Grace

By: Dan Burns

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

“We’re all flawed and confronted daily with sometimes slight but often apparently insurmountable challenges. But if we dig deep, what we unearth from the depths of our souls, if we’re lucky, can allow us to overcome and carry on to live another day with an untortured heart.”

This is the sentiment Dan Burns explores in his exciting new collection. Five stories and a novella highlight Burns’s range as a storyteller and his ability to see life and all its emotions through a unique lens. This collection features his most personal and insightful stories to date. 

"Redemption" - In a quiet Montana town, an aging writer and his nephew are forced to weave the past and the present into a future of more significant meaning. 

"The Plight of Maximus Octavius Reinhold" - In the new story featuring private investigator Sebastian Drake (from the novel A Fine Line), the local patrons of a rural Wisconsin town test Drake’s resolve as he stares into the barrel of a .44 Magnum revolver. 

"Hardwired" - A dying man contemplates the end of his life while hoping to pass along a secret legacy to his family. 

"Adrift at Sea" - To fuel his creative desires, a seabound journeyman leaves behind the anchor of distraction in pursuit of a natural world. 

"The Final Countdown" - In the year 2110, the Earth struggles to survive, ravaged by overpopulation and greed. Food is scarce, and the youth-run government has no choice but to implement a plan devised decades earlier: deport the elderly population to a remote outpost - on the moon. 

Grace: A Novella - A story of impaired love, betrayal, and redemption as realized by characters who experience life through the perception of liquor-bottle glasses. Life is never what it seems. Everyone has secrets. The question is whether the skeleton key of alcohol will open the closet door and let out the hidden truths. 

The collection includes notes about the thoughts, ideas, and inspiration behind the stories, offering an exclusive behind-the-scenes perspective of the author’s writing process.

©2019 Dan Burns (P)2019 Dan Burns

I loved this audiobook!

Burns’s stories ring true while depicting life as perceived through a unique lens. His writing is touching, enlightening, and thought-provoking. He immediately pulled me into each story with relatable characters and unique but realistic situations. Once I started a story, I needed to finish, to know that the characters would be all right.

Mark Bramhall’s narration is excellent! The first five stories took me on a roller-coaster ride of emotions, and the climax of the title novella, Grace, hit me like a punch to the chest. Wow! This audiobook is not merely a reading of the book but instead is a performance of the highest caliber.

I look forward to enjoying more of Burns’s stories. I highly recommend Grace: Stories and a Novella.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Grace

I received this audiobook review copy at my request and have voluntarily left this review. After finishing this book I can say that this is a great collection of short stories. This is the first book I have read by Dan Burns and can't wait for more from this author.

Stay Till the End - There's a Surprise for Writers

I had never heard of Dan Burns, but knew of Mark Bramhall and was excited to hear him narrate short stories for my commute. The stories and conclusions were all satisfying, especially the build up and ending of Grace, a much longer offering. What I really liked about the book, why it stood out, was the ending. In this final chapter, Burns talks about his writing process and inspiration for the stories and the Novella. I never thought, as a writer, that writing a poem was a good way to Beta test an idea or inspire a much larger work. But hearing Burns talk about his process was much like reading Benjamin Percy's Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction or Ron Carlson Writes a Story, giving both example and articulating process for those of us who put pen to paper from time to time. I hope Burns will take excerpts from his poetry, prose, screenwriting, and playwriting and intentionally create a primer for those of us who need a helping hand getting our writing done.

EXCELLENT READ!

I absolutely loved it! This book caught my attention from the very beginning and held it throughout the entire book. This book contains 5 stories and a novella and although the stories are short, they didn't lack entertainment! The narration was superb and gave the story that extra flair! The author did an excellent job with the character builds and plot. This was my first book by this author but definitely not my last! I look forward to reading more books from this author! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I Love THIS!

I absolutely loved this book. This book had it all- suspense, grief, redemption, regret, love and hate! I will definitely be reading more books by this author.

Grace

This is a wonderful set of stories on this Audiobook. Each story the Author has brought to fruition. And kept me intrigued to each individual story. Its a real page turner, The Narrator does a fantastic job and brings each character out so well. Its like there jumping off the page. I definitely recommend.
Shauna Joesten