William D. Arand has 18 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 6 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 1,003 ratings. The most-rated is Super Sales on Super Heroes.
Super Sales on Super Heroes
Summary
In a world full of super powers, Felix has a pretty crappy one. He has the ability to modify any item he owns. To upgrade anything. Sounds great on paper. Almost like a video game. Except that the amount of power it takes to actually change, modify, or upgrade anything worthwhile is beyond his abilities. With that in mind, Felix settled into a normal life. A normal job. His entire world changes when the city he lives in is taken over by a super villain. Becoming a country of one city. A city state. Surprisingly, not a whole lot changed. Politicians were still corrupt. Banks still held onto your money. And criminals still committed crime. Though the black market has become more readily available. And in that not-so-black market, Felix discovers he has a way to make his power useful after all, and grasps a hold of his chance with both hands. Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/partial harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen at your own risk.
©2017 William D. Arand (P)2017 William D. Arand
Super Sales on Super Heroes, Book 2
Summary
In a world full of super powers, Felix had a pretty crappy one. After learning to harness his ability to modify any item he owns, he now runs a corporation that is rapidly expanding - Legion. After tangling with the local Heroes guild they’ve finally settled into a semblance of stability. Sounds great on paper. Run your company, make money, be your own boss, settle down. Except that with running a business, comes an inordinate amount of responsibilities. Like making sure everything keeps running and your people are paid. Worrying about the longevity of his company, Felix begins to expand into other cities. So they’ve packed up the car, put in all the requisite forms, gotten the approvals, and set out to start Legion up in a new city. The problem, though, is the local government had no idea who they were selling permits to. Approving forms for. To Felix and Legion. And now they’re about to find out.
©2017 William D. Arand (P)2018 Podium Publishing
Super Sales on Super Heroes, Book 3
Summary
Felix would like nothing more than to take a vacation. A long one. One where he didn’t have to wake up every morning and worry over casualty lists for the day. Ever since he and the Legion had been forced to flee their headquarters four years previous, nothing had gone quite right. In fact, Felix and the Legion have been locked in a shadow war with enemies unknown. Ones with magic that could carve through their technology easily. As the rest of the world fell apart, tearing itself to pieces at every turn with the return of the old gods, the Legion has held the chaos back. The price in blood has been climbing slowly, lately. Felix suspects there’s a change on the horizon. One that he hasn’t prepared or developed a plan for. Or so his paranoia has been telling him. That there’s a change coming now that’ll shake up the world. One that will turn it inside out, Legion and Felix along with it. Felix has decided it’s time to push ahead and act. To finish things and protect his people at the same time. To take his Legion and make it safe. Because that’s all that matters in the end to him. His Legion. And it always came first. Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen at your own risk.
©2018 William D. Arand (P)2019 Podium Publishing
Monster's Mercy
Summary
An existence spent being forced to kill others to satiate a Monster. Where the only thing to look forward to was the blessed, if brief, period of time between paying that bribe. Except that very same Monster is and isn’t Rene. It just happened to live inside his own mind and force him to do what it wanted. Rather than being an actual Monster. That was Rene’s entire life until a fateful day changed that. A day that the career as a hitman for hire built on the Monster’s needs will end. Where Rene will be forced to atone for his actions. To be held accountable and judged. Except the verdict is already long since passed and needs no deliberation. His sentence was being sent hundreds of years into the past, into a different world even, where he must live a life for the betterment of others. Every action judged as it happens and weighed out against him. But even this new idyllic life he’s been living in for 18 years is about to go off the rails and Rene will be forced back into a life lived in the underworld. Armed with a few gifts granted to him by the one who judged him, gifts better suited to a fantasy about living in a video game, Rene has to maneuver his way back to his new life while using all the things he’d learned in his old one. Except using those skills is a double-edged sword. If he’s not careful, he’ll end up right back where he started. Dead and on his way to hell. Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen at your own risk.
©2019 William D. Arand (P)2020 William D. Arand
Swing Shift
Summary
Reports to write, forms to fill, coffee to drink, leads to run down. Gus’s life was a tedium and boredom he’d grown comfortable with. One that he sought out after he’d come back from his tour of duty. A detective in the paranormal investigations department. A job he could work day in and day out in relative peace. One cold and forgotten cup of coffee at a time. It was an environment that made some sense to him. At least in comparison to civilian life where almost nothing did. On top of that, it gave him a chance to hide what he was from the rest of the world. An apex predator that made the entirety of the paranormal world fear him. His very species was often killed as soon as they were found out. By government and citizen alike. He’s a Boogieman. A name that made humans laugh, and vampires curse. It was a strange life to be sure. Now though, Gus’s stable non-life is about to be kicked over. Whether he likes it or not, he’s about to be handed a case that’s going to mess up his already screwed up life.
©2019 William D. Arand (P)2019 William D. Arand
Dungeon Deposed
Summary
Ryker only has one goal in his life right now: Turn a certain adventuring guild into a flaming wreck while dancing merrily through the smoldering ruins. All for the chance to get back at a handful of people. It isn’t as if they didn’t deserve it either. They had driven him from his home. Chased him physically from the very guild house itself. All the way to the gates of the city. Simply because he wasn’t as strong as they expected him to be. As strong as he’d expected himself to be. He’d returned to the city the next day and left with his means for revenge. Something he’d hidden away and told no one about when he found it in one of his few Dungeon Dives. An inactive Dungeon Core. A crystal the size of a fist with a soul inside. One that could create anything from mana it wanted to. From monsters and complex cave systems to gold coins. Years spent in planning, and unfortunately farming, as he waited. Now it felt like his moment was finally here. The Dungeon Core had been acting strange lately. As if it were finally… coming to life. Watching over the crystal like a hawk for this very event, Ryker impatiently waits. Any day now, it'd start. And he could set about taking his vengeance. Starting with ripping the soul of the dungeon out. Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/partial harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, forced political marriage (and consummation), and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen at your own risk.
©2018 William D. Arand (P)2018 William D. Arand
Otherlife Dreams
Summary
Runner has a problem. He and 499,000 men and women are trapped in a game. He also just happens to be the only person from IT who could log everyone out safely. And he doesn't remember his password. He, like everyone else in this nightmare, had his memory scrambled or lost in the process of being loaded into the game. A single garbled message is his only clue to how to save everyone. The problem is that whoever loaded them into the game loaded their minds completely. If they die, their brains get wiped. Now it's time for Runner to flex his skills as a power gaming min maxer and see what he can do. Because every time he levels, he might gain the memory of the password. Time to go hardcore.
©2016 William D. Arand (P)2016 William D. Arand
Thinking Like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision Making
Summary
Economic forces are everywhere around you. But that doesn't mean you need to passively accept whatever outcome those forces might press upon you. Instead, with these 12 fast-moving and crystal clear lectures, you can learn how to use a small handful of basic nuts-and-bolts principles to turn those same forces to your own advantage. Requiring no previous economics background, Professor Bartlett presents some of the fundamental principles and concepts that shape the lenses through which economists view the world. He then shows you how to use these simple analytical tools to understand what you see through those lenses. By learning to identify the many varied situations in which economics affects your life and how to wield the tools that can help you make the wisest choices in those situations, you'll enhance not only your understanding of daily life but your own success in living it. Packed with case studies, helpful strategies, economic insights, and more, this series will equip you with a reliable toolkit for thinking more like an everyday economist and approach the issues in your own life with a more educated, seasoned eye. And after these dozen lectures with Professor Bartlett, things really will look very different. You'll see how basic economic ideas like incentives, risks, rewards, and rationality are not just the province of professional economists, government policymakers, or your local bank's loan officer, but instead lie at the root of nearly every decision you must make in your daily life. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2010 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2010 The Great Courses
Dungeon Deposed: Book 2
Summary
Ryker only had one goal in his life right now: Turn a certain adventuring guild into a flaming wreck while dancing merrily through the smoldering ruins. All for the chance to get back at a handful of people. It didn’t work out that way though. At all. He’d become the Count of Dungeon, made a hostage, married off to the false queen’s daughter against his will, and had his county made ground zero for a religious war. To top all that off, the Dark Lord of the North wants to see Ryker personally. The smoldering ruins of Dungeon have been cleared, the patterns reset, and Ryker has a task that is more than likely too much for him. Hold Dungeon, and give Lauren, the rightful queen, some breathing room. Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen at your own risk.
©2019 William D. Arand (P)2019 William D. Arand
Otherlife Awakenings
Summary
Runner and his team managed to bring peace to Tirtius, successfully log the crew out, and have begun settling in to make a home on the isle of Vix. Fate isn't going to let them go that easily though. She clearly hasn't decided on what to do with him. Plots are in motion. Threats local, divine, and abroad scheme to exterminate Runner and the threat he represents. The possibility of what he could become. To top it all off, the server is clearly ramping up towards a full awakening. What does one do with an entire world of "living" beings who are aware? It all comes to a head when an assassin attempts to take his life in his own home. Now comes the true test. What is he willing to wager to build the future he wants, both in game and out? Or rather, who?
©2016 William D. Arand (P)2016 William D. Arand
Swing Shift: Book 2
Summary
Reports to write, forms to fill, coffee to drink, leads to run down. Gus’s life had been a tedium and boredom he’d grown comfortable with. One that he sought out after he’d come back from his tour of duty. That was before Melody, a contractor, more or less blew his life up as if it were a building packed full of C-4. Then she pranced around the ashes of it like it was the end of the world and was conjuring up the end times herself. All while breaking in a rookie by the name of Vanessa into the PID. A gung-ho and eager young detective looking to prove herself. Then commandeering and recruiting a cleaning lady who turned out to be an elven dryad sorceress who viewed killing people as little more than emptying the trash can. Gus had lived through it, though. Made it work for him and had come out of it without too many new scars. An adventure that he hadn’t wanted any part of...that involved the Fed being blown up, a stadium full of Paras all going into a feral rage, and breaking off a plot hatched by what felt like an organization that rivaled the Fed. Which apparently was all in a day’s work, right up until they fired you for doing that work because you made the brass look bad. Without a job, more people relying on him than ever, and no direction, Gus is going to have to put on his big boy pants and figure something out. And soon. It’s a good thing that he’s a boogieman. Because, being an apex predator that made the entirety of the paranormal world fear him was something he could fall back on. He could lean into it and make it work for him. He’d done it before when he was in the military. Made a name for himself out there in the bloody desert. He was "The Hunter". A name that the elven mothers now used to instill fear into misbehaving children. A name that grown men and women wouldn’t discuss in polite company. Except, despite Gus’s best intentions to get back to his stable nonlife, he’s going to get thrown right back into the fray. Whether he likes it or not, he’s about to be handed a new problem that’s going to mess up what little remained of his life. Unfortunately, his past was going to catch up to him and meet up with his future. Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen to it at your own risk.
©2019 William D. Arand (P)2020 William D. Arand
Dungeon Deposed: Book 3
Summary
Ryker only had one goal in his life right now: turn a certain adventuring guild into a flaming wreck while dancing merrily through the smoldering ruins. All for the chance to get back at a handful of people. It didn’t work out that way though. At all. He’d died, been forced into the body of an avatar, absconded with the queen as her castle fell to betrayal, kidnapped a little kid who is obviously more than he seems, and to top all that off, he killed his undead father. The smoldering ruins of the queendom have cooled, the patterns reset, and Ryker has a task that is more than likely too much for him. Take the queendom back, destroy two armies, and give Lauren, the rightful queen, back her crown. Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen at your own risk.
©2019 William D. Arand (P)2019 William D. Arand
Cultivating Chaos
Summary
Ash led a very normal life by his own standards. It had its ups and downs, much like anyone else’s. Being a talented martial artist had definitely been an up, while high school as a whole was a down. His own father was not a great role model, and his uncle was everything he wanted to be. To Ash, it felt like a very normal life. Right up until he was literally pulled into a portal that spat him out into another world. One that was full of martial arts. And martial artists who could use magic. To set the very air on fire with a punch or to turn their skin hard as diamonds. To fly through the air, if they had enough power. A world where the strong ruled and the weak died. Three years of living his life as one of the citizens, those without power, and Ash has figured out how to survive with his adoptive family and a lot of persistence. His goals in life have become to give back to those who gave to him. And he’d do whatever he had to to do that. Except Ash is about to get his life turned around again. Turned around and altered completely. He’s about to discover a treasure from a time long lost. Forgotten. A treasure that is going to change his destiny and give him another direction to go. If he wants it. A cultivator. This is a VeilVerse novel. Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen at your own risk.
©2018 William D. Arand (P)2018 William D. Arand
Otherlife Nightmares
Summary
Runner and company have safely left the city ahead of the siege. Completing their class promotions with barely any time to spare. Unfortunately Runner hasn't discovered the password he needs to begin the logoff process to save the 400,000 or so crewmates left alive in this game where dying truly means death. The game continues to shift and change with each day and as a byproduct of Runner's actions. Not only do the rules change, but those he's with have changed. No longer simple programs, they have reached actual sentience. Pressing himself ever onwards to learn more about the world he finds himself surprised at every turn. On top of navigating the ever changing game, the outside world has contacted him directly. Now he has to begin to navigate the situation as a gamer, IT support, and an officer. Of course this would all be a lot easier if he hadn't gotten captured within a few hours of leaving Crivel. Fate seems to be stacking the deck against him as quickly as she can this time around.
©2016 William D. Arand (P)2016 William D. Arand
Right of Retribution
Summary
Warner spent his days like almost anyone else. He got up, went to work, answered phone calls in a call center, went home, spent time with his daughter, and went to sleep. Only to repeat the pattern over and over and over. Life was as mundane as anyone could ever fear it to be. Today was the day that all that would change. On this day, his daughter Maya would be nearly fatally injured, plunging Warner into a world of paranormal creatures, monsters, and magic he’d never known existed. The only consolation is that he discovers he’s not quite human, either. Nor is he very happy with the way of the world or how it spun. Built on corruption, lies, and injustice for all. An unlikely answer comes to him that fits his wounded heart. Justice handed out by him personally. Vengeance and retribution in equal measure to all that deserve it. Using his newfound powers and unbending determination, Warner is going to carve a path through the world that’ll send the darkest corners of existence fleeing before him. Even as he crushes them beneath his furious strikes. The very world will tremble with his actions and fear his coming. Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen at your own risk.
©2020 William D. Arand (P)2020 William D. Arand
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Summary
The beloved coming-of-age novel from the author whose “name has long been synonymous with young adult fiction” (Los Angeles Times). “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is very special.” (Amy Poehler, quoted on Vulture.com) “Generations of teenage girls have grown up reading the tales of teenage angst told by beloved author Judy Blume.” (Mashable.com) Margaret Simon, almost 12, has just moved from New York City to the suburbs, and she’s anxious to fit in with her new friends. When she’s asked to join a secret club, she jumps at the chance. But when the girls start talking about boys, bras, and getting their first periods, Margaret starts to wonder if she’s normal. There are some things about growing up that are hard for her to talk about, even with her friends. Lucky for Margaret, she’s got someone else to confide in...someone who always listens. “The first Judy Blume books I read...served as a kind of introduction to myself.” (John Green quoted in The New York Times) “Mention Judy Blume to almost any woman under a certain age and you're likely to get this reaction: Her face lights up, and she's transported back to her childhood self - curled up with a book she knows will speak directly to her anxieties about relationships, self-image and measuring up.” (NPR.org) “Fans, readers, booksellers - even other authors and celebrities - often dissolve into tears upon meeting [Judy Blume], confessing that books like “Forever...” and “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret” got them through adolescence; taught them about sex, love and friendship; and provided their first glimpse of adulthood.” (The New York Times) “Blume wasn’t the first writer to legitimize and celebrate the interior life of young girls.... But Blume’s work feels significantly more influential than that of her predecessors and peers.” (The New Yorker) “These stories belong to young women. Real young women.” (Diablo Cody, Entertainment Weekly)
©1970 Judy Blume (P)2009 Listening Library
Cultivating Chaos
Summary
Ash’s life is anything but normal these days. Having unlocked his Dantian, he’s grown in power. Grown to the point where he has others who depend on him for that power. In this world of martial arts, only the strong and the ruthless survive. Everyone else is merely a stepping stone on their path of Cultivation, or an obstacle to be overcome. Or knock down. A world where the strong rule, and the weak die. Utilizing the Hall, the voice in his head that calls itself Locke, and all the powers available to him, Ash has begun his own journey of Cultivation. Except that as a Fated One, his journey is a narrow and winding path between two cosmic forces. Each one vying for dominance. And that has nothing to do with what Locke has planned for him. This is his second step in his life as a Cultivator. Overcoming his first tribulation, and solidifying his Dantian. This is a VeilVerse novel. Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/a full harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen at your own risk.
©2020 William D. Arand (P)2020 William D. Arand
Life After You
Summary
What if the one you've lost is the one person you need to find? Meaningful and moving, a beautiful story with life-affirming qualities. Perfect for fans of Cecelia Ahern and Cathy Kelly. Milly Bryne’s world came crashing down when she lost her beloved dad and boyfriend in a matter of weeks. Losing her dad has broken her family. Losing her soul mate made has made her give up on life and love. After swerving from stability to chaos to despair, Milly finally believes she has her life back on track when the unexpected return of a familiar face to Ireland throws her life once more into a spin. Milly is forced to decide if her new life is the one for her or if there is another path that will bring even greater riches of joy, excitement and fun into her world. Life just isn’t worth living if your heart isn’t in it.
©2020 Sian O'Gorman (P)2020 Boldwood Books