Thom Rivera has narrated 46 audiobooks on Listento.it by 58 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.2★ across 205 ratings. The most-rated is The House of the Spirits.
The Interior Circuit
Summary
Coming off the most successful book of a decorated career - Say Her Name - The Interior Circuit is Francisco Goldman's timely and provocative journey into the heart of Mexico City. The Interior Circuit is Goldman's story of his emergence from grief five years after his wife's death, symbolized by his attempt to overcome his fear of driving in the city. Embracing the DF (Mexico City) as his home, Goldman explores and celebrates the city, which stands defiantly apart from so many of the social ills and violence wracking Mexico. This is the chronicle of an awakening, both personal and political, "interior" and "exterior", to the meaning and responsibilities of home. Mexico's narco war rages on and, with the restoration of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (the PRI) to power in the summer's 2012 elections, the DF's special apartness seems threatened. In the summer of 2013, when Mexican organized crime violence and death erupts in the city in an unprecedented way, Goldman sets out to try to understand the menacing challenges the city now faces. By turns exuberant, poetic, reportorial, philosophic, and urgent, The Interior Circuit fuses a personal journey to an account of one of the world's most remarkable and often misunderstood cities.
©2014 Francisco Goldman. Lines from "Circuito Interior," page 1, by Efraín Huerta taken from Poesía Completa de Efraín Huerta. Copyright 1988, Fondo de Cultura Económica. All rights reserved. México, DF. Lines from "Olor a plastico quemado," page 27, by Roberto Bolaño taken from El Hijo De Míster Playa: Una Semblanza De Roberto Bolaño by Monica Maristain. Copyright 2012, Almadía, Mexico. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. Lines from "Manifesto," page 172, by Nicanor Parra reprinted with kind permission of Ediciones UDP, Chile. Recorded by arrangement with Grove Atlantic, Inc. (P)2014 Audible Inc.
From the Shadows
Summary
A petty thief finds himself stuck acting as the butler to a seemingly idyllic home and becomes deeply and disastrously involved with his unknowing host family.
©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Deepest Roots of the Heart
Summary
During WWII, Avelino Carrillo spent four harrowing years in the South Pacific with one thought driving his survival: to return to his beloved home in Napa Valley. The Carrillos have a history in the valley that stretches deep, like grapevine roots in the soil. For a century, they worked the vineyard at their family home, la Casa de los Sueños, until they lost the property to a wealthy land baron. Now, Avelino is determined to reclaim the land and home he loves so much. When he meets Amelia, a young woman who lives at the vineyard with her grandfather, he finds that regaining his birthright isn't his only struggle - he battles the longing of his heart as well. Can Avelino overcome the local bigotry and personal demons that face him to create the life he desires?
©2015 Chautona Havig. (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Revive Us Again
Summary
A collection of sermons and speeches that lay out a groundbreaking vision for intersectional organizing, paired with inspirational and practical essays from activists in today’s Poor People’s Campaign The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II has been called “the closest person we have to Martin Luther King Jr. in our midst” (Cornel West) and “one of the most gifted organizers and orators in the country today” (Ari Berman). In this age of political division and civic unrest, Rev. Barber’s message is more necessary than ever. This volume features Rev. Barber’s most stirring sermons and speeches, with response essays by prominent public intellectuals, activists, and faith leaders. Drawing from the history of social movements in the US, especially the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign, Rev. Barber and the contributors to this volume speak to the most pressing issues of our time, including Black Lives Matter, the fight for a $15 minimum wage, the struggle to protect voting rights, the march for women’s rights, and the movement to overcome poverty and unite the dispossessed across all dividing lines. Grounded in the fundamental biblical theme of poor and oppressed people taking action together, the book suggests ways to effectively build a fusion movement to make America fair and just for everyone.
©2018 William J. Barber, Rick Lowery, Liz Theoharis (P)2018 Random House Audio
Santa Fe Noir
Summary
Santa Fe joins Phoenix as a riveting Southwest US installment in the Akashic Noir series. "There is a real charm to the local specificity of Santa Fe Noir, and it's a pleasure to discover how different imaginations can channel the chiaroscuro energy of well-known places." (Santa Fe Reporter) "Because each story is identified by the neighborhood or specific location in which it takes place, Santa Fe Noir is a veritable road map of the city and surrounding area. It stretches from El Dorado to the Southside, Casa Solana and Cerrillos Road to the Santa Fe National Forest. The protagonists of the stories are psychotherapists, vagrants, teenagers, and gig workers. They drink and smoke. They drop acid and have sex. And more than a few are guilty of murder (or at least of justifiable homicide)." (Pasatiempo) "If you picture Santa Fe, New Mexico, only as a sunny, vibrant, colorful Southwest arts mecca, this anthology will shred that image with feral claws." (Roundup Magazine) Brand-new stories by: Ana Castillo, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Byron F. Aspaas, Barbara Robidoux, Elizabeth Lee, Ana June, Israel Francisco Haros Lopez, Ariel Gore, Darryl Lorenzo Wellington, Candace Walsh, Hida Viloria, Cornelia Read, Miriam Sagan, James Reich, Kevin Atkinson, Katie Johnson, and Tomas Moniz. From the introduction by Ariel Gore: The stories in this collection reflect a fundamental truth about this city: history depends on who's telling it. Too often the story of Santa Fe has been told only by the conquerors and the tourism PR firms. In Santa Fe Noir, you will hear the voices of the others: locals and Native people, unemployed veterans and queer transplants, the homeless and the paroled-to-here. When I asked the contributors you'll hear if they had a Santa Fe story to tell, they invariably shrugged and said something to the effect of, "Oh, I've got a story all right. But it might not fit the image of Santa Fe you're looking for". I said, "Try me". They came back with the stories that never make the glossy tour brochures: the working class and the underground, the decolonized and the ever-haunted; the Santa Fe only we know.... Conquered and reconquered, colonized and commodified, Santa Fe understands - from historical genocide to the murders of family members - the intimacy of violence.
©2020 Akashic Books (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
The Ultimate X-Men
Summary
This gripping new anthology has over a dozen original tales starring the top-selling mutant heroes, the uncanny X-Men, dealing with their greatest foes, as well as the day-to-day trials of being mutants - trying to protect the world they've sworn to protect, a world that hates them for what they are! From eluki bes shahar's story of the X-Men's fight against a mutant who can alter reality to Dave Smeds' look at what would have happened if the X-Men never were, from Ashley McConnell's chronicle of Wolverine's trek across the frozen tundra to Dean Wesley Smith's tale of Gambit in his hometown of New Orleans, and much more - these are spectacular tales of mutant adventure!
©2019 Marvel (P)2019 Marvel
X-Men: The Return
Summary
Feared and mistrusted by the very people they have sworn to protect, the X-Men are a band of mutant heroes dedicated to defending humanity from those who would use their powers to harm and destroy. The X-Men are often Earth's last defense against villains and mad-men...and the future's only hope. An alien race calling themselves the Kh'thon descend upon the planet, announcing that they are the former occupants and rightful owners of Earth. The evidence they present is startling: Their ships are manned by Homo sapiens, supposedly descendants of human beings who served the Kh'thon on Earth countless millennia ago, and their will is enforced by the Exemplar, humans augmented with a dizzying array of powers, each the match of any one of the X-Men. The Kh'thon claim that they are responsible for the creation of the x-gene, devised so that they could breed whatever traits or abilities they required of their servants. And now they've returned to take back what they believe is rightfully theirs: the planet Earth, and everyone living on it. It is up to Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, and the rest of the X-Men - working in conjunction with Scott Summers, currently a member of X-Force - to find a way to repel the Kh'thon before humans and mutants alike are enslaved by alien masters....
©2007 Chris Roberson and Marvel (P)2021 Marvel
When One Religion Isn't Enough
Summary
An exploration into the lives of people who embrace two or more religious traditions, and what this growing community tells us about change in our society. Named a best book of 2018 by Library Journal. In the US, we often assume religious and spiritual identity are pure, static, and singular. But some people regularly cross religious boundaries. These “spiritually fluid” people celebrate complex religious bonds, and in the process, they blur social categories, evoke prejudice, and complicate religious communities. Their presence sparks questions: How and why do people become spiritually fluid? Are they just confused or unable to commit? How do we make sense of them? When One Religion Isn’t Enough explores the lives of spiritually fluid people, revealing that while some chose multiple religious belonging, many more inherit it. For many North Americans, the complicated legacies of colonialism are part of their family story, and they may consider themselves both Christian and Hindu, or Buddhist, or Yoruban, or one of the many other religions native to colonized lands. For some Asian Americans, singular religious identity may seem an alien concept, as many East Asian nations freely mix Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, and other traditions. Some African American Christians are consciously seeking to reconnect with ancestral spiritualities. And still other people are born into religiously mixed families. Jewish-Christian intermarriage led the way in the US, but religious diversity here is only increasing: almost four in 10 Americans (39 percent) who have married since 2010 have a spouse who is in a different religious group. Through in-depth conversations with spiritually fluid people, renowned scholar Duane Bidwell explores how people come to claim and be claimed by multiple religious traditions, how spiritually fluid people engage radically opposed truth claims, and what this growing population tells us about change within our communities.
©2018 Duane R. Bidwell (P)2018 Random House Audio
The Burning Plain
Summary
Gay Mexican American lawyer Henry Rios has fought bigotry and prejudice, battled alcoholism, and watched his lover die from AIDS. In The Burning Plain, he's wrongly accused of murder after a male prostitute he spent an evening with is savagely murdered. Rios proves his innocence, but when two more gay men are brutally murdered, he is drawn unwillingly into the hunt for a serial killer and soon finds himself up against an unsympathetic DA, a gay-bashing cop, reluctant witnesses, and a conspiracy among Hollywood's power elite.
©1997 Michael Nava (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
Miguel's Brave Knight
Summary
This fictionalized first-person biography-in-verse of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra follows the early years of the child who grew up to pen Don Quixote, the first modern novel. The son of a gambling, vagabond barber-surgeon, Miguel looks to his own imagination for an escape from his family's troubles and finds comfort in his colorful daydreams. At a time when access to books was limited and imaginative books were considered evil, Miguel is inspired by storytellers and wandering actors who perform during festivals. He longs to tell stories of his own. When he is 19, four of his poems are published, launching the career of one of the greatest writers in the Spanish language.
©2017 Margarita Engle (P)2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Rag and Bone
Summary
While recovering from a heart attack, gay Mexican-American attorney Henry Rios comes to the aid of his long-lost niece, the illegitimate daughter of his estranged sister, who has confessed to the murder of her abusive husband, but during his investigation, Rios discovers that things are more complicated than he had thought.
©2001 Michael Nava (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
The Death of Friends
Summary
Winner of six Lambda Literary awards, the Henry Rios mystery series is iconic and Michael Nava has been hailed by the New York Times as "one of our best" writers. Originally published during the darkest years of the AIDS epidemic in the gay community, The Death of Friends received extraordinary praise both as a mystery and an eloquent work of witness. Publishers Weekly said, "This is a brave, ambitious and highly impressive work." The San Francisco Chronicle described it as "A beautifully executed novel, with a classic whodunit at its core." And People magazine said, "Nava can devise as canny a plot as he can a defense motion. His latest, though, has something special - the scent of memory that lingers as poignantly as a departed lover's cologne."
©1996 Michael Nava (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
The Ultimate Spider-Man
Summary
Beginning with a novella by Spider-Man's co-creator Stan Lee and veteran Marvel writer Peter David retelling the wall-crawler's origin, this exciting anthology has original stories featuring one of the world's most enduring heroes. From Tom De Haven and Dean Wesley Smith's look at Spidey's early career to David Michelinie's portrait of a dying reporter who wants his last story to be the revelation of Spider-Man's true identity and Lawrence Watt-Evan's tale of a boy whose web-slinging hero-worship leads to tragedy - plus stories by Craig Shaw Gardner, Richard Lee Byers, Ann Nocenti, and many more - here are spectacular new Spider-Man adventures!
©2019 Marvel (P)2019 Marvel
Howtown
Summary
Winner of six Lambda Literary awards, the Henry Rios mystery series is iconic and Michael Nava has been hailed by the New York Times as "one of our best" crime writers. Upon its original publication, the Los Angeles Times said of Howtown and its author: "Nava's mysteries are faithful to the conventions of the genre, but they are set apart by their insight, compassion, and sense of social justice.... Howtown is Nava's bravest and most ambitious novel to date." This 2019 edition from Persigo Press has been revised and an author's note added. Howtown finds Rios back in his hometown of Los Robles, California, defending Paul Windsor, a boyhood acquaintance accusing of murdering a pedophile. Windsor is himself a pedophile, and the police believe the murder was the result of an extortion scheme gone wrong. It's up to Rios to prove otherwise, if he can. To do that, he has to confront the ghosts of his past that still linger in the sleepy river town. Simultaneously, the novel explores Rios' relationship with his HIV-positive lover, Josh Mandel. This is a revised edition with an author's endnote
©1990 Michael Nava (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
Queer Brown Voices
Summary
In the last three decades of the 20th century, LGBT Latinas/os faced several forms of discrimination. The greater Latino community did not often accept sexual minorities, and the mainstream LGBT movement expected everyone, regardless of their ethnic and racial background, to adhere to a specific set of priorities so as to accommodate a “unified” agenda. To disrupt the cycle of sexism, racism, and homophobia that they experienced, LGBT Latinas/os organized themselves on local, state, and national levels, forming communities in which they could fight for equal rights while simultaneously staying true to both their ethnic and sexual identities. Yet histories of LGBT activism in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s often reduce the role that Latinas/os played, resulting in misinformation, or ignore their work entirely, erasing them from history. Queer Brown Voices is the first book published to counter this trend, documenting the efforts of some of these LGBT Latina/o activists. Comprising essays and oral history interviews that present the experiences of 14 activists across the United States and in Puerto Rico, the book offers a new perspective on the history of LGBT mobilization and activism. The activists discuss subjects that shed light not only on the organizations they helped to create and operate but also on their broad-ranging experiences of being racialized and discriminated against, fighting for access to health care during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and struggling for awareness.
©2015 The University of Texas Press (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
The Mountain
Summary
The Wall Street Journal bestselling series Investigating a missing persons case on Murder Mountain means looking for trouble in a propulsive thriller by the author of The Raid. When someone disappears on Northern California’s lawless Murder Mountain, it isn’t news. The vast terrain for illegal marijuana harvests is also a notorious black hole for outsiders. But when that someone is the family friend of the persuasive and righteous Senator Steele, finding him becomes covert investigator Ryan Decker’s mission. For Decker, the risks of infiltrating a multibillion-dollar outlaw industry are greater than he could possibly understand. Especially when that industry has flourished into the profitable backbone of a secretive and influential DC-based think tank. And protecting its untraceable revenue in the Emerald Triangle is a band of ruthless white nationalists. What begins as a seemingly straightforward favor soon pulls Decker and his partner, Harlow Mackenzie, into a high-stakes conspiracy linked to the most cold-blooded puppet masters and power brokers in the country. The harder Decker and Harlow work to expose the insidious faction, the harder it’ll be to make it out of Murder Mountain alive.
©2020 Steven Konkoly. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
The Hidden Law
Summary
Winner of six Lambda Literary awards, the Henry Rios mystery series is iconic and Michael Nava has been hailed by The New York Times as “one of our best” writers. In The Hidden Law, Rios delves deeply into his Latino identity as he defends a young man charged with assassinating a prominent Los Angeles Latino politician. The San Francisco Chronicle hailed the novel and its author: “A beautifully conceived but gritty novel.... Nava writes the kind of small, clean, powerful novels that build in emotional power almost invisibly, leaving us breathless at the end.”
©1992 Michael Nava (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
Dark Green, Bright Red
Summary
In the tiny Central American republic of Tenango, a place of orchid-scented jungle, crumbling palaces, and baroque cathedrals, the rainy season is over and the dusty days of winter have begun. It is time for revolution. In an old plantation house the conspirators meet: General Jorge Alvarez, returned from exile in New Orleans with his hothead of a son and his proud, beautiful daughter; a volatile entourage of disenchanted colonels and rebel priests; and Peter Nelson, an American soldier of fortune with his own reasons for joining the rebels. Yet when the waiting is over and the struggle for power under way, nothing in Tenango turns out to be what it seems, not even the tragedy that awaits them all.
©1950 E. P. Dutton & Co Inc. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved
Lay Your Sleeping Head
Summary
A completely revised edition of the first Henry Rios mystery, The Little Death, Lay Your Sleeping Head introduces Michael Nava’s singular protagonist, gay Latino criminal defense lawyer Henry Rios. Rios, beset by personal and professional problems, begins a passionate affair with the black sheep heir to a great California fortune who tells Rios an improbable tale of murder and sexual predation in his wealthy family. When the young man is found dead of an apparent drug overdose, Rios begins an investigation that ultimately reveals much more than that his lover’s death was murder. One reviewer said Lay Your Sleeping Head “retains all the complexity and elegance of the original novel but deepens the themes of personal alienation and erotic obsession that both honored the traditions of the American crime novel and turned them on their head.”
©2016 Michael Nava (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
The Price of Paradise
Summary
In a city as corrupt as it was luxurious, those who dared to dream were bound to pay the price.
Havana, Cuba, 1947. Young Patricio flees impoverished Spain and steps into the sultry island paradise of Havana with only the clothes on his back and half-baked dreams of a better life. Blessed with good looks and natural charm, he lands a job as a runner at El Encanto - one of the most luxurious department stores in the world.
Famous for its exquisite offerings from French haute couture to Arabian silks, El Encanto indulges the senses in opulent extravagance. It caters to visiting Hollywood stars, rising politicos, and prerevolutionary Cuba’s wealthiest power players, including the notorious mobster César Valdés.
Falling in love with the mobster’s young wife, Gloria, is suicide. But Patricio is irresistibly drawn to the beautiful girl with sad eyes, a razor-sharp intellect, and a penchant for both Christian Dior’s clothes and Einstein’s theories. Within the walls of El Encanto, anything seems possible, even a love that promises to heal them and a desire that thrums with the mambo beat of the city itself.
In a reckless love affair that spans half a century, Patricio’s and Gloria’s lives entwine time and again, challenged by every twist of fate - for in a world of murder, betrayal, and revolution, those who dare to reach for paradise seldom survive unscathed.
©2017 by Susana Lopez Rubio. Translation © 2019 by Achy Obejas. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.