Simon Jones has narrated 37 audiobooks on Listento.it by 34 authors, with an average listener rating of 3.9★ across 923 ratings. The most-rated is Predictably Irrational.
Swordspoint
Summary
Audie Award, Audio Drama, 2013 Award-winning author, narrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman personally selected this book, and, using the tools of the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), cast the narrator and produced this work for his audiobook label, Neil Gaiman Presents. A few words from Neil on Swordspoint: "It's as if Jane Austen wrote fantasy... an imaginary world where the characters are real people: a Vanity Fair of aristocrats, rogues, orphans, and heroes; a book where the best swordsman in the land can make far more money dueling at private parties than he can as a knight-errant. Ellen Kushner casts her sharp eye over them all, but with great affection and lavish detaiI.... couldn't think of a better performer for Swordspoint than Ellen, and her reading is polished, intimate, and – since Riverside is of her creation – wholly authentic. "What really makes this production of Swordspoint unique, though, is the supporting cast in this special "illuminated production". Several key scenes are fully dramatized, and throughout the entire book's soundscapes you will hear the cadences of the marketplace, the music of the drawing rooms, and of course the ring of steel drawn from the scabbard. Ellen actually wrote new dialogue for the crowd scenes, so the actors aren't just mumbling "rhubarb rhubarb" to simulate speech.... You'll be able to hear performances from acclaimed and award-winning actors, including Dion Graham, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Nick Sullivan, and the remarkable Simon Jones." In this exciting new "illuminated production", the author herself reads her own work, supported by a full cast. Author Ellen Kushner is also a popular performer and National Public Radio host (Sound & Spirit). For years, fans have been asking her to record her own audiobook of Swordspoint. To mark the 25th anniversary of the book's publication, Ellen teamed up with Sue Zizza of SueMedia Productions, known for her signature touches of soundscapes and sound effects, multi-voiced dramatizations, and all the techniques of "illuminated production". Together they have made Swordspoint a brand-new audio experience, in which the full supporting cast dramatizes and illuminates key scenes from Ellen's compelling narration. On the streets of Riverside, a man lives and dies by the sword. Even the nobles on the Hill turn to duels to settle their disputes. And in this city, the swordsman Richard St. Vier is the undisputed master, as skilled as he is ruthless – until a death by the sword is met with outrage instead of awe, and the city discovers that the line between hero and villain can be altered in the blink of an eye. Because every man lives at sword's point, if you can only find his weakness. And even the greatest swordsman in Riverside has one thing he cares for deeply. Hailed by critics as "a bravura performance, a delight from start to finish" (Locus), "intelligent, humorous and dramatic" (Publishers Weekly) and "witty, beguiling and ingenious" (Interzone) , Kushner's "Melodrama of Manners" has become a classic, a favorite not only of Neil Gaiman but a host of distinguished colleagues, including George R. R. Martin ("unforgettable!"), Orson Scott Card ("powerful") and Gene Wolfe ("as if Noel Coward had written a vehicle for Errol Flynn!"). The artwork used for the audiobook edition of Swordspoint is based on the artwork and design by Thomas Canty for the original first US edition of the book.
©1987 Ellen Kushner (P)2011 SueMedia Productions
Don't Panic
Summary
Now in audiobook for the first time ever! Read by Simon Jones, the original “Arthur Dent,” and written by number one New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman, Don’t Panic is the definitive chronicle of all things Hitchhiker! First published in 1986 and updated several times since, Don’t Panic is in an in-depth exploration of Douglas Adams’s cultural phenomenon The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - from its beginnings as a UK radio series, to its expansion into a wildly popular book trilogy, and onto incarnations in various media including stage, records, film, computer games, and even, um, tea towels. Don’t Panic was the first book by internationally best-selling author Neil Gaiman, written early in his writing career when he worked as a freelance journalist in his native England. Voiced by renowned actor Simon Jones - “Arthur Dent” himself - and with a new introduction written and read by Neil Gaiman, Don’t Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy audio edition is the ultimate version of this beloved work. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 Neil Gaiman (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
Slaves of Obsession
Summary
The year is 1861. The American Civil War has just begun, and London arms dealer Daniel Alberton is becoming a very wealthy man. His quiet dinner party seems remote indeed from the passions rending America. Yet investigator William Monk and his bride, Hester, sense growing tensions and barely concealed violence. For two of the guests are Americans, each vying to buy Alberton’s armaments. Soon Monk and Hester’s forebodings are fulfilled as one member of the party is brutally murdered and two others disappear - along with Alberton’s entire inventory of weapons. As Monk and Hester track the man they believe to be the murderer all the way to Washington, D.C., and the bloody battlefield at Manassas, Slaves of Obsession twists and turns like a powder-keg fuse and holds the reader breathless and spellbound.
©2012 Anne Perry (P)2012 Random House
French Lessons
Summary
Ranging far from his adopted Provence, Peter Mayle now travels to every corner of France, armed with knife, fork, and corkscrew. He takes us to tiny, out-of-the-way restaurants, starred Michelin wonders, local village markets, annual festivals, and blessed vineyards. We visit the Foire aux Escargots at Martigny-les-Bains - a whole weekend devoted to the lowly but revered snail. We observe the Marathon du Médoc, where runners passing through the great vineyards of Bordeaux refresh themselves en route with tastings of red wine (including ChCteau Lafite-Rothschild!). There is a memorable bouillabaisse in a beachside restaurant on the Côte d'Azur. And we go on a search for the perfect chicken that takes us to a fair in Bourg-en-Bresse. There is a Catholic mass in the village of Richerenches, a scared event at which thanks are given for the aromatic, mysterious, and breathtakingly expensive black truffle. We learn which is the most pungent cheese in France (it's in Normandy), witness a debate on the secret of the perfect omelette, and pick up a few luscious recipes along the way. There is even an appreciation and celebration of an essential tool for any serious food-lover in France - the Michelin Guide. Here we have all the glory and pleasure of the French table in the most satisfying audiobook yet from the toujours delightfully entertaining Peter Mayle.
©2001 by Escargot Productions Ltd. (P)2001 Random House Inc., Random House AudioBooks, A Division of Random House Inc.
The Fall of the Kings
Summary
Audie Award Finalist, Multi-Voiced Performance, 2014 Audie Award Finalist, Audio Drama, 2014 Award-winning author, narrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman personally selected this book, and, using the tools of the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), produced this work for his audiobook label, Neil Gaiman Presents. A few words from Neil on The Fall of the Kings: "In the Riverside chronology of events, The Fall of the Kings takes place a generation after Swordspoint. If you are new to the world of Riverside, I hope the richness of this book will surprise and delight you, with multi-voiced scenes set like jewels in the gold of Ellen Kushner's narration…." In this stunning follow-up to Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword and the Audie-award winning Swordspoint, co-author Delia Sherman (The Freedom Maze) joins Ellen to return to that world of labyrinthine intrigue, where sharp swords and even sharper wits rule. This time, they explore the city's University, where a troubled young nobleman and his scholar lover find themselves playing out an ancient drama destined to explode their society's smug view of itself. In a city grown decadent, myth and magic begin to seep through the ancient stones. Generations ago the last king fell. But the blood of kings runs deep in the land - and the key may be Theron Campion of Tremontaine, a louche beauty of questionable morals seeking to escape his family heritage in the University lecture halls. When he and renegade scholar Basil St. Cloud come together, they discover that the price of uncovering ancient history may be to be forced to repeat it.... Sue Zizza of SueMedia Productions creates some truly stunning sound elements, including a full score of original music by composer Nathanael Tronerud commissioned for this series... with a full supporting cast who bring to life the rich tapestry of passionate University scholars, noblemen in brothels and Riverside lowlifes, in the sophisticated urban setting that Kushner's many fans have come to love.
©2003 Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman (P)2013 SueMedia Productions
Throwing the Elephant
Summary
Stanley Bing follows his enormously successful What Would Machiavelli Do? with another subversively humorous exploration of how work would be different - if the Buddha were your personal consultant What would the Buddha do - if he had to deal with a rampaging elephant of a boss every day? That is the premise of Stanley Bing's wickedly funny guide to finding inner peace in the face of relentlessly obnoxious, huge, and sometimes smelly bosses. Taking the concept of managing up to a new cosmic plateau, Bing urges no less than a revolution of the spirit in the American workplace, turning overwrought, oppressed, stressed-out employees into models of Zen-like powers of concentration, able to take their elephant-like bosses and grey, lumbering companies and twirl them around the little finger of their consciousness. In Bing's unique tradition of social criticism cum business self-help, Throwing the Elephant presents Four Truths (or possibly Five), a Ninefold Path, and one useful, hilarious guide to workplace sanity, success, and enlightenment that surpasses all understanding, survival.
©2002 Stanley Bing (P)2002 HarperCollinsPublishers, Inc.
Millions
Summary
It was a one-in-a-million chance. A bag crammed with cash comes tumbling out of the air and lands right at Damian's feet. Suddenly, the Cunningham brothers are rich. Very rich. They can buy anything they want. There's just one problem: they have only 17 days to spend all the money before it becomes worthless. And the crooks who stole the cash in the first place are closing in - fast. A funny, brilliantly clever and utterly thrilling debut novel that is, quite simply, unforgettable.
©2004 Frank Cottrell Boyce (P)2004 HarperCollins Publishers
The Secret Supper
Summary
Tightly paced and atmospheric, The Secret Supper is a dazzling historical thriller with a unique vision of both Leonardo da Vinci's genius and his masterpiece, which you will never look at in the same way again. Milan, 1497: Leonardo is completing "The Last Supper". Pope Alexander VI is determined to execute him after realizing that the painting contains clues to a baffling and blasphemous message that he is driven to decode. The Holy Grail and the Eucharistic Bread are missing, there is no meat on the table, and the apostles, shockingly, are portraits of well-known heretics and none of them are depicted with halos. And why has the artist painted himself into the scene with his back turned toward Jesus? The clues to Leonardo's greatest puzzle are right before your eyes.
©2006 Javier Sierra (P)2006 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. Audioworks is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division
Charlie Bone and the Shadow
Summary
The enchanter Count Harken is back to take his revenge on the Red King's heirs, starting with Charlie Bone's family! Charlie's ancestor has been kidnapped and imprisoned in the dark, forbidding land of Badlock, and it's up to Charlie to save him. Traveling through a painting to the terrifying countryside, Charlie and his best friend's dog, Runner Bean, take up the quest. But when Runner Bean gets trapped, Charlie needs the help of his friends. Can they get past an army of trolls, rescue Runner Bean and Charlie's ancestors, and get out before it's too late, or will Count Harken finally succeed?
©2008 Jenny Nimmo (P)2008 Scholastic Inc.
Charlie Bone and the Red Knight
Summary
Charlie and his friends take on the most powerful and dangerous magic in Book 8 of this extraordinary series. As wicked forces come to a head at Bloor's Academy, Charlie and his friends must use all their magic and all their might to fight the evil and save Charlie's parents. In his greatest adventure yet, Charlie must discover the fate of his family, the evil intentions of the Bloors, what has become of Septimus Bloor's will, and, most important, the destiny of the Red King's heirs. But are the Children of the Red King strong enough to defeat the darkness to find the answers? Join Charlie and his friends as they race to unlock the mystery of the Red King in this final chapter.
©2010 Jenny Nimmo (P)2010 Scholastic
A Place of Hiding
Summary
An isolated beach on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel is the scene of the murder of Guy Brouard, one of Guernsey's wealthiest inhabitants and its main benefactor. Forced as a child to flee the Nazis in Paris, Brouard was engaged in his latest project when he died: a museum in honor of those who resisted the German occupation of the island during World War II. It is from this period of time that his murderer may well have come. But there are others on Guernsey with reason to want Guy Brouard dead: his wives, his business associates, his current mistress, the underprivileged teenagers he mentored - any of whom might have harbored a secret motive for murder. As family and friends gather for the reading of the will, Deborah and Simon St. James find that seemingly everyone on the history-haunted island has something to hide. And behind all the lies and alibis, a killer is lurking. In order to bring this person to justice, the St. James must delve into Guernsey's dark history - both past and present - and into the troubled psyche of someone who may have exacted retribution for the most unspeakable crime of all. In A Place of Hiding,,best-selling novelist Elizabeth George marks new territory in the darker landscapes of human relationships. She tells a gripping, suspenseful story of betrayal and devotion, war and remembrance, love and loss...and the higher truths to which we must all ultimately answer.
©2003 Elizabeth George (P)2012 Random House
The Writer in the Garden
Summary
The Writer in the Garden adds up to a glorious compendium of writing that is amusing, original, and idiosyncratic. Excerpts span not only the beauties of the garden but such far-reaching topics as weeds, the tribulations of gardening in a cold climate, the dangers of rare plant collecting, the delights of weeding, the pitfalls of growing roses, and the place of "tacky" in a garden. With selections carefully chosen from both sides of the Atlantic, this anthology pays homage to the great garden writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries while, at the same time, introducing the listener to some of the most original voices of today's generation of garden writers. Books on gardening have become a marketing phenomenon. However, this is the first time an anthology of garden writing has appeared on audio. Impeccably read by a group of professional actors, this potpourri of philosophical meanderings, passionate observations, and practical advice is essential listening for all gardeners and garden lovers. The authors include Gertrude Jekyll, Vita Sackville-West, Abby Adams, Edith Wharton, Stephen Lacey, E. B. White, Beverly Nichols, Ken Druse, Eleanor Perenyi, W. S. Merwin, Mirabel Osler, Henry Mitchell, Jamaica Kincaid, Robert Dash, Sara B. Stein, Michael Pollan, M.F.K. Fisher, Anne Raver, Patti Hagan, and Paula Deitz.
©1996 Learning Designs. (P)1996 Learning Designs
Charlie Bone and the Beast
Summary
Something strange is happening at Bloor's Academy. Asa, one of the endowed students who changes into a beast at dusk, has suddenly gone missing, and a new endowed student named Dagbert Endless has enrolled. When Dagbert is seen hanging around with Manfred Bloor, Charlie is sure the pair is up to something wicked. With the help of the Flames, can Charlie and his friends rescue Asa before it's too late?
©2007 Jenny Nimmo (P)2008 Scholastic Inc
A Traitor to Memory
Summary
When Eugenie Davies is killed by a driver on a quiet London street, her death is clearly no accident. Someone struck her with a car and then deliberately ran over her body before driving off, leaving nothing behind but questions. What brought Eugenie Davies to London on a rainy autumn night? Why was she carrying the name of the man who found her body? Who among the many acquaintances in her complicated and tragic life could have wanted her dead? And could her murder have some connection to a 28-year-old musical wunderkind, a virtuoso violinist who several months earlier suddenly and inexplicably lost the ability to play a single note? For Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, whose own domestic life is about to change radically, these questions are only the first in an investigation that leads him to walk a fine line between personal loyalty and professional honor. Assigned to the case by his superior, Superintendent Malcolm Webberly, Lynley learns that Webberly's first murder investigation as a DI over 20 years ago involved Eugenie Davies and a sensational criminal trial. Yet what is truly damaging is what Webberly already knows and no doubt wants Lynley to keep concealed. Now the pressure is on Lynley to find Eugenie Davies' killer. For not only is he putting his own career into jeopardy, but he is also attempting to safeguard the careers of his longtime partners Barbara Havers and Winston Nkata. Together, they must untangle the dark secrets and darker passions of a family whose history conceals the truth behind a horrific crime.
©2009 Elizabeth George (P)2012 Random House Audio
Star Trek: Cacophony (Adapted)
Summary
On the planet Stentor, silence is not only golden; it is the key to maintaining peace in a world devestated by a great war. But that calm is shattered when a group known as the Ghazi create a new technology that intercepts old Earth radio signals and rebroadcasts them across the planet - each day the din growing ever more deafening. When Captain Sulu and the crew of the U.S.S. Excelsior are summoned to investigate sub-space interference emanating from Stentor, Sulu and his communications officer Terra Spiro discover that the Ghazi believe the signals are the voices of the gods. Now, Sulu must somehow convince the Ghazi - without violating the prime directive - that the transmissions are not a divine voice, before violence erupts on Stentor once again. For more Trek titles, browse our special Star Trek section!
©1994 Paramount Pictures, All Rights Reserved (P)1994 Paramount Pictures, All Rights Reserved
Sometime Never
Summary
New York Festival Awards - Best Drama (Audio) Bronze Award WinnerSometime Never tells the story of a chance meeting between Nancy Timperley and the mysterious David Voland, at the site of a past tragedy. Just why is Nancy there, and what does David know of her past and the tragic events of so many years ago? Sometime Never is written by Scott Harrison (Blake's 7, Confessions of Dorian Gray), and stars Simon Jones (Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and Rosalyn Landor (The Devil Rides Out, C.A.T.S. Eyes). The audio drama is directed, edited and sound designed by Neil Gardner (Doctor Who, Dorian Gray, BBC Radio) with music specially composed by James Dunlop (Big Finish, Dorian Gray). This is the debut audio drama from Spokenworld Audio, the first in a series of six titles written by Scott Harrison, all two-person half-hour productions, focusing on strong performances within a SF/F/Horror environment. Sometime Forever focuses on just two characters, in a confined location, allowing the listener to enjoy the performances to their fullest, and includes full sound design and music score by Neil Gardner and James Dunlop, who worked together previously to create the second series of The Confessions Of Dorian Gray for Big Finish.
©2014 Scott Harrison & Spokenworld Audio/Ladbroke Audio (P)2014 Spokenworld Audio/Ladbroke Audio Ltd
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Albums
Summary
Don’t panic! Reissued for the first time in 40 years, two unique recordings of Douglas Adams' sci-fi comedy drama. When Earthman Arthur Dent learns that first his house and then his planet are about to be bulldozed, it’s the beginning of an interplanetary adventure for him and his friend, Ford Prefect. After fleeing Earth they hitch a lift with hoopy frood Zaphod Beeblebrox, who hurtles from one improbability to another - literally. With Trillian and Marvin the Paranoid Android in tow, the answer to life, the universe and everything is soon revealed: 42. But what was the question? Following the success of the BBC radio series, Douglas Adams adapted his scripts for these two full-cast albums, with incidental radiophonic music provided by Paddy Kingsland. First released by Original Records in 1980, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe star Peter Jones as The Book, Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect and Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox. Produced by Geoffrey Perkins and Tim Souster, the cast also includes Cindy Oswin, Stephen Moore, Richard Vernon, Valentine Dyall, David Tate, Jim Broadbent, Bill Wallis, Roy Hudd, Frank Middlemass, Stephen Greif and others. Hang onto your towel - it’s going to be the ride of a lifetime. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd