BY: JONATHAN LOWE

LOWE: As a writer, you also got to adapt some of Orson Scott Card's stories for the stage, and to script the production draft of the upcoming Arthur C. Clarke-based movie Rendezvous With Rama [directed by David Fincher]. How did this come about, and where did you first meet Orson and producer Morgan Freeman?

BRICK: Well, my friendship with Scott Card actually predates my audio book days. I used to write articles for a living, and got to interview him once for a science fiction magazine. It turned out we had so much in common that about 90 minutes after this phone interview was over, he was at my house dropping off a script for a Reader's Theater production of Lord of the Rings he was directing. He'd been listening to my voice and told me, 'Would you do this? You'd make a great Gandalf.' That, of course, after I'd dropped innumerable hints that I'd like to participate in some way. Thank God, he got the hint! Then a few years later I found myself narrating his work on audio. That really made me happy.

As for Morgan, that came about through Lori McCreary, Morgan's business partner and the head of Revelations Entertainment, his production company. She and I used to go to church together, way back when, and knowing I was so well-versed in science fiction, when they were having trouble with their adaptation of Rama, she asked me to consult on it, to help her figure out how to fix it. I basically told her it needed a complete overhaul, a page-one rewrite, and asked if I could do it. She said yes, and we were off. I met Morgan shortly thereafter, in production meetings, and he's the absolute nicest man. He loves that book. In fact, it was his idea to do the film. He dropped the book on her desk years ago and said, 'Let's make this.' Years later, they wound up hiring me all over again to write another draft of Rama. We were hoping it would be the production draft, but in Hollywood, things don't always go according to plan. Given Clarke's recent passing, the thing that makes me proud is that when Morgan and Lori flew to Sri Lanka to visit him and show him the script, it was my version they brought over. I hope he's watching one day when the movie finally gets made. It's a lovely story, and Clarke deserves all the credit for it.

LOWE: You also have a special interest in Stephen R. Donaldson. What's this I hear about your buying audio rights to Donaldson's books?

BRICK: Yeah, look at me, I'm a publisher all of a sudden! I fell in love with Donaldson's work the first time I read his Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I literally sacrificed my grades during finals, my freshman year of college, because I couldn't bring myself to study without knowing how the first volume, Lord Foul's Bane, turned out. Well, years later I got to narrate his latest in the series, Runes of the Earth. When its sequel, Fatal Revenant, came out late last year, I learned there were no plans to record it, and I thought that would be a shame, so I purchased the rights myself. I recorded it in my brand new home studio, then made a deal with Random House to purchase the rights to the original series as well, which as it turns out had never been recorded either. So at the beginning of May, people can either grab the most recent installment, Fatal Revenant, or they can start at the beginning with Lord Foul's Bane. The plan is to have all original six books finished by the time Donaldson comes out with the next in the series. And the folks at Random House Audio were so cool, they've agreed to distribute the series for me, so people can either go to my website and download it there, or they'll find it in all the usual digital distribution outlets like Audible, iTunes and Amazon, as well.

LOWE: What's his best, in your opinion?

BRICK: His GAP series is amazing, his Mordant's Need books are lovely, but having just re-read the first Covenant book (for at least the sixth time), the Covenant series is clearly his masterpiece. And it's an honor to be able to do them on audio, to be associated with them in any way. There were times I had to shut off the tape, I was crying too hard. This is an absolutely glorious series, and I'm really excited about new readers discovering him. I envy them, getting to experience this story for the first time.

LOWE: Tell us about Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson. Hearing you read it, I was struck by how detailed the human story was, or how believable the characters were, which they needed to be in order to support such an otherwise unbelievable plot. What were your thoughts, in recording it?

BRICK: Well, of course its premise is spectacularly original, a novel about Earth being cut off from the rest of the universe by beings unknown for reasons unknown. But it shows humanity adapting to life in exile, essentially, and the crazy effects that has on us as a species. It was extraordinarily dense, in every way. It had dozens of words I'd never heard of before. I lived with my dictionary open before me, and, yes, it was dense in terms of character development too. The book is inhabited by wonderful, original characters that you really feel for, that you root for, and that's always so welcome in books of any genre. There were also some unique challenges. I had to learn how to curse in Flemish, for one thing. And not just any curse, but the absolute worst thing you can say in the Flemish language. It's hysterical, actually, and I've gotten a lot of mileage out of this odd, odd curse.

LOWE: What's next for you, in addition to a final editing on your own first novel? And does yours have a title yet?

BRICK: Yes it does, and thanks for the reminder, I have to get back to it, my agent's been very patient but I don't want to keep her waiting. It's called Echoes, and is a modern-day supernatural thriller, but was inspired by a real-life murder that took place in New England in the 1700s. I've been back to the town where it happened several times and done tons and tons of research. Amazingly, I got the Chief of Police back there to act as my technical adviser on the book. He's guided me through the procedural elements, which has been invaluable. I've even found the grave where the victims were buried and been able to pay my respects. I'm trying to incorporate the original story as much as possible, but without making it historical fiction, you know? Anyway, my girlfriend and several other folks read it and got totally creeped out, which I guess is a good sign. My agent even read my initial draft and told me the same thing, and she already knew what was going to happen! I figure if I can creep people out even when they know the ending, I'll take that as a good omen.