The Headless Horseman - A Strange Tale of Texas by Mayne Reid (1818-1883).

This project is now complete! All audio files can be found on our catalog page: http://librivox.org/the-headless-horseman-a-strange-tale-of-texas-by-thomas-mayne-reid/

The horse is perfect in all its parts—a splendid steed, saddled, bridled, and otherwise completely caparisoned. In it there appears nothing amiss—nothing to produce either wonder or alarm. But the man—the rider? Ah! About him there is something to cause both—something weird—something wanting!

By heavens! it is the head! (Excerpt from the Prologue)

The Headless Horseman is a novel by Mayne Reid written in 1865 or 1866 and is based on the author's adventures in the United States. The Headless Horseman or a Strange Tale of Texas was set in Texas and based on a South Texas folk tale.

Vladimir Nabokov recalled The Headless Horseman as a favourite adventure novel of his childhood years - "which had given him a vision of the prairies and the great open spaces and the overarching sky." At 11, Nabokov even translated The Headless Horseman into French alexandrines.(Summary from Wikipedia)

1. How to claim a part, and 'how it all works' here
   To find a section to record, simply look at point 5. below at the sections. All the ones without names beside them are “up for grabs.” Click "Post reply" at the top left of the screen and tell us which section you’d like to read (include the section number from the left-most column in the reader list, please). Read points 6. to 8. below for what to do before, during and after your recording.
2. New to recording?
   Please read our Newbie Guide to Recording!
3. Is there a deadline?
   We ask that you submit your recorded sections within 1-2 months of placing your claim (or by the target completion date, whatever is sooner). Please note that to be fair to the readers who have completed their sections in a timely way, if you haven't submitted your recording(s) after two months, your sections will automatically be re-opened for other readers to claim, unless you post in this thread to request an extension. Extensions will be granted at the discretion of the Book Coordinator. If you cannot do your section, for whatever reason, just let me know and it’ll go back to the pool. There’s no shame in this; we’re all volunteers and things happen. The target completion date for this project is 20 Nov 2011.
4. Where do I find the text?
   Source text (please only read from this text!): http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35587
5. Please claim sections (the numbers in the first column below)!
   If this is your first recording, please let me know under which name or pseudonym you'd like to appear in the LibriVox catalogue. We can also link to a personal website/blog.
   
   Prospective Prooflisteners: Please read the Listeners Wanted FAQ before listening! Level of prooflistening requested: Standard
   

   Magic Window:

   
   
   BC Admin
   ======================================================
   This paragraph is temporary and will be replaced by the MC with the list of sections and readers (Magic Window) once this project is in the admin system.
   
   BC - please provide *all of* the following:
   [list]
   [*]Number of sections (files) this project will have: 101
   [*]Does the project have an introduction or preface [y/n]: y
   [*]Link to author on Wikipedia (if available): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayne_Reid
   [*]Link to title on Wikipedia (if available): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Headless_Horseman_%28novel%29
   [*]Short description (please state who wrote the description. This can be a paragraph copied from Wikipedia. If you write this yourself, please be aware that your summary will be in the PD):
   [*]Date of first publication:
   [*]Year of author's death (note: in some countries copyright is death of author plus 50 or 70 years)

=======================================================[/size]

[*]BEFORE recording:
Please check the Recording Notes:
http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6427#6430

Set your recording software to:

Channels: 1 (Mono)
Bit Rate: 128 kbps
Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz

[*]DURING recording:
Please leave no more than 0.5 to 1 second of silence at the beginning of your recording!

Make sure you add this to the beginning and end of your recording:
Start of recording (Intro)

• "Chapter [number] of The Headless Horseman. - This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit: librivox DOT org"
• If you wish, say:
  "Recording by [your name]"
• Say:
  "The Headless Horseman - A Strange Tale of Texas, by Mayne Reid. [Chapter Number][Chapter Name]"

End of recording

• At the end of the section, say:
  “End of [Chapter Number]"
• If you wish, say:
  "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
• At the end of the book, say (in addition):
  "End of The Headless Horseman - A Strange Tale of Texas, by Mayne Reid."

Please leave 5 seconds silence at the end of your recording, or 10 seconds for files longer than 30 minutes!

Also, please remember to check this thread frequently for updates!

[*]AFTER recording:
Need noise-cleaning?
Listen to your file through headphones. If you can hear some constant background noise (hiss/buzz), you may want to clean it up a bit. The new (free) version 1.3.3. of Audacity (Mac/Win) has much improved noise-cleaning. See this LibriVox wiki page for a complete guide.

Save files as
128 kbps MP3
headlesshorseman_###_reid.mp3 (all lower-case) where ## is your section number. (e.g. headlesshorseman_001_reid.mp3)

ID3 V2 tags
(To find out more about ID3 tags, go to our wiki: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/What_is_ID3)
Add the following tags to your .mp3 file (how you do this depends on which software you use – if you are unsure about ID3 tags, send me a message). Please mind upper and lower case!

PLEASE COPY-PASTE THE TITLE ID TAG FROM THE TITLE COLUMN IN THE MAGIC WINDOW! THANK YOU.

Title: ### - [Section title]
Artist: Mayne Reid
Album: The Headless Horseman

Please ignore tags for Genre and Track Number - these will be filled in automatically at the cataloguing stage.

Transfer of files (completed recordings)
Please always post in this forum thread when you've sent a file.
Also, post the length of the recording (file duration: mm:ss) together with the link.

• Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader (when your upload is complete, you will receive a link - please post it in this thread):
  http://upload.librivox.org
  
  (If you have trouble reading the image above, please message an admin)
  You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: ni - neerajanagarajan
• If this doesn't work, or you have questions, please check our How To Send Your Recording wiki page.

[/list]

Any questions?
Please post below or PM me.

Wow, quite an interesting and long book. I would lilke sections 0-4 if I may.

Yay! Thank you SO much, Barry. All yours!

I'll take 005, 006 and 007 (shades of James Bond) .

Looks like fun, with a lot of dialect! How in the world did you find it?

-denny

And just to get things started, here is the Prologue, duration 5:32

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/ni/headlesshorseman_000_reid.mp3

DSayers wrote:I'll take 005, 006 and 007 (shades of James Bond) .

Looks like fun, with a lot of dialect! How in the world did you find it?

-denny

Yay, thank you very much, Denny! Sections 5-7 are all yours.
Haha, I was just going through the latest releases on Gutenberg and this one just struck me.

KiltedDragon wrote:And just to get things started, here is the Prologue, duration 5:32

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/ni/headlesshorseman_00_reid.mp3

Thank you so much, Barry! Wow, that was super-fast!

I would like to read chapters 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.

Thanks

Richard

Super, they're all yours! Thanks, Richard!

Hi! This book sounds so interesting and I would love to be your DPL.

Sharon

Yay! Welcome aboard, Sharon!
With this, we're ready to move to Readers Wanted! Woohoo!

Just noticed something you might want to consider. Since this book has 100 sections, shouldn't the file name and the Id tag have three placeholders for the section number?

Richard

I'd like section 14 please; good excuse to practice spanish pronunciation!!

thanks, Mike

rkilmer wrote:Just noticed something you might want to consider. Since this book has 100 sections, shouldn't the file name and the Id tag have three placeholders for the section number?

Richard

Thanks so much! I don't know how I missed it!
Now it's perfectly alright!
Barry, you need to change your filename... Nah, I'll take care of it when I'm cataloging!

Mike O wrote:I'd like section 14 please; good excuse to practice spanish pronunciation!!

thanks, Mike

Hey Mike, Chapter 14 is all yours! Have fun!