Showing results by narrator "Michael Maloney" in All Categories

Elizabeth Bowen was one of the 20th century's most distinctive writers. An associate of the Bloomsbury Set, she was a keen observer of upper-middle-class life and relationships. Best known for her novels of the Anglo-Irish gentry and wartime London, her fiction displays recurring themes of loss, rootlessness and displacement. This collection contains five of Bowen's best-loved works, and hears from the author herself in three radio talks on the art of novel-writing.

King John of England is pitted against the united powers of France, Brittany, Austria, and the Papacy. Will England be destroyed by his fatal indecision? As alliances are made, broken, and remade, the paranoid and erratic John reveals his weakness and reliance on those around him - including his powerful mother, Queen Elinor, and Faulconbridge, the cynical and witty bastard son of the dead King Richard I.

Samson Agonistes, the 'dramatic poem' by John Milton, was published in 1671, three years before the poet's death. Written in the form of a Greek tragedy, with the Chorus commenting on the action, it follows the biblical story of the blind Samson as he wreaks his revenge on the Philistines who have imprisoned him. A powerful subject, with a personal resonance for the blind Milton, it is a perfect work for the medium of audiobook where poetry and drama can be balanced equally.

Invited to the remote island of Dearth, far across the Dream Archipelago, to talk at a conference, he finds himself caught up in a series of mysteries. How can Dearth claim to be completely crime-free yet still have an armed police force? Why are they so keen for him to appear but so dismissive when he arrives? Is his sense of time confused, or is something confusing happening to time itself?

At the age of 30, Robin is an Earl at last - but not the Earl of Waringham, the ancestral title that he still hopes to win back one day from the evil Mortimer. England has seen other changes too: Edward III is dead and his successor, the boy king Richard II, is at odds with his uncle, the Duke of Lancaster. The introduction of a hated new poll tax brings about one of the most dangerous episodes in English history and Robin finds himself embroiled in the Peasants’ Revolt.

Michael Maloney reads this original adventure by Dan Abnett, featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory. For centuries the Maintainers have worked. With no help from other worlds, they subsist on the food they can grow and that’s little enough. But their purpose, their whole life, is to maintain the machines that will one day make their world as habitable as old Earth. Life used to be hard. Now as crops fail, livestock sicken, and the temperature drops, it’s becoming impossible.

Robin has made a powerful ally in the Duke of Lancaster. But he has made powerful enemies too: not only his childhood adversary Mortimer, but the sadistic knight Peter de Gray. Returning to England, he is awarded the fiefdom of Fernbrook in Lancashire, where he meets the beautiful noblewoman Joanna. But the wheel of fortune keeps turning and as the years pass Robin and his friends must face trials and tragedies: plague, war and political intrigue are never far away.

Nineteen thirty-five: a message from a Time Lord in trouble sends the Eighth Doctor and Charlotte 'Charley' Pollard to the streets of London's West End, in search of a mysterious alien adversary - unaware that something monstrous is already on their trail. They soon discover that an insidious conspiracy is indeed at work, its tentacles extending the length of the British Isles.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. A descendant of judge John Hathorne, who oversaw the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, he wrote several works inspired by Puritan New England, with themes of guilt, sin and retribution. This collection contains his classic novel, The Scarlet Letter, as well as four other stories.

Media mogul Lord Malan is the billionaire owner of The Blue Touch Paper, an old-fashioned, hard-right weekly magazine with traditional Conservative values. But the paper is so true blue, it’s losing its touch. Sales are falling and circulation is down – mainly because its core readers are either on the brink of death or foam-flecked with rage. It’s time for a new editor, and political commentator Anna is sure she’s a shoo-in for the position. Much to her disappointment, however, Malan picks a different candidate: Keith, the Guardian’s token Tory, who champions compassionate Conservatism.

The Ghoulies and Ghosties are up to no good, and in the tall, tall tower with the pointy roof, the creepy corridor and the rickety, rackety stairs, a damsel is in distress. Will Sir Charlie Stinky Socks, his faithful cat Envelope and his good grey mare save the (day) night? And are you brave enough to find out?

Sir Charlie Stinky Socks's latest quest is to return a sack of stolen Egyptian gold back to its right owner, one Elfie Corrie. Join our hero and his faithful friends as their adventure leads them through the desert to a one-horse town and into a race against a not-too-friendly fellow.

So the brilliant Sir Charlie Stinky Socks, his cat Envelope and his good grey mare must find a ship so they can set sail and rescue the messenger. But, who needs their help, and what fearsome sea dangers and frightful pirates might they encounter on their voyage?

Once upon a whisper a wizard made his way from a tall, tall tower to a castle on top of a hill. A mysterious whisper had told him that in the castle was a legendary knight who had helped dragons, monsters and kings. Who could this perfect knight possibly be? Why, Sir Charlie Stinky Socks of course! And he's looking for adventure. But this is Charlie's most fearsome quest yet. Along with his cat Envelope and his good grey mare, he must venture along a treacherous track, through a spooky wooky wood and into a deep, dark cave where a mysterious black sack lies.

Who could it possibly be? And what is this terrible secret all about? It seems something dreadful has happened in the tall, tall tower (with the pointy roof) and the only person who can put things right is – you guessed it – our very own honourable, feisty and courageous young hero, Sir Charlie Stinky Socks!

Their mission? To take a little dinosaur home. But the biggest adventure EVER lies in store. Can Sir Charlie save the day again and help the lost dinosaur safely home?

Once upon a time, there was a deep, dark forest, where monstrous trees groaned, terrible beasties moaned and wiggly woos waited to tickle your toes. Nobody ever went there until … Sir Charlie Stinky Socks , his good grey mare and his pet cat Envelope decide the time has come for a really big adventure. Sir Charlie packs his best sword and his sandwiches and off he goes, over the hills and far away, until he gets to the deep, dark forest.

Following a musty, dusty map, Sir Charlie Stinky Socks, his faithful cat Envelope, and—of course—his good grey mare, enter a scary underground world with all manner of tricks, traps, and medieval puzzles. But what has happened to Sir Charlie Stinky Socks? All of a sudden, our trusty hero can't get anything right. Has someone bewitched him? Or stolen his socks?

"A truth we all know...but agree not to talk about..." was how the Clapping Lady from the secretive Consilience Foundation described it to a teenage Methuen Pryce in 2012 as they discussed his Segmented World model. But it was also a "truth" that Nick O’Grady, ambitious young CEO of the high-tech Allied Answers, had not "talked about" - that was until he invited Methuen to his plush New York office in the summer of ’23.

Freddie and Fifi are two fashionista flamingos who decide to open a fashion boutique and style other animals on the Savanna in fluffy pink feathers. The outfits they create have silly results and calamitous outcomes, teaching the valuable lesson that we are perfect, just the way we are!