Duke Tate has 9 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 3 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 64 ratings. The most-rated is Gutter Child.
Gutter Child
Summary
A fierce and heartbreaking debut from FOLD founder Jael Richardson about a young woman with the courage to determine her own future Imagine a world in which the hopeless and vulnerable are forced to buy their freedom by working off their debt to society. Imagine a world divided into the privileged Mainland and the policed Gutter. In that world lives Elimina Dubois, one of only 100 children selected as a social experiment by the Mainland government to be taken from their mothers in the Gutter and raised in the land of opportunity. But when her Mainland mother dies when Elimina is just a teenager, Elimina finds herself all alone, forced into an unfamiliar life of servitude, unsure of who she is and where she belongs. When she makes friends with Gutter children, each making their own way through the crushing cycle of the Gutter System in whatever ways they know how, Elimina will discover that the thing she needs more than anything may not be the freedom she imagined after all. Gutter Child takes us on the journey of a young woman in a fractured world of heartbreaking disadvantages and horrific injustices. Richardson’s Elimina is a modern heroine in an altered but all too recognizable reality, who, must find the strength within herself to determine her own future and defy a system that tries to shape her destiny. Jael Richardson is the Artistic Director of The FOLD literary festival, the books columnist on CBC Radio’s ‘q’ and an outspoken advocate on issues of diversity. She is the author of The Stone Thrower: A Daughter’s Lesson, a Father’s Life, a memoir based on her relationship with her father, CFL quarterback Chuck Ealey. The book received a CBC Bookie Award and earned Richardson an Acclaim Award and a My People Award as an Emerging Artist. A children’s book called The Stone Thrower was published by Groundwood Books in 2016. Her essay “Conception” is part of Room’s first Women of Colour edition, and excerpts from her first play, my upside down black face, are published in the anthology T-Dot Griots: An Anthology of Toronto’s Black Storytellers. Richardson has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph, and she lives in Brampton, Ontario.
©2021 Jael Richardson (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
Big John and the Island of Bones
Summary
It’s October in the Florida keys. Fantasy Fest, the legendary Halloween carnival, is underway in Key West and Big John Hoover and his wife Angela have just moved to the artist enclave from Big Sur, California for John to pen a book. John has traded his bad food addiction for a liberal island diet of Cuban coffee, rum, and Cohiba Habanos cigars. Out of the blue, he gets attacked in his sleep by a shadow being and a ghost appears at their cottage, which sends John and Angela running to Miss Anne, the Voodoo Queen of Duval Street, who gives them some poignant advice she sees in her cards. No longer interested in John, Maggie May had a spiritual rebirth a few years back and now works at a psychic shop in Applebury, Vermont. She just so happens to fly down to Key West for a dose of sunshine, staying with her friend from Santa Monica High, Hank Judge, who is now a cop on the island. Meanwhile, an old enemy of John's tries to send him to his grave and John must figure out how to protect himself before it's too late. Maggie and John run into each other by accident and everything is ghosts and phantoms for the group. Will they see the light before Halloween eve on the key that never sleeps? Find out it in this exciting sequel to Big John and the Fortune Teller.
©2020 Pearl Press (P)2020 Pearl Press
The Hunt for La Gracia
Summary
Teddy Dollarhide, a rough man with ruddy skin and pearl-white hair whom everyone calls “Old Salt”, is plagued by reoccurring dreams in which he is a crew member on the Spanish galleon La Gracia that he believes went down in a violent hurricane in the 17th century with countless jewels and gold on board. His four-man crew, The Pearlmakers, have been searching around the waters of Latchawatchee, Florida, for the last six years. They have only found scraps from the vessel and time is running out as Teddy owes back taxes on his massive historic estate, Isabella, that he can no longer afford to pay. A pair of aggressive real estate developers keep pressuring Teddy to sell off his land for an enormous sum so they can turn the parcel into a cheesy condominium called Casablanca. As the tax deadline closes in, Teddy’s son Cosby, a curly-headed high school senior, finds an antique pistol in the ocean while surfing, suggesting to Teddy that the bounty must be in another location. Meanwhile, Teddy’s other son, Joey, returns home from California for his brother’s graduation and ends up tangled in love with a quirky, beautiful southern belle named Annabelle Burns with an overbearing, rich father. A deadly hurricane hits the town and Teddy’s sons and their girlfriends end up hunkering down in Isabella with Teddy and a host of other characters full of southern charm and wit. Teddy spins yarns about his family quests for gold in the Sierras, inspiring his sons to consider heading out on their own adventure. This first installment in The Pearlmakers saga promises a rich, lively tale full of adventure, romance, and passion.
©2020 Pearl Press (P)2020 Pearl Press
The Pearlmakers Trilogy
Summary
Greedy developers want Teddy Dollarhide’s land. His only hope for salvation lies under the sea. Nightmares have him gasping for air. Frequently dreaming of being a sailor on a sinking Spanish galleon La Gracia, in the 17th century, he’s searched for the wreck and its priceless cargo off the Northeast Floridian coast for the last six years. Facing financial ruin from a massive tax bill, Teddy fears he’ll lose his beloved historic estate, Isabella, before he can dredge up the treasure. However, his luck changes when an antique pistol covered in barnacles surfaces in a new location, and he and his four-man crew, The Pearlmakers, shift their search hoping to make the score of a lifetime. But with a brutal hurricane assaulting his little town, Teddy’s renewed fortunes may drown in a mountain of debt deeper than the lost ship’s deep-water secret. Meanwhile, Teddy falls in love with a beautiful riveting stranger who oddly resembles a Spanish woman from his dreams, and his older boys go off in search of a long-forgotten family treasure buried in the California mountains. Nothing is what it seems as time slips away, and everyone’s dreams are on the line. The Pearlmakers Trilogy contains all three books in a riveting mystery serial. If you like Southern gothic, magical realism, funny characters, and seafaring legends, then you’ll love Duke Tate’s atmospheric adventure.
©2020 Pearl Press (P)2021 Pearl Press
The Dollarhide Mystery
Summary
In book two of The Pearlmakers saga, The Dollarhide Mystery, Teddy Dollarhide is now in love with a riveting Spanish woman named Alicia, whose eyes remind him of a woman from his dreams and hypnotism sessions about the elusive Spanish galleon he and his crew have been searching for. Hunting in a new location, his team finds a hefty quantity of antique gold at the bottom of the ocean. After celebrating, Alicia reluctantly informs Teddy that she has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Utterly devastated, Teddy begins to help her with a special concoction he brought up from La Gracia that helped cure his cat, Bear, of feline AIDS. Meanwhile, a stealthy gun hired by some aggressive property developers, Bateman and Banks, is now after Teddy’s finds, putting more pressure on him to sell off his historic estate, Isabella. The boys and their girlfriends take a road trip to the Sierras in search of the long-lost treasure that their great relative Luke Dollarhide never found with the various clues he left behind in his journals. Stopping at their old summer camp, Camp Big Bear in California, which rests on the land where Luke's treasure is rumored to be, they meet the current owner, strike a deal, and sign a contract. Back in Florida, Alicia starts to make her unique pearl necklaces and sell them as the strange elixir seems to be improving her health. Out west, the boys find something special in the most unusual place, but people are ready to steal it from them at every turn. This second installment in The Pearlmakers saga weaves a tale about hope, family treasure, and awakening love in a lost heart.
©2020 Pearl Press (P)2021 Pearl Press
The Burger Flip Kid
Summary
Skipper Matthews has an obsession - burgers. It’s all he ever eats. And not just any burgers, Burger Flip burgers - the most famous burger franchise in the world. For the last 11 years, Skip has only eaten at Burger Flip. He even has a life-sized figure of Harry B, the Burger Flip mascot in his living room, not to mention walls of memorabilia and vintage Funny Meal toys. On the heels of his girlfriend Sophia leaving him over his passion and his mom threatening to send him to a shrink, he finally has a choice to make: Give up his burgers for the people he loves, or fall deeper into the clutches of his growing obsession. Will Skip give up the Flip? Find out in this short story by Duke Tate.
©2021 Pearl Press (P)2021 Pearl Press
Big John and the Fortune Teller
Summary
A 258-pound teenager named Big John from Los Angeles has a ravenous appetite for bad food. Eating it is the only thing that stops the warmth and tingling in his hands. The only problem is his dream girl, Maggie May likes dream guys. One day, John and his crew, The Zoo Crew, wander into a Madame Bernadette’s Fortune Telling shop in Venice and the psychic gives John the key to winning Maggie’s heart, but when he starts to get what he wants, he finds he no longer wants it. Led along by the Madame and a mystical white wolf with aqua eyes, he begins to discover his true self and the secret magic stored in his hands. A witty, profound coming of age story about life, real love, appearances, and finding your soul’s purpose.
©2020 Pearl Press, LLC (P)2020 Pearl Press, LLC
Gold Is in the Air
Summary
Gold Is in the Air, the third book in The Pearlmakers saga, starts in the mountains of the High Sierras of California, where Cosby, Joey, and their girlfriends divide up a hefty find and make the trek back to Camp Big Bear. Along the way, dangerous foes still lurk behind every bush. Meanwhile, Teddy Dollarhide is overjoyed by his sons’ finding of the legendary Dollarhide treasure, but the bounty isn’t enough to settle his debts, and his property tax deadline creeps closer and closer every day. The Pearlmakers continue to hunt the legendary waters for the full treasure of La Gracia, but another brutal hurricane stirs off the coast of Latchawatchee. Alicia and Teddy’s love grows wild like kudzu, even though she finds his lack of interest in selling his land to be disturbing. Will the crew find the ship’s hidden treasure before the tax deadline, or will their plans be derailed by a pair of vindictive real estate giants who want to destroy the essence of the place the Dollarhides call home? This third installment in The Pearlmakers saga contains an astounding finale just waiting to be discovered.
©2020 Pearl Press (P)2021 Pearl Press
Bottom of the Ninth
Summary
It’s Christmas time in New York City, and the bottom of the ninth in Maximilian Clark II’s life. His father, Max Senior, just passed away from cancer. Meanwhile, Max lost his job selling pizza during Knicks' games at Madison Square Garden, and his fake watch collection he usually sells on the corner of Times Square was stolen from his beat-up Chevy van later that same day. Unable to pay rent, his wife left him with their two kids after they were served an eviction notice to be out of their Harlem apartment in just two weeks. Descended from a line of die-hard Yankees’ fans, Max realizes there is more to life than just baseball and needs money soon, but how? After attending a series of "Get Rich" seminars and coming up empty, he wonders if he will ever get the score he needs to get out of his slump. Can he save his life before the bottom of the ninth? Find out in this short story by Duke Tate.
©2020 Pearl Press (P)2020 Pearl Press