Ronald R. Van Stockum Jr. has 5 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators. The most-rated is Side Step.
Return to Mars
Summary
Fasten your seatbelts for another amazing adventure from the pen of Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. Bringing together characters that rival the Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins, or Voldemort, the author takes us with them on a fantastic space journey. Tony, the adventurous reporter, begins quite innocently by knocking on the door of Doctor Heironymous Newton, who leads him down a farm path to an unusual barn made of orange tile blocks. With a space journey unfolding before his eyes, Tony looks askew, his way of "tricking my logical mind to observe, record, and retain data...to absorb and catalogue". Come along on a fanciful ride and meet up again with characters we know and love or love to hate in Van Stockum's previous books. As we've enjoyed before, the teacher, biologist, writer, serves up delicious science fiction along with allusions to history, literature, movies, the Bible, gender, and more. Van Stockum employs a free style that can change person or tense and sometimes offer tongue-in-cheek references to education, news media, and the status quo. It all adds up to a delightful listen. You will find yourself with an urge to jump on board the next time you're invited to "The Return to Mars". (Mary Popham)
©2017 Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. (P)2020 Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr.
The Wonder of Natural Life in Kentucky
Summary
Drawing upon his vast knowledge of the environment, biology, botany, and history, Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. has written a love letter to Kentucky. The lay person as well as the expert will understand as he describes the state’s evolution - its history, original land surface, the river-cut gorges, the mountains, and the lakes. He tells of eons of growth of flora, fauna, rock, and rill. Along with thorough documentation, the writer gives us a poetic description of this “...verdant state, lush in its heat, humidity, and rainfall. The diversity and abundance of life was immediately evident to all who came here”. With stories of Lady Slippers, buffalo trails, and flying snakes, Van Stockum takes us into a Magic Kingdom. This teacher gives us an impromptu course about the state called “Paradise”, as we delight in nature: wandering in the forest, crawling in a cave, walking creek banks, and floating down rivers in a canoe. With engaging material that grasps the listener, this gifted story-teller paints a picture of Kentucky that creates a yearning to join present-day efforts of naturalists to preserve it.
©2016 Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. (P)2020 Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr.
The Fire God of Cahokia
Summary
You will be mesmerized by Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr.'s description of primitive times at the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city. Written as creative non-fiction, the author takes us to the Mounds of Cahokia, situated directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. His protagonist, Elber, lives more that a thousand years before any European settlers. He dresses in skins, "... was the leader of this small clan of families and was the priest of its Fire. He maintained control of his people through exercise of the Fire Myth. Gods's presence on Earth. His Warmth. His Bounty. His Vengeance. But now some terrible new force had appeared in the woods. It must be placated for the people to survive." The action builds as Elber recognizes a giant Creature and it tells him to build a large temple. Elber observes a horrific battle as the God-like Creature and a gigantic long-clawed Ground Sloth take on a pack of killer Saber Cats. Delightfully slipping from the narrative into talking intimately with the reader, the talented Dr. Van Stockum once again, in equal amounts, delights and instructs. You will want to explore the huge man-made earthen mounds of Cahokia, and imagine those scenes for yourself.
©2017 Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. (P)2020 Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr.
Cosmos the Stellar Stalker
Summary
"Author of Markman's Home, Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr., has created characters as memorable as any in the realm of magic realism. Set in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1976, the writer recounts what-ifs with spectacular scenes in a rail yard, through hidden tunnels, and in old abandoned buildings. From the beginning when a visitor from another world pops up in a downtown Louisville ad agency, until the spectacular finale, the action ratchets up at a dizzying rate. Prepare to be entertained when looking in on the making of television commercials; prepare to be titillated with descriptions of dancing girls; prepare to be amazed at the scientific descriptions, with a bit of creative physics as the author takes you along for the ride in his fertile mind. In this latest adventure, Van Stockum gives us another unique and interesting journey in to the world of 'what if?'" (Mary Popham, author of Back Home in Landing Run)
©2015 Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. (P)2020 Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr.
Side Step
Summary
"Picture a bar in Red Hook, a dangerous port in Brooklyn across the river from New York City. A horrible scene begins between Rebecca who serves beer and a customer Lawrence, who looks with one eye on Rebecca and one on the door. 'I am pregnant,' she says. We, the other bar patrons, listen while she explains to Lawrence. 'I am being watched by a creature, and it knew of the man I was with...the creature is a a monster and facilitates such sexual recombinations.' What is the reader to think as the action unfolds? Is it the effect of too much beer? Some B-movie horror playing out on the TV screen above our heads? Or is it an attack on Rebecca’s cellular ribosomes by the growth of a wasp egg that would feed on her innards unless her brother Lawrence’s antibodies can defend against her enemies? Again, the scientific mind of Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. serves up a mixed-genre story that repulses the senses with images of wasp stings, pimples leaking streams of pus, and Lawrence’s suction of cancerous RNA strands, while also imparting a microscope textbook explanation of processes we never think about. Side Step is connected to two other of the author’s stories - Ollie Deaton and the Breathitt County Silver Mine and The Manure Pit. Van Stockum is always educational, always entertaining." (Mary Popham, author)
©2016 Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr. (P)2020 Ronald R. Van Stockum, Jr.