Adrian Beckingham has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators. The most-rated is War Pigeons 1: WP & Me.
The King of the Things
Summary
Warning! This story is an adult free zone. Why? Because it is simply too scary, or too horridly disgusting, for most adults. We know this is true. Kids can handle it. Usually. Adults can’t. Mostly. There are very few grown who can sit through the full telling of this tale. Not without scrunching up their noses, or scrinching up their eyes, or gasping “EEEwwwww” or just saying “Yuk that’s disgusting” before the tale reaches its end. Very brave grown-ups may be allowed to listen, if at least one child will vouch that they can handle it. So now you know that, we can carry on... This is a folk tale for children, set once upon a time, in a place not so far from you. Meet the schoolboy Hunch - the village hunchback. Hunch lives in a small village surrounded by a tall forest. All the parents always tell the children, "Don't go in the woods!" When the children ask why, the adults always say, "Because strange creatures called Things live in there! We don't know what they look like, but we do know that anyone who enters that forest, never comes back"! Would YOU enter the forest if you'd been told that? Nobody ever dares go in the woods, because of the strange Things that live there. But Hunch the village hunchback is different from everyone else. He knows it. Everyone knows it. And his arch-rival at school - a boy named Tax who is best at absolutely everything - never fails to use it against him. Tax is Hunch's very own bully - you could say that Tax is 'King Of The Thugs' and makes sure Hunch remains miserable. Then one full moon after being bullied by Tax, Hunch gets so upset he runs into the forest. He can't help himself. He's not thinking - he's just got one voice in his head. It is saying "Oh why was I born me?" and blinds out all thoughts about his own safety. In this story where goodness receives its own reward, nobody expects the surprise at hand when Hunch meets the Things. He will never be the same - if only he can survive, and remember to say thank you!
©2014 Mogzilla Books (P)2020 Adrian Beckingham
GobDrop and Snowshine
Summary
A Christmas tale set in Santa’s kingdom, told twice in different ways by two very different storytellers. The first is SnowShine, Santa's Smallest Elf. The second is GobDrop, the…but who really knows who GobDrop is? SnowShine has heard of him from the spooky fireside tales told by bigger elves - but when SnowShine gets lost it is GobDrop who finds him. Carried in an old sack full of fish bones, the tiny elf enters GobDrop’s lair to discover a hidden kingdom below the snowy mountains. With a host of fabulous critters found nowhere else, and many an adventure, what must SnowShine do to save not only himself but Christmas too? Where did Santa’s magical Bag of Christmas Songs disappear to? Are all those terrible tales elves tell about GobDrop actually true? Did he really steal The Naughty List? Will the little elf save GobDrop when he falls into a tangle? This is an enchanting tale about the pitfalls of gossip, where we discover the power of being small.
©2013 Mogzilla Books, Adrian Beckingham (P)2018 Adrian Beckingham
The Diamond Ship
Summary
Here’s a true diamond of historical fiction that's waited 300 years to be told. History and legend remember many pirate stories and captains - but until now not the true story about the pirate crew who seized the most valuable treasure hoard ever taken on the high seas! In the year 1721, a British pirate captain named John Taylor, accompanied by a French captain nicknamed The Buzzard, seized the richest single booty ever to come into pirate hands. Taylor and his crew of mutineers took a treasure so valuable it would have taken almost 50,000 years to earn as honest sailors. The value of the riches finally convinced the Kings of England, Portugal and France to join forces for the first time to hunt pirates down and create the beginning of the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. The Diamond Ship follows the true journey of this band of unruly pirates, in a story which until now has lain buried for three centuries in odd pieces of parchment and random scraps of marine diaries. With the exception of three fictional characters - a pirate gunner, a girl slave turned powder monkey, and a parrot, to help carry the story - the other characters, scenes, and even many of the conversations in this riveting tale really took place. There's not a pirate fan out there of any age who won't be enthralled with this new feast of pirate knowledge. Find out what happened as this true story unfolds, plus learn a chest full of pirate sayings and hitherto little known pirate knowledge. Recommended for swashbuckling fans, but only those who dare be pirates themselves!
©2014 Mogzilla (P)2020 Adrian Beckingham
War Pigeons 1: WP & Me
Summary
Written in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, WP & Me is a story relevant to our times in the COVID era and beyond. It follows a London family as they go through the ravages of war upon them. Standing in huge shopping queues outside stores, dealing with rationing, changes in the schoolyard or the workplace, travel restrictions, and an unruly media often confusing the population - all this they must cope with, not to mention the sense of fear everywhere. But instead of being asked to stay behind closed doors, families saw their men sent to fight. Tommy and "Pigeon", two teenage brothers, begin their war trying to sign up for "the Pal's Army". Caught up in the general excitement that saw the coming war as "the big adventure", they want to fight for England on The Western Front. Everyone at first thought the war would be over by Christmas. The older brother Tommy gets through to become one of 250,000 child soldiers who joined the British Army during World War I. Pigeon is turned away by the army. London becomes a very different place to the home he knew. Marching soldiers fill the streets, to later be replaced bomb craters as German "Taube" fill the sky. More and more men volunteer for the forces - until in the end those who did not volunteer are sent to fight against their will. One day Pigeon finds a wounded pigeon and takes to home. Once it is strong enough to fly he sadly sets it free, but it does not fly away. WP stays around his home. Over time Pigeon begins to raise a whole flock of pigeons as pets - but this is against war regulations. Will he be arrested as a spy? Pigeon finds himself traveling across submarine endangered waters to France, serving as another underage soldier. Can his carrier pigeons make a difference to the outcome of the war? Will Pigeon ever find his older brother Tommy, who has gone Missing In Action? Only by living through the reality of war, has Pigeon been able to fully appreciate peace.
©2018 TheManFromStoryMountain (P)2021 Adrian Beckingham