
Bearing Gifts
The Stardock Trilogy, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Michael Karl Orenstein
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By:
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Sean Fenian
About this listen
When the over-driven hyperdrive on their mobile shipyard burned out, the Chhrt'ktk't abandoned it in an inhabited system along their path, hoping it would work as a decoy to buy them more time to escape the Khreetan fleet pursuing them.
They didn't anticipate how far the pre-spacefaring species they turned over their broken-down maintenance facility to would subvert their plan.
Alex Holder, a retired engineer, just happened to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right mindset, to find himself chosen by the Chhrt'ktk't to hand over control of their shipyard to, simply because he was the first person they found able to interface with it. The Chhrt'ktk't could not possibly anticipate what he would do with it. And neither would anyone else.
©2024 Sean Fenian and Fenian House Publishing (P)2024 Podium AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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A Learning Experience, Book 1
- By: Christopher G. Nuttall
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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When a bunch of interstellar scavengers approach Earth intending to abduct a few dozen humans and sell them into slavery in the darkest, they make the mistake of picking on Steve Stuart and his friends, ex-military veterans all. Unprepared for humans who can actually fight, unaware of the true capabilities of their stolen starships, the scavengers rapidly lose control of the ship - and their lives.
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Great concept / Hated the prosletyzing
- By Alton J Henley on 08-12-16
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Sunken Spaceship
- Sunken Spaceship, Book 1
- By: Anthony J. Melchiorri
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Ex-Army paratrooper Griffin “Fin” Brooks thought he left danger behind when his battlefield injuries forced him to pursue a new career in marine biology. But one fateful night off the coast of South Africa, a ship nearly crashes into him and his loyal golden retriever, Jacques. Not just any ship. A starship. Though its alien pilot is dead, the rare extraterrestrial animal inside is not. Fin learns the creature is being smuggled across the galaxy when a pair of interstellar visitors respond to the crash. But those same investigators accuse Fin and his dog of crimes he didn’t even know existed.
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Fun “sci-fi lite”.
- By Katherine on 05-03-24
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Hero's Legacy
- Heroes of Britannia, Book 1
- By: Fred Hughes
- Narrated by: Michael Joss
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Emperor Hazard is Dead! When the Teddy Bears ambush the ship carrying Emperor Hazard to a peace conference in the Zenkarr system, Britannia once again finds itself at war. The Teddy Bears have a plan, but Gathii Kong, now in command of the Imperial Force, doesn’t take the bait. He follows Hazard’s last order to fight smart and foils the Zenkarr Intelligence Minister’s plan to destroy Britannia’s fleet by not charging deeper into the system. But now Kong has the lion by the tail—he can’t follow the enemy fleet into the gravity well, nor can he let them out to terrorize the nearby systems.
By: Fred Hughes
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Ship Wrecked
- Stranded on an Alien World
- By: Mark Wayne McGinnis
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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A wicked snowstorm had blown in from the north and the roads were a mess. Recently split from his one-time girlfriend, there was now nothing holding Cameron Decker here in the little backwater mountain town of Larksburg Stand. Time to get back to college, back to Stanford. Seeing a guy knee-deep in slush at the side of the road, he pulled to the curb and waved him over. The guy smacked his head getting in—knocked his watch cap askew. Only then did Cameron notice—noticed that the individual couldn’t possibly be human.
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Starship Lost: Books 1-6
- By: Craig Martelle
- Narrated by: Ryan Kennard Burke
- Length: 48 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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The ship survived, but over time the original crew died out. Their children were left to continue the fight for their home against their sworn enemy, the vicious alien Malibor. They’ve lived their whole lives in space. Their idea of heaven is open air, blue skies, and the quiet of peace. But they'll never have that if they don't take it by force.
By: Craig Martelle
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My Buddy Gave Me a Starship
- My Buddy's Starship, Book 1
- By: Myles Christensen
- Narrated by: J.S. Arquin
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Mitch's mediocre life has just taken a turn for the worse, so his buddy tries to cheer him up by showing him a secret starship. Unfortunately, everything goes south when hostile aliens arrive. In an effort to save his buddy and the starship from the aliens, Mitch does the obvious thing: he accidentally warps hundreds of light-years away. Marooned in a distant star cluster, Mitch is forced to deal with a snarky teenage AI, a rogue auto-pilot, and a beautiful alien soldier who's ready to steal his ship at any moment—so she can fight an oppressive military faction, of course.
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Starts off great...
- By banebadboo on 02-05-25
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The Oldest Starfighter
- By: Jamie McFarlane
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In this gripping new military science fiction novel, the universe teeters on the brink of invasion, and the Obsidian Union scrambles to assemble a formidable force of combat pilots. Enter Gordy Harmen, once a legendary Air Force pilot whose illustrious career came to an end due to physical limitations. Desperate and with nothing to lose, Gordy is approached with a tantalizing proposition.
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bad writing
- By Joe on 06-23-24
By: Jamie McFarlane
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Accidental Conscript
- Accidental Conscript, Book 1
- By: John Walker
- Narrated by: John Pirhalla
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Sam Levine knows what it means to struggle. After several missed opportunities, he's been forced to turn his talents to freelance work, picking up whatever dirty job he can find only to make ends meet. But there's an end in sight. An opportunity to change everything. And when a dangerous, high-profile job comes his way, he sees light at the end of the tunnel. Hope has been in rare supply, but even with the dangers inherent in his decision, he puts his life on the line for a chance to elevate his situation.
By: John Walker
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The Forever Ship
- Starship Omega, Book 1
- By: Scott Bartlett, Joshua James
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Ornu came, they took Earth in a single night. Humanity never stood a chance. Now, they force us to crew their ships and fight their wars for them. They hold Earth hostage, and if we refuse to do their bidding, they’ll lay waste to our precious blue marble. Slaughtering the billions who live there. But when Captain Bill Henderson is sent to claim a small moon for his masters, he finds something they never accounted for. An ancient warship – a behemoth abandoned for millennia by a species that reached its peak at the dawn of the universe.
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Another home run!
- By David Perry on 05-26-24
By: Scott Bartlett, and others
What listeners say about Bearing Gifts
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Austin E
- 09-11-24
I Want to Like It, But...
Bootstrapping stories are fun. HFY is fun. Military Scifi is fun. Based on the description, I was really hoping to get some of that here.
Instead, there's the same conversation ten times. Sometimes with the exact same phrases. Rarely with anything new, or much in the way of characterization.
Technical specifications get thrown around to make Alex Holder - the main character - look smart. Only the inconsequential details just serve to slow things down. I appreciated one where it got into the guts of a computer testing problem, but it felt simultaneously superficial to me as a technical person while it would go over the head of anyone without experience in the field.
Then there was a point where Alex offers a solution to a major contemporary political issue that boils down to "Why doesn't everyone just share?" and it's treated as a revelation that no one ever thought of before. Honestly, it would be great characterization if the story was trying to portray him as an ivory tower intellectual, but it isn't so it just comes across as a Marty Stu moment.
There are positive moments, which is part of why I really want to like this book. Not to get into any spoilers, but here and there are glimpses of what the story might have been if it weren't for problems with pacing, repetition, and character design.
And to set the record straight, I don't think that Alex is pushing a particularly "Woke" agenda, regardless of what other reviews say. He's definitely liberal. It definitely is a character trait that drives him. There's probably some of the author showing through there. But people need to stop accusing stories of being woke at the first sign of an opinion they disagree with.
Long story short, I like the premise, there's some high points, but the execution wasn't quite there.
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1 person found this helpful
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- BritMick
- 11-26-24
interesting start
This was a interesting start to a series of books which I am sure many people will enjoy. I totally agree with the authors view on the UN. looking forward to book 2.
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- Tm
- 01-21-25
Nothing actually happened
The first couple of chapters were ok. Then……nothing….. absolutely nothing happened. I will not be continuing the series
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- Shaun M McLaren
- 03-21-25
Great story but gets a bit overtly technical
I really enjoyed the story and look forward to the next two. That being said, the story does get bogged down sometimes with technical descriptions.
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- Christopher Adamczyk
- 09-08-24
repetitive and gets lost in the details
the story is compelling; however, it gets bogged down by repetive plot points told over and over again to each new character.
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2 people found this helpful
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- anthony hall
- 02-15-25
it's a very WOKE Troy Rising!
the story idea is good. the implementation, though a little to slice of life at times, is ok. The author has done a lot of research, At times the story seems to just ramble on. the characters seem a little flat and very pie in the sky. I listen to a lot of books and Sci-fi is one of my favorite categories. whereas I would rank David Weber and John Ringo as "A" authors and Jack Campbell as a "B" author; I would firmly place this author in the "C" column. Again very good story idea, and great research on the hard science. the story needs a lot of smoothing out, but is worth a credit if you are still waiting on Ringo to actually finish a series....
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- Alex Stettler
- 11-23-24
Good plot idea, not well executed
Listening to this book it seems that all the worlds problems can be solved if everyone just decides to forgive eachother and get along. also while listening I found it easy to forget if this was a book on a space war or if it was a book on how western civilization is oppressive and needs to redidicate itself to pushing equality and equity amongst the entire world
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- Travis Edmundson
- 02-11-25
first couple of chapters were slow but really good overall
this was well executed plot and performance of this book. I would highly recommend adding to your collection
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- NOEL
- 02-11-25
Sort of drags along
I realize this is a start of a trilogy but it felt like there was a lot of redundancy in the story telling that made it drag on.
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- Gomer
- 12-09-24
To unreal even for SciFi
The US and other World Leaders all agreeing and working together. Everyone does the right thing. Good story made me laugh.
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