Wayne Kyle Spitzer has 8 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 8 narrators. The most-rated is A Reign of Thunder: The Dinosaur Apocalypse Has Begun.
Dinosaur Carnage
Summary
By the time I’d established a camp in the covered breezeway of the Luxor obelisk - “Cleopatra’s Needle” it was called, at least according to a bronze placard on its wall - and bound her hands and feet, the sun had set and a slight rain had started to fall; something I fully welcomed after so much time in the desert. As to whether the girl welcomed it also, who could say. For even though I set her near the opening (as well as the fire) and provided her my own bedroll to sit on, she only continued to glare - probably due to us eating in front of her; for I had decided, though you might think it cruel that I would starve her into speaking, if necessary. Which, of course, she finally did - speak, that is - although only after a considerable time, saying, hoarsely, yet clearly, assertively, “Is this some kind of torture? I mean, don’t you have to feed prisoners before killing them? Isn’t that what the Geneva Convention says?” I looked at her through the flames, saying nothing, even as Kesabe snarled. At length I carved a piece of meat from the spit and dropped it on a paper plate, which I carried around to her - but didn’t hand over. Instead, I knelt and sliced off a single bite-sized morsel - then held it close to her nose. “Trade,” I said, matter-of-factly. “One bite per something about you. It can be your name. Where you’re from. How you’ve survived ... Just talk.”
©2020 Wayne Kyle Spitzer (P)2020 Wayne Kyle Spitzer
The Tempter and the Taker
Summary
Shekalane looked at him with something akin to pity. "You speak as if Ursathrax were a person. A lover, perhaps." Jamais laughed. "I suppose that's true. It is the hallmark of lonely people, to anthropomorphize. They do it to their pets quite frequently. But that is just one of her secrets...for while not a person same as you or I, she is, I believe, sentient. She is self-aware. Surely you have felt it, on those days when the leaves of the trees rustle even though there is no wind? She is alive...she has her moods and her trespasses, like every living thing. And also like every living thing, she is mortal. By which I mean she has a beginning, a middle, and an end, as do all things...and that, after five-hundred years, she is nearing her end." There was another long pause, and Shekalane looked at Dravidian, who said, "No. That is not possible. The Lucitor would not have created something so frail and temporal...." Jamais studied him for a beat. "And yet the sky is falling, is it not?"
©2017 Wayne Kyle Spitzer (P)2018 Wayne Kyle Spitzer
The Pierced Veil
Summary
He picked up one of the fur coats and helped her into it, then stroked the hair next to her temple, laying his head slowly back against the pillows. He gazed up at the gondola's steel ferro (which loomed above them for the ship was right behind him and the flat-bottomed boat's prow rested well above the waterline), and said, "Take hold of my ship's ferro, Shekalane. And hold on tightly." She looked at the great black and gold ferro, which pointed like a scimitar at the ceiling of the cavern, and its comb of seven tines, six pointing forward and one back, then back at Dravidian, whom she kissed before pushing herself up by her arms and, with the assistance of Dravidian's big hands on her waist, gripped the topmost tines, the forward of which was etched with the word "Jaskir" and the backward of which was etched "Novum Venum". She looked down at him as he hiked her frayed dress up along her dirty thighs and realized she was breathing far too heavy and fast, and tried to calm herself by observing the grotto around them, the piled treasure, the phantasmagoria of mushrooms. But then his cheek grazed the inside of her thigh and he began kissing her leg softly, and she surrendered all pretense to being in any sort of control.
©2017 Wayne Kyle Spitzer (P)2018 Wayne Kyle Spitzer
Comes a Ferryman
Summary
The ferryman turned to face her and she quickly looked away, as if an owl had suddenly focused on her in the dark. Now that they had reached the trunk of the river he had relaxed the intensity of his rowing to a more casual pace, and was allowing the current to do most the work. (She didn't dare risk activating the ring now!) Instead she looked at the floorboards, and after a few moments, remembered the book lying next to her. She reached toward it habitually, but froze when the raven cawed loudly and its red beam fell upon the back of her hand. A tense moment followed in which she looked from the ferryman to the raven then back again as her fingertips wavered over the golden cover. Then the ferryman motioned with his head, and the raven's light swung away and switched off. She picked up the book slowly and placed it on her lap.
©2017 Wayne Kyle Spitzer (P)2017 Wayne Kyle Spitzer
Black Hole, White Fountain
Summary
"The hologram faded away and a silence fell over the glade as Dravidian reseated himself upon the rock. Sthulhu remained respectfully silent. In his mind's eye Dravidian saw Pepperlung on the deck of their great dragger, The Vorpal Gladio, saw him glance over his shoulder at the prefect as his tone became grave: 'Beware, Dravidian. The bride is just sightseeing but Asmodeus is here for you. You are the only ferryman up for elevation this year. Watch yourself. There will be a test, surely.' The ground trembled suddenly and the remnants of the cage rattled as a minor Ursaquake shook the glade, and the sun orb went from gold to orange. A horse whinnied in the distance and Dravidian looked out across Parvus’ homestead to see a great steed leap up in its corral. The slightest push against the dilapidated boards would have freed it - but the creature either did not know or did not care. The horse, however mighty, knew its place. It knew in its primitive yet tamed wiring what Dravidian, in his advanced and now liberated own, did not: that nothing lay beyond its cage that did not already exist in abundance within."
©2017 Wayne Kyle Spitzer (P)2018 Wayne Kyle Spitzer
Behind a Pale Mask
Summary
"You know me to be a ferryman", I said, pushing the circlet up and over my forehead. "How?" "Why, by taking one look at you, that's how! You've no mask, that much is true, nor have you a scythe, as I've said...you've the cloak, all right, but that can be purchased at even the lowliest of costume shops; I've one just like it in my wagon here, in fact. No, this is something in the face itself. It's an aura." He paused, appraising me coldly. "You've the heart of a ferryman." After a moment I replied, "I knew a woman once who said the very opposite." "A woman, eh? She must have feared you very much."
©2017 Wayne Kyle Spitzer (P)2017 Wayne Kyle Spitzer
The Devil Drives a '66
Summary
It was all too much — the car that had been buried for 52 years yet started right up, the flashback to the 1960s and the ghostly girl, the bugs the size of dogs whose stench filled the cab and caused me to retch. I gripped the door handle instantly — even as the little chrome knob dropped, locking me in. Then we were accelerating — abruptly, powerfully — whipping around the cars in front of us and blasting through the intersection: the girl vanishing, just winking out of existence, the bugs making a sound like crickets but magnified a hundred fold — the V-8 (or whatever it was) roaring. Yes — yes, James. Want this, we do…. Want it! Want it! Right there, James. The infestation. Do it! But I wasn’t driving. No, I could see that wasn’t true: My foot was on the pedal just as sure as my hands were on the wheel. And that foot dipped suddenly even as the skateboarder came into view — his eyes widening, his free leg kicking — so that he disappeared into an alley even as we exploded past — fishtailing to a halt in the middle of the road, where the high-compression engine sputtered and the glass packs rumbled — before my foot once again hit the gas and we tore after him, burning rubber. And then we were bearing down upon the kid, as he kicked and kicked furiously and glanced at us over his shoulder. As I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the bug-things leaning forward (as though in anticipation). As I fought whatever impulse had taken oven my limbs and partially succeeded — too late. There was a thud-crunch! as he vanished beneath the hood — and the car bucked violently, as though I’d driven over a curb. I ground the brakes, glancing in the mirror — saw him tumble after us like a bag of litter. Only then, after I’d come to a complete stop, did it occur to me: I could see out the back window. The bugs were gone. The kid, meanwhile, was still alive — good God! — and thus it wasn’t too late; I could still help him, still save him. Yes, yes, James. Save him. We’re not finished yet, James. Finish, finish! I felt the gearshift in my hand — saw that I’d already put it in reverse and was stepping on the gas, letting out the clutch. And then the car launched backward — reversing straight as an arrow....
©2019 Wayne Kyle (P)2020 Wayne Kyle Spitzer
A Reign of Thunder: The Dinosaur Apocalypse Has Begun
Summary
The exciting all-new prequel to Flashback and Dinosaur Apocalypse... She slowed, peering through the rain and water running down the glass, noticing something strange amongst the gas pumps - some kind of jib, poking between them like a knife. It was funny, because she hadn’t noticed it earlier - like a black pennant pinned to space itself - its single light showing red, blinking, before lightning flashed and it turned - it, the animal, the thing in the rain - as others just like it turned also, skewing their heads like Egyptian dancers, seeming to focus on her. “Aaahhh...! she blurted, backing away - it wasn’t a scream and it wasn’t quite speech - backing into Coup (who’d come to check on her), nearly knocking him over. “There’s something out there - !” She gripped his shoulders in icy desperation. “An entire pack of somethings. Like - like featherless emus, with fucking alligator heads. Just look." He squeezed her shoulders and gently moved her aside, peering out the window, peering into the rain. “I don’t see anything,” he said, even as the others joined them, crowding around the glass. “Just a bunch of gas pumps...and some vehicles.” He stiffened suddenly. “Wait. There is something. Lights - ” “That’s them! That’s their eyes,” said Tess - as Ashley stepped forward to calm her. “They, like, glow or something. Like that borealis in the sky. They’re right there, Coup!” “No...” he said, in a kind of drawl, “No, these are flashing. Some of them are headlights - I’m sure of it. There, behind the electrical pylons - coming closer. Look.” She looked, no longer seeing the - well, let’s have out with it, she thought, the dinosaurs, and saw instead a line of what indeed appeared to be headlamps - preceded by flashing blue lights - winding along a road she hadn’t even known was there, coming toward them through the rain. “Might be the cavalry,” said Elliott, sounding excited - a notion that was quickly dashed when the modest number of vehicles became clear: two police motorcycles followed by a black limousine and a sport-utility vehicle, also black - followed by one more cycle. “I’ll be goddamned,” said Rory. “But that’s a motorcade. Like the kind you see in the local parade.” “Regular Apocalypse Day Cavalcade,” said Coup.“ Jesus, the President,” blurted Carson. “He was golfing at Rancho Loreto - did you know that? It was all over the news today. I mean, just before - ” “No way,” said the tank commander - Bo. “It’s too small, for one.” He wiped the glass, which was beginning to fog. “The Presidential motorcade numbers, I don’t know, like, forty vehicles, at least, most of them specialty rigs. Look, there’s not even a decoy.” “Maybe it’s been disappeared,” said Ashley. “Yeah, like those drivers on State Route 87,” said Elliott. And then the vehicles were there, they were pulling up under the huge pump canopy, and the flags on the limo’s fenders proceeded to droop - but not before it had become obvious what they were: the flag of the United States of America and the Presidential Seal - at which Rory could only shake his head, saying, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” “But there’s more,” said Tess, yanking away from Ashley, locking eyes with everyone who was close. “Because it looks like they’re going to fuel up. And whether you believe me or not - I’m telling you: there’s something out there. Several somethings, as I said.” “Jesus, we’ve got to warn them,” said Elliott, even as Coup shoved against the door - and found it to be jammed."
©2019 Wayne Kyle Spitzer (P)2020 Wayne Kyle Spitzer