Showing results by narrator "Ralph Lister" in All Categories

One morning in May 1671, a man disguised as a parson daringly attempted to seize the crown jewels from the Tower of London. Astonishingly, he managed to escape with the regalia and crown before being apprehended. And yet he was not executed for treason. Instead, the king granted him a generous income, and he became a familiar strutting figure in the royal court's glittering state apartments. This man was Colonel Thomas Blood, a notorious turncoat and fugitive from justice.

Frank has been in a serious car accident and he’s missing memories - of the people around him, of the history they share, and of how he came to be in the crash. All he remembers is that he is a lawyer who specializes in fine print, and as he narrates his story, he applies this expertise in the form of footnotes. Everyone keeps telling Frank that he was fine before the accident, "just a bit overwhelmed", but as he begins to reclaim his memories, they don’t quite jibe with what everyone is telling him.

In August 1963, a Royal Mail train traveling between Glasgow and London was forced to make an unscheduled stop. Led by a charismatic jewel thief, a gang of fifteen unarmed men boarded the train, incapacitated the driver, and made off with more than 2 million. Divided equally, it was more than enough money for them to disappear forever—if they could all keep quiet. Incensed by the brazenness of the crime, Scotland Yard investigators employed every means they could think of to get the thieves to turn on one another.

As a veteran of the Royal Navy and longtime police officer, Colin Butcher was no stranger to dangerous situations and challenges. Colin left the force to start his own private detective agency, specializing in helping reunite people with their lost pets. He soon knew he needed a partner. When Colin first met Molly, his friends doubted that she would be up for the job. While Colin was battle-tested after a long and varied career, Molly was young and inexperienced. Not only that but she had a reputation for bad behavior.

"The Wire Continuum," co-written with Stephen Baxter, was first published in the January 1998 issue of Playboy. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Florence Maybrick was the first American woman to be sentenced to death in England - for murdering her husband, a crime she almost certainly didn't commit. Her 1889 trial was presided over by an openly misogynist judge who was later declared incompetent and died in an asylum. Hours before she was to be hanged, Queen Victoria reluctantly commuted her sentence to life in prison. In her opinion, a woman who would commit adultery, as Maybrick had admitted, would also kill her husband. Her children were taken from her; she never saw them again. Her mother worked for years to clear her name.

Llewellyn, a little rabbit, is a collector. He gathers things in jars - ordinary things like buttercups, feathers, and heart-shaped stones. Then he meets another rabbit, Evelyn, and together they begin to collect extraordinary things - like rainbows, the sound of the ocean, and the wind just before snow falls. And, best of all, when they hold the jars and peer inside, they remember all the wonderful things they've seen and done. But one day, Evelyn has sad news: Her family is moving away. How can the two friends continue their magical collection and their special friendship from afar?

Shale is dying. A vast, chaotic, monster-bearing storm known only as the Roil is expanding, consuming the land. The last humans are fighting back with ever more bizarre new machines, but the Roil seems unstoppable. Whole cities have been consumed – where once there were twelve, now only four remain. It’s up to a decadent wastrel, a four thousand year-old man, and a young woman bent on revenge, to try to save their city – and the world.

These are stories that delve into the modern psyche with unsettling and darkly satiric results. "Inclusion" tells the story of a doctor who is illegally testing a new antidepressant made from bee excrement. "A Short History of the English Novel" brings us face to face with a pompous publisher who is greeted at every turn by countless rejected authors.

Invisibility has fascinated people since time immemorial, but only a decade ago did invisibility become a serious subject of scientific investigation. This lively novel, authored by an expert in the field, takes the listener on a journey to fascinating places and - en passant - on an intellectual adventure involving some of the most fascinating subjects of optics. While enjoying the fun and action of a travel story, listeners will gain an accurate notion of the real science of invisibility, of the light and shade of the business of science, as well as glimpses into different cultures.

"The Light of Darkness" was first published in the June 1966 issue of Playboy. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a grand master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Llewellyn does not like to feel afraid or sad, angry, lonely, or embarrassed. And so he comes up with a brilliant plan: He tucks each of his feelings into jars and hides them away where they won't bother him anymore. But when he gets in trouble in class, Llewellyn finds he needs to put away excitement too. And when joy is quickly followed by disappointment, he decides to get rid of joy as well. After a while, Llewellyn walks around not feeling much of anything at all. But what happens when his emotions refuse to be bottled up any longer?

The stories in Black Vodka, by acclaimed author Deborah Levy, are perfectly formed worlds unto themselves, written in elegant yet economical prose. She is a master of the short story, exploring loneliness and belonging; violence and tenderness; the ephemeral and the solid; the grotesque and the beautiful; love and infidelity; and fluid identities national, cultural, and personal.

"Travel by Wire!" was Arthur C. Clarke's first published story. It appeared in the December 1937 issue of Amateur Science Fiction Stories. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

One September morning in 2008, an investment banker approaching forty, his career in collapse and his marriage unravelling, receives a surprise visitor at his home. He struggles to place the dishevelled figure carrying a backpack until he recognises a friend from his student days, a brilliant man who disappeared years earlier under mysterious circumstances. As the friends begin to talk, a journey begins that is by turns exhilarating, shocking, intimate and strange.

Ahmed’s faith is strong, and so is his sword-arm, but as for details, those were for his fallen master. Now, he must somehow rise to the task of leading his men and, by Ilaweh's grace, thwart the Dead God's apocalyptic prophecy. If Ahmed can earn his men's respect, there might still be time to do as his master had hoped - ally with the sorcerers of Nihlos. Ahmed will need that power, for their ultimate destination is the true heart of darkness. An ancient city of evil and death that none survive.

On Crow Island, people whispered, real magic lurked just below the surface. But Annie Mason never expected her enigmatic new neighbour to be a witch. When she witnesses a confrontation between her best friend, Bea, and the infamous Emmeline Delacroix at one of Emmeline's extravagantly illicit parties, Annie is drawn into a glittering haunted world. A world where magic can buy what money cannot; a world where the consequence of a forbidden blood bargain might be death.

"Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Orbiting..." was first published in the March 1959 issue of Dude. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Harry Christmas is unable to cope with the death of his wife and has been bouncing from one bad decision to the next. After a terrifying assault by the son of a woman he has conned, he makes up his mind to leave the country. Now Harry Christmas is on the run.

"Kissing you is like new paint and old pain. It is like coffee and car alarms and a dim stairway and a stain and it's like smoke.' ('Placing a Call') How does love change us? And how do we change ourselves for love - or for lack of it? Ten stories by acclaimed author Deborah Levy explore these delicate, impossible questions. In Vienna, an icy woman seduces a broken man; in London gardens, birds sing in computer start-up sounds; in ad-land, a sleek copywriter becomes a kind of shaman.