A truly unmissable set of unearthed stories from the pen of Sir Terry Pratchett: award-winning and bestselling author, and creator of the phenomenally successful Discworld series. Featuring narration from David Tennant, Claire Foy, Paterson Joseph, Katherine Parkinson, Derek Jacobi and Indira Varma.

An exclusive collection of twenty early short stories by one of the world's best loved authors, these are rediscovered tales that Pratchett wrote under a pseudonym for newspapers during the 1970s and 1980s.

Whilst none of the stories are set in the Discworld, they hint towards the world he would go on to create in his award-winning and globally bestselling series, containing all of his trademark wit, satirical wisdom and fantastic imagination. These are tales which entertain, enlighten and, most importantly, make you laugh.

Meet Og the inventor, the first caveman to cultivate fire, as he discovers the highs and lows of progress; haunt the Council with the defiant evicted ghosts of Pilgarlic Towers; visit Blackbury, a small market town with weird weather and an otherworldly visitor; and travel millions of years back in time to The Old Red Sandstone Lion pub.

The final ever 'new' writing to be published from the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett, A Stroke of the Pen is a must-have collection of fantastic short stories for fans, old and new.

A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett

Listen to clips from some of our lead audiobooks for the autumn.

Penguin Random House Audio Autumn Highlights 2023

New & hot: Audiobooks

How Good King Wenceslas went Pop for the DJ’s Feast of Stephen - read by Paterson Joseph

How It All Began - read by David Tennant

The Fossil Beach - read by Claire Foy

Gripping full-cast BBC dramatisations and riveting readings of four 'Shetland' tales, plus a bonus short story and interview

Ann Cleeves is well known for her 'Vera', 'Shetland', and 'Two Rivers' crime series, all of which have been adapted into hit TV shows. She was presented with the CWA Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement in 2017, and was appointed an OBE in the 2022 New Year Honours List for services to reading and libraries. This collection includes full-cast dramatisations of the first two 'Shetland' novels featuring Detective Jimmy Perez, as well as three short stories and a discussion with the bestselling author.

Raven Black - Midwinter in Shetland, and a young woman is found strangled in a snow-covered field. Suspicion falls on elderly loner Magnus Tait - but Detective Jimmy Perez has a hunch the solution is not that simple. Starring Grant O'Rourke.

White Nights - It is midsummer on the island, a time of white nights where the sun never quite leaves the sky. When a distressed stranger disrupts an art exhibition claiming amnesia, and is later found hanged, it seems a clear case of suicide. But Jimmy Perez has other ideas... Starring Steven Robertson.

'The Soothmoothers' - The tensions between three travellers on a business trip to Shetland spark a local woman's interest. By dawn the next day, DI Jimmy Perez is on the scene, investigating a violent crime. Read by Marnie Baxter.

'Secrets of Soil' - Written in collaboration with forensic soil scientist Lorna Dawson, this specially-commissioned short story sees Shetland detective Willow Reeves returning to her childhood home on the Scottish island of North Uist to confront a dark secret from her past. Read by Lesley Hart.

'The Queen of Mystery' - Attending the Malice Domestic crime convention in Bethesda, Maryland, award-winning mystery writer Stella Monkhouse fears her star is starting to wane... Read by Joanna Tope.

Phil Williams - Ann Cleeves talks to the Radio 5 Live presenter about the inspiration for her work, and why she's keen to encourage a national passion for reading.

Text copyright © Ann Cleeves 2006 (Raven Black), 2008 (White Nights), 2010 ('The Soothmoothers'), 2013 ('Secrets of Soil'), 2016 ('The Queen of Mystery')
All rights reserved

© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Ann Cleeves: Raven Black, White Nights & other Shetland mysteries

Glutton, written and read by Ed Gamble

The Twat Files, written and read by Dawn French

You watch a horror movie or TV series and think, "Zombies don’t really exist". But when you consider the broader definition of zombification—the control of one entity by another—then zombies are definitely among us. And, it turns out, they have much to teach us about the world.
Athena Aktipis of Arizona State University is a self-professed apocalypse enthusiast, and as the host of the podcast Zombified, she knows the undead inside and out. With Zombified: Real-World Lessons from Fictional Apocalypses, she’s compiled her research and insights into a fascinating Audible Original that will have you thinking more deeply about all those shambling, brain-hungry corpses in pop culture—not to mention our everyday lives.

Drawing on years of research on zombies and zombification, these six lessons offer a fun way to explore and understand the many forces that influence us. You’ll discover how organisms in the natural world like the jewel wasp hijack one another for their own ends. You’ll examine cases of social and psychological zombification involving family members and romantic partners. And of course, you’ll spend plenty of time with fictional zombies—learning why they fascinate us, how they map onto topics like infectious diseases and disaster preparedness, and what they reveal about our hopes and fears for the future of humanity.

Zombified: Real-World Lessons from Fictional Apocalypses by Athena Aktipis & The Great Courses on Audible:
https://www.audible.com/pd/Zombified-Real-Life-Lessons-from-Fictional-Apocalypses-Audiobook/B0CJMXB4NL

Buy on Audible

Zombified: Real-World Lessons from Fictional Apocalypses by Athena Aktipis & The Great Courses

Listen to an excerpt from NOTHING IS MISSING by Nicole Walters, read by the author.

NOTHING IS MISSING Audiobook Excerpt

Your Mama's Kitchen - Conan Excerpts 4

Written and read by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

The seven rules to follow to realise your true purpose in life distilled by Arnold Schwarzenegger from his own journey of ceaseless reinvention and extraordinary achievement, and available for absolutely anyone.

 

The world's greatest bodybuilder. The world's highest paid movie star. The leader of the world's sixth largest economy. That these are the same person sounds like the setup to a joke. But this is no joke. This is Arnold Schwarzenegger. And this did not happen by accident.

 

Arnold's stratospheric success happened as part of a process. As the result of clear vision, big thinking, hard work, direct communication, resilient problem-solving, open-minded curiosity, and a commitment to giving back. All of it guided by the one lesson Arnold's father hammered into him above all: be useful. As Arnold conquered every realm he entered, he kept his father's adage close to his heart.

 

Written with his uniquely earnest, blunt, powerful voice, BE USEFUL takes readers on an inspirational tour through Arnold's toolkit for a meaningful life. Arnold shows us how to put those tools to work, in service of whatever fulfilling future we can dream up for ourselves. He brings his insights to vivid life with compelling personal stories, life-changing successes and life-threatening failures alike--some of them famous, some told here for the first time ever.

 

Too many of us struggle to disconnect from our self-pity and connect to our purpose. At an early age, Arnold forged the mental tools to build the ladder out of the poverty and narrow-mindedness of his rural Austrian hometown, tools he used to add rung after rung from there. Now he has shared that wisdom with all of us. As he puts it, no one is going to come rescue you - you only have yourself. The good news, it turns out, is that you are all you need.

Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger

Meryl chats with Michelle about her new novel, Babylon: A Novel of Jewish Captivity (September 12, 2023). They discuss how Michelle came to write about the Biblical saga of the Babylonian exile, and its meaning for today. They also talk about historical fiction and Michelle’s writing and research process. 

Michelle is the award-winning author of several works of historical fiction and poetry including Beyond the Ghetto Gates, The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz, and In the Shadow of the Globe. Her new novel, Babylon: A Novel of Jewish Captivity is the multi-generational Biblical saga of Sarah, her children and grandchildren, exiled to Babylon when King Nebuchadnezzar’s army conquers Judea and destroys the Temple. Michelle lived in Israel for fifteen years and served as an officer in the Israeli army teaching air force cadets technical English. She is a director of The Writers Circle, a NJ-based organization that offers creative writing programs to children, teens, and adults. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and has two grown sons. 

Author’s website:  https://michelle-cameron.com/
Instagram: @michellecameronwriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michellecameronauthor

Copyright by Authors on the Air Global Radio Network 
#AuthorsOnTheAir #AuthorsOnTheAirGlobalRadioNetwork #AOTA #MichelleCameron #Babylon #ANovelOfCaptivity #BabylonianExile #Intermarriage #DestructionOfTheTemple #Sarah #DanielTheProphet #Nebuchadnezzer #Judea #HistoricalFiction #TheBible #BeyondTheGhettoGates #PeopleoftheBook #MerylAin #TheTakeawayMen #Sequel #ShadowsWeCarry #LetsTalkJewishBooks #JewsLoveToRead!

Babylon: Michelle Cameron discusses her new novel, the Babylonian exile, and its meaning for today

Penguin Books publishes blockbusting, prize-winning, celebrated, controversial, heart-warming, thought-provoking and inspiring books by a range of authors from Ali Smith to Zadie Smith, Jeremy Clarkson to Jeremy Paxman and Jamie Oliver to Oliver Goldsmith.

How It All Began - read by David Tennant

Penguin Books UK