new feature, After. This should be an interesting movie when it’s complete. I play a doctor.
31 July 2016: Now available on Audible.com, Gary D. Rhodes’ and William M. Kaffenberger’s No Traveler Returns: The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi, once again narrated by me. This book chronicles Lugosi’s work from 1946 through about 1951.
21 July 2016: Available now on Audible.com, the second book in Stewart Giles’ DS Jason Smith series, Boomerang. In this followup to Smith, the York Police detective sergeant is faced with a vicious serial killer whose crimes all point to events in Smith’s past. I’m currently recording Ladybird, the third installment in the Smith series, which should be along shortly.
8 July 2016: Had an early script/production meeting for A Bit of Shakespeare today. Ever wonder how a community theater decides which of Shakespeare’s many plays to include in their season? This feature length film probably won’t enlighten you very much, but it should be entertaining watching these people try. The film’s website is live as of today, but there isn’t much there yet.
6 July 2016: Currently appearing as the father in a Cash Explosion commercial. A video of the spot is on the show’s Facebook page.
20 May 2016: Took some new pictures. First time a headshot has shown me with hair in a very long time. And, yes, that’s my own hair. I paid for it, so it’s mine, even if it used to be somebody else’s. That’s the wig I’ll be wearing as Curt, in case you were wondering what this was all about.
28 April 2016: Cast as Curt in Out of the Box Community Theatre’s forthcoming production of Tom Dudzick’s Don’t Talk to the Actors. Performances at Hoge Memorial Presbyterian Church, 2930 Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio, at 8:00 pm on Friday and Saturday, June 3-
19 April 2016: Released for sale today at Audible.com, Stewart Giles’ crime thriller, Smith: A DS Jason Smith Thriller. I had a blast narrating this one. Giles is a great crime writer, and Detective Sergeant Smith is a complex, fascinating character. He’s also based in York, not London, which is a little different. I’m in the process of recording the sequel now.
Also just released, the audiobook version of my one-
14 March 2016: Now on sale at Audible.com, William H Kaffenberger Jr’s and Gary D Rhodes’ Bela Lugosi in Person, narrated by me. I really had a good time doing this one, which concentrates on Lugosi’s many personal appearances during his long career.
29 February 2016: My latest audiobook narration job, Go Entertain’s The History of the Royal Navy, is now available at Audible.com.
10 February 2016: The newest audiobook I’ve narrated, Reasons Not to Buy a Sugar Glider, by Diamond Nester, became available at Audible.com today. Despite the title, this little book is strongly positive about the benefits of owning one of these delightful marsupials.
5 February 2016: The Battle of Britain and the Heroes of the Skies, which I narrated for Go Entertain, became available today at Audible.com.
14 January 2016: My new book, Shakespearean Performance: A Beginner’s Guide, is now available as an audiobook at Audible.com. I wrote and narrated this guide, which is published by C.E.B. Pubs.
26 December 2015: Well into rehearsals for The Comedy of Errors at Columbus Civic Theater. The show opens January 7, 2016. I’ll be playing the Duke.
24 December 2015: The print version of The Sixth Victim & Other Plays has been published, and is now available at Amazon.com and other online booksellers.
28 October 2015: The audiobook edition of Bacalao, narrated by Dennis St. John, is now available from Amazon.com and Audible.com. It should also be available in the iBook store shortly, if it isn’t already.
9 October 2015: The first week of rehearsals for Jeff Daniels’ Escanaba in da Moonlight are completed. I’ll be playing Jimmer, which after all those stuffy Englishmen should be a lot of fun. I don’t get to play a perpetually plastered backwoods UFO abductee all that often. Or spend the second act blundering about the stage in a red flannel union suit, for that matter.
24 July 2015: Hamlet: Speeches and Soliloquies, my new spoken word album, was released for sale. Initially available on the iTunes and Amazon MP3 stores, it is also being released to most other online retailers for download. I’ve started working on another spoken word album of Edgar Alan Poe’s poetry, which should be available later this summer. The Hamlet album has me doing speeches and soliloquies by six different characters, including Hamlet and Laertes, both of whom I’d be too old to play on stage.
30 April 2015: Hamlet prep continues. I’ve been uploading some pictures to iStockPhoto.com, with a half dozen available for licensing so far. I may add a Photographs page to this site and put up some stuff for anyone who wants prints.
12 April 2015: I’ve been officially retired for just over a month now. Odd feeling. I don’t think I’m actually working any less. There are books to edit, websites to update, and I still need to finish learning Act 5 of Hamlet. Fun, fun, fun!
28 January 2015: In rehearsal for the role of Solicitor John Mayhew in Agatha Christie’s The Witness for the Prosecution at the Little Theatre Off Broadway in Grove City, Ohio. Good role, but I fear the second act will present a particular challenge. Mr Mayhew spends the entire second act sitting in a chair in the courtroom and never says a word. I sometimes have enough trouble staying awake when I have dialogue. This is the sixth show I’ve done at LTOB, and I’ve played an Englishman (well, once, a crazy Scottish wizard) in five of them.
2 January 2015: Come this June, I will be appearing as Claudius in the CPC Theatrical production of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Abbey Theater of Dublin (Ohio). I’m too old to be Hamlet (and arguably not quite old enough to be Polonius), but, honestly, playing the bad guy is generally a lot more fun. Not to mention, while he may get slightly stabbed at the end, Claudius doesn’t have to learn all that complicated fight choreography required of Hamlet and Laertes. Learning all those lines is enough for me. I’ll leave the (very real) swords to the younger guys.
15 February 2014: Will be appearing in Monty Python’s Spamalot at the Little Theatre Off Broadway in Grove City, OH in April/May. I’ll be playing the Mayor in the Finland number, walk on as Sir Not Appearing in This Show, and then return later as Tim the Enchanter, which will undoubtedly be the most fun. If they’re smart, they’ll figure out a way to keep my feet as stationary as possible. No one wants to see me dance (presuming anyone would ever call it that).
15 November 2013: My recently produced play, Coming Out: A Dark Comedy in Two Acts, has been nominated for Best Original Play in the BroadwayWorld.com Columbus Awards. Also nominated from this show was Jim LeVally, who played Rev. James Anderson, for Best Actor in a Play. Martha Kathryn Smith, who played Jim’s wife, was nominated for Best Young Actress for a different show. Voting continues through December 31. The entire play is currently available for viewing on line at the play’s website, ComingOutThePlay.com, and on YouTube.
29 September 2013: Tomorrow begins the final week of rehearsals for Coming Out: A Dark Comedy in Two Acts, at The Abbey Theater of Dublin, leading up to a combination dress rehearsal and preview on Thursday, October 3, and our opening night on Friday, October 4. After the opening we’ll run two more weekends, with performances at 8:00 pm on Fridays, and a 3:00 pm matinee and 8:00 pm evening performance on Saturdays.
8 June 2013: Uploaded a new website, ComingOutThePlay.com. I wrote the play, and will be playing the father in it, along with co-
1 March 2013: Opening night for To Kill a Mockingbird at the Little Theatre Off Broadway, in Grove City, Ohio. I’m playing Judge Taylor in this production. That’s one of those roles where you don’t say a lot, but what you do say is fairly critical. Curiously, this show has reminded me that I seem to be one of those rare men who can shave off a white beard and somehow end up looking older! That’s just not right! Nice turnout for the opening. (Later: In fact, other than opening night, the entire run sold out.)
3 June 2012: Started rehearsals for Into the Woods at Arena Fair Theater in Delaware, Ohio. I’ll be playing the Narrator. Performances scheduled for the first weekend in August, if you happen to be in the area on those dates. I haven’t sung in public for a while, so this should be interesting.
17 February 2012: I’ve posted a video of me reading my short story, A Patient Man, to my YouTube channel, TheJTMcDaniel.
30 November 2011: Doing a little tweeting lately. Who says old guys can’t learn new stuff? Not that anyone is actually following yet.