Brian Nishii has narrated 79 audiobooks on Listento.it by 83 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 4,417 ratings. The most-rated is The Obesity Code.
The Case of the Sliding Pool
Summary
A rare California deluge unearths a hidden body - and a decades-old crime Rain has spoiled Masao Masuto's vacation. For six days the storm has trapped the Zen Buddhist detective and his family inside their Los Angeles cottage. By the morning of his vacation's final day, he is so stir crazy that the call to come to work is a relief. Detective Masuto knows no better cure for boredom than a puzzling murder. Nothing remains of the deceased man but his bones. A mudslide caused by the long, punishing storm destroyed the terrace of a Beverly Hills mansion, dislodging the swimming pool and opening a grave which had been covered for three decades. The skeleton's deep stab wound suggests a professional's hand - possibly a World War II veteran with commando training. As Masuto pries into the past, the aged murderer takes deadly steps to cover up his long-forgotten crime. The detective finds himself locked in a game of cat and mouse with a brilliant and ruthless killer.
©1981 E. V. Cunningham (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Becoming Your Own Therapist and Make Your Mind an Ocean
Summary
This audiobook contains both of the very popular Lama Yeshe booklets, Becoming Your Own Therapist and Make Your Mind an Ocean. These lectures explore the general topics of Buddhism and the mind and are followed by question-and-answer sessions that include a fascinating historic exchange between Lama and a group of psychiatrists illuminating the differences between Western and Buddhist concepts of mental health. Becoming Your Own Therapist: These three public talks given by Lama Yeshe present the general topic of Buddhism and each is followed by a lively exchange between Lama and the audience. Lama always enjoyed the give and take of these exchanges and pretty much anything went! While these talks were labeled lectures, Lama actually wanted each of us to use them as mirrors for our minds, to look beyond the words and find ourselves and in this way become our own psychologists. Make Your Mind an Ocean: The talks given by Lama in this section explore the functions of the mind. Two were lunchtime lectures at Melbourne and Latrobe Universities and one was an evening lecture given to the general public. Perhaps of greatest interest is the lecture entitled "A Buddhist Approach to Mental Illness” in which Lama met with a group of psychiatrists at Prince Henry's Hospital who were delighted to listen and question Lama and thereby reveal the differences between Western and Buddhist concepts of mental health. The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (LYWA) is the collected works of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Kyabje Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. The Archive was founded in 1996 by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the Archive’s spiritual director, to spread the Dharma for the happiness and benefit of all beings in as many ways as possible. Visit us online at www.LamaYeshe.com.
©2003 Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
The Case of the Murdered Mackenzie
Summary
Detective Masuto reopens an investigation into a murderous film star - with deadly consequences… On the day that Eve Mackenzie murders her husband, Masao Masuto is on a plane to Japan. For years he and his wife, both American-born Japanese, have dreamed of visiting their homeland, and though the trip is a delight, the Zen Buddhist detective cannot help but check the international papers for news of murder on his home turf of Beverly Hills. Part of him regrets missing the sensational Mackenzie killing. Once a high-profile film star, Eve faded from the public eye after marrying a wealthy Scotsman - an unhappy marriage that ended in bloodshed. When Masuto returns home, Eve is headed toward an inevitable conviction. Why, then, does he reopen the case? The evidence against the Hollywood starlet is so airtight that Masuto suspects a frame-up. As he pries into the closed case, more blood spills. Eve Mackenzie may not have murdered her husband, but she is far from innocent.
©1984 E. V. Cunningham (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
The Case of the One-Penny Orange
Summary
Detective Masuto investigates a string of strange Southern California crimes that lead all the way back to Nazi Germany. Returning from a funeral, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Briggs find their Beverly Hills mansion ransacked. As they wait for the police, they discover something unusual: Despite the chaos, nothing appears to be missing - a fact that greatly interests Beverly Hills police detective Masao Masuto. But the Zen detective only has a few minutes to ponder the strange break-in before a murder intervenes. The victim is Ivan Gaycheck, a stamp dealer whom Masuto remembers for his stout frame and unplaceable accent. A .22-caliber bullet killed Gaycheck, but - just like the Briggs's home invasion - nothing in the shop has been disturbed. Suspecting a connection between the two crimes, Masuto dives into the case, uncovering a strange conspiracy that stretches back to the darkest days of World War II.
©1977 E. V. Cunningham (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Strawberry Yellow
Summary
Curmudgeonly Japanese American gardener and unwitting detective Mas Arai is back in this fifth in the Edgar Award-winning series. Naomi Hirahara has created a memorable protagonist unlike any other: a Hiroshima survivor, Los Angeles gardener, widower, gambler, grandfather, and solver of crimes. In Strawberry Yellow he returns to the strawberry farms of his youth and encounters family intrigue, danger, and murder. The series' most compelling and evocative mystery yet is set in the strawberry fields of Watsonville, California, where young Mas first arrived as a Hiroshima survivor in the 1940s. He returns for the funeral of a cousin and quickly gets entangled in the murder of a young woman. Was his cousin murdered, too? Mas has to figure out what happened, keep himself safe, and uncover the mystery of the Strawberry Yellow blight and a new strawberry varietal so important it could be inspiring a murderer. Naomi Hirahara is an engaging speaker who's always a hit at bookstore and mystery events. She's very active in the Japanese-American community in California and is a past president of the Southern California chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. She won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original Mystery for Snakeskin Shamisen, the third in the Mas Arai series.
©2013 Naomi Hirahara (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
Live from Golgotha
Summary
Timothy (later St. Timothy) is in his study in Thessalonika, where he is bishop of Macedonia. It is A.D. 96, and Timothy is under terrific pressure to record his version of the Sacred Story, since, far in the future, a cyberpunk (the Hacker) has been systematically destroying the tapes that describe the Good News, and Timothy's Gospel is the only one immune to the Hacker's deadly virus. Meanwhile, thanks to a breakthrough in computer software, an NBC crew is racing into the past to capture - live from the suburb of Golgotha - the Crucifixion, for a TV special guaranteed to boost the network's ratings in the fall sweeps. As a stream of visitors from 20th-century America channel in to the first-century Holy Land - Mary Baker Eddy, Shirley MacLaine, Oral Roberts and family - Timothy struggles to complete his story. But is Timothy's text really Hacker-proof? And how will he deal with the truth about Jesus' eating disorder? Above all, will he get the anchor slot for the Big Show at Golgotha without representation by a major agency, like CAA 1,896 years in the future? Tune in.
©1992 Gore Vidal (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Snakeskin Shamisen
Summary
From Summer of the Big Bachi to Gasa-Gasa Girl, Naomi Hirahara's acclaimed novels have featured one of mystery fiction's most unique heroes: Mas Arai, a curmudgeonly LA gardener, Hiroshima survivor, and inveterate gambler. Few things get Mas more excited than gambling, so when he hears about a $500,000 win - from a novelty slot machine! - he's torn between admiration and derision. But the stakes are quickly raised when the winner, a friend of Mas' pal, G. I. Hasuike, is found stabbed to death just days later. The last thing Mas wants to do is stick his nose in someone else's business, but at G. I.'s prodding he reluctantly agrees to follow the trail of a battered snakeskin shamisen (a traditional Okinawan musical instrument) left at the scene of the crime...and suddenly finds himself caught up in a dark mystery that reaches from the islands of Okinawa to the streets of LA - a world of heartbreaking memories, deception, and murder.
©2006 Naomi Hirahara (P)2015 Audible Inc.
Go
Summary
Two young lovers…one little secret.
As a Korean student in a Japanese high school, Sugihara has had to defend himself against all kinds of bullies. But nothing could have prepared him for the heartache he feels when he falls hopelessly in love with a Japanese girl named Sakurai. Immersed in their shared love for classical music and foreign movies, the two gradually grow closer and closer.
One night, after being hit by personal tragedy, Sugihara reveals to Sakurai that he is not Japanese - as his name might indicate.
Torn between a chance at self-discovery that he’s ready to seize and the prejudices of others that he can’t control, Sugihara must decide who he wants to be and where he wants to go next. Will Sakurai be able to confront her own bias and accompany him on his journey?
©2000, 2007 Kazuki Kaneshiro; translation © 2018 by Takami Nieda (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
The Case of the Angry Actress
Summary
Detective Masuto investigates a Hollywood mogul’s sudden death. The residents of Beverly Hills tend to underestimate a Buddhist homicide detective, and Masao Masuto is happy to let them make that mistake. A second-generation Japanese-American, he relishes the thrill of a puzzling murder case. And Masuto will need all his powers of deduction to understand the murder of Al Greenberg. The producer was giving a party when his heart stopped. After years of bad health, Greenberg’s abrupt death is no surprise. But one of the dead man’s producing partners claims to have overheard an unknown woman taunting Greenberg, while he pleaded, "put that gun away and give me my medicine." It appears Greenberg was frightened to death. To find the killer, Masuto must dig into the darkest secrets of the mogul’s past. Greenberg will not be the last to die.
©1967 William Morrow and Company, Inc. (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
The Naked World
Summary
In a world stripped bare of digital images and promotainment, unveiled with the audiovisual overlay of the ImmaNet, in an exposed world, a naked world, Amon Kenzaki awakens, lost and alone. He must now travel deep into the District of Dreams in search of Rashana Birla, the one person that might help him unravel the mystery of jubilee. But deprived of the apps and informational tools he's depended on his entire life, traversing the largest bankdeath camp on Earth is no easy task. Inside an ephemeral labyrinth of slowly-dissolving disposable skyscrapers clogged to the limit with the bankdead masses, Amon soon finds himself face to face with two dangerous groups: a cult called the Opportunity Scientists, who preach bizarre superstitions about economic salvation, and a supposedly humanitarian organization called the Philanthropy Syndicate, whose mandate of serving the poor conceals rapacious motives. Amon takes refuge in Xenocryst, a community that genuinely strives to improve conditions in the camps, where he begins to work towards its cause and reconciles himself to his newfound poverty. But when political forces threaten the community's existence and the lives of its members, he is forced to team up with a vending-machine designer, an Olympic runner, a fertility researcher, a corporate tycoon, and many others to expose the heinous secret festering at the heart of the action-transaction market he once served. In book two of the Jubilee Cycle, Eli K. P. William delves beneath the surface of his cyber-dystopian Tokyo to unearth the fate of outcasts trapped in its depths and shine a light on the financial obstacles blocking one individual's efforts to help them.
©2017 Eli K. P. William (P)2017 Audible, Inc.
Mazes of Power
Summary
This debut work of sociological science fiction follows a deadly battle for succession, where brother is pitted against brother in a singular chance to win power and influence for their family. The cavern city of Pelismara has stood for a thousand years. The Great Families of the nobility cling to the myths of their golden age while the city's technology wanes. When a fever strikes, and the Eminence dies, seventeen-year-old Tagaret is pushed to represent his Family in the competition for Heir to the Throne. To win would give him the power to rescue his mother from his abusive father, and marry the girl he loves. But the struggle for power distorts everything in this highly stratified society, and the fever is still loose among the inbred, susceptible nobles. Tagaret's sociopathic younger brother, Nekantor, is obsessed with their family's success. Nekantor is willing to exploit Tagaret, his mother, and her new servant Aloran to defeat their opponents. Can he be stopped? Should he be stopped? And will they recognize themselves after the struggle has changed them?
©2019 Juliette Wade (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Walking the Kiso Road
Summary
Take a trip to old Japan with William Scott Wilson as he travels the ancient Kiso Road, a legendary route that remains much the same today as it was hundreds of years ago. The Kisoji, which runs through the Kiso Valley in the Japanese Alps, has been in use since at least 701 CE. In the 17th century, it was the route that the daimyo (warlords) used for their biennial trips - along with their samurai and porters - to the new capital of Edo (now Tokyo). The natural beauty of the route is renowned - and famously inspired the landscapes of Hiroshige, as well as the work of many other artists and writers. Wilson, esteemed translator of samurai philosophy, has walked the road several times and is a delightful and expert guide to this popular tourist destination; he shares its rich history and lore, literary and artistic significance, cuisine and architecture, as well as his own experiences.
©2015 William Scott Wilson (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Hello, Habits
Summary
The internationally best-selling author of Goodbye, Things shares insights and practices to help us embrace habits and become the best versions of ourselves. Fumio Sasaki changed his life when he became a minimalist. But before minimalism could really stick, he had to make it a habit. All of us live our lives based on the habits we’ve formed, from when we get up in the morning to what we eat and drink to how likely we are to actually make it to the gym. In Hello, Habits, Sasaki explains how we can acquire the new habits that we want - and get rid of the ones that don’t do us any good. Drawing on leading theories and tips about the science of habit formation from cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and sociology, along with examples from popular culture and tried-and-tested techniques from his own life, he unravels common misperceptions about “willpower” and “talent”, and offers a step-by-step guide to success. Ultimately, Sasaki shows how ordinary people like himself can use his principles of good habit-making to improve themselves and change their lives.
©2018, 2021 Fumio Sasaki (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing
Engineering Infinity
Summary
The universe shifts and changes: suddenly you understand, you get it, and are filled with wonder. That moment of understanding drives the greatest science-fiction stories and lies at the heart of Engineering Infinity. Whether it's coming up hard against the speed of light - and with it the enormity of the universe, realizing that terraforming a distant world is harder and more dangerous than you'd ever thought, or simply realizing that a hitchhiker on a starship consumes fuel and oxygen with tragic results, it's hard science-fiction where a sense of discovery is most often found and where science-fiction's true heart lies. This exciting and innovative science-fiction anthology collects together stories by some of the biggest names in the field, including Gwyneth Jones, Stephen Baxter and Charles Stross. Author bio: Jonathan Strahan is an editor and anthologist. He coedited The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy anthology series in 1997 and 1998. He is also the reviews editor of Locus. He lives in Perth, Western Australia, with his wife and their two daughters. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2018 See PDF (P)2018 Recorded Books
Sumokitty
Summary
Watch out, mice! This cat is a sumo champion! A stray kitty gets a job in a sumo stable, chasing mice in exchange for food. But when eating like a sumo wrestler slows our feline hero down, he realizes he must train like a wrestler, too. Through hard work and perseverance - and with a little help from a big buddy - SumoKitty is born! A funny and heartwarming story inspired by the Japanese saying, "Fall down seven times, stand up eight."
©2019 David Biedrzycki (P)2019 Recorded Books
Ascendancies
Summary
Two dozen tales of future shock and twisted history from an undisputed king of cyberpunk science fiction, including Nebula Award finalists “Sunken Garden” and “Dori Bangs.” Time magazine describes Bruce Sterling as “one of America’s best-known science fiction writers and perhaps the sharpest observer of our media-choked culture working today in any genre.” Sterling’s abilities are on full display in Ascendancies, a collection of speculative fiction from a world-class world-building futurist, alternate historian, and mad prophet operating at the peak of his extraordinary powers. Here are twenty-four stories that span the illustrious career of the author who, along with William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, injected the word cyberpunk into the science fiction lexicon. These tales not only traverse galaxies and employ mind-boggling technologies, they also cut back across the centuries into a richly imagined past with style and a sharp satiric edge. Sterling’s unparalleled imagination and courageous originality carry the reader into the future universe of the warring Shapers and Mechanists, rival sects of exiled humanity with radically opposed views of human augmentation. Several stories feature the questionable adventures of the footloose con man Leggy Starlitz in a somewhat-skewed and still-dangerous post-Cold War world. Sterling explores the cyberpunk trope of technology gone wild and the resultant decline of civilization with appropriate gravity, while presenting parables of strangers stuck in very strange lands in a more whimsical vein. Whether chronicling an alien’s encounter with Crusaders in disputed Palestine, depicting the discovery of the key to immortality in a nineteenth-century Times Square magic shop, or portraying bicycles and bad guys in a near-future Tennessee, Sterling’s stories are smart, surprising, genre bending, bold, and outstanding, one and all.
©2007 Bruce Sterling. “Introduction” by Karen Joy Fowler, © 2007 by Karen Joy Fowler. “Foreword” by Bruce Sterling, © 2007 by Bruce Sterling. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Cash Crash Jubilee
Summary
A cyber-dystopian thriller unlike any other. In a near-future Tokyo, every action - from blinking to sexual intercourse - is intellectual property owned by corporations that charge licensing fees. A BodyBank computer system implanted in each citizen records their movements from moment to moment and connects them to the audio-visual overlay of the ImmaNet so that every inch of this cyber-dystopian metropolis crawls with information and shifting cinematic promotainment. Amon Kenzaki works as a liquidator for the Global Action Transaction Authority. His job is to capture bankrupt citizens, remove their BodyBanks, and banish them to BankDeath Camps where they are forever cut off from the action-transaction economy. Amon always plays by the rules and is steadily climbing the Liquidation Ministry ladder. With his savings accumulating and another promotion coming, everything seems to be going well until he is asked to cash crash a charismatic politician and model citizen and soon after is charged for an incredibly expensive action called "jubilee" that he is sure he never performed. To restore balance to his account, Amon must unravel the secret of jubilee but quickly finds himself asking dangerous questions about the system to which he's devoted his life, and the costly investigation only drags him closer and closer to the pit of bankruptcy. In book 1 of the Jubilee Cycle, Cash Crash Jubilee, debut novelist Eli K. P. William wields the incisive power of speculative fiction to show how, in a world of corporate finance run amok, one man will do everything for the sake of truth and justice.
©2015 Eli K. P. William (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
Hiroshima Boy
Summary
LA gardener Mas Arai returns to Hiroshima to bring his best friend’s ashes to a relative on the tiny offshore island of Ino, only to become embroiled in the mysterious death of a teenage boy who was about the same age Mas was when he survived the atomic bomb in 1945. The boy’s death affects the elderly, often-curmudgeonly, always-reluctant sleuth, who cannot return home to Los Angeles until he finds a way to see justice served.
©2018 Naomi Hirahara (P)2018 Audible, Inc.
The Lonesome Bodybuilder
Summary
A housewife takes up bodybuilding and sees radical changes to her physique - which her workaholic husband fails to notice. A boy waits at a bus stop, mocking businessmen struggling to keep their umbrellas open in a typhoon - until an old man shows him they hold the secret to flying. A woman working in a clothing boutique waits endlessly on a customer who won't come out of the fitting room - and who may or may not be human. A newlywed notices her husband's features are beginning to slide around his face - to match her own. In these 11 stories, the individuals who lift the curtains of their orderly homes and workplaces are confronted with the bizarre, the grotesque, the fantastic, the alien - and through it, find a way to liberation. The Lonesome Bodybuilder is the English-language debut of one of Japan's most fearlessly inventive young writers. BBC Culture Magazine Pick Akutagawa Prize Kenzaburo Oe Prize Vulture.com Pick Nylon Magazine Pick Millions.com Pick Huffington Post Pick Bustle Pick
©2018 Yukiko Motoya (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.