Showing results by narrator "Jeff Harding" in All Categories

The USA has been ravaged by civil war. It's been 30 years since the first wind-borne viruses ended the war between North and South. While the South has been devastated by disease, the North has emerged victorious but terrified of reprisals. Both territories remain at the mercy of the vicious Northern dictator, Renard. Two survivors, Dyce and Vida, journeyed deep into the Southern terrains in search of a cure for Renard's chemical warfare. Now they find themselves scouring the Northern territories on a new and far deadlier pursuit.

Dr. Adam Knox returns from serving with an NGO in the Central African Republic in disgrace. His attempt to protect patients from a brutal militia ended in disaster. He's a little rougher, a little wiser, and a lot more cynical. His new clinic tends to the vagrant, vulnerable and victimized of LA's streets. It earns from the villains willing to pay for discretion. His cynicism remains until the night a beaten Romanian woman abandons her son on his operating table. She seems to be on the run.

JT Maroney, veteran river guide, is ready to take his 125th trip deep into the heart of the Grand Canyon, one of the most beautiful natural chasms in the world. JT think he’s seen it all before, but this trip will change him forever. For the next two weeks, his 12 passengers - mostly strangers to one another, and certainly to him - will paddle, swim, ride the rapids, sleep under the stars, and breathe in the drama of the landscape. They’ll also learn all about each other; more, perhaps, than they wanted to know.

Frances Glessner Lee (1878-1962), born a socialite to a wealthy and influential Chicago family, was never meant to have a career, let alone one steeped in death and depravity. Yet she became the mother of modern forensics and was instrumental in elevating homicide investigation to a scientific discipline. In 18 Tiny Deaths, Bruce Goldfarb weaves Lee's remarkable story with the advances in forensics made in her lifetime to tell the tale of the birth of modern forensics.

Dr. Robinson describes himself as having once being a chain-smoking, caffeine-drinking work junkie, dogged by self-doubt, with no close friends. His colleagues were breathing down his neck and didn’t really appreciate his hard work - at least that’s what he told himself. His memory got so bad, members of his family wondered if he was developing early onset Alzheimer's. He scoffed at the idea of work/life balance, yet he couldn't stop working. He joined Workaholics Anonymous, entered therapy, and stumbled into yoga and meditation.

In the depths of a summer night, seven drugged children are found dumped on a highway verge in northern Maine. Their memories have been wiped. There is no record of their disappearance. Unknown to the world, they are pawns in a secret war. No therapy or hypnosis can release the kids from their amnesia. They’re soon given up for adoption, begin their lives afresh, and then over time they’re forgotten. Until twenty years later, when two of them go on murderous rampages, as if suddenly woken from slumber.

It’s not unusual for ships to vanish, lost to bad weather, but what isn’t so easy to explain are the abandoned ships, left floating on the waves, eerily silent with no sign of attack or destruction. In this short story, our unnamed protagonist recalls his experience aboard the Robert Sutter, an abandoned ship he was forced to take charge of during his journey from Sydney to Callao.

There have been reports of a phantom ship attempting to run down other vessels on the waters. It is said to be a cutter that went missing, along with its crew. A ship eventually stumbles across the missing cutter, a final log from those on board shedding light on the fate of the cutter.

There is a dark mood aboard Serapis, driven by its distracted captain. It was agreed that this ship would not be returning from its voyage, the insurance money paying for a new ship. But the captain loses more than he bargained for, and it is years until he is at peace when he is unexpectedly reunited with the wreck on the coast of Chile.

A deadly captain is the subject if this short story. Young sailor Roberts recalls his experience of Captain Morbond, a cruel, heartless man who mysteriously is followed by small white mice said to carry the souls of dead men.

An earthquake throws a ship and its crew into disarray in this short story from Morgan Robertson. But the waves become the least of their worries when they discover a mysterious beast has been disturbed, invisible to natural light.

A smoking cigar is seen in the fog, but not the man behind it. Could it be the final smoke of Charlie Devereux? The crew aboard the Königen Teresa recall this ghostly story as they themselves plough into fog across the Mid-Atlantic.

Professor Jonkin is a scientist who has successfully cultivated a tree that produces many fruits. He doesn’t stop there though and starts experimenting on a pitcher plant with disastrous results....

A retired war pilot is travelling the French countryside. Entranced by the natural beauty of the area when he stops to rest by a lake, he sees visions of beautiful tree women who seek his protection.

The titular house in this short story sits not far from the state of Missouri. An old, run-down building, missing windows and doors, it has been overgrown with foliage, and its dilapidated appearance has given it an ‘evil reputation’.

Emma Vane blurs the line between human and plant in this short story featuring a lily that has developed a mouth and can moan. Concern is soon raised for the safety of the central protagonist, botanist Carl Brense.

A short story from the British Library Tales of the Weird collection Evil Roots. Best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, this short story by Conan Doyle preceded the famous detective by almost a decade. After an altercation, a disgruntled American storms off into the night, only to disappear mysteriously. Could a giant flytrap really be capable of engulfing an adult victim?

BBC Audio present six fantastic tales of twisted futures and times beyond tomorrow. Inspired by the pulp sci-fi of '50s America, these perfectly pitched parodies are redolent of the atomic age—when the space race was at its height, Cold War paranoia was at fever pitch and the future seemed both thrilling and terrifying.

In Our Time is an exploration of alienation, loss and war that launched Ernest Hemingway into the American public consciousness and began his career as one of American’s foremost writers.

Shawnee chief Tecumseh was a man destined for greatness - the son of a prominent war leader, he was supposedly born under a lucky shooting star. Charismatic, intelligent, handsome, he was both a fierce warrior and a savvy politician. In the first biography of Tecumseh in more than 20 years, Peter Cozzens thoroughly revises our understanding of this great leader and his movement, arguing that his overlooked younger brother Tenskwatwa, the 'Shawnee Prophet', was a crucial partner in Tecumseh's success.