Richard Powers has narrated 58 audiobooks on Listento.it by 69 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 730 ratings. The most-rated is Necronomicon.
Berserker Kill
Summary
Long, long ago, two alien races fought a war of extinction. All that is left of either of them are the berserkers: vast, thinking, spacefaring, killer machines whose sole purpose is to destroy all living things. For the first time in all of their history, they have met a life-form that has a chance of stopping them. In the cold reaches of space, the berserkers seize a floating laboratory full of human germ-plasm being stored for retrieval and growth in a future colonization project. The ship contains millions of human lives - but why are they not destroying them? Will the human pursuers manage to find the missing lab, defeat the berserkers, and save the nascent lives? This is a major Berserker novel - one of Saberhagen’s finest - with one hell of a surprise up its sleeve. Fred Thomas Saberhagen (1930-2007), a native of Chicago, worked as a science writer for the Encyclopaedia Britannica. He began writing science fiction for Galaxy in 1961. He is most renowned for the Berserker series of stories and novels.
©1993 Fred Saberhagen (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Panorama City
Summary
With its blend of fool’s wisdom and deeply felt humanity, Panorama City is heir to Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and Steve Martin’s The Jerk. From his deathbed*, 28-year-old Oppen Porter - an openhearted, bicycle-riding, binocular-toting, self-described “slow absorber” - unspools into a cassette recorder his tale of self-determination, from “village idiot” to “man of the world”, for the benefit of his unborn son. Told in an astonishingly charming and wise voice, Oppen’s account traces 40 days and nights navigating the fast-food joints, storefront churches, and home-office psychologists of the San Fernando Valley. Ping-ponging between his watchful, sharp-tongued aunt and an outlaw philosopher with the face “of a newly hatched crocodile”, Oppen finds himself constantly in the sights of people who believe that their way is the only way for him. Oppen Porter is “an American original” (Stewart O’Nan) for whom finding one’s own way is both a delightful art and a painstaking science. Disarmingly funny and surreptitiously moving, Panorama City makes us see the world, and our place in it, with new eyes. *Not really
©2012 Antoine Wilson (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Last Winter, We Parted
Summary
Instantly reminiscent of the work of Osamu Dazai and Patricia Highsmith, Fuminori Nakamura's latest novel is a dark and twisting house of mirrors that philosophically explores the violence of aesthetics and the horrors of identity. A young writer arrives at a prison to interview a convict. The writer has been commissioned to write a full account of the case, from its bizarre and grisly details to the nature of the man behind the crime. The suspect, a world-renowned photographer named Kiharazaka, has a deeply unsettling portfolio - lurking beneath the surface of each photograph is an acutely obsessive fascination with his subject. He stands accused of murdering two women - both burned alive - and will likely face the death penalty. But something isn't quite right, and as the young writer probes further, his doubts about this man as a killer intensify. He soon discovers the desperate, twisted nature of all who are connected to the case, struggling to maintain his sense of reason and justice. Is Kiharazaka truly guilty, or will he die to protect someone else? Evoking Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Hell Screen and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Fuminori Nakamura has crafted a chilling novel that asks a deceptively sinister question: Is it possible to truly capture the essence of another human being?
©2014 Fuminori Nakamura (P)2014 SoHo Publishing
The Perfect Fake
Summary
Tom Fairchild is a man with a past he can't shake. He's struggling to make it as a graphic artist, but his probation officer thinks he belongs in jail. Then millionaire Miami real estate developer Stuart Barlowe offers him $50,000 to travel to Italy with his daughter, Allison, a map expert and Tom's childhood love, to duplicate a rare Renaissance map.
But Tom soon suspects that Barlowe wants a forgery, not a duplicate. When people start turning up dead, and Tom and Allison realize they are being tailed, it quickly becomes clear that they have no one to trust but each other.
©2007 Barbara Parker (P)2007 BBC Audio
Returning to Earth
Summary
In this sequel to Harrison's True North, Donald Burkett, a middle-aged Chippewa-Finnish man, is dying of Lou Gehrig's disease. While his wife, Cynthia, transcribes, Donald begins dictating his family history for the benefit of their children - stories that he has never before shared. As old crimes, dreams, wounds, and sacred moments are revived for the members of Donald's family, each is affected in different and profound ways. Each will describe in his or her own voice the inner journey catalyzed by Donald's death and legacy. This is a deeply moving book about origins and endings, about honoring life, honoring the dead, and finding redemption in unlikely places.
©2007 Jim Harrison (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.
After the Fire
Summary
On January 19, 2000, a fire raged through the freshman dormitory at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, killing three students and injuring 58 others. Among the victims were Shawn Simons and Alvaro Llanos, roommates from poor neighborhoods who made their families proud by getting into college. They managed to escape the fire, but both were burned terribly. After the Fire is the story of these young men and their fight to recover from the worst injuries the Saint Barnabas Hospital burn unit had ever seen. It is the story of the extraordinary doctors and nurses who work with the burned, of the mothers and fathers, of faith and family, of the women who came to love these men, and of the invisible ties that bind us to one another.
©2008 Robin Gaby Fisher (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Cold Kiss
Summary
All Nate and Sara want is a new life in a new town, away from the crime and poverty of their past. So when they are approached at a roadside diner by a shady hitchhiker offering $500 for a ride to Omaha, they wonder if their luck might be changing. At first it seems like so much easy money - but within a few hours the man is dead. Now, forced off the road by a blizzard and trapped in a run-down motel on the side of a deserted highway, Nate and Sara begin to uncover the man’s secrets: who he was, how he died, and most importantly, why he was carrying two million dollars in his suitcase. Before they know it, Nate and Sara are fighting for their lives. In the end, each has to decide just how far they are willing to go to survive. The Cold Kiss is an everyman psychological thriller that pits a young couple against moral corruption, greed, betrayal, and love. For two characters who may have used up all their chances, it’s the classic final trip down the dark tunnel that might lead to heaven, but drags them through hell.
©2010 John Rector (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Natural Rivals
Summary
This dynamic examination traces the lives of two of the most influential figures - and their dueling approaches - on America’s natural landscape. John Muir, the most famous naturalist in American history, protected Yosemite, cofounded the Sierra Club, and is sometimes called the Father of the National Parks. A poor immigrant, self-taught, individualistic, and skeptical of institutions, he had an idealistic belief in the spiritual benefits of holistic natural systems that led him to a philosophy of preserving wilderness unimpaired. Gifford Pinchot founded the US Forest Service and advised his friend Theodore Roosevelt on environmental policy. Raised in wealth, educated in privilege, and interested in how institutions and community can overcome failures in individual virtue, Pinchot’s pragmatic belief in professional management led him to a philosophy of sustainably conserving natural resources. When these rivaling perspectives meet, what happens? For decades, the story of their relationship has been told as a split between the conservation and preservation philosophies, sparked by a proposal to dam a remote Yosemite valley called Hetch Hetchy. But a decade before that argument, Muir and Pinchot camped together alongside Montana’s jewel-like Lake McDonald in what was at the heart of a region not yet consecrated as Glacier National Park. At stake in 1896 was the new idea that some landscapes should be collectively, permanently owned by a democratic government. Although many people today think of public lands as an American birthright, their very existence was then in doubt and dependent on a merger of the talents of these two men. Natural Rivals examines a time of environmental threat and political dysfunction not unlike our own and reveals the complex dynamic that gave birth to America’s rich public lands legacy.
©2019 John Clayton (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing
The New Space Opera
Summary
This dazzling anthology includes epic interstellar adventures, tales of space and wonder, from some of the brightest names in science fiction. Authors include: Kage Baker Stephen Baxter GregoryBenford Tony Daniel Greg Egan Peter F. Hamilton Gwyneth Jones James Patrick Kelly NancyKress Ken Macleod Paul J. McAuley Ian McDonald Robert Reed Alastair Reynolds MaryRosenblum Robert Silverberg Dan Simmons Walter Jon Williams
©2008 Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Drive
Summary
Drive is the story of a man who works as a stunt driver by day and a getaway driver by night. He drives, that's all - until he's double-crossed. Powerful and stylistically brilliant, Drive has been hailed by critics as the "perfect piece of noir fiction" (New York Times Book Review) and an instant classic.
©2005 James Sallis (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.
21st Century Dead
Summary
The Stoker Award-winning editor of the acclaimed, eclectic anthology The New Dead returns with 21st Century Dead and an all-new lineup of authors from every corner of the fiction world, shining a dark light on our fascination with tales of death and resurrection - and with zombies! The stellar stories in this volume include a tale set in the world of Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse, the first published fiction by Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, and a tale of love, family, and resurrection from the legendary Orson Scott Card. This new volume also includes stories from other award-winning and New York Times best-selling authors, such as Simon R. Green, Chelsea Cain, Jonathan Maberry, Duane Swiercyznski, Caitlin Kittredge, Brian Keene, Amber Benson, John Skipp, S. G. Browne, Thomas E. Sniegoski, Hollywood screenwriter Stephen Susco, National Book Award nominee Dan Chaon, and others. The complete list of narrators includes Scott Brick, Cassandra Campbell, Bernadette Dunne, Paul Michael Garcia, Kirby Heyborne, Malcolm Hillgartner, Chris Patton, John Pruden, Renée Raudman, Stefan Rudnicki, Sean Runnette, Simon Vance, and Tom Weiner. "Zombies Are Good for You: An Introduction" © 2012 by Christopher Golden. "Biters" © 2012 by Mark Morris. "Why Mothers Let Their Babies Watch Television: A Just-So Horror Story" © 2012 by Verite, Inc. "Carousel" © 2012 by Orson Scott Card. "Reality Bites" © 2012 by S. G. Browne. "The Drop" © 2012 by Stephen Susco. "Antiparallelogram" © 2012 by Amber Benson. "How We Escaped Our Certain Fate" © 2012 by Dan Chaon. "A Mother’s Love" © 2012 by John M. McIlveen. "Down and Out in Dead Town" © 2012 by Simon R. Green. "Devil Dust" © 2012 by Caitlin Kittredge. "The Dead of Dromore" © 2012 by Ken Bruen. "All the Comforts of Home: A Beacon Story" © 2012 by John Skipp and Cody Goodfellow. "Ghost Dog & Pup: Stay" © 2012 by Thomas E. Sniegoski. "Tic Boom: A Slice of Love" © 2012 by Mad/Doll, Inc. "Jack and Jill" © 2012 by Jonathan Maberry. "Tender as Teeth" © 2012 by Stephanie Crawford and Duane Swierczynski. "Couch Potato" © 2012 by Brian Keene. "The Happy Bird and Other Tales" © 2012 by Rio Youers. "Parasite" © 2012 by Daniel H. Wilson.
©2012 Christopher Golden (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Real Estate Investing for Beginners
Summary
Many people mistakenly believe that investing in real estate needs to be left to the professionals and property moguls. But the truth is anyone can build wealth by investing in real estate. The trick to becoming a successful investor? Getting a solid grasp on the basics. Real Estate Investing for Beginners gives you insight into how to successfully evaluate, buy, and maintain investment properties with confidence. It prepares you to invest confidently with: The top ten questions you should ask yourself before investing. The pros, cons, and characteristics for the five main types of real estate investments. The difference between investing in stocks versus investing in real estate. A full glossary to sharpen your financial vocabulary. Real Estate Investing for Beginners gives you the right set of tools to build the lifelong wealth and financial security you want. Now, time to get learning and earning.
©2019 Tycho Press (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Summary
A '"skillful, literate'" (New York Times Book Review) biography of the persecuted genius who helped create the modern computer. To solve one of the great mathematical problems of his day, Alan Turing proposed an imaginary computer. Then, attempting to break a Nazi code during World War II, he successfully designed and built one, thus ensuring the Allied victory. Turing became a champion of artificial intelligence, but his work was cut short. As an openly gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal in England, he was convicted and forced to undergo a humiliating "treatment" that may have led to his suicide. With a novelist's sensitivity, David Leavitt portrays Turing in all his humanity - his eccentricities, his brilliance, his fatal candor - and elegantly explains his work and its implications.
©2012 David Leavitt (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, 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.
It Gets Better
Summary
Every story can change a life. Growing up isn’t easy. Many young people face daily tormenting and bullying, making them feel like they have nowhere to turn. This is especially true for LGBT kids and teens who often hide their sexuality for fear of being bullied. Without other openly gay adults and mentors in their lives, they can’t imagine what their future may hold. In many instances, gay and lesbian adolescents are taunted - even tortured - simply for being themselves. After a number of tragic suicides by LGBT students who were bullied in school, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage uploaded a video to YouTube with his partner, Terry Miller, to inspire hope for LGBT youth facing harassment. Speaking openly about the bullying they suffered as teenagers and how they both went on to lead rewarding adult lives, they launched the It Gets Better Project YouTube channel and initiated a worldwide phenomenon. With over 6,000 videos posted and over 20 million views in the first three months alone, the world has embraced the opportunity to provide personal, honest, and heartfelt support for LGBT youth everywhere. It Gets Better is a collection of expanded essays and new material from celebrities, everyday people, and teens who have posted videos of encouragement, as well as new contributors who have yet to post videos to the site. While many of these teens couldn’t see a positive future for themselves, others can. We can show LGBT youth the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach if they can just get through their teen years. By sharing these stories, It Gets Better reminds teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone - and it WILL get better.
©2011 Dan Savage and Terry Miller (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Numerati
Summary
Every day, we produce loads of data about ourselves simply by living in the modern world: we click web pages, flip channels, drive through automatic toll booths, shop with credit cards, and make cell phone calls. Now, in one of the greatest undertakings of the 21st century, a savvy group of mathematicians and computer scientists is beginning to sift through this data to profile us as workers, shoppers, patients, voters, potential terrorists, even lovers. Their goal? To manipulate our behavior - what we buy, how we vote - without our even realizing it. In this tour de force of original reporting and analysis, journalist Stephen Baker provides us with a fascinating guide to the world we're all entering and the people controlling that world.
©2008 Stephen Baker (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Jepp, Who Defied the Stars
Summary
Fate - is it written in the stars from the moment we are born, or is it a bendable thing that we can shape with our own hands? Jepp of Astraveld needs to know. He left his countryside home on the empty promise of a stranger, only to become a captive in the strange, luxurious prison that is Coudenberg Palace, the royal court of the Spanish infanta. Nobody warned Jepp that, as a court dwarf, daily injustices would become his seemingly unshakeable fate. If the humiliations were his alone, perhaps he could endure them, but it breaks Jepp’s heart to see his friend Lia suffer. After Jepp and Lia perform a daring escape from the palace, Jepp is imprisoned again, alone in a cage. Now, spirited across Europe by a kidnapper in a horse-drawn carriage, Jepp is unsure where his unfortunate stars may lead him. Before Jepp can become the master of his own destiny, he will need to prove himself to a brilliant and eccentric new master - a man devoted to uncovering the secrets of the stars - earn the love of a girl brave and true, and unearth the long-buried secrets of his parentage. He will find that beneath the breathtaking cruelty of the world is something else: the persistence of human kindness. Masterfully written, grippingly paced, and inspired by real historical characters, Jepp, Who Defied the Stars is an awe-inspiring story of triumph in the face of unimaginable odds. Katherine Marsh was formerly the managing editor of the New Republic, senior editor at Washington City Paper, and contributing editor at Rolling Stone. Her books have been featured and praised in USA Today, New York Magazine, the New York Times, and Washingtonian. Her novel The Night Tourist won the Edgar Award for best juvenile mystery.
©2012 Katherine Marsh (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Satan's Diary
Summary
I’m the only one to have walked the cobblestones of the Most High. I’m the only one to have seduced a woman and made her walk away from everything she loved and cherished. I’m the only one who can convinced a person steadfast in their faith, to throw it all away for riches beyond their wildest dreams. My lust for power is unquenchable, and I will use every trick at my disposal to gain an advantage. Even if it means destroying a church leader and his family with delectable treats full of envy, pride, greed, and lust.
©2020 Steven Darrell Bates (P)2021 Steven Darrell Bates