Fajer Al-Kaisi has narrated 58 audiobooks on Listento.it by 73 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 431 ratings. The most-rated is On Tyranny.
The Bliss of Inner Fire
Summary
In the classic best seller, Introduction to Tantra, Lama Yeshe offered a profound and wonderfully clear glimpse into the sophisticated practices of Tibetan Buddhist tantra. This present book, the last major teachings of this great lama, opens up the world of advanced practices for Highest Yoga Tantra initiates in much the same way his earlier work opened up the world of tantra in general. Following Je Tsongkhapa's (1357-1419 C.E.) text Having the Three Convictions, Lama Yeshe introduces the renowned Six Yogas of Naropa, focusing mainly on the first of these six, the practice of inner fire (tummo). Mastery of inner fire quickly brings the mind to its most refined and penetrating state - the experience of clear light, an extra-ordinarily powerful state of mind that is unequaled in its ability to directly realize ultimate reality. Lama Yeshe felt that 20th-century Westerners could easily grasp the often misunderstood ideas of this esoteric tradition: "We really need tantra these days because there is a tremendous explosion of delusion and distraction - and we need the atomic energy of inner fire to blast us out of our delusion." Lama Yeshe's aim was for his students to actually taste the experience of inner fire rather than merely gain an intellectual understanding. Lama's own realization of the transformative power of these practices comes through, inspiring his students to discover for themselves their own capacity for inexhaustible bliss.
©1998, 2015 Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
The Artificial Kid
Summary
In a future world of rampant inequality, a martial-arts video star finds himself in a real fight for survival, in this novel by the author of Schismatrix. Founded centuries ago by the enigmatic genius Moses Moses, the planet Reverie can either be heaven or hell, depending on whether you live on or above it. The superrich orbit the world in luxury abodes, keeping their sometimes-lethal ennui at bay by watching homemade sex and violence videos created by the peons dwelling on the coral continents miles beneath them. The most popular entertainer of all is the Artificial Kid, an unbeatable combat artist whose bloody, self-produced martial arts videos have made him beloved both above and below. But the Kid is about to stumble onto something no one was ever meant to discover—a mind-boggling conspiracy of science and antiquity that forces him to run for his life into the strange and dangerous wilderness known as the Mass. And when Moses returns to Reverie after seven hundred years of cryogenic sleep, things are about to get much worse. Written long before the era of YouTube, Ultimate Fighting, and reality TV, Bruce Sterling’s prescient, thoughtful, and wildly satiric novel previews the nascent cyberpunk sensibilities of the acclaimed author’s later works.
©1980 Bruce Sterling (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
The Song of the Lady Rose
Summary
A strange final message from a ghost ship, comes alive with the voices of the past. Listen or die. "The Song of The Lady Rose" by Gabino Iglesias is one of nine short horror stories in Nightfire's audio anthology. Come Join Us by the Fire S2: Originals is the second installment of Nightfire's audio-first horror anthology, featuring a wide collection of short stories from emerging voices in the horror genre as well as longtime fan favorites. Season two originals features nine all-new stories from authors Laird Barron, Indrapramit Das, Brian Evenson, Craig Laurance Gidney, Camilla Grudova, Shaun Hamill, Gabino Iglesias, Daniel M. Lavery, and Sunny Moraine.
©2020 Gabino Iglesias (P)2020 Nightfire
Guesthouse for Ganesha
Summary
In 1923, 17-year-old Esther Grünspan arrives in Köln "with a hardened heart as her sole luggage.” Thus begins a 22-year journey, woven against the backdrops of the European Holocaust and the Hindu Kali Yuga (the “Age of Darkness” when human civilization degenerates spiritually), in search of a place of sanctuary. Throughout her travails, using cunning and shrewdness, Esther relies on her masterful tailoring skills to help mask her Jewish heritage, navigate war-torn Europe, and emigrate to India. Esther’s traveling companion and the novel’s narrator is Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu God worshipped by millions for his abilities to destroy obstacles, bestow wishes, and avenge evils. Impressed by Esther’s fortitude and relentless determination, born of her deep - though unconscious - understanding of the meaning and purpose of love, Ganesha, with compassion, insight, and poetry, chooses to highlight her story because he recognizes it is all of our stories - for truth resides at the essence of its telling. Weaving Eastern beliefs and perspectives with Western realities and pragmatism, Guesthouse for Ganesha is a tale of love, loss, and spirit reclaimed. Cover photo by Michael Kellner at kellnerbookdesign.com.
©2019 Judith Teitelman (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
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.
Fives and Twenty-Fives
Summary
It’s the rule - always watch your fives and twenty-fives. When a convoy halts to investigate a possible roadside bomb, stay in the vehicle and scan five meters in every direction. A bomb inside five meters cuts through the armor, killing everyone in the truck. Once clear, get out and sweep 25 meters. A bomb inside 25 meters kills the dismounted scouts investigating the road ahead. Fives and Twenty-Fives marks the measure of a marine’s life in the road-repair platoon. Dispatched to fill potholes on the highways of Iraq, the platoon works to assure safe passage for citizens and military personnel. Their mission lacks the glory of the infantry, but in a war where every pothole contains a hidden bomb, road repair brings its own danger. Lieutenant Donavan leads the platoon, painfully aware of his shortcomings and isolated by his rank. Doc Pleasant, the medic, joined for opportunity, but finds his pride undone as he watches friends die. And there’s Kateb, known to the Americans as Dodge, an Iraqi interpreter whose love of American culture - from hip-hop to the dog-eared copy of Huck Finn he carries - is matched only by his disdain for what Americans are doing to his country. Returning home, they exchange one set of decisions and repercussions for another, struggling to find a place in a world that no longer knows them. A debut both transcendent and rooted in the flesh, Fives and Twenty-Fives is a deeply necessary novel.
©2014 Michael Pitre (P)2014 Audible Inc.
Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English
Summary
Countless people worldwide have made Mindfulness in Plain English a beloved and best-selling classic in almost a dozen languages. Now, after nearly two decades, Bhante helps meditators of every stripe take their mindfulness practice to the next level - helping them go, in a word, beyond mindfulness. In the same warm, clear, and friendly style, Bhante introduces the listener to what have been known for centuries as the jhanas - deeply calm, joyous, and powerful states of meditation that, when explored with the clearly presented tools in this book, can lead to a life of insight and unshakeable peace.
©2009 Bhante Gunaratana (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
A Different Mirror for Young People
Summary
A longtime professor of ethnic studies at the University of California at Berkeley, Ronald Takaki was recognized as one of the foremost scholars of American ethnic history and diversity. When the first edition of A Different Mirror was published in 1993, Publishers Weekly called it "a brilliant revisionist history of America that is likely to become a classic of multicultural studies" and named it one of the 10 best books of the year. Now Rebecca Stefoff, who adapted Howard Zinn's best-selling A People's History of the United States for younger listeners, turns the updated 2008 edition of Takaki's multicultural masterwork into A Different Mirror for Young People. Drawing on Takaki's vast array of primary sources, and staying true to his own words whenever possible, A Different Mirror for Young People brings ethnic history alive through the words of people, including teenagers, who recorded their experiences in letters, diaries, and poems. Like Zinn's A People's History, Takaki's A Different Mirror offers a rich and rewarding "people's view" perspective on the American story.
©2012 Ronald Takaki (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Come Join Us by the Fire, Season 2: Originals
Summary
Come Join Us by the Fire S2: Originals is the second installment of Nightfire's audio-first horror anthology, featuring a wide collection of short stories from emerging voices in the horror genre as well as longtime fan favorites. Season 2: Originals features nine all-new stories from authors Laird Barron, Indrapramit Das, Brian Evenson, Craig Laurance Gidney, Camilla Grudova, Shaun Hamill, Gabino Iglesias, Daniel M. Lavery, and Sunny Moraine.
©2020 Various Authors (P)2020 Nightfire
Two Hours
Summary
Two hours to cover 26 miles and 385 yards. Its running's Everest, a feat once seen as impossible for the human body. Now we can glimpse the mountaintop. The sub-two-hour marathon requires an exceptional feat of speed, mental strength, and endurance. The pioneer will have to endure more, live braver, plan better, and be luckier than any who has run before.
Ed Caesar takes us into the world of elite runners: the greatest marathoners on Earth. From big-money races in the United States to remote villages in Kenya, Two Hours is an audiobook about a beautiful sport that few people understand. It's about talent, heroism, and refusing to accept defeat. It's a book about running that is about much more than running.... It's a human drama like no other.
©2015 Ed Caesar (P)2015 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Blindfold
Summary
An award-winning journalist’s searing, extraordinary account of being kidnapped and tortured in Syria by al Qaeda for two years - a revelatory memoir about war, human nature, and endurance. In 2012, American journalist Theo Padnos, fluent in Arabic, Russian, German, and French, traveled to a Turkish border town to write and report on the Syrian civil war. One afternoon in October, while walking through an olive grove, he met three young Syrians - who turned out to be al Qaeda operatives - and they captured him and kept him prisoner for nearly two years. On his first day, in the first of many prisons, Padnos was given a blindfold - a grime-stained scrap of fabric - that was his only possession throughout his horrific ordeal. Now, in Blindfold, Padnos recounts his time in captivity in Syria, where he was frequently tortured at the hands of the al Qaeda affiliate, Jebhat al Nusra. We learn not only about Padnos' harrowing experience, but we also get a firsthand account of life in a Syrian village, the nature of Islamic prisons, how captors interrogate someone suspected of being CIA, the ways that Islamic fighters shift identities and drift back and forth through the veil of Western civilization, and much more. No other journalist has lived among terrorists for as long as Theo has - and survived. As a resident of 13 separate prisons in every part of rebel-occupied Syria, Theo witnessed a society adrift amid a steady stream of bombings, executions, torture, prayer, fasting, and exhibitions, all staged by the terrorists. Living within this tide of violence changed not only his personal identity but also profoundly altered his understanding of how to live. Offering fascinating, unprecedented insight into the state of Syria today, Blindfold is an astonishing portrait of courage that combines the emotional power of a captive’s memoir with a journalist’s account of a culture and a nation in conflict that is as urgent and important as ever.
©2021 Theo Padnos. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
A Deadly Influence
Summary
From bestselling author Mike Omer comes the first in a new series full of the psychological twists and police procedural turns that his fans have come to know and love. Lieutenant Abby Mullen is no stranger to crisis. As the hostage negotiation instructor for the NYPD, she deals with worst-case scenarios every day. Nothing fazes her anymore. That all changes when she gets a call from Eden Fletcher, a fellow survivor of the infamous Wilcox cult. The two haven’t spoken since the night of a tragic, fiery massacre, when their paths diverged. But now Eden needs Abby’s help: someone has kidnapped her son and is demanding a $5 million ransom. As Abby throws herself into the case, she can’t help but wonder why the kidnapper has targeted Eden. But Eden refuses to talk. She’s silent about the relics of their shared past hanging on her walls. About the kidnapper’s possible motives. About what’s happened in the years since she and Abby parted ways. As the truth closes in, Abby realizes that her past may not be as far behind as she thought…and it’s come home to collect.
©2021 by Michael Omer. (P)2021 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
We Ride the Storm
Summary
As an empire dies, three warriors will rise. They will have to ride the storm or drown in its blood. "An exciting new author in fantasy." (Mark Lawrence, author of Red Sister) Seventeen years after rebels stormed the streets, factions divide Kisia. Only the firm hand of the god-emperor holds the empire together. But when an unexpected betrayal destroys a tense alliance with neighboring Chiltae, all that has been won comes crashing down. In Kisia, Princess Miko Ts'ai is a prisoner in her own castle. She dreams of claiming her empire, but the path to power could rip it, and her family, asunder. In Chiltae, assassin Cassandra Marius is plagued by the voices of the dead. Desperate, she accepts a contract that promises to reward her with a cure if she helps an empire fall. And on the border between nations, Captain Rah e'Torin and his warriors are exiles forced to fight in a foreign war or die. War built the Kisian Empire. War will tear it down. We Ride the Storm is the epic launch of a bold and brutal new fantasy series, perfect for listeners of Mark Lawrence, John Gwynne and Brian Staveley. The Reborn Empire We Ride the Storm For more from Devin Madson, check out: The Vengeance Trilogy The Blood of Whisperers The Gods of Vice The Grave at Storm's End
©2020 Devin Madson (P)2020 Orbit
On Language
Summary
Described by the New York Times as "arguably the most important intellectual alive," Noam Chomsky is known throughout the world for his highly influential writings on language and politics. Featuring two of Chomsky's most popular and enduring books in one omnibus volume, On Language contains some of the noted linguist and political critic's most informal and accessible work to date, making it an ideal introduction to his thought. In Part I, "Language and Responsibility" (1979), Chomsky presents a fascinating self-portrait of his political, moral, and linguistic thinking through a series of interviews with Mitsou Ronat, the noted French linguist. In Part II, "Reflections on Language" (1975), Chomsky explores the more general implications of the study of language and offers incisive analyses of the controversies among psychologists, philosophers, and linguists over fundamental questions of language.
©1977 Language and Responsibility Flammarion; English translation and revisions of Language and Responsibility 1979 Noam Chomsky; Reflections on Language 1975 Noam Chomsky (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
Last Word
Summary
The last word on the JFK assassination by the New York Times best-selling author and JFK historian! Mark Lane tried the only US court case in which the jurors concluded that the CIA plotted the murder of President Kennedy, but there was always a missing piece: How did the CIA control cops and Secret Service agents on the ground in Dealey Plaza? How did federal authorities prevent the House Select Committee on Assassinations from discovering the truth about the complicity of the CIA? Now, Mark Lane tells all in this explosive new book, with exclusive new interviews, sworn testimony, and meticulous new research (including interviews with Oliver Stone, Dallas Police deputy sheriffs, Robert K. Tanenbaum, and Abraham Bolden). Lane finds out first hand exactly what went on the day JFK was assassinated. He includes sworn statements given to the Warren Commission by a police officer who confronted a man who he thought was the assassin. The officer testified that he drew his gun and pointed it at the suspect, who showed Secret Service ID. Yet, the Secret Service later reported that there were no Secret Service agents on foot in Dealey Plaza. The Last Word proves that the CIA, operating through a secret small group, prepared all credentials for Secret Service agents in Dallas for the two days that Kennedy was going to be there - conclusive evidence of the CIA's involvement in the assassination.
©2011 Mark Lane (P)2011 Audible, Inc.
The Case of the Vanishing Fishhook
Summary
Something fishy is going on! Even after an exhausting morning defending the ranch against a vicious one-eyed robot, Hank the Cowdog, Head of Ranch Security, still has energy left to supervise Little Alfred's fishing trip. But what starts as a routine expedition turns into a first-class crisis when Hank reels in more than he bargained for. A fishhook finds its way into Hank's stomach, which is bad news indeed. Is there hope for Hank, or is this curtains for our hero? Sally May sings "Sally May's Lament", and Hank manages to croon "I Will Never Eat Another Fishhook".
©1999 John R. Erickson (P)1999 John R. Erickson
The Doctor of Aleppo
Summary
While working in the ancient Silk Road city of Aleppo, American Hannah Johnson and her Swedish lover Oskar are drawn into the mounting turbulence of the impending Syrian civil war. After Oskar is wounded at a street protest one evening, he and Hannah cross paths with Dr. Samir Hasan, a renowned surgeon. As the protests swell into all-out war, Dr. Hasan tends not only to Oskar, but also risks his life, his practice, and his family to tend to a nephew the government has branded an insurgent. Dr. Hasan's humanitarian activities come to the attention of a vengeful, Javert-like secret police officer whose son's death on Dr. Hasan's watch triggers a series of events that will drag Hannah and Oskar deeper into the war and put Hannah and Dr. Hasan in the officer's crosshairs. Both intimate and sweeping in scope, The Doctor of Aleppo lends insight into how the most brutal, devastating war of the 21st century is mirrored on the personal scale, leaving scars that can never be healed.
©2020 Dan Mayland (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing
The Talk
Summary
This powerful collection of short stories, essays, and poems is a call-to-action that invites all families to be anti-racist and advocates for change. Thirty diverse, award-winning authors and illustrators - including Renee Watson (Piecing Me Together), Grace Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon), Meg Medina (Merci Suarez Changes Gears), and Adam Gidwitz (The Inquisitor's Tale) - engage young people in frank discussions about racism, identity, and self-esteem. Featuring stories filled with love, acceptance, truth, peace, and an assurance that there can be hope for a better tomorrow, The Talk is an inspiring anthology and must-have resource published in partnership with Just Us Books, a black-owned children's publishing company that's been in operation for over 30 years. Just Us Books continues its mission grounded in the same belief that helped launch the company: Good books make a difference. So, let's talk. Featured contributors: Selina Alko, Tracey Baptiste, Derrick Barnes, Natacha Bustos, Cozbi A. Cabrera, Raúl Colón, Adam Gidwitz, Nikki Grimes, Rudy Gutierrez, April Harrison, Wade Hudson, Gordon C. James, Minh Lê, E. B. Lewis, Grace Lin, Torrey Maldonado, Meg Medina, Christopher Myers, Daniel Nayeri, Zeke Peña, Peter H. Reynolds, Erin K. Robinson, Traci Sorell, Shadra Strickland, Don Tate, MaryBeth Timothy, Duncan Tonatiuh, Renée Watson, Valerie Wilson Wesley, Sharon Dennis Wyeth Features original music by Curtis Hudson. This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF of sources and notes from the authors. "The go-to book for talking to kids about race and privilege. Thoughtful. Thought-provoking. A must-read for every family." (Ellen Oh, editor of Flying Lessons & Other Stories and cofounder of We Need Diverse Books) "The ingredients are all here. May this magnificent collection inspire us to move from dialogue to deep action." (Kirkus starred review) PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson (P)2020 Listening Library