Ciaran Saward has narrated 14 audiobooks on Listento.it by 8 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 5 ratings. The most-rated is The Diamond Hunters.
The Diamond Hunters
Summary
Fortunes rise and fall in Wilbur Smith's tale of warring siblings and illegal diamond trading, The Diamond Hunters. 'The jet was a solid 18-inch column, a pillar of brown mud and yellow gravel and sea water that beat against the steel plates of the hull with a hollow drumming roar. In the few seconds since the explosion the cyclone was already half filled with a slimy shifting porridge that rushed from wall to wall with the movement of the ship. It was like some monstrous jellyfish which each second gathered weight and strength.' The Van Der Byl Diamond Company, willed by its founder to his son Benedict, his sister Tracey and their estranged foster brother Johnny Lance, turns out to be a bequest of hatred. For it is couched in such terms as to offer Benedict the instrument of destruction of his bitterest rival. 'Destroy Johnny' is the old man's implacable message. And so, consumed with envy for Johnny, Benedict sets out in ruthless pursuit of this goal - and Johnny is plunged into a maelstrom of greed, vengeance and murder....
©1970 Wilbur Smith (P)2019 Audible, Ltd
The Men on Magic Carpets: Searching for the Superhuman Sports Star
Summary
Imagine you are a professional footballer, golfer or athlete. Now imagine you are that professional sportsman or sportswoman but - using no more than the power of your own mind - you can make yourself bigger, faster, more accurate or able to control your opponent’s mind. You would be the world’s first superhuman sports star. In the 1970s the US military believed they could create a ‘super soldier’ - one who could use psychic powers to walk through walls, disarm the enemy through telepathy or kill a goat by staring at it. The brain behind these techniques was Michael Murphy, one of the founders of New Age spiritualism in the hippy enclaves of San Francisco. But Murphy’s primary goal was to use these powers in sport to create a supreme athlete capable of extraordinary feats. Murphy and his protégés have dedicated their lives to teaching athletes and coaches to use his methods. Locking runners in huts to make them believe they were dead saints, spies using mind control to win chess matches, Russian Olympians shape-shifting, and golfers imagining they were Darth Vader - coaches and athletes soon began to trust in very weird things. So weird, in fact, that sport’s burgeoning obsession with money and image meant the hippies went underground and the superhuman powers became mythical. But the trailblazers - now more hip replacement than hippy - are making a comeback, influencing some of the world’s top teams. Award-winning investigative journalist Ed Hawkins meets Murphy and his protégés as well as a cast of athletes and coaches convinced by their methods as he immerses himself in a world shrouded in secrecy and weirdness. In a simultaneously hilarious and unsettling tale, he experiences firsthand the techniques as he endeavours to reveal the truth about sports psychology. Is it really possible to enter a mind-altering state or to shift your body shape? Or is it all just bunkum? And are the American military still watching?
©2019 Ed Hawkins (P)2019 Audible, Ltd
The Adventurers and the Continental Chase
Summary
A kidnap in Paris.... A chase across Europe.... One epic road trip! The Adventurers are on holiday when Maye warns of suspicious activity in Paris. Join them as they race from the French Alps to the ancient ruins of Rome on the trail of a dangerous gang with a legacy of secrets.
©2020 Jemma Hatt (P)2020 Jemma Hatt
The Adventurers and the City of Secrets
Summary
Two master criminals are on the run with ancient treasure, using London's web of hidden trails and passages to conceal their loot. The Adventurers must track them down using their wits, Uncle Logan...and a stolen red bus. Join Lara, Rufus, Tom, Daisy and Barney as they race to uncover the City of Secrets!
©2020 Jemma Hatt (P)2020 Jemma Hatt
Hinton Hollow Death Trip
Summary
A stunning high-concept thriller from the best-selling author of Good Samaritans and Nothing Important Happened Today. It’s a small story. A small town with small lives that you would never have heard about if none of this had happened. Hinton Hollow. Population 5,120. Little Henry Wallace was eight years old and 100 miles from home before anyone talked to him. His mother placed him on a train with a label around his neck, asking for him to be kept safe for a week, kept away from Hinton Hollow. Because something was coming. Narrated by Evil itself, Hinton Hollow Death Trip recounts five days in the history of this small rural town, when darkness paid a visit and infected its residents. A visit that made them act in unnatural ways. Prodding at their insecurities. Nudging at their secrets and desires. Coaxing out the malevolence suppressed within them. Showing their true selves. Making them cheat. Making them steal. Making them kill. Detective Sergeant Pace had returned to his childhood home. To escape the things he had done in the city. To go back to something simple. But he was not alone. Evil had a plan.
©2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation (P)2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Why Bowie Matters
Summary
A unique, moving and dazzlingly researched exploration of the places, people, musicians, writers and filmmakers that inspired David Jones to become David Bowie, what we can learn from his life’s work and journey, and why he will always matter. When David Bowie died on 10 January 2016, it seemed the whole world was united in mourning. His greatest hits were sung tearfully in pubs up and down Britain, garlands of flowers were left at the Aladdin Sane mural in his old stomping ground of Brixton and tributes poured in from a galaxy of stars. To many of us, Bowie was so much more than a pop idol. But why? In Why Bowie Matters, Professor Will Brooker answers that question persuasively, as both a fan and an academic. A Bowie obsessive since childhood, he hit the headlines over the course of a year-long immersive research project that took him from London to Berlin and New York, following in Bowie’s footsteps, only listening to music and reading books he loved, and even at times adopting his fashion. In this original and illuminating audiobook, Professor Brooker approaches Bowie from various angles, retracing his childhood on the streets of Bromley, taking us through his record collection and bookshelves and deciphering the symbols and codes of his final work, Blackstar, to piece together how an ordinary suburban teenager turned himself into a legend, and how perhaps we too could be a little more Bowie. He shows us that while David Robert Jones died on that terrible day in January, David Bowie will live on forever.
©2019 Will Brooker (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Eeek!
Summary
A boy, a runaway alien, and football. Laugh-out-loud fun for ages seven to 10. And with a hilarious twist! From the international best-selling author of The Secret Lake. When 11-year-old Charlie Spruit finds an alien on his doorstep one morning he can hardly believe his luck. Who is he? Why has he come? Charlie soon discovers that his new friend Eeek! is soccer-mad and has run away from space to watch the World Cup Final with him. Charlie hides Eeek! in his bedroom, where he sleeps on the ceiling by night and pores over Charlie's football magazines by day. The only person he lets in on his alien secret is his best friend Jake. But when nosy classmate Sid Spiker, who lives out the back, spots Eeek! through his telescope, things start to fall apart - big time! Sid has his own plans for this glowing green alien, which bring surprises that no one could have imagined. A perfect listen for girls and boys aged seven to 10 who love soccer, aliens, or humor! Kids will love Ciaran Saward's characterful narration. Praise for Eeek!: Eeek! has been praised by teachers, librarians, reading charities, and parents for its popularity with keen and reluctant readers alike, and several UK schools have adopted it for Year 3 class reading or children’s books clubs. In fact, one London primary school book club voted it as favorite book for three years in a row! If you're looking for a funny audiobook for boys and girls aged seven to 10 that combines humor, adventure, aliens, and sports, you're in the right place. Order today with one click!
©2012 Karen Inglis (P)2020 Well Said Press
Good Samaritans
Summary
Dark, sexy, dangerous and wildly listenable, Good Samaritans marks the scorching return of one of crime fiction’s most exceptional voices. One crossed wire, three dead bodies and six bottles of bleach. Seth Beauman can’t sleep. He stays up late, calling strangers from his phone book, hoping to make a connection, while his wife, Maeve, sleeps upstairs. A crossed wire finds a suicidal Hadley Serf on the phone to Seth, thinking she is talking to The Samaritans. But a seemingly harmless late-night hobby turns into something more for Seth and for Hadley, and soon their late-night talks are turning into daytime meet-ups. And then this dysfunctional love story turns into something altogether darker when Seth brings Hadley home.... And someone is watching....
©2018 Will Carver (P)2018 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
The 13th Witch
Summary
Did you know that the gods can use mobile phones? They can, and Odin has a message for Conrad.... Conrad Clarke, former RAF pilot and alleged gangster, gets a text – and a visit – from The Allfather. Odin has a challenge for Conrad: Sign up to protect England from wild magick and get a commission in the King’s Watch. All he has to do is find a missing witch. Simple. Conrad never could resist a challenge. Before you can say “Ragnarok”, he’s plunged into a world of gods, mages, witches, dwarves, and one very aggressive giant mole. But the witch doesn’t want to be found, and powerful mages will kill to keep her hidden. Going back isn’t an option. Going forward looks a lot like death. Armed with nothing but a sense of humor and a willingness to cheat, Conrad has to find the Witch and save his life. Superbly narrated by Ciaran Saward, the first two books of the King’s Watch are now available in audio format. Treat yourself to a copy now and experience a whole new universe of magick. And moles....
©2017 Mark Hayden and Paw Press (P)2020 Mark Hayden and Paw Press
Nothing Important Happened Today
Summary
When strangers take part in a series of group suicides, everything suggests that a cult is to blame. But how do you stop a cult when no one knows they are members?
Nine people arrive one night on Chelsea Bridge. They’ve never met. But at the same time, they run and leap to their deaths. Each of them received a letter in the post that morning, a pre-written suicide note, and a page containing only four words: Nothing important happened today.
That is how they knew they had been chosen to become a part of the People of Choice: a mysterious suicide cult whose members have no knowledge of one another.
32 people on that train witness the event. Two of them will be next. By the morning, People of Choice are appearing around the globe: a decapitation in Germany, a public shooting at a university in Bordeaux; in Illinois, a sports team stands around the centre circle of the football pitch and pulls the trigger of the gun pressed to the temple of the person on their right. It becomes a movement.
A social media page that has lain dormant for four years suddenly has thousands of followers. The police are under pressure to find a link between the cult members, to locate a leader that does not seem to exist.
But how do you stop a cult when people do not know they are members?
One week after the two witnesses jump to their deaths, 20 letters are opened across London that all say the same thing. Later that day, the strangers all know to meet at Tower Bridge. The Teacher will jump first. The Detective will be last....
©2019 Will Carver (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
The Twelve Dragons of Albion
Summary
The king’s watch needs you.... Because there’s a Dragon on the loose. Conrad Clarke is ready to claim his reward. He’s saved the girl, so surely he can rest on his laurels? Just a bit? Not a chance. First, he has to pass a new test. A magickal test. And then there’s a missing Dragon’s egg to investigate.... Even with a new partner, Conrad is soon in deep trouble. Deep Dragon-shaped trouble. It’s time to use his secret weapons: Charm and humor. Armed with them, who needs a fire-resistance spell? Dragons? Bring them on.... Treat yourself to another of Conrad’s adventures in the mad world of magick and get ready for the ride. It’s going to be a hot one....
©2017 Mark Hayden and Paw Press (P)2020 Mark Hayden and Paw Press
Mirage Men
Summary
Seeking the truth about UFOs in America, Mark Pilkington and John Lundberg uncover a 60-year-old story stranger than any conspiracy thriller. Through the fascinating account of their quest, Mark Pilkington reveals the long history of UFOria and its parallels in little-known tales from the murky worlds of espionage, psychological warfare, and advanced military technology. Along the way he discovers that the truth about flying saucers is stranger and more complex than either the ufologists or debunkers would have us believe. As he crossed the US meeting intelligence agents, disinformation specialists, and UFO hunters, Pilkington was confronted with a dizzying array of ever more outrageous claims and counter claims. As a result he began to suspect that, instead of covering up stories of crashed flying saucers, alien contacts, and secret underground bases, the US intelligence agencies had actually been promoting them all along. Meanwhile he has to deal with his own uncertainties, the suspicions of the UFO community, and a partner who is starting to believe that conspiracy theorists might be right after all.
©2010 Mark Pilkington (P)2021 Tantor
The Adventurers and the Cursed Castle
Summary
The Adventurers and The Cursed Castle is the first book in The Adventurers Series: exciting adventure stories for children aged 8-12. Chosen by young listeners as the Gold Award winner of the 2019 Wishing Shelf Book Awards for ages 9-12. Winner of the 2020 Children's Selfies Award. A mysterious curse has stricken Kexley Castle for generations ever since Egyptian treasure was transported to Cornwall by a 19th Century explorer. Can four young adventurers reveal the secrets that have been hidden for over a hundred years? Join Lara, Rufus, Tom, and Barney in their first exciting adventure together as they unravel the mystery and race to find Captain Jack Kexley’s hiding place. To succeed, they must discover and solve a series of clues left by their ancestor, ahead of two unwelcome visitors from the British Museum who are determined to get there first!
©2018 Jemma Hatt (P)2020 Jemma Hatt
The Adventurers and the Temple of Treasure
Summary
The Adventurers and the Temple of Treasure is the second book in The Adventurers Series: exciting adventure stories for children aged 8-12. A father's legacy, a chase across Egypt, and a mystery buried for thousands of years.... Lara, Rufus, Tom and Barney are back in their second exciting adventure together. With the help of friends old and new, can they navigate their way through the ancient wonders of Egypt to unearth one of the greatest treasure troves in history?
©2019 Jemma Hatt (P)2020 Jemma Hatt