Listen Legally to Most Popular Full Audiobooks in Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

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Title: Best Served Cold

Subtitle: 10 Stories of Revenge

Author: Bill Bernico

Narrator: Dan Bell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-11-13

Publisher: Downwind Publications

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Best Served Cold runs 2 hours and 22 minutes and consists of the following short stories of revenge:

Escape (You are a Houdini wanna-be but youre cheating on your lovely assistant Oh oh)

Good To The Last Drop (You run a parachute jump school and want your wife dead but how?)

Home Run (You plan on committing the perfect suicide one where you can blame someone else)

Just Deserts (How do you kill your cheating partner and absolutely get away with it? This is how)

Loose Ends (Its your 20-year class reunion and its payback time for all those snobs and bullies)

That's What I Thought (You finally catch up with your wifes killer and he begs for one more chance)

The Family Jewels (How to deal with grade school bullies once and for all)

The Object Of My Infection (You get AIDS from some skank and now its payback time before you die)

The Payoff (Your wife is kidnapped and they are demanding a million dollars, but should you pay it?)

Works Like A Charm (Seems theres always one guy in your creative writing class that spoils the experience. Go get him)

Members Reviews:

ALL the titles are listed: Another collection of various stories from Bernico

I have read 8 of these before, and you can find reviews for them under each title separately.

THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT / OBJECT OF MY INFECTION / ESCAPE / GOOD TO THE LAST DROP / JUST DESSERTS / LOOSE ENDS / THE FAMILY JEWELS / THE PAYOFF

Because I was reading the Cooper Collection stories in order, I have not yet read / reviewed WORKS LIKE A CHARM.

HOME RUN - This is my confirmation of double dipping. Read my warning about this under this individual story title. Read the REVIEW of the story under the title Hit and Run (Cooper collection 026).

Good reads

Read all the multi-packs and shorts packs long ago, since 2012. The author has gotten better with age/practice. I've read almost all of the Cooper stories (1 - 230) and several of Mr. Bernico's short stories and most have not disappointed me. You'll find some poorly written or predictable stories, but for the most part they are fair to good. The Cooper series are better, but there's a few stinkers, too. They're great for a coffee break or a few minutes to relax.

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Title: What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us

Author: Laura van den Berg

Narrator: Teri Clark Linden

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-22-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Containing work reprinted in Best Non-Required Reading 2008, Best New American Voices 2010, and The Pushcart Prizes 2010, the stories in Laura van den Berg's rich and inventive debut illuminate the intersection of the mythic and the mundane.

A failed actress takes a job as a Bigfoot impersonator. A botanist seeking a rare flower crosses path with a group of men hunting the Loch Ness Monster. A disillusioned missionary in Africa grapples with grief and a growing obsession with a creature rumored to live in the forest of the Congo. And in the title story, a young woman traveling with her scientist mother in Madagascar confronts her burgeoning sexuality and her dream of becoming a long-distance swimmer.

Rendered with precision and longing, the women who narrate these starkly beautiful stories are consumed with searching - for absolution, for solace, for the flash of extraordinary in the ordinary that will forever alter their lives.

Critic Reviews:

"What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us is a lovely, remarkable book, full of people who strive mightily to believe in things - Bigfoot, the Lochness and Lake Michigan monsters, a tunnel leading to the other side of the world, husbands, wives, lovers, parentsthey shouldn't. But Laura van den Berg lets her characters believe, and believes in them, and makes us believe, and care, too. Calm, wry, and compassionate, somehow all at once, this book is impossible to resist, and I'd bet big money that we'll be talking about Laura van den Berg and her fiction for years to come." (Brock Clarke, author of An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England)

"In her first collection Laura van den Berg creates a series of remarkable characters each of whom is striking out for territory unknown, plunging into an uncharted sea. I love the exhilarating sense of adventure in these stories, how they make the world seem larger, and how van den Berg maps our familiar pains in strikingly new ways. What The World Will Look Like When All The Water Leaves Us is a dazzling and original debut." (Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street and Eva Moves the Furniture)

"There is a special kind of magic in the writing of Laura van den Berg, a damp-eyed sorceress who blends the mythological with the everyday, buoyant playfulness with lacerating sadness. Each sentence reads like a beautiful bruise smeared across pages as pale as the bodies that so often strip off their clothes and tangle together in these tender, elegant stories." (Benjamin Percy, author of Refresh, Refresh and The Language of Elk)

Members Reviews:

Review for audiobook only - Stories are excellent, but audiobook is terrible.

The narrator reads like a robot, and when she does use emphasis or inflection, it's on the wrong word or syllable. She's essentially just reading a random group of words on a page and arbitrarily throws in an inflection here and there, rather than reading stories with context, characters, and emotion. I got through only two of the stories before quitting and resorting to a paper copy (and again, I would like to reiterate that Laura van den Berg's writing is excellent). I can't believe that a major company such as Audible did not direct or advise the narrator to read the book differently than she did.

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Title: Short Story Collection

Author: Anton Chekhov, G.K. Chesterton, Kate Chopin, James Joyce, Jack London, O. Henry, M.R. James

Narrator: Bart Wolffe

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-20-13

Publisher: Saland Publishing

Ratings: 1.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

An eclectic selection of short story classics by great writers of latter day such as Jack London, O' Henry, M.R. James, G.K. Chesterton, James Joyce and Anton Chekhov.

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Title: The Innocence of Father Brown

Author: G. Chesterton

Narrator: Bart Wolffe

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-03-13

Publisher: Saland Publishing

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Eight Stories from The Innocence of Father Brown in which the affable Norfolk Priest uses his insight into human nature and eccentricity to solve the seemingly unsolveable.

Members Reviews:

These stories are short and fun and you can always read another book and the ...

Very similar to Sherlock Holmes and sir arthur Conan doyle, but with more philosphy, religion mixed in but in small doses to enlighten the story and observations of Father Brown. These are enjoyable mysteries that often end unlike the theory that is wavering in your head while reading. Chesterton writing style is very fluid and not in the sometimes laborious old english style. These stories are short and fun and you can always read another book and the go back and read a Father Brown story for a change of pace of a short murder mystery.

Storytelling near its finest

How Chesterton comes up with these stories I'll never know, but I'm sure glad he did! The Innocence of Father Brown contains several of his best Father Brown stories - this one is sure to please! It's on my reread shelf.

Witty, thinking man's mysteries

Written in a slightly older style, I had to get used to it at first. There were many bits I wish I had written down, which is true with all Chesterton's writing. Some of the machinations of the mysteries were a bit ponderous, but overall clever. I very much enjoyed getting to know Father Brown, himself. I'd have given them 3 and a half stars if allowed.

Simple fun puzzles

Classic murder mysteries with philosophical challenges. Chesterton shows his wit and wisdom and challenges modernity in its pride. These are plain fun stories.

No Spoilers or Reiteration of Back Covers Here

This collection of short stories has something for every detective interested in English mystery.

These are not 'quick' reads. I took my time to enjoy each story, thought I had managed to get a handle on what events were revealing, and got it wrong all but twice! Pay VERY close attention and perhaps you can solve more than I.

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Title: Marginal Voices: Selected Stories

Subtitle: Texas Pan American Series

Author: Julio Ramon Ribeyro

Narrator: Kenneth J. Lee

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-30-13

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Julio Ramón Ribeyro has been widely acclaimed Peru's master storyteller. Until now, however, few of his stories have been translated into English. This volume brings together fifteen stories written during the period 1952-1975, which were collected in the three volumes of La palabra del mudo.

Ribeyro's stories treat the social problems brought about by urban expansion, including poverty, racial and sexual discrimination, class struggles, alienation, and violence. At the same time, elements of the fantastic playfully interrupt some of the stories. As Ribeyro's characters become swept up in circumstances beyond their understanding, we see that the only freedom or dignity left them comes from their own imaginations.

This audiobook is published by University of Texas Press.

Critic Reviews:

"A magnificent storyteller, one of the best of Latin America and probably of the Spanish language." (Mario Vargas Llosa)

Members Reviews:

"What is life? A little flame at the tip of a candle, exposed to a strong wind."

Julio Ramón Ribeyro (b. 1929, d. 1994) is one of Peru's foremost writers, although he lived most of his adult life in Europe, principally Paris. His literary specialty was the short story. MARGINAL VOICES contains fifteen of Ribeyro's stories, selected and translated by Dianne Douglas. The book is a very good introduction to a distinctive short-story-writer, one who deserves to be better known in the United States.

Most of the stories are set in Peru, a few in Europe. All but one feature a principal character who is Peruvian. The central characters in most of the stories are basically good everyday people who desire, and arguably deserve, more from life, but in the end they suffer a failure of will or Fate declares otherwise. Although disappointments and frustrated dreams mark the stories, they tend to be light, gently comic, and almost whimsical in an "Ah, well, that's the way life is" vein. (A couple stories that take on social issues depart from this model and are, to my mind, a tad heavy-handed.) In many an element of the surreal or fantastic creeps in and almost all end with a twist.

The fifteen stories display considerable range. To give a reader an idea of their nature and diversity, here is the set-up for six of them: Two boys living in a Lima slum with their grandfather are forced to go scavenging every day for scraps to eat and to feed the pig grandpa is raising (the title of this story is "The Featherless Buzzards"). A man comes across a silver pin in a trash pile and begins to wear it on his suit coat; suddenly he is admitted into a capricious, cabalistic organization ("If someone should ask me what our organization stands for, I wouldn't know what to say."). A zambo (of mixed Indian and Negro blood) bleaches his hair and lightens his skin in an effort to pass as white; he goes to America and ends up having to fight in Korea to avoid deportation. Luciano, a young up-and-coming hale-fellow-well-met from an impoverished background, is suddenly confronted by his deadbeat father who had disappeared for eight years. The boarders in a Spanish rooming house get together to dress up a beautiful but poor young woman in finery borrowed from the resident cocottes so that she can go out on a date with a potential suitor who might rescue her from her sorry existence.

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Title: The Postmortem Scrapbook

Author: K. R. Helms

Narrator: Jay Wohlert

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-08-13

Publisher: Kurt Helms

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

The Postmortem Scrapbook is a compilation of short fiction where death finds it's home nestled within it's pages in unique facets of death.

Members Reviews:

collection of dark short stories

What made the experience of listening to The Postmortem Scrapbook the most enjoyable?

the creativity of the writer,his ability to set the mood,tone of the stories. very descriptive, made me feel like i was there. could see the scene in my mind, feel the feelings.

What other book might you compare The Postmortem Scrapbook to and why?

stephen king's short stories in that dark ,comic,unexpected endings sort of way

Which scene was your favorite?

hard to narrow it down ,i enjoyed HARM'S WAY for it's grittiness, BETWEEN TOMBSTONES

AND WISHING WELLS for it's sweetness.THE HARVEST SONG is a great tragic love story. every story takes you by surprise and leaves you satisfied.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

there's a moment in each of the stories that moved me, that's why i highly reccommend this collection of short stories.

Any additional comments?

buy it

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Title: The Best Pirate Stories Ever Told

Author: Stephen Brennan (Editor)

Narrator: Keith O'Brien

Format: Unabridged

Length: 21 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-17-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Over the years, thousands of tales both true and fantastic have been told about the dastardly thievery of pirates. Their rum-drunk exploits and high-seas violence never fail to delight. Now in a brand new series collection, The Best Pirate Stories Ever Told includes many of the very best pirate yarns ever created on historys most debaucherous scalawags. Anyone who loves a good story full of excitement, adventure, thrills, and laughs will find this collection irresistible.

The stories, songs, and verses include writing by Daniel Defoe, Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, James Fenimore Cooper, Robert Louis Stevenson, and many more. Moving through the pages of time, this collection will take you from the dastardly deeds of ancient pirates to the extravagant exploits of classical times. Each story offers swashbuckling adventure that will send you all over the world, from the dangerous currents of the Mediterranean to the sandy beaches of the Middle East. Whether its a historical overview of ferocious pirate activity that defined the seas of the past, an in-depth look at a smarmy captain of the high seas, or a boyhood frolic in a world of danger and doubloons, this collection will please anyone who wants to experience the deadly world of pirates without the risk of walking the plank.

Editorial Reviews:

Piracy on the high seas is a classic theme that can be found in stories through the ages, as the compelling collection The Best Pirate Stories Ever Told demonstrates. In a spirited performance from Keith O'Brien, listeners are treated to swashbuckling and rum-swigging stories from writers as diverse as Plutarch, Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, and Robert Louis Stevenson. As O'Brien narrates a detailed history of piracy alongside the tales of everybody's favorite villains on the water, his voice takes on a bit of the salty, rough inflection of pirates themselves, convincingly transporting listeners into a daring and dangerous world of criminal nautical adventure.

Members Reviews:

Would have enjoyed it much better if the words used were defined

Lots of action. What I can't figure is if these tales are true to fact or not.

I believe it was a mixture of truth and fiction.

Would have enjoyed it much better if the words used were defined.

Most of them came up dry even when searching two dictionaries.

Hard to read when you don't know the words.

Good pirate background

It was an interesting collection of the lives of various pirates. Lots of interesting information

set the jib , we got them now.

Are you a history buff? You will like this bunch of tales. Pirate raids , trials, and pirate hunters. Lots of sailing lingo.

Three Stars

Interesting stories but sometie hard to read.

Peter Wev author of JULIUS CAESAR'S CENTURION

Any serious student of the Revolution needs this book! ...

Any serious student of the Revolution needs this book! Well done and very informative.

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Title: Signs of Passion

Author: Astrologers Haunani

Narrator: Astrologers Haunani

Format: Unabridged

Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-19-12

Publisher: Astrologers Haunani

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Get ready for exciting adventures about you and your love interests. Like never before Signs of Passion provides its readers a deeper understanding of one's romantic personality with an innovative anthology of 24 adventures that uniquely provide an intriguing understanding of one's masculine and feminine makeup.

It is not necessary to understand astrology to be enlightened by this read. These stories may be read in order or as the spirit moves you. Astrology can appear confusing with lists of seemingly unconnected attributes applied to each zodiacal sign. On the contrary, Signs of Passion delivers its message through character-driven stories, providing its readers with a new, unique way to view love.

Most astrological reads are structured around one's sun sign. Signs of Passion takes an unique approach to relationship astrology. Regardless of our physical body type or sexual orientation, we all have a masculine and feminine side. Mars represents your masculine, aggressive approach and Venus your magnetic, alluring feminine energy.

For example, someone with Mars in Virgo and Venus in Cancer is a very different package from Mars in Capricorn and Venus in Leo, even if they both have the same Sun sign.

Signs of Passion provides its readers the ability to comprehend what is on offer in love, what you seek for fulfillment and how to get it. Love manifests in so many glorious and wonderful ways. However, remember what you think you feel may not always be the case.

Members Reviews:

This Capricorn wasn't a fan

Signs of Passion is about the characteristics of each of the signs, particularly as they relate to romance and sex, under the Venus (female) and Mars (male) placements. The Introduction of the book acquaints the reader with the narrator, who I think is female? While wandering around her deceased Grandee's house experiences the feeling that her Grandee has specifically chosen her to carry on some special work. Immersing herself in this sense, the narrator finds herself in Grandee's herbal woodshed and sees twenty-four amphoras (containers), one for each of the signs under the planet Venus or Mars.

When the narrator consumes or smells the contents of each amphora, she then morphs (though in some cases she does not morph or morph immediately) with a person who characterizes that sign and planet. Each of the twenty-four chapters is dedicated to a person of a sign/planet combination during a unique period of history. Each character is usually undergoing some transitive period of their life (invasion by Vikings, being sold to satisfy a husband's debt, attacked by Native Americans, trying to put together a successful art show, etc.) that involves romance. The only exception is the Scorpio in Mars chapter, which was more or less a precautionary tale about getting involved with Scorpios. At the end of the chapter, the authors provide a brief discussion of that particular sign/planet combination and how a person with that particular combination will approach relationships and sex.

I found that the individual stories of each of the sign/planet combinations were the strongest part of the book.

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Title: The Case of the Discontented Soldier

Subtitle: A Parker Pyne Short Story

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-11-12

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 14 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

When civilian life proves too dull for Major Wilbrahams, he contacts Parker Pyne to escape his boredom. Pyne's assistant arranges a chance meeting with the beautiful Freda Clegg and the two join forces, but on leaving for Africa they encounter more than they had bargained for.

Members Reviews:

Mr Parker Pyne

Mr Parker Pyne was a rarely remembered hero of Agatha Christie. A wish full filler who made people's wishes come true, and did some detective work on the side. I wish she wrote more books about him,instead of a dozen short stories. I also watched the television episode based on this story, it was just as good as this short story. I wish someone would do a new television show based on these stories. By the way the character Mrs Oliver, is a dead ringer for Christie, and Miss lemon the secretary would go on to work for POIROT. Please kindle give us more of Parker Pyne short stories.

great read

The best twist and turn that never got boring I think any mystery love should give this a try.

Another Parker Payne Case

The Case of the Discontented Soldier

The Case of the Discontented Soldier

By Agatha Christie

Parker Pyne is at it again. Ms. Christieâs âsocial worker of yesteryearâ is answering the needs of a soldier who was bored with his life. Major Wilbraham has just returned from East Africa and he is dissatisfied with his life in the slow lane. He needs excitement. As usual, Mr. Pyne provides what his customer needs.

The Major saves a damsel in distress, and fell head-over-heels for this gorgeous creature. As the day goes on, they find themselves embroiled in a life or death situation. Of course, the Major is a gentleman and not afraid of danger, so he is called upon again, to save the day. Unbeknownst to him, he was living out a plot that was written by another well-known character in Ms. Christieâs imagination: Miss Oliver, the apple eating writer.

This was a fast read and very fun story. I give it 4 stars.

Predictable and more romantic than a mystery!

The Case of the Discontented Soldier is only my second story featuring Parker Pyne, that I've read. The first one (The Case of the Middle Aged Wife) felt very similar to this one. In this case, there was a soldier that felt boredom and Parker Pyne advised that he could cure his boredom. It seems like these stories are more of a romantic version of a detective, then any actual detecting on Parker's part.

While this was a enjoyable story I felt the lack of a real mystery. It was pretty obvious who was behind curing Mr Wilbraham's boredom and the ending was predictable. I will still continue to read the rest of the Parker Pyne short stories, to see if any of them involve a actual mystery.

I'd recommend this story to those that like a romantic side to their mysteries. Otherwise for new fans to Agatha Christie I recommend starting with Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.

Simple and sweet

I have read most of Christie's short stories and although this was almost an entirely different genre from her Miss Marple and Poorly stories in that it was really romance rather than mystery, it was a very enjoyable quick read and whetted my appetite for more Parker Payne short stories.

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Title: The House at Shiraz

Subtitle: A Short Story

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-11-12

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 14 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Mr. Parker Pyne is having trouble trying to get to Beirut, what with his rusty linguistic skills and the less-than-comfortable traveling arrangements. But, with the help of a German pilot, Herr Schlagel, he is soon able to get his bearings. Herr Schlagel confesses that his thoughts are dominated by the mysterious and sudden death of one of his last passengers, who was in the company of Lady Esther from the House of Shiraz. Taking the initiative, Pyne writes to Lady Esther offering his services. When he arrives at the House of Shiraz, he waits to see what the infamously mad Lady Esther has to say for herself, and the story begins to unravel....

Members Reviews:

Short, ho hum

It has been a few weeks since I read this, but just remember that it was short and blah. I am a real Christie fan, but do not remember any Parker Pyne stories. Not on the lookout for more either. Lots of description of the area. Saw the end coming from miles away.

SueF

I have not come across a Parker Pyne story before and I purchased it as Miss Christie is solid gold in the story line and this story did not disappoint me.

Mystery

Agatha Christie is always awesome. Nice to find her works in ebooks. She's ALWAYS worth the read even when the books are not contemporary.

Fun reading this

I have always enjoyed this story. The story is great reading.

Great short story to curl up with.Enjoyed it . Happy reading

Parker Pyne untangles a case of death!

Parker Pyne is still travelling abroad and in Shiraz he finds beauty and also a new case. In discussion with a German pilot he is told that that a Lady Esther Carr has gone crazy and recently her maid died. Pyne figures there is more to this than first appears so he calls on her and investigates.

I like that while this one involves a death it really shows how great Pyne's observation skills when it comes to facts and human nature are. He sees through Carr and discovers the truth before you can snap your fingers. Another great Christie mystery.