Stephen Taylor has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators. The most-rated is Sons of the Waves.
Commander
Summary
An incomparable seaman, ferociously combative yet chivalrous, Edward Pellew might have served as the model for Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey. Edward Pellew, captain of the legendary Indefatigable, was quite simply the greatest British frigate captain in the age of sail. Left fatherless at age eight, with a penniless mother and five siblings, Pellew fought his way from the very bottom of the navy to fleet command. Victories and eye-catching feats won him a public following. Yet he had a gift for antagonizing his better-born peers, and he made powerful enemies. Redemption came with his last command, when he set off to do battle with the Barbary States and free thousands of European slaves. Opinion held this to be an impossible mission, and Pellew himself, leading from the front in the style of his contemporary Nelson, did not expect to survive. Pellew’s humanity, fondness for subordinates, and blind love for his family, and the warmth and intimacy of his letters, make him a hugely engaging figure. Stephen Taylor gives him at last the biography he deserves.
©2012 Stephen Taylor (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Vodka and Jellied Eels
Summary
The London mob clash with the Russian mafia. The death and violence escalate, putting Danny’s family in danger. Danny Pearson has to end the war, before more family die.... Racked with remorse over his wife and child’s death, Danny Pearson leaves the SAS for civvies street. With his mother ill in hospital, Danny reconnects with his family and goes to work for his uncle Harry Knight. He soon finds out Harry’s no angel. South of the river, Viktor Volkov has his eyes on Harry’s patch. The tit for tat battle escalates until there are fatalities on both sides. The battle seems to be won until Viktor’s older brother arrives in London to avenge his brother’s death. Danny must take on the Russian Mafia and win, or more of his loved ones will die.... Vodka and Jellied Eels is the first in the Danny Pearson thriller series. If you like edge of your seat, nail-biting action and adventure, then you’ll love Stephen Taylor’s high-octane thrillers.
©2019 Stephen Taylor (P)2021 Stephen Taylor
Storm and Conquest
Summary
The Indian Ocean was the final battleground for Nelson's navy and France. At stake was Britain's commercial lifeline to India - and its strategic capacity to wage war in Europe. In one fatal season, the natural order of maritime power since Trafalgar was destroyed. In bringing home Bengali saltpeter for the peninsular campaign with military and civilian passengers, Britain lost 14 of her great "Indiamen", either sunk or taken by enemy frigates. Many hundreds of lives were lost, and the East India Company was shaken to its foundations. The focus of these disasters, military and meteorological, was a tiny French outpost in mid-ocean: the island known as Mauritius. This is the story of that season. It brings together the terrifying ordeal of men, women, and children caught at sea in hurricanes and those who survived to take up the battle to drive the French from the Eastern seas. Mauritius must be taken at any cost!
©2007 Stephen Taylor (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Sons of the Waves
Summary
A brilliant telling of the history of the common seaman in the age of sail and his role in Britain's trade, exploration, and warfare British maritime history in the age of sail is full of the deeds of officers like Nelson but has given little voice to plain, "illiterate" seamen. Now, Stephen Taylor draws on published and unpublished memoirs, letters, and naval records, including court-martials and petitions, to present these men in their own words. In this exhilarating account, ordinary seamen are far from the hapless sufferers of the press gangs. Proud and spirited, learned in their own fashion, with robust opinions and the courage to challenge overweening authority, they stand out from their less adventurous compatriots. Taylor demonstrates how the sailor was the engine of British prosperity and expansion up to the Industrial Revolution. From exploring the South Seas with Cook to establishing the East India Company as a global corporation, from the sea battles that made Britain a superpower to the crisis of the 1797 mutinies, these "sons of the waves" held the nation's destiny in their calloused hands.
©2020 Stephen Taylor (P)2020 Tantor