Scott Aiello has narrated 98 audiobooks on Listento.it by 82 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 1,505 ratings. The most-rated is Second Hand Curses.
The Devil's Tub
Summary
Edward Hoagland, best known for his essays, is also an extraordinary writer as fiction, as readers of his stories The Final Fate of Alligators and Kwan's Coney Island can attest. First published in periodicals such as The Paris Review, Esquire, The New Yorker, The American Review, and Saul Bellow's famous literary magazine, The Nobel Savage, Hoagland's stories amazed readers with their precise language and finely etched characters. He has been widely anthologized, including in Best American Short Stories. Assembled here are stories new and old, spanning from 1960 to today. Meet the death-defying motorcycle trick riders in the carnival's Devil's Tub, a man who keeps an alligator in his bathtub, a Chinese launder in Coney Island in search of love, a frontiersman who saves himself from a mauling grizzly bear by hiding in a beaver dam, three men from a circus looking for trouble at a rodeo, a washed out boxer trying to hang onto his career, and dozens of others rich characters. From the cramped and gritty streets of New York City to the wide open spaces of the Old West, Hoagland's characters pine, ache, create, observe, love, learn, and live in such precisely rendered stories that we are transported into each of their peculiar worlds.
©2014 Edward Hoagland (P)2014 Audible Inc.
The Blue King Murders
Summary
Some places, it’s a crime to be human.... Tyler Matthews divides the legal team in half to wage courtroom battles on worlds half a galaxy apart. The Star Lawyers must defend Mr. Blue, their Quirt-Thymean friend and fellow attorney, for the murder of his King. But defending a regicide carries a penalty of death - for his lawyer! Meanwhile, J.B., Rosalie, and Suzie fly to a Mek colonial world to defend their mischievous Uncle Charlie, who’s charged with seduction and sedition among the matriarchal Meklavites. With Tyler’s penchant for attracting enemies, he’s soon dodging killer robots, fending off insurrectionists, and evading professional assassins, while J.B.’s team fights to escape the clutches of binary black holes that were not supposed to be in their flight path. Add to the mix a pair of beautiful, seductive alien queens with pheromonic powers and a conspiracy at the highest level of Quirt-Thymean society to launch wars of conquest like the old days of the Empire. The Star Lawyers adventure continues.
©2018 Tom Shepherd (P)2020 Podium Audio
I Am Crying All Inside
Summary
From the Nebula Award-winning author of Way Station: 10 stories - including one never before published - of mystery and imagination in a world that cannot be. People work; folk play. That is how it has been in this country for as long as Sam can remember. He is happy, and he understands that this is the way it should be. People are bigger than folk. They are stronger. They do not need food or water. They do not need the warmth of a fire. All they need are jobs to do and a blacksmith to fix them when they break. The people work so the folk can drink their moonshine, fish a little, and throw horseshoes. But once Sam starts to wonder why the world is like this, his life will never be the same. Along with the other stories in this collection, "I Am Crying All Inside" is a compact marvel - a picture of an impossible reality that is not so different from our own. Also included in this volume is the newly published "I Had No Head and My Eyes Were Floating Way Up in the Air", originally written for Harlan Ellison's The Last Dangerous Visions™. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this book.
©2015 the Estate of Clifford D. Simak (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
Forbidden Sanctuary
Summary
What terrible secrets will Tyler Matthews and his star lawyers discover within the forbidden sanctuary on the mysterious, sacred planet Adao-2? Can the legal team from Matthews Interstellar Industries learn the truth in time to save M-double-I’s century-long quest to open Jump Gate Omega, bridge the 2.5 million light years to the Andromeda galaxy, and prevent economic ruin and war in the Milky Way? While Tyler, J.B., Rosalie, and Lucy (her shapeshifter cat) battle pirates and religious fanatics, Suzie and her holographic A.I. colleagues - former ladies of the night, re-purposed as legal assistants and starship crew - face an even deadlier foe. This unknown enemy threatens to delete all the starship Patrick Henry’s programs and terminate their existence forever. To make matters worse, Cousin Esteban languishes in prison on Suryadivan Prime, where the former Catholic monk faces a death sentence for crimes he did not commit. Rollicking sci-fi fun, packed with humor, romance, and deep space adventure, punctuated with courtroom battles on alien worlds. Fans have dubbed the Star Lawyers series “Star Trek meets Law & Order.”
©2018 Tom Shepherd (P)2019 Podium Publishing
The Ghost of a Model T
Summary
Tales of nostalgia and loss in a world overrun by technology Hank is walking home from the bar when the Model T pulls alongside him. It's been decades since he saw a car this old, and the sound of it takes him right back to his 20s. The door is open, and when he climbs in, the car takes off - without a driver. Before he knows what's happened, Hank is right back at Big Spring Pavilion, where he spent his youth drinking bootleg whiskey and chasing pretty girls. He will find the past is not quite as he remembered it, but still a lovely place to go for a drive. This collection includes some of the finest short fiction Clifford Simak ever wrote, including "City", the story that became the basis for his beloved novel of the same name. In the history of science fiction, no author has ever better understood that the Great Plains and the cosmos are closer together than we think. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this book.
©2015 the Estate of Clifford D. Simak (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
A.I. Rescue
Summary
Despite being all alone - the only one of his kind - Bast Banbeck has generously helped humanity time and again against the death machines, saving us from extinction. Years ago, Jon Hawkins promised Bast that he would hunt for and save the Sacerdotes in return. But the homesick Bast is losing hope, drowning his sorrows in extended drinking bouts. Now, Intelligence learns there are Sacerdote prisoners 162 light-years away. Jon leads the rescue operation, using the void to slip undetected into enemy territory. But this is an AI trap to capture and study Hawkins - the puny creature that has done more harm to the great AI Dominion than any other parasitical life form. What no one knows is that Hawkins’ passage through the void has awakened an ancient evil, and it’s eager to reenter time and space. The battle for life has just become more intense. A.I. Rescue is the seventh book in the series chronicling humanity’s grim war for survival against the galactic machine juggernaut. The series starts with book one A.I. Destroyer.
©2019 Vaughn Heppner (P)2020 Vaughn Heppner
Kansas City Noir
Summary
Brand-new stories by: Daniel Woodrell, Matthew Eck, Catherine Browder, Nancy Pickard, John Lutz, J. Malcolm Garcia, Kevin Prufer, Linda Rodriguez, Nadia Pflaum, Phong Nguyen, Andres Rodriguez, and others. Kansas City: where East and West collide, where naked ambition meets broken dreams, where blues and the night go together like rye whiskey, vermouth, and bitters. Yes, Kansas City is a surprising place of grit, gore, and betrayal, at least in the imaginations of our diverse lineup of contributors. Kansas City Noir, another in Akashic's series of geographically specific anthologies, peels back the aura of civility and captures the raw truths of the human condition as lived in this heartland, third-coast city. Among the collection's contributors are Daniel Woodrell, author of the modern classic Winter's Bone and the recent, much lauded story collection, The Outlaw Album; Matthew Eck, author of the noted war novel The Farther Shore; veteran short-fiction writer Catherine Browder; Edgar Award-winning mystery novelists Nancy Pickard and John Lutz; and J. Malcolm Garcia, whose reporting from the war in Afghanistan informs a disturbing tale of restless angst and dislocation. Kansas City Noir takes a compelling tour of the streets of a vibrant American city, complete with accents of jazz, barbecue, and the deeply rooted blues.
©2012 Akashic Books (P)2014 Audible Inc.
Havana Noir
Summary
Launched by the summer '04 award-winning best-seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. Brand new stories by: Leonardo Padura, Pablo Medina, Alex Abella, Arturo Arango, Lea Aschkenas, Moisés Asís, Arnaldo Correa, Mabel Cuesta, Paquito D’Rivera, Yohamna Depestre, Michel Encinosa Fú, Mylene Fernández Pintado, Carolina García-Aguilera, Miguel Mejides, Achy Obejas, Oscar F. Ortíz, Ena Lucía Portela, Mariela Varona Roque, and Yoss. To most outsiders, Havana is a tropical sin city: a Roman ruin of sex and noise, a parallel universe familiar but exotic, and embargoed enough to serve as a release valve for whatever desire or pulse has been repressed or denied. Habaneros know that this is neither new - long before Havana collapsed during the Revolution's Special Period, all the way back to colonial times, it had already been the destination of choice for foreigners who wanted to indulge in what was otherwise forbidden to them - nor particularly true. In the real Havana - the lawless Havana that never appears in the postcards or tourist guides - the concept of sin has been banished by the urgency of need. And need - aching and hungry - inevitably turns the human heart darker, feral, and criminal. In this Havana, crime, though officially vanquished by revolutionary decree, is both wistfully quotidian and personally vicious. In the stories of Havana Noir, current and former residents of the city - some international sensations such as Leonardo Padura, others exciting new voices like Yohamna Despestre - uncover crimes of violence and loveless sex, of mental cruelty and greed, of self-preservation and collective hysteria.
©2007 Akashic Books (P)2014 Audible Inc.
Black Dogs
Summary
Back in black! In the Undercity of Corvis, where mercenaries and criminals blur the lines between them, a ruthless crime lord has made a bold move to establish a stranglehold on Corvis' underworld and make it his own. When Canice Gormleigh becomes the target of a brutal foreign crime syndicate called the Black Dogs, Colbie Sterling and the rest of the Black River Irregulars are prepared to defend her. Yet what begins as a simple bodyguard assignment turns personal when the syndicate, led by the vengeful underboss Ivan Varnek and a strange mother-son duo, marks the Black River Irregulars as the sole remaining obstacle keeping the Black Dogs from taking over the Undercity...and then the city of Corvis itself. Where other underworld gangs have negotiated, surrendered, or fled from the Black Dogs, the Black River Irregulars will stand and die instead….
©2016 Skull Island eXpeditions, an imprint of Privateer Press, Inc. (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Payback
Summary
Kaiden might be a genius when it comes to destruction, but the other side has the greatest warship on the planet. It's about even. Kaiden, plus the rest of the academy students and faculty, are working to take down the AO's greatest threat: the City-Killer. Will they be able to destroy the ship that forced them from their homes? If they do, what will be the cost? Includes a special note from the author.
©2021 Joshua Anderle and Michael Anderle (P)2021 Podium Audio
Dewey Defeats Truman
Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Accidental President comes the thrilling story of the 1948 presidential election, one of the greatest election stories of all time, as Truman mounted a history-making comeback and staked a claim for a new course for America. On the eve of the 1948 election, America was a fractured country. Racism was rampant, foreign relations were fraught, and political parties were more divided than ever. Americans were certain that President Harry S. Truman’s political career was over. “The ballots haven’t been counted,” noted political columnist Fred Othman, “but there seems to be no further need for holding up an affectional farewell to Harry Truman.” Truman’s own staff did not believe he could win. Nor did his wife, Bess. The only man in the world confident that Truman would win was Mr. Truman himself. And win he did. The year 1948 was a fight for the soul of a nation. In Dewey Defeats Truman, A. J. Baime sheds light on one of the most action-packed six months in American history, as Truman not only triumphs, but oversees watershed events - the passing of the Marshall plan, the acknowledgement of Israel as a new state, the careful attention to the origins of the Cold War, and the first desegregation of the military. Not only did Truman win the election, he succeeded in guiding his country forward at a critical time with high stakes and haunting parallels to the modern day.
©2020 Albert Baime (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
The Big Front Yard
Summary
Tales of the unknown in which a fix-it man crosses into another dimension - and more Hiram Taine is a handyman who can fix anything. When he isn't fiddling with his tools, he is roaming through the woods with his dog, Towser, as he has done for as long as he can remember. He likes things that he can understand. But when a new ceiling appears in his basement - a ceiling that appears to have the ability to repair television sets so they're better than before - he knows he has come up against a mystery that no man can solve. Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, The Big Front Yard is a powerful story about what happens when an ordinary man finds reality coming apart around him. Along with the other stories in this collection, it is some of the most lyrical science fiction ever published. Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this book.
©2015 the Estate of Clifford D. Simak (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
Gateway to the Galaxy, Part II
Summary
Gateway to the Galaxy, Part II contains Face Toward Enemy (book 4), Rise Up (book 5), and Do or Die (book 6 of the series). He saved the universe from chaos. And it'll come back to haunt him. Just when you thought it was safe to explore the universe, a new enemy emerges from the darkness. You know the deal with these things: someone's always ready to put on the gauntlet and do the finger snap. All Frank wants to do is rebuild the Arilion Order and eat tacos. No such luck. A new enemy is going to give Frank and the rest of Marine Space Corps-1 a run for their money. A ghost from Frank's past has returned, and with his Arilion powers tested, this mission will be his greatest challenge as a man, as a leader, and as a Marine. It's time for a reckoning. A swashbuckling space adventure in the likes of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars and the action found in JN Chaney’s Renegade Star.
©2018 Jonathan Yanez and JR Castle (P)2019 Podium Publishing
New Jersey Noir
Summary
Featuring brand-new stories (and a few poems) by: Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Safran Foer, Robert Pinsky, Edmund White & Michael Carroll, Richard Burgin, Paul Muldoon, Sheila Kohler, C.K. Williams, Gerald Stern, Lou Manfredo, S.A. Solomon, Bradford Morrow, Jonathan Santlofer, Jeffrey Ford, S.J. Rozan, Barry N. Malzberg & Bill Pronzini, Hirsh Sawhney, and Robert Arellano. From the introduction by Joyce Carol Oates: "...The most civilized and 'decent' among us find that we are complicit with the most brutal murderers. We enter into literally unspeakable alliances - of which we dare not speak except through the obliquities and indirections of fiction, poetry, and visual art of the sort gathered here in New Jersey Noir. This audiobook is narrated by Robin Miles, Christian Rummel, Ice T, Jeff Woodman, David Ledoux, Nick Sullivan, Kevin T. Collins, Kevin Free, Scott Aiello, Suzanne Toren, Johnny Heller, Jennifer Van Dyck, Christina Delaine, Anthony Bowden, Carol Monda, John McLain, Vikas Adam and Joe Barrett.
©2011 Akashic Books (P)2014 Audible Inc.
The Gangster
Summary
1881 - Special Agent Gillian Hamilton, magic caster for the Federal Bureau of Magic and Steam, has recovered from injuries obtained while in Shallow Grave, Arizona. Now back in New York City, Gillian makes an arrest on New Year’s Eve that leads to information on a gangster, known only as Tick Tock, who’s perfected utilizing elemental magic ammunition. This report complicates Gillian’s holiday plans, specifically those with infamous outlaw, Gunner the Deadly, who promised they’d ring in 1882 together. The two men stand on the cusp of a romance that needs to be explored intimately and privately. But when Gillian’s residence is broken into by a magical mechanical man who tries to murder him on behalf of Tick Tock, he and Gunner must immediately investigate the city’s ruthless street gangs before the illegal magic becomes a threat that cannot be contained. This might be their most wild adventure yet, but criminal undergrounds can’t compare to the dangers of the heart. Gillian must balance his career in law enforcement with his love for a vigilante, or lose both entirely. The novel-length follow-up to The Engineer, in the exciting new steampunk series, Magic & Steam.
©2021 C.S. Poe (P)2021 C.S. Poe
House of the Silent Moons
Summary
Who will claim the ancient, awesome arsenal awaiting aboard the House of the Silent Moons? Star Lawyers Corporation must defend a known criminal in Pirate Court to prevent ancient technologies from falling into the hands of expansionist star nations, which will lead to a new era of galactic war. Only pirate Captain Flavio Tavares, who faces terrible judgment by his peers, can lead Tyler Matthews to a derelict starbase abandoned by the collapsing Galactic Empire long ago. The House of Silent Moons orbits a remote gas giant amid hundreds of planetoids and asteroids. Aboard this massive structure, where defenders expected to return victorious from an apocalyptic struggle with ruthless enemies, the doomed Imperial forces stockpiled powerful weapons and tech modules more advanced than anything available in Tyler's 32nd century civilization. Star Lawyers must locate the starbase quickly, because the clock is ticking. Aggressive forces hostile to the Terran Commonwealth also seek the lost trove of technology. To spring the guilty pirate captain from trial by his own people, Tyler faces a court where the judge blasts convicted defendants on the spot in trials that last a few hours at most. And the court appointed prosecutor, Kaito, is the middle son of the Matthews Family's greatest foe, Hideki Tsuchiya. Expect action in deep space, fighting in the streets of the pirate city of Port Royal, and knock-down-drag-out legal battles in the Pirate courtroom.
©2018 Tom Shepherd (P)2020 Podium Audio
The Bleed: Rapture
Summary
THE BLEED is attacking on several fronts and through different realities at once. The survivors of numerous battles are brought together through a series of ancient clockwork rooms, and their individual experiences combine to paint a picture of a multiverse on the brink of total annihilation. Gods and mortals fight alongside each other on the streets and among the stars, struggling to hold back the armies of demons doing the bidding of THE BLEED. Whole worlds are lost. Others are sacrificed. Thousands are ready to fight, but millions more offer themselves up to the gods, praying that The Rapture will bring them salvation. In the midst of it all just a handful of survivors scattered across the multiverse are aware of what's at stake and how they can avoid Armageddon. But with the odds stacked against them and impossible distances between them, will they be able to come together and turn the bloody tide against THE BLEED? It Always Bleeds Through. Three Worlds. Three Authors. The Mother of All Apocalypses.
©2021 Mark Tufo/David Moody/Chris Philbrook (P)2021 Audible, Inc.
Deadland Drifter: Publisher's Pack
Summary
Contains books one and two of the Deadland Drifter series. Deadland Drifter, book one When a dental appointment goes sideways, former Union operative Jack Burner wakes to find himself drugged and imprisoned, and he's given a choice: assassinate an admiral or be killed himself. With no other option, Jack reluctantly accepts the mission, only to find himself being trailed by a mysterious blonde woman who may or may not want him dead. As if dealing with a terrorist group wasn't enough. With the fate of the admiral and thousands of lives hanging in the balance, Jack stands in the middle of an event that could ignite a war on the edge of the Deadlands and Union Space. Despite his exceptional abilities, training, and tenacity, even Jack has little to no chance of preventing this particular powder keg from exploding. He's going to need a miracle. Deadland Wanderer, book two A mysterious message beckons Jack to a clandestine "meet", but something is off. The code is identical to one his team used back in his Union days. When no one shows, he and Sara find themselves drawn into an investigation to uncover who sent the message...and why. It isn't long before they find a trafficking ring that snatches women from shelters and wipes their memories, all with the hope of selling them to the rich and powerful as "wives". But this is bigger than just a gang of criminals. There's an organization that stretches across both sides of the law with connections to elected officials at the very top.
©2020 Variant Publications (P)2020 Podium Audio