Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Literature & Fiction

Following the initial Martian invasion of England, President Theodore Roosevelt tries to prepare the United States for the potential of another Martian incursion. As the possibility of a stronger invasion is increasingly clear, the US government tries to mobilize nations to share information and technology to defend humanity. Newly minted ordinance officer Andrew Comstock has been placed in charge of developing new technology that has to be tested on the fly in a race against time if humanity is to survive.

A must-listen for every classic erotica fan! Performed as a duet by Zachary Johnson and Verla Bond. The term “Masochist” comes from Austrian author Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch, whose fantasies inspired him to write Venus in Furs in 1870. The story is an account of a man named Severin, who is obsessed with being enslaved by a despotic woman in furs. He finds his ideal in a young widow named Wanda: a reluctant domme who discovers her sadistic tendencies through their twisted love affair. Venus in Furs was translated into English by Fernanda Savage in 1921.

First published in the Bulletin in the nineties, Paterson's verse has enjoyed enduring success throughout Australian literary history. Paterson had an intimate knowledge of life in the outback: he knew bushmen and he knew horses. His boundary riders and shearers, his buckjumpers and station hands, are real characters—the first realistic portraits of Australians in the bush at work and play to appear in verse. Many of the characters he created have so imprinted themselves on the public imagination that they have become part of Australian folklore.

As Blandings Castle slumbers in the sunshine, secret passions are astir: Lord Emsworth's niece, Millicent, wants to marry impecunious secretary, Hugo Carmody; and his nephew, Ronnie Fish, wants to marry chorus girl Sue Brown.

The Noh theatre of Japan was popularized towards the end of the 14th century. It was heavily influenced by Buddhism in philosophy and style, and was made up of dances performed at Shinto shrines to honor spirits and gods and old lyric poetry. Around the same time Shakespeare's Hamlet was being performed in London, Noh was integral to official ceremonies at Kyoto, and young nobles and princes were encouraged to attend and perform. This is a collection of four short plays from the Noh theatres of Japan - Hagoromo, Kumasaka, Kagekiyo, and Nishigiki.

Virginia Woolf’s most famous "stream of consciousness" novel, Mrs. Dalloway, records the events of one June day in 1923 - the day on which Clarissa Dalloway is hosting a party in her London home. Mrs. Dalloway continues to fascinate and challenge, hinting at homosexuality, mental illness, racial prejudice, infidelity, and unrequited love. It presents a perfect picture of London between the wars, in an England where the class system is still firmly entrenched while carrying throughout an undercurrent of rage at the resulting inequalities.

In this award-winning screenplay, Bee Haden convinces her son, Tom, to drive with her from Los Angeles to Cape Cod. On the road they eventually discover that love is the only thing we can really give our children.

First published in nine volumes over the years from 1759 to 1767, The life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is a, comic, bawdy, humorous, satirical novel. It purports to be the autobiography of Tristram Shandy beginning at his conception but, famously, Sterne's egoistic character digresses and side-tracks the listener with so many colorful observations of his family and cast of supporting characters that his birth doesn't take place until Vol 3.

Martin Boyne, a midlife bachelor seeking a quiet reunion with a lost love, finds his world upended when he encounters the seven Wheater children. Products of their wealthy parents' endless cycle of divorce and remarriage, the siblings are led by the fiercely protective fifteen-year-old Judith. Bound by a pact never to be separated, the children cling to one another as the only stable force in a world of fleeting whims and neglected duties.

Siddhartha, written by Hermann Hesse in 1920 deals with a man's lifelong search for self discovery during the time of Buddha. He grows up the son of a Brahman, and his quest for self discovery takes him through living as an asthetic until he actually meets the Buddha, but decides not to follow him, but rather discover the joys of sex and a wealth through a beautiful courtesan. He lives the life of the Playboy until one day he renounces it all to seek a more spiritual being. In the end Siddhartha does find enlightenment.

Jill Mariner’s life as a London debutante is perfect: she has money, friends, and is engaged to a handsome Member of Parliament. But it all comes crashing down when her unreliable uncle squanders her fortune. Then there is the incident of plucky Jill hitting a man with a stick while he was attacking a parrot. The MP, appalled by her arrest, breaks off the engagement.

Under the double moons of Barsoom, an invisible flier sped to the mysterious city of Jahar where Sanoma Tora, the kidnapped princess of Helium, had been taken. Hadron of Hastor was at the controls, hatching a rescue plan that required unusual daring and great ingenuity. For invisibility alone was not a great enough weapon against "The Death." And should Hadron succeed, what fate would await him at the hands of the madman whose very genius had created the means of that rescue?

Between 1915 and 1921, C. J. Dennis published seven verse novels and two collections of poetry. The first of these was The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, which features Dennis' characteristic use of a distinctive Australian argot and which became an immediate bestseller.

One of the most iconic TV series ever was Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. This audiobook contains four short stories that inspired four episodes of The Twilight Zone: "The Bus Conductor" by E.F. Benson; "Elegy" by Charles Beaumont; "Time Enough at Last'' by Lynn Venable; and ''An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge'' by Ambrose Bierce. Read by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti, one can understand why Searling was inspired by these short stories.

The Return of the Soldier is the powerful debut novel of the prolific English novelist Rebecca West. First published in 1918, the novel opens with the return of the shell-shocked Captain Chris Baldry from the trenches of the First World War, and grapples with the devastation of mental trauma from that war and its effects on families. Recounted from the perspective of his cousin Jenny, the story examines the relationship between Chris and the three women in his life.

Pudgy, scowling Ogden Ford, spoiled child of divorced parents with far more money than is good for them, is "the Little Nugget" - the El Dorado of the American kidnapping industry. When Ogden's father sends him to an isolated English preparatory school, Mr. Peter Burns, gentleman of leisure - persuaded by his brand new fiancee - becomes a master at the school in order to steal the Nugget and take him back to his doting mother.

Mysterious deaths and disappearances on a doomed ship on its final voyage. Another ship appears out of nowhere, then vanishes. A single survivor of the Mortzestus gives his account of terror and haunting on the high seas in this classic tale by master writer William Hope Hodgson.

Beloved author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, from Anne of Green Gables fame builds on themes from the Anne books in this collection of 31 stories where young people break past limitations, old people rediscover joy, and love cannot be stopped even by death. Rejoin the gentle, courageous world of the Canadian Maritime Provinces in which Anne flourished in this heartwarming collection.

Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) that was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. Alcott wrote the books rapidly over several months at the request of her publisher. The novel follows the lives of four sisters - Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March - detailing their passage from childhood to womanhood and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. This special edition celebrating the 150th year since publication includes excerpts from "Louisa May Alcott, Her Life, Letters, and Journals" and "Little Women" part one and two.

Mr Fortune Explains is HC Bailey's sixth collection of eight golden-age mysteries for the eclectic surgeon-detective Mr Reginald Fortune. Including a child kidnapped from a picnic; a milliner's assistant vanishing from home without a word to her friends; a strange visit, followed by a violent attack on Mr Fortune himself; a raid on a jeweler's shop, and the theft of a photograph; an ill-situated rock garden, and a haunted man; a rigidly saintly clergyman suspected of a trivial theft; a dead policeman and a broken bicycle lamp; and a curiously disturbing picture in the Paris salon.