Audibly Audiobooks

By Audibly AudiobooksArts Books

Audibly Audiobooks episodes

May 27, 2023 A Dream of Armageddon by H.G. Wells
A Dream of Armageddon by H.G. Wells
52 min
May 13, 2023 A Ladies Man by Robert Barr
"Jest w'en we guess we've covered the trail
So's no one can't foller, w'y then we fail
W'en we feel safe hid. Nemesis, the cuss,
Waltzes up with nary a warnin' nor fuss.
Grins quiet like, and says, 'How d'y do,
So glad we've met, I'm a-lookin' fer you'"
23 min
May 12, 2023 The Pendulum by Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury (1920-2012) was a novelist, short-story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and poet. Bradbury's short story "Pendulum", written with Henry Hasse, was published in 1941 in the pulp magazine Super Science Stories. The protagonist, Layeville, had built a time machine and invited the world’s top scientists to attend its first performance. Unfortunately, a massive explosion killed them all, and for his crime, Layeville was imprisoned in a glass pendulum for what seemed an eternity. The people called him The Prisoner of Time. But everything comes to an end....
10 min
May 11, 2023 Cynthia by Aldous Huxley
Cynthia is a story published in Huxley's collection titled Limbo, published in 1920. "So she was absolutely, frozenly virginal; but she was made of a sort of burning ice, if you understand me. She was virginally passionate just the combination you’d expect to find in a goddess."
12 min
May 11, 2023 A Deal in Ostriches by H.G. Wells
The taxidermist is talking with an unnamed acquaintance about the price of birds when he tells the story of a bird auction on an East India Company ship en route from India to London. Sir Mohini Padishah, a wealthy native Indian, is aboard the vessel. An unnamed caretaker, was on deck with five ostriches when one of the birds swallowed the diamond from Padishah’s turban. The bird becomes mixed with the others during the resulting confusion. Word of the incident sweeps the vessel as Padishah demands the return of the diamond. He swore he would retrieve the diamond, but would not buy the birds. He demands his rights as a British Subject and plans to appeal to the British House of Lords.The passengers debate the legalities of the situation. As no barrister is aboard, much of the discussions are speculation. Padishah demands the ostriches from the caretaker who refuses because he does not own the birds. Following a stopover in Aden, Padishah offers to buy all five birds. The caretaker refuses, but tells Padishah that another passenger, Potter, made a similar offer. While in Aden, Potter wired the birds owners in London, made the offer and his answer would be waiting in Suez. He intends to kill the birds to find the diamond. Padisha raged over this and the taxidermist cursed himself for not having thought of it.The birds’ owner accepted Potter’s offer and Padishah wept over the sale. Potter offered to sell the birds to Padishah for more than twice the amount he paid. When Padishah balked, Potter sells the birds at auction on the ship. Interest in the auction flared when a Jewish diamond merchant assessed the diamond at three to four thousand British Pounds. After the first bird sold was slaughtered upon the deck, Potter forbid their slaughter until landfall in London. The price for each subsequent bird grew netting Potter more than one thousand Pounds. Padishah provided each new owner with his address and begged the men to mail the diamond once they found it. They rebuffed him and went their own ways.A week later, the taxidermist sees Padishah and Potter together in London. Padishah was an eminent Hindu, the diamond was indeed real, but the taxidermist doubts the bird swallowed the diamond.
9 min
May 09, 2023 Can Socialists Be Happy? by George Orwell
Can Socialists Be Happy? by George Orwell
12 min
May 06, 2023 A Case of Premeditation by R. Austin Freeman
A Case of Premeditation is one of Freeman's inverted detective stories, also referred to as a "locked room mystery" featuring his favorite medical-forensic investigator, Dr. Thorndyke. It was first published in McClure's Magazine, August, 1910.
54 min
May 04, 2023 The Horror of the Heights by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The story is told through a blood-stained notebook discovered on the edge of a farm in Withyham. The notebook is written by a Mr. Joyce-Armstrong, and the first two and last pages are missing; the notebook is thus dubbed the "Joyce-Armstrong Fragment".
Joyce-Armstrong, a brave aviator, had been curious over the deaths of certain pilots who tried to break the current height record of 30,000 feet. Recent casualties involve some strange deaths – one, Hay Connor, died after landing while he was still in his plane, while another, Myrtle, was discovered with his head missing. Joyce-Armstrong speculates that the answer to these deaths may be the result of what he calls "air-jungles":
31 min
May 03, 2023 Filmer by H.G. Wells
Filmer is a short story by H. G. Wells. Herbert George "H. G." Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946) was an English writer, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is sometimes called "The Father of Science Fiction," as are Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau.
33 min
May 01, 2023 The Record by Ray Bradbury
Written cooperatively by Forrest Ackerman and Ray Bradbury, this story was first published in Ray Bradbury's Futuria Fantasia, Summer 1939 where it was credited only as “by Forrest J. Ackerman”
9 min