L.J. Ganser

“LJ. Ganser brought the voice of Jake Danser to life— charming, vain, sinister—in ways that captured the fear and loathing, the knife edge of suspense that an author can only hope for when a book is brought to audio. Ganser inhabited the character (and the story) with his intuitive talent for the emotional underpinning of the dramatic moment: understated when he needed to be, out on the limb, deceptive, daring when called for, always deep in the zeitgeist of the fictional world—and I am most grateful for his brilliant work.”

—Domenic Stansberry, Edgar Award Winning Author of The Confession.

Entomologist Justin O. Schmidt doesn’t TRY to get stung when he’s dealing with harvester ants and other venomous creatures. However, he’s been stung enough to consider the stings a data point. Narrator L.J. Ganser’s voice is cheerful as he reads Schmidt’s first-person account, even when the text is comparing the painful ant stings the author has lived through. Schmidt’s fatalistic sense of humor also carries through to the science of stings and poisonous animals. It’s not all bleak; some of the stinging creatures, such as the domesticated honey bee, are beneficial to humans. The audiobook wraps up with a pain scale, in which Ganser rattles off pain descriptions as if describing the tastes of wines. Getting stung is never funny, but Schmidt’s take on the subject often is.

—AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

It is always a pleasure to work with L.J.  We have worked together on a variety of children’s books.  Whether it is a book that requires the ability to be very imaginative in the portrayal of animate (and inanimate) creatures, or one that is straightforward, informational and needs someone who is very good at presenting material in a clear and understandable manner, L.J. comes to the session prepared, but also ready to be flexible and spontaneous as the situation requires. He makes the recording experience very enjoyable as well, always bringing a good attitude and sense of humor with him to the studio…no, an off-the-wall sense of humor. He recently auditioned for a book with wizard, kings and princess, and evil magistrates, and his portrayal of the characters were spot on.  I actually casted him for about three or four characters in this multi-cast production.  I can’t say enough good things about L.J.!  He’s the best!!!

—Arnie Cardillo, Producer and Publisher, Live Oak Media, Inc.

As a writer of narrative nonfiction, no aspect of the process is more critical to me than establishing and maintaining a strong, compelling, and convincing voice. Whether it’s the narrative voice, or the literal voice of each character within the story, or even the voices of the story’s various settings (the mood, the tone, the feel of this scene or that), I’ve always believed nothing more powerfully captures the reader, draws her into the story, and keeps her there than the sound in her head of those words on the page. I’ve been fortunate to have several of my books read aloud on tape, CD, or in a digital format, and I can say that none of those professional readers more effectively and consistently conveyed the effect I intended than L.J. Ganser. Every word, every sentence, every paragraph read aloud by him sounded just as I heard it in my head when I put those words on the page. It’s a gift to be able to give life to someone else’s prose like that, and L.J. Ganser has that gift. —

—Mike D’Orso, author of EAGLE BLUE: A Team, A Tribe, and a High School Basketball Season in Arctic Alaska