Showing results by narrator "Edmund Bloxam" in All Categories

In 1976, four friends - Dan, Fred, Tim, and Thierry - are on a bus along the hippie trail from London to Kathmandu. But everything is not going according to plan. After a drug deal goes wrong, the boys barely escape with their lives. Thousands of kilometers, numerous acid trips, accidents, nightclubs, and a pair of beautiful Siamese twins later, they finally reach the counter-culture capital of the world, Kathmandu, and Fred disappears with the drug money. A quarter-century later, mysterious emails invite the other three to pick up their share of the money.

Michael Fomenko is familiar with adversity. But when he gets shut out of the Commonwealth Games for financial and political reasons at the ripe age of 20, he questions everything. Setting a new course for himself, he dreams of a feat that will require unimaginable determination. With no companions or guides, he will paddle a dugout canoe over 1,000 nautical kilometers from Cairns, Australia, to Dutch, New Guinea.

In the mid-1700s, two mischievous brother cats, Licorice and Black Jack, and their clever companion Pepper, a black-and-white African parrot, sailed the seas aboard the Fair Winds. Known for their unmatched rat-killing skills, they were beloved by their owner, Captain Benjamin Schiff. But when a rat chase goes awry, the duo accidentally embarks on an unexpected journey far from home. Chaos follows as they cross paths with a mysterious wizard and his bright assistant, leading to several wild adventures.

Travel back in time to the days of the American colonies with Nathaniel Hawthorne's "In Colonial Days". This collection of stories paints a vivid picture of life in early America, complete with historical details, richly drawn characters, and Hawthorne's signature blend of wit and insight. From tales of Puritan punishment to humorous anecdotes about colonial life, these stories offer a fascinating glimpse into a bygone era. Immerse yourself in Hawthorne's timeless prose and discover the world of the American colonies like never before.

This sci-fi fantasy adventure introduces the worlds of Rigil Kent, where the back-engineering of alien artifacts booms economies and enigmatic cultures clash on the verge of war. Jace, a trader and sometimes smuggler, finds himself shanghaied into running a mission for a ruling dynasty of the “spider folk”, members of New Earth’s rival faction. The mission takes him to the alien world of Matdu—the original home of the mysterious First Race—where a red dwarf sun presides over a half-lit world chock-full of arcane treasure.

When the miners on Mars form a trade union and call a planet wide strike, the president of the Council of Economic Unions orders the federal forces on Mars to take a firm hand.

Fiore is a young Italian woman engaged to be married but her plans are interrupted by a charismatic Sebastián, a handsome middle aged Spanish businessman. Her beauty strikes him like a thunderbolt sent by the goddess Venus herself. When she is given an peculiar gift: a Spanish doll, she is thrown into a whirlwind of entangled passion, money, secrets and love.

After nearly two days of fierce fighting, the Battle of Turtle Island left the skies of the Corsair world darkened with their dead. For a while, the terror seemed to be over, but not just yet. Not all the great Corsair figures of legend had been killed or captured - a few had slipped through the net. Dead Beckoning is the tale of Adam, a former Corsair captain working to expunge his bloody past by doing good - starting with helping the imperial starship Antares to track down and capture one of the most powerful and feared Corsairs in legend: Sona Kilroy.

He was just another man with a drinking problem, only alcohol transformed him into a violent pork-beast named Piggly Swiggly, and since he's always drunk, his human side hasn't seen the light of day in years. After yet another rampaging bender, Piggly wakes up in a jungle metropolis full of floating crocodiles, greasy bacon addicts, and worse: prohibition. Trapped in this strange teetotaled town, he must keep his buzz going or else revert to his weak and vulnerable human form. But even then, Piggly Swiggly's depravity may prove to be his own undoing.

Twenty years in the future, the aliens will encounter a planet decimated by the effects of global warming and the devastating waves of weaponized plagues released by the Everlasting Caliphate, the largest network of Islamic terrorists ever assembled. After decades of all this destruction, how will Alpha-Earth react to the news we are not alone and that other earths worship other gods unknown on our planet? How can we repress the news, even after hundreds of Jamaicans share videos of the historic landing all over the world?

The Reality Beneath is a collection of short stories written by SULI Daniel Johnson. They are written in his distinct brand of science fiction that can be defined as stories that make you think. The Reality Beneath encompasses a good example of SULI Daniel Johnson’s unique style. He takes current topics and situations and looks at them from a new perspective. The genre is technically science fiction, yet quite often, it comes very close to reality broadening the perspective to look at things in a new way. It includes:

Have you ever glanced at a stranger? Then thought about undressing them, taking them home and making them yours? Now imagine that stranger has a husband. Imagine they are happily married. Do you still want them? Do you leave it? The taboo of breaking the ultimate vow can be too much for some and a challenge for others.

The tumultuous recent history of Taiwan surprisingly gave the islands unusually diverse cultures. In these four stories, the authors have successfully woven layers of messages through intriguing plots, characters and metaphors. With extraordinary artistry, they (re)present elaborate human natures. These are the stories of ordinary people who refuse to succumb to hardship or inequality. They are unsinkable Taiwanese.

"The Island Triptych" by Chung Wenyin describes women's and a woman's experiences of 20th century Taiwanese life. It is thus both about culture and history. Decayed Lust, Book 1 is a first-person account of a woman growing up in 1980s and 1990s (and to about 2002) Taipei. It is a poetic mind trying to navigate a densely populated metropolis, and the encounters and experiences of alienation and dissatisfaction this engenders. It is also heartfelt and amusing, as a wry sarcasm settles in.

Decayed Land is the third book of the Islands triptych by Chung Wenyin. If the trilogy is an overview of Taiwanese culture and history through the eyes of the land's women, then Decayed Land is the broadest of the three. It has a large cast of characters and takes on the role of family history for the Chungs, starting properly around the mass migration of Han Chinese to Taiwan, although the family itself having lived there for longer.

As proprietor of the Devil's Draft pub, Frederick Hawthorne's made all sorts of friends and enemies...not all of them exactly human. Least of all whatever haunts the crumbling old countryside chapel where he's found himself, or the winged green lady who keeps turning up everywhere he goes.

Introducing Sia her family tried to hide her from the world she was born into the cruelty she'll have to endure but not all would be bad as something her family would never foresee is her having a brighter future.

As the most celebrated Manzakar in Anzor and the king’s personal bodyguard, Tikran must decide if he’s willing to forfeit his dreams of glory—as well as his own life and the lives of those he loves—to stand up for what he believes in and fight for the oppressed people of Gohar.

For decades in the timeline, the realm has thrived in joyful peace, embracing luxuries and euphoric ways of living which seem will be everlasting to its people. This seemingly endless happiness among the folk may soon come to an end, now that the king has passed; to be burned and buried to rest.

In the heart of Venice, two talented chefs, Emilia and Luca, ignite a passionate love affair amidst the bustling kitchen of a renowned restaurant. Their romance, born from a shared devotion to culinary excellence, is soon clouded by ambition and fierce rivalry. As they compete for recognition, jealousy festers, leading to sabotage and mistrust that threaten to destroy their bond. Battling external forces and their own insecurities, Emilia and Luca must navigate a simmering blend of betrayal, forgiveness, and rediscovery.