Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand
Written by Samuel R. Delany
Read by Stefan Rudnicki

The story of a truly galactic civilization with over 6,000 inhabited worlds.

Stars in My Pocket like Grains of Sand is a science fiction masterpiece, an essay on the inexplicability of sexual attractiveness, and an examination of interstellar politics among far-flung worlds. First published in 1984, the novel’s central issues—technology, globalization, gender, sexuality, and multiculturalism—have only become more pressing with the passage of time.

The novel’s topic is information itself: What are the repercussions, once it has been made public, that two individuals have been found to be each other’s perfect erotic object out to “point nine-nine-nine and several nines percent more?” What will it do to the individuals involved, to the city they inhabit, to their geosector, to their entire world society, especially when one is an illiterate worker, the sole survivor of a world destroyed by “cultural fugue,” and the other is—you!

For more information and to purchase your copy, please visit:
https://www.downpour.com/stars-in-my-pocket-like-grains-of-sand?sp=295012

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Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany, read by Stefan Rudnicki

Vendetta: A Story of One Forgotten
Written by Marie Corelli
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Blackstone and produced by Skyboat Media

“I, who write this, am a dead man. Dead legally - dead by absolute proofs - dead and buried! Ask for me in my native city and they will tell you I was one of the victims of the cholera that ravaged Naples in 1884, and that my mortal remains lie moldering in the funeral vault of my ancestors. Yet - I live!… I, Fabio Romani, lately deceased, am about to chronicle the events of one short year....”

In the cholera-ridden Naples of 1884, Fabio Romani is prematurely buried and awakes to find himself in a coffin. After managing to free himself, Fabio rushes home to reassure his wife and child. While he expected to find his family deep in mourning, he instead discovers that his wife has been unfaithful to him and is having an affair with his best friend.

Utilizing a disguise and adopting a new identity, Fabio slowly works his way back into the trust, and home, of those who betrayed him, culminating in a frightful finale of revenge.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.audible.com/pd/Vendetta-Audiobook/166506269X?qid=1637698383&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=B5GXMC5DKT02SJESQE4B

Vendetta: A Story of One Forgotten by Marie Corelli, read by Stefan Rudnicki

Illuminations: Essays & Reflections
Written by Walter Benjamin
Edited and with an introduction by Hannah Arendt
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Blackstone

Walter Benjamin was an icon of criticism, renowned for his insight on art, literature, and philosophy. This volume includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close personal affinity; his studies on Baudelaire and Proust; and his essays on Leskov and Brecht’s epic theater. Illuminations also includes his penetrating study “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, an enlightening discussion of translation as a literary mode, and his theses on the philosophy of history.

Hannah Arendt selected the essays for this volume and introduces them with a classic essay about Benjamin’s life in a dark historical era. Leon Wieseltier’s preface explores Benjamin’s continued relevance for our times.

For more information and to purchase your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.audible.com/pd/Illuminations-Audiobook/B099T9PZ68?qid=1639592730&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=V9WKN08YKBCNQT4VQC9B

Illuminations by Walter Benjamin, read by Stefan Rudnicki

The Star King (Demon Princes, Book 1)
Written by Jack Vance
Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Blackstone and Skyboat Media

Five intergalactic criminal masterminds raid the tranquil world of Mount Pleasant, leaving behind only ruin and slaughter - and the orphaned child Kirth Gersen, who comes to manhood swearing to take bloody revenge. Now Gersen roams the galaxy, bringing vengeance to the Demon Princes one by one, in Jack Vance's classic series of hardboiled space opera.

In a seedy tavern on Smade's Planet, Kirth Gersen picks up the trail of Attel Malagate, a member of an alien species called Star Kings, who masquerade as humans. Malagate maintains anonymity behind a screen of sinister henchmen, but Gersen will combine subtle guile and stark violence in a strategy to bring him face to face with the first of the Demon Princes.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/the-star-king?sp=579025

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The Star King by Jack Vance, read by Stefan Rudnicki

Chéri and The End of Chéri
Written by Colette
Translated by Rachel Careau
Read by Gabrielle de Cuir
Published by Blackstone

An exquisite new translation of Colette’s tragicomic masterpiece, a pair of novels exploring the relationship between an aging courtesan and a much younger man.

Chéri and its sequel, The End of Chéri, mark Colette’s finest achievements, in their brilliant, subtle, and frank investigations of love and power. Set in the Parisian demimonde in the last days of the Belle Époque, Chéri tells the story of Léa, a courtesan at the end of a successful career, and her lover, the beautiful but emotionally opaque Chéri. Chéri will soon enter into an arranged marriage, ending their six-year affair, which—they will each realize too late—has been the one real love of their lives. The End of Chéri picks up their story in the aftermath of the First World War; as a psychically wounded Chéri begins an inexorable descent, he finds he cannot return to the Léa he left.

With a preface by the acclaimed Lydia Davis, Rachel Careau’s lean, attentive translation restores to these classic novels their taut, remarkably modern style—the essence of Colette’s genius.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.audible.com/pd/Cheri-and-The-End-of-Cheri-Audiobook/B09HYB1K44?qid=1651252396&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=DCSYA03SP39ET1EGDD6G

Chéri and The End of Chéri by Colette, read by Gabrielle de Cuir

Old Jules
Written by Mari Sandoz
Read by Stefan Rudnicki with Gabrielle de Cuir and Roxanne Hernandez
Published by Blackstone Publishing

First published in 1935, Old Jules is unquestionably Mari Sandoz’s masterpiece. This portrait of her pioneer father grew out of “the silent hours of listening behind the stove or the wood box, when it was assumed, of course, that I was asleep in bed. So it was that I heard the accounts of the hunts,” Sandoz recalls. “Of the fights with the cattlemen and the sheepmen, of the tragic scarcity of women, when a man had to ‘marry anything that got off the train,’ of the droughts, the storms, the wind and isolation. But the most impressive stories were those told to me by Old Jules himself.”

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/old-jules?sp=676383

Old Jules by Mari Sandoz, read by Stefan Rudnicki

Kill Me If You Can (A Mike Hammer Novel)
Written by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Skyboat Media

Mike Hammer hits his seventy-fifth anniversary hard, after the disappearance of Velda, in this brand new case between Kiss Me, Deadly and The Girl Hunters, based on an unproduced screenplay from Mickey Spillane’s archives.

Mike Hammer is on the case, this time hunting the murderer of his old friend and bootlegger-turned-legit-businessman Packy Paragon. Already torn up by the disappearance of Velda, his beloved secretary, Mike Hammer carves a brutal path for vengeance. Drinking heavily, his relationships fraying, his behavior self-destructive, Hammer has to track down Paragon’s black book, with the names of every corrupt official in town. With deception everywhere, and a whole host of reasons to want the ledger, Hammer has to pull himself together and solve the case before all hell breaks loose.

Celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of Mike Hammer, and including five brand new short stories, hear the lost story of Velda’s disappearance after Kiss Me, Deadly. A thrilling ride for fans new and old.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/kill-me-if-you-can-603289?sp=603322

Kill Me If You Can by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins, read by Stefan Rudnicki

Agent in Place
Written by Helen MacInnes
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Blackstone Publishing

“I am an agent in place, a mole that stays underground and works out of sight.”

Chuck Kelso is an idealist. When he steals a top-secret NATO memorandum, he only intends to leak it to the press; but it is soon in the hands of a Russian agent, a man who has spent nine years quietly working himself into the fabric of Washington society. Within hours it has reached the KGB, and the CIA’s top man in Moscow has had his cover blown. For British agent Tony Lawton, hunting down the Russian operative—the ‘agent in place’—is a welcome challenge. But for Chuck’s brother, the journalist Tom Kelso, and his beautiful wife, Thea, the affair has unleashed a very special terror.

Now the race is on to find the Russian spy before a top-level NATO conference. But why is the escaped agent behaving so strangely? Is he who he seems?

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/agent-in-place-718115?sp=718165

Agent In Place by Helen MacInnes, read by Stefan Rudnicki

The Big Four: The Original 12 Stories
Written by Agatha Christie
Read by John Rubinstein
Published by Blackstone Publishing

“If one man does not make a move, the other must, and by permitting the adversary to make the attack one learns something about him.”

In The Big Four, Hercule Poirot investigates a string of murders that appear to be disconnected on the surface, but Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective sees the only tiny detail that links them all together. For some obscure reason that Poirot is determined to uncover, the number four keeps popping up with every killing. Poirot soon learns that there is in fact an international crime gang dubbed “The Big Four,” and he sets off after them. With Hastings once again at his side, Monsieur Poirot travels all over Europe to find them, but the pair are always seem to be a step behind this shadowy syndicate.

This audiobook features the original twelve linked stories as they first appeared in The Sketch periodical, before Christie re-worked them with her brother-in-law to create the novel, The Big Four. Originally titled The Man Who Was Number Four: Further of Adventures of M. Poirot, this collection not only sees the return of Hastings and Inspector Japp, but it also introduced to the world Achille Poirot, the identical twin of Hercule Poirot himself!

Featuring original advertisements from The Sketch, and an introduction by Gabrielle de Cuir.

Full Contents:

“The Unexpected Guest”

“The Adventure of the Dartmoor Bungalow”

“The Lady on the Stairs”

“The Radium Thieves”

“In the House of the Enemy”

“The Yellow Jasmine Mystery”

“The Chess Problem”

“The Baited Trap”

“The Adventures of the Peroxide Blonde”

“The Terrible Catastrophe”

“The Dying Chinaman”

“The Crag in the Dolomites”

The Big Four by Agatha Christie, read by John Rubinstein

FRAGMENTS: A Thrilling Christian Epic Fantasy Adventure
THE SEEKERS SERIES BOOK ONE
Written by J.A. Webb
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Skyboat Media

It is the year 2158, and Hegemony has fallen.

But the Order, the one-world religion, remains … securely ensconced as the unseen power behind all human government.

Should any desire for truth be rekindled in the hearts of men, the Order stands ready to stamp it out …

Father Curtis, priest of the Order of the Eternal, seeks solace in his secluded parish, sheltered from the oppressive regime.

But then, unjustly branded a heretic, he must flee for his life—all while confronting the stark realization the world he once trusted is a labyrinth of deception, orchestrated by the Order’s tyrannical forces, and that his understanding of the world is built upon a foundation of lies.

Now, his fate and the fate of humanity hang in the balance as he and his former parishioners battle to find the truth about themselves, the Order, and Creation … in a world where seeking truth is a capital offense.

Fragments by J.A. Webb, read by Stefan Rudnicki

FORGIVE US, with AT THE HEART OF WAR: DANAUS & JAYDEN
BIRTH OF THE FAE VOL. 1 BOOK 6 & TALES FROM THE VEIL #2
Written by Danielle M. Orsino
Read by Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki, with Nan McNamara
Published by Skyboat Media

Forgive Us (Birth of the Fae, Vol. 1 Book Six)

A prophecy destined to unite the Fae could divide them forever …

One child holds the key to the survival of the Fae and humanity. But with King Jarvok a shadow of his former self, Asa has chosen to disobey him and disguise herself as a member of the Court of Light to find answers.

Together, she, Indiga, Dora, and the Familiars undertake a perilous mission to rescue the Little One who can lead them to the prophecy child. Yet, even if they save him, they still have many powerful enemies who will do anything to prevent the prophecy child from being found and fulfilling their destiny.

Orion, the Head of the Hathor guards, and the bishops are all determined to demonstrate their allegiance to the new queen, leaving Asa doubting her ability to survive the dangerous machinations of the Court of Light.

For the small group of Fae, who are fast running out of time and allies, it seems that all hope is lost. But if they are brave enough to have faith in one another in the face of death and new beginnings, they might have the power to alter the course of history …

At the Heart of War: Danaus & Jayden (Tales from the Veil #2)

War took her life. But the strength of her words has the power to defy death …

General Jayden, a courageous Earthborn Fae, made the ultimate sacrifice at the Battle of Drystan. Ever since, Danaus has been left to silently grieve the unimaginable loss of the woman she loved.

While the former Virtue Angel and leader of the Viceroy Faction no longer feels any joy in the world, she is determined to stay strong to uphold her political seat in the Court of Light.

But when Jayden’s wartime letters to Danaus are unveiled in a ceremony to honor her sacrifice, Danaus is forced to face her inner demons and the true depths of her loss.

Reliving Jayden’s last months through her letters, Danaus learns of Jayden’s growing obsession with her mission and the painful circumstances leading to her death.

But there is one final letter Danaus is yet to have the courage to open. And if she does, it could shatter the foundations of her world forever …

Forgive Us & At The Heart of War by Danielle M. Orsino, read by Stefan Rudnicki

VIENNA ON FIRE: A WWII Story of Survival
Written by Don Gabor
Read by Gabrielle de Cuir
Published by Skyboat Media

Can Greta Kolbe escape Nazi Vienna and reach America before her past and the Gestapo catch up to her?

In the heart of darkening Europe, amidst the looming war, Vienna on Fire by Don Gabor tells the riveting story of Greta Kolbe, an eighteen-year-old Jewish woman whose life was upended when German troops annexed Austria in 1938. Her peaceful existence is replaced by a nightmare of terror as she, along with Vienna’s Jewish community, faces an ordeal of intimidation. Greta’s journey of resilience begins as she flees Nazi Vienna to escape arrest for her resistance activities, embarking on a dangerous trek to the Netherlands, with a spiteful ex-suitor and the Gestapo closely trailing her.

Demonstrating awe-inspiring bravery, Greta smuggles diamonds for the German resistance, eludes Hermann Göring’s advances, and survives numerous perils, including a harrowing ambush at the German-Dutch border. Her race against time crescendos to a nail-biting climax on the gangplank of a ship bound for New York City, where she must evade her pursuers one last time.

Authored by Don Gabor, known for How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends, this novel is a poignant tribute to the courage against tyranny, based on his mother’s real-life experiences and those who opposed the Third Reich. Vienna on Fire is not merely a narrative but an affirmation of the human spirit, inviting listeners to witness Greta’s grit, ingenuity, and her relentless pursuit of freedom during Europe’s most forbidding time.

Uncover the courage that defies darkness—secure your copy of Vienna on Fire now and be inspired by this remarkable story of persistence and survival.

Vienna On Fire by Don Gabor, read by Gabrielle De Cuir

ANTIQUES SLAY BELLES (Trash n' Treasures Mystery, 18)
Written by Barbara Allan
Read by Gabrielle de Cuir
Published by Skyboat Media

Former sheriff, talented thespian and delightfully eccentric true-crime author Vivian Borne hunts down a Christmas killer in the new Trash ‘n’ Treasures cozy mystery—“one of the funniest cozy series going” (Ellery Queen Magazine)

It’s five days before Christmas, and Vivian Borne—septuagenarian antiques dealer, true-crime writer, and enthusiastic amateur sleuth—and her long-suffering daughter Brandy are preparing a presentation of holiday antiques at the local country club’s annual Christmas luncheon.

Distracted by their secret Santa gifts, the ladies of the club, to Vivian’s dismay, are not giving her and her antique sleigh bells the attention they deserve. But when Norma Crumley, socialite and world-class gossip, falls face first into her plum pudding, it seems Santa has also delivered the sleuthing mother and daughter a present: a cracker of a case!

Christmas in small-town Serenity is (usually) a magical time. Can Vivian and Brandy—not forgetting Shih Tzu sidekick Sushi—make a killing from their holiday antiques, catch a devious murderer, and wrap up the case in time to eat their festive microwave turkey dinners?

This light-hearted, laugh-out-loud cozy mystery also features mother-daughter sleuths Brandy and Vivian’s witty tips for buying and selling antiques, along with a selection of tasty recipes. Perfect for getting you into the holiday spirit—whatever the time of year!

Antiques Slay Belles by Barbara Allan, read by Gabrielle de Cuir

SHIELD THE JOYOUS
Written and read by Chad Holley
Published by Skyboat Media

Michael Haley, a whip-smart seventh-grader growing up in rural Mississippi in the early 1980s, has a precociously metaphysical turn of mind, a brand-new girlfriend who won’t come out of her bedroom, and plenty of neighborhood pals to distract him from both. But as he passes the long afternoon of this story roaming their streets, yards, and woods with the likes of Zeke Barry (his girlfriend’s brother and a born skeptic) and John Dixon Montgomery (a diminutive fishing genius plagued by assorted maladies), unsettling questions won’t leave Michael alone—like whether God will accept his gift of a dug-up, three-days-dead possum, whether he and his friends are in fact real, and why Ol’ Cletus, a mysterious, middle-aged recluse, appears to be stalking him. This last question, above all, will test Michael’s courage to seek answers.

With a voice all his own, swinging from sassy to lyrical in its candor, wonder, and spiritual yearning, Michael Haley stands squarely in the tradition of beloved young American narrators that stretches from Huck Finn through Holden Caulfield to Scout Finch. Imagine a cheeky blend of Charles Portis and Stranger Things filtered through St. Augustine and Zhuangzi, and you have some idea of this brilliant debut novel by Chad Holley. Shield the Joyous manages to be both deeply funny and moving in a way that is singularly authentic.

Shield The Joyous written and read by Chad Holley

THE BORDER LEGION
Written by Zane Grey
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Blackstone Publishing

“Fatal and terrible forever to Joan would be the significance of gold. Did any woman in the world or any man know the meaning of gold as well as she knew it?”

Joan Randall, whip-smart and spirited, has taken off into the vast wilderness after her would-be fiancé, Jim Cleve. The well-off young woman must brave the harsh landscape to find him, but Jim is not the only man out there in the open country: Jack Kells and his fearsome band of outlaws known as the Border Legion roam the land causing trouble. When Joan and Jack meet, the dangerous man is instantly taken with her and offers her protection. Now, as a captive and almost-member of this crew, Joan must navigate the unforgiving terrain and the uncertain politics of this gang of criminals … and her own increasingly complicated feelings.

In this tale of redemption, adventure, and love, master of the Western, Zane Grey, explores both the natural beauty of the American frontier and the complex psychology of Joan, Jack, and the other minds living and fighting for survival—and gold—in the Southwestern desert.

The Border Legion by Zane Grey, read by Stefan Rudnicki

WEIRD SCENES INSIDE THE GOLD MINE (The Oneironauts, Book 1)
Written by Jonathan Bartholomew
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Stefan Rudnicki

Jason Palmer is broke, tired, desperate. When an old friend recommends him for a paid sleep study, he makes a choice that could change everything about his life. Soon, he has a paycheck, and a head full of questions.

Why would a laboratory be operating out of an unmarked building in the middle of a small Kansas town?

How do they already know so much about his life?

What is The Gold Mine?

Destiny Reed has worked for The Gold Mine all their adult life. A second-generation agent for the multi-national corporation, Destiny handles missions too dangerous and esoteric for anyone with less experience. On the horizon lurks a mission with the potential to change reality.

Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine by Jonathan Bartholomew, read by Stefan Rudnicki

INHERITANCE (Seekers Series, Book 2)
Written by J.A. Webb
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Skyboat Media

It is the year 2158, and Hegemony has fallen.

But the Order, the one-world religion, remains … securely ensconced as the unseen power behind all human government.

Should any desire for truth be rekindled in the hearts of men, the Order stands ready to stamp it out …

The Seekers have spent generations in their secret quest for truth, keeping alive the knowledge— that once there had been a True Light, now lost to this darkly oppressive world.

Now, from the other side of the globe, word comes—there is a surviving copy of the True Text! Professor Reuel, Father Curtis, and Philip mobilize to save this precious relic, and the team of Keepers who have guarded it.

But the Order is intent on getting there first. And they have a head start.

What can a lone group of hunted revolutionaries do in the face of a massive global power like the Order? How can they prevail against such an indomitable foe?

And if they fail, how will humanity ever learn the truth about themselves, the Order, Creation, and Eternity … ? 

Inheritance by J.A. Webb, read by Stefan Rudnicki

JOAN OF DOMRÉMY
Written by Kenneth Maitland
Read by Gabrielle de Cuir

In this darkly comic parable of sin and sainthood, a fifteenth-century peasant girl, Joan of Domrémy, must secure an audience with the derelict Dauphin of France, that he might unite his armies under her leadership against ongoing English invasion.

But with her angelically inspired project seeming doomed to failure and ridicule, and with no royal meeting in sight, the girl strikes a dangerous bargain with an old acquaintance—a spirit of uncertain motives—leading to an existential showdown between piety and personal pride which may cost Joan not only her soul but the future of her nation.

Joan of Domrémy has been called “a storybook for grownups,” a teasing metaphysical page-turner in the tradition of Isak Dinesen and Flannery O’Connor, telling us the story of St. Joan of Arc as we’ve never heard it before.

Joan of Domrémy by Kenneth Maitland, read by Gabrielle de Cuir

THE FORK IN THE ROAD
Written by Eric J. Drysdale
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Skyboat Media

We all come to the fork in the road many times every day, every week. What was your last fork and where did the road lead? Choice, Chance, and Repercussion face each of us when we decide to go left or right. Reflecting later was it a good or poor choice? Did it yield wealth or disaster? Should we have taken greater care? 

These 25 stories examine those possibilities in various genres: general, romance, adventure, mystery, crime, fable, and fantasy—whatever your leaning you will find something to your taste here. Many of the stories follow the characters down the second fork and in some cases, even a third one.

The author hopes you enjoy the stories and are well satisfied with the journeys taken.

The Fork In The Road by Eric J. Drysdale, read by Stefan Rudnicki

Goon Squad Vol. 1 Special Talents
Written by Jonathan L. Howard
Read by Gabrielle de Cuir
Published by Skyboat Media

An ongoing, episodic “prose comic” from which the pictures are summoned by the magic of words, Goon Squad is set in a version of modern-day Manchester. Its biggest divergence from the real city is that it—along with most other large urban centers—has a team of superheroes to protect it against unusual threats with which the conventional forces of law and order would have problems.

Goon Squad, Volume 1: Special Talents is composed of six tales: “The New Girl,” “Nightclubbing,” “By the Water, by the Grave,” “Changes,” “No-No Dojo,” and “Exterminating Angel,” as well as an introduction read by the author.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link: https://www.downpour.com/goon-squad-vol-1?sp=120743

Goon Squad Vol. 1 by Jonathan L. Howard, read by Gabrielle de Cuir

Audio preview of VOLUME TWO of the Jonathan L. Howard series on Audio. Published and produced by www.skyboatmedia.com. Narrated by Gabrielle de Cuir with Nicholas Guy Smith as Ian Mears The Revenant.

Preview: GOON SQUAD VOLUME 2 Nicholas Guy Smith as Ian Mears

JUSTICE GIRL By Julian David Stone Narrated By Stefan Rudnicki

Heartborn (The Shattered Skies Series, Book 1)
Written by Terry Maggert
Read by Gabrielle de Cuir
Published by Skyboat Media

Her guardian angel was pushed.

Keiron was made to be a hero. Born high above in a place of war and deception, he is Heartborn, a being of purity and goodness in a world where violence and deceit are just around every corner. His disappearance will spark a war he cannot see, for Keiron has bent time to save a girl he has never met.

Livvy Foster is seventeen, brave, and broken. With half a heart, she bears the scars of a lifetime of pain and little hope of survival ... until Keiron arrives.

In the middle of a brewing war and Livvy’s failing heart, Keiron will risk everything for Livvy, because a Heartborn’s life can only end in one way: sacrifice.

Fall with Livvy and Keiron as they seek the truth about her heart, and his power, and what it means to love someone who will give their very life to save you.

For more information, and to buy your own copy please click the following link:
www.downpour.com/heartborn?sp=224915

Heartborn (Shattered Skies, Book 1) by Terry Maggert, read by Gabrielle de Cuir

Moonborn (The Shattered Skies Series, Book 2)
Written by Terry Maggert
Read by Gabrielle de Cuir
Published by Skyboat Media

Livvy Foster has a new heart, home, and a place in the powerful halls of House Windhook. The fall of Sliver was only the beginning of a civil war that sees angels from across the sky challenge each other to lead a world in which the past and the future are connected by a storm crafted from time, ambition, and power.

When House Selinus attempts to bend the light of days in order to become the supreme power in an apocalyptic future, they confront a goddess who is older than time itself—and she’ll stop at nothing to get the one soul who escaped her deadly grasp: Livvy.

With deceit, war, and love swirling in the clouds above the shattered world that was once Livvy’s home, she’ll be asked to do something a girl with a broken heart never thought possible.
Fight for Windhook. Fight for her world.

Take wing with Livvy, one heartbeat at a time.

For more information, and to buy your own copy please click the following link:
www.downpour.com/moonborn?sp=224911

Moonborn (Shattered Skies, Book 2) by Terry Maggert, read by Gabrielle de Cuir

Audiobook Excerpt. Chapter One. The King in Yellow. Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki of Skyboat Media Audiobooks.

00_The King in Yellow

The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany
Foreword written and read by Neil Gaiman
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Directed by Gabrielle de Cuir
Published by Blackstone Publishing & Skyboat Media

Winner of the 1967 Nebula Award for Best Novel

The Einstein Intersection won the Nebula Award for best science fiction novel of 1967. The surface story tells of the problems a member of an alien race, Lo Lobey, has assimilating the mythology of Earth, where his kind have settled among the leftover artifacts of humanity. The deeper tale concerns, however, the way those who are “different” must deal with the dominant cultural ideology. The tale follows Lobey’s mythic quest for his lost love, Friza. In luminous and hallucinated language, it explores what new myths might emerge from the detritus of the human world as those who are “different” try to seize history and the day.

For more information, and to buy your own copy please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/the-einstein-intersection?sp=232165

The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany, read by Stefan Rudnicki

Walkaway 
Written by Cory Doctrow
Read by: Amber Benson, Gabrielle de Cuir, Justine Eyre, Amanda Palmer, Lisa Renee Pitts, and Mirron Willis
Published by Skyboat Media

Finalist for the Locus Award
An NPR Best Book of 2017
One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2017

Cory Doctorow’s first adult novel in eight years is an epic tale of revolution, love, post-scarcity, and the end of death.

Hubert Vernon Rudolph Clayton Irving Wilson Alva Anton Jeff Harley Timothy Curtis Cleveland Cecil Ollie Edmund Eli Wiley Marvin Ellis Espinoza―known to his friends as Hubert, Etc―was too old to be at that Communist party.

But after watching the breakdown of modern society, he really has nowhere left to be―except among the dregs of disaffected youth who party all night and heap scorn on the sheep they see on the morning commute. Falling in with Natalie, an ultrarich heiress trying to escape the clutches of her repressive father, the two decide to give up fully on formal society―and walk away.

After all, now that anyone can design and print the basic necessities of life―food, clothing, shelter―from a computer, there seems to be little reason to toil within the system.

It’s still a dangerous world out there, the empty lands wrecked by climate change, dead cities hollowed out by industrial flight, shadows hiding predators, animal and human alike. Still, when the initial pioneer walkaways flourish, more people join them. Then the walkaways discover the one thing the ultrarich have never been able to buy: how to beat death. Now it’s war, a war that will turn the world upside down.

Fascinating, moving, and darkly humorous, Walkaway is a multigenerational SF thriller about the wrenching changes of the next hundred years—and the very human people who will live their consequences.

For more information and to buy your own copy please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/walkaway?sp=172102

Walkaway by Cory Doctrow, read by Amber Benson

Babel-17
Written by Samuel R. Delany
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Blackstone Publishing & Skyboat Media

Winner of the 1966 Nebula Award for Best Novel
Finalist for the 1967 Hugo Award for Best Novel

Babel-17, winner of the Nebula Award for best novel of the year, is a fascinating tale of a famous poet bent on deciphering a secret language that is the key to the enemy’s deadly force, a task that requires she travel with a splendidly improbable crew to the site of the next attack.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/babel-17?sp=129967

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany, read by Stefan Rudnicki

Dhalgren
Written by Samuel R. Delany
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Blackstone Publishing & Skyboat Media

Nominated for the 1975 Nebula Award

In Dhalgren, perhaps one of the most profound and bestselling science fiction novels of all time, Samuel R. Delany has produced a novel that rivals the best American fiction of the 1970s.

Bellona is a city at the dead center of the United States. Something has happened there … the population has fled. Madmen and criminals wander the streets. Strange portents appear in the cloud-covered sky. And into this disaster zone comes a young man—a poet, lover, and adventurer—known only as the Kid.

Tackling questions of race, gender, and sexuality, Dhalgren is a literary marvel and a groundbreaking work of American magical realism.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/dhalgren?sp=129972

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany, read by Stefan Rudnicki

Nova
Written by Samuel R. Delany
Read by Stefan Rudnicki

Finalist for the 1969 Hugo Award for Best Novel

Given that the suns of Draco stretch almost sixteen light years from end to end, it stands to reason that the cost of transportation is the most important factor driving the thirty-second century. And since Illyrion is the element most needed for space travel, Lorq von Ray is plenty willing to fly through the core of a recently imploded sun in order to obtain seven tons of it. The potential for profit is so great that Lorq has little difficulty cobbling together an alluring crew, including a gypsy musician and a moon-obsessed scholar interested in the ancient art of writing a novel. What the crew doesn’t know is that Lorq’s quest is actually fueled by a private revenge so consuming that he’ll stop at nothing to achieve it.

In the grandest manner of speculative fiction, Nova is a wise and witty classic that casts a fascinating new light on some of humanity’s oldest truths and enduring myths.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/nova-129975?sp=129977

Nova by Samuel R. Delany, read by Stefan Rudnicki

Planet Pirate Series, Book One.

Old enough to be used
Young enough to be broken

Sassinak was 12 when the raiders came. That made her just the right age: old enough to be used, young enough to be broken. Or so the slavers thought. But Sassy turned out to be a little different from your typical slave girl. Maybe it was her unusual physical strength. 

Maybe it was her friendship with the captured Fleet crewman. Maybe it was her spirit. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t let her resign herself to the life of a slave. She bided her time, watched for her moment. Finally it came, and she escaped.

But that was only the beginning for Sassinak. Now she’s a Fleet Captain with a pirate-chasing ship of her own, and only one regret in her life: not enough pirates.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/sassinak?sp=375853

Sassinak (Planet Pirates, Book 1) by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon, read by Gabrielle de Cuir

Take a seat in the court of ancient Athens as Socrates goeson trial for his life. Hear the philosopher face his accusers with histrademark wit, his cutting logic, and the courage of his ideals. Consider hisarguments on virtue, justice, politics, civic duty, love of life, and hope indeath, and make your own judgment.

Think. Question. Change.

Translated and directed by Yannis Simonides and Loukas Skipitaris.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/socrates-now?sp=94472

Socrates Now by Plato, read by Yannis Simonides

The first installment in the legendary Matt Helm thrillers.

Matt Helm, one-time special agent for the American government during the Second World War, has left behind his violent past to raise a family in Santa Fe, New Mexico. When a former colleague turns rogue and kidnaps his daughter, Helm is forced to return to his former life as a deadly and relentless assassin. 

Originally released in the era of the James Bond novels, the Matt Helm novels were considered grittier and more realistic than Bond, garnering them critical praise and an ardent audience.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/death-of-a-citizen?sp=98768

Death of a Citizen (Matt Helm®, Book 1) by Donald Hamilton, read by Stefan Rudnicki

The Sorrows of Satan: Or, the Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire
Written by Marie Corelli
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Published by Blackstone Publishing. Produced by Skyboat Media

The Devil arrives in fin de siècle London.

The setting is London, 1895, and the Devil is on the loose, in the guise of the handsome and charming Prince Lucio Rimânez. He is searching for someone morally strong enough to resist temptation, but there seems little chance he will succeed. Britain is all but totally corrupt. The aristocracy is financially and spiritually bankrupt, church leaders no longer believe in God, Victorian idealism has been banished from literature and life, and sexual morality is being undermined by the pernicious doctrines of the “New Woman”.

Lucio sets his sights on Geoffrey Tempest, a starving novelist who has just inherited a fortune, and promises to show Geoffrey how best to invest his newfound wealth. As the tragic story of Geoffrey’s meteoric rise and fall unfolds, Marie Corelli exposes the hypocrisy and immorality of modern life in this Faustian novel and best seller of its time.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/the-sorrows-of-satan?sp=410981

The Sorrows of Satan by Marie Corelli, read by Stefan Rudnicki

In this original compilation from Skyboat Media and Blackstone Publishing, Nikolai Gogol’s stories range from the whimsical and bizarre to the incisive and satiric, from the horrific and terrifying to the nonsensical and hilarious.

A lowly government clerk, Akay Akakiyevich, must scrimp and save to purchase a new coat for the cold Russian winter in “The Overcoat”. But after one night of basking in the warmth of his new coat and the respect of his colleagues, Akaky’s one-of-a-kind overcoat is stolen from him. In his pursuit of justice, Akaky receives no help and is consumed by the loss of his prized possession.

In “The Viy”, Gogol recounts a popular folk story in which a monstrous creature, known by the population of Little Russia as the king of gnomes, helps a witch get revenge on a young student who escaped from her trap years before.

“How the Two Ivans Quarrelled” begins as a merry farce, telling the story of the friendship-ending fight between Ivan Ivanovitch and Ivan Nikiforovitch. The two Ivans have been neighbors and best friends for years despite their numerous differences, but this fight infiltrates every facet of their lives, until they cannot stand the sight of one another.

Then finally in “The Nose”, we see the peak of Gogol’s humor and absurdity when a government official wakes to find his nose has disappeared. 

The Russian critic D.S. Mirsky (1890-1939) described the story as “a piece of sheer play, almost sheer nonsense. In it more than anywhere else Gogol displays his extraordinary magic power of making great comic art out of nothing.” This extraordinary power is woven throughout all the stories in this compilation, and it firmly establishes Gogol as a master of the peculiar and the surreal.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Overcoat-and-Other-Russian-Tales-Audiobook/179992775X?qid=1606767643&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=N587QEMQBDCGX2NXB0DS

The Overcoat and Other Russian Tales by Nikolai Gogol, read by Stefan Rudnicki

The King of Elfland's Daughter
Written by Lord Dunsany
Read by Stefan Rudnicki

A masterpiece of fantasy literature that shaped the high fantasy genre and influenced such authors as J. R. R. Tolkien and H. P. Lovecraft

After 700 years of being ruled by man, the Parliament of Erl is ready to be ruled by a magical lord. Obeying the immemorial custom, the lord of Erl sends his son Alveric to fetch the King of Elfland’s daughter, Lirazel, to be his bride. Alveric makes his way to Elfland, where time passes at a rate far slower than the real world, wins her hand, and they return to Erl together. 

Alveric and Lirazel marry and have a son, but marriage between a mortal and a fairy princess is never simple. Lirazel struggles to adapt to the customs of humans. Torn between two worlds, Lirazel must decide whether to return to her home and live forever, or remain in Erl with her husband and son, doomed to die a mortal death. Meanwhile, the King of Elfland, missing his daughter greatly and fearing her demise, must utilize his limited sources of magic in order to get her back.

The King of Elfland’s Daughter is a love story for the ages and a fairy tale in the truest sense of the word. First published in 1924, it remains one of the most beloved novels of the genre.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link:
https://www.downpour.com/the-king-of-elfland-s-daughter-410938?sp=410977

The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany, read by Stefan Rudnicki

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (The Hercule Poirot Mysteries, Book 1)
Written by Agatha Christie
Read by John Rubinstein. Directed by Gabrielle de Cuir
Published by Blackstone Publishing. Produced by Skyboat Media

Agatha Christie’s debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, features the first appearance of the eccentric Belgian Detective Hercule Poirot. Poirot must use his unusual methods and his singular charm to solve the murder of the rich, elderly Emily Inglethorpe. Fortunately, Poirot’s old friend Arthur Hastings happens to be staying at Styles Court, an Essex country manor, at the time of the murder, and he is a ready right-hand man during Poirot’s investigation.

With suspects abound, Poirot employs all his wits to determine who did the deed. Could it have been Mrs. Inglethorpe’s much younger husband? Or perhaps her resentful stepsons? The family friend working as her nurse is not free of suspicion, nor is her maid of many years. It may even have been the poisons specialist who just so happens to be staying in a nearby village.

Everyone staying at Styles has secrets they are trying to keep, but Poirot cuts through these deceptions with the resourcefulness, exactitude, and attention to detail that has made him one of the most intriguing figures in literary history.

For more information and to buy your own copy, please click the following link: 
https://www.downpour.com/the-mysterious-affair-at-styles-410937?sp=410973

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, 1) by Agatha Christie, read by John Rubinstein

Grammy, Hugo and Audie winning audiobook publishers and production company since the turn of this century. Company owned by Stefan Rudnicki and Gabrielle de Cuir.

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