Showing results by narrator "Simon Vance" in All Categories

Two-time Aurora Award-winning author Guy Gavriel Kay has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award three times. In the first book of his Fionavar Tapestry series, five college students meet a wizard who takes them to the heart of the first of all worlds - a place called Fionavar. The students soon discover that they have been pre-ordained as part of the pattern called the Fionavar Tapestry - and if they don't fulfill their destinies, the world will suffer devastating consequences.

The mole has been purged from the Circus, and George Smiley, newly made chief of the agency, has both rebuilding and revenge in his sights. To fully eradicate the threat, Smiley must trace back the treachery to its very roots. When his investigation leads him to Hong Kong—and what appears to be a dead end—Smiley enlists Jerry Westerby, an international sports journalist and “occasional” Circus asset. In the Far East, Westerby will have to untangle a web of corruption spread across a region with a reputation for testing loyalties and allegiances.

A memoir on mortality as only Julian Barnes can write it, one that touches on faith and science and family as well as a rich array of exemplary figures who over the centuries have confronted the same questions he now poses about the most basic fact of life: its inevitable extinction.

The hit BBC series Sherlock has introduced a whole new generation of fans to Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective. In this unique collection, Sherlock co-creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have selected their all-time favorite Sherlock Holmes adventures, providing listeners a curated masterclass in crime fiction. Each of these 19 tales, from Sherlock's first appearance in A Study in Scarlet to the late classic The Dying Detective, is a potent mix of murder, suspense, cryptic clues, red herrings, and revenge.

Ringil, the hero of the bloody slaughter at Gallows Gap, is a legend to all who don't know him and a twisted degenerate to those that do. A veteren of the wars against the lizards, he makes a living from telling credulous travellers of his exploits. Until one day he is pulled away from his life and into the depths of the Empire's slave trade. There, he will discover a secret infinitely more frightening than the trade in lives.

A local woman is killed in a tragic car crash, but while the victim’s blood contains high alcohol levels, she rarely drank a drop. Meanwhile, a reality TV show begins shooting in Fjällbacka, and as cameras shadow the stars’ every move, tempers flare. When a drunken party ends with an unpopular contestant’s murder, all eyes turn to the cast and crew. Could there be a murderer among them? The ratings spike as the country tunes in to a real life murder mystery.

The window between two equally stifling autocracies - the imperial family and the communists - was open only briefly, in the last couple of years of the 19th century until the end of WWI, by which time the revolution was in full fury. From the last years of Tolstoy until the death of the Tsar and his family, however, Russia experimented with liberalism and cultural openness. Novelists and playwrights blossomed and political ideas were swapped in coffee houses.

An extraordinary mythology has grown up around the Third Reich that hovers over political and moral debate even today. Adam Tooze's controversial book challenges the conventional economic interpretations of that period.

The Mercenary Code has been broken, and a new Protectorate Empire has arisen. In league with renegade mages known as the Fallen, the Protectorate will stop at nothing to expand its reach and unify the factions of Old Caledun by any means necessary. The few who escaped the coup are now in a tenuous struggle against the growing influence of this corrupt new Order.

Christians tend to polarize. Some have an intellectual faith, while others are more emotional. Some focus on structure while others focus on freedom. And some champion evangelism while others advocate for social action. John Stott's classic statement of balanced Christianity shows how we can hold these tensions together in biblical, faithful ways. Also includes an interview with John Stott with further reflections on the need for balance in contemporary evangelical Christianity.

Lemmer is a professional bodyguard. Silent, invisible, he never gets involved. Emma le Roux is convinced she's seen her brother on the news as a suspect in the recent killing of four poachers. But her brother is supposed to have died twenty years ago. When le Roux hires Lemmer to watch her back while she goes looking for answers, it becomes clear someone wants to keep them in the dark. And when that someone tries to murder them both, for once in his life Lemmer steps out of the shadows.

The history of philosophy has been a predictably tragic or comical succession of palliatives for human disquiet. Thinkers from Spinoza to Berdyaev have pursued the perennial questions of how to be happy, how to be good, how to be loved, and how to live in a world of change and loss. But perhaps we can learn more from cats - the animal that has most captured our imagination - than from the great thinkers of the world. In Feline Philosophy, the philosopher John Gray discovers in cats a way of living that is unburdened by anxiety and self-consciousness....

From the tip of his black Homburg to the crease in his cheviot trousers, Drew Farthering is the epitome of a stylish 1930s English gentleman. His only problem? The body he just discovered. With the help of beautiful and whip-smart Madeline Parker, a guest from America, Drew proposes to use the lessons he’s learned reading his mysteries to solve the crime. Trying hard to remain one step ahead of the killer - and trying harder to impress Madeline - Drew must decide how far to take this dangerous game.

A serious attack against Christianity by well-known newspaper editor Robert Blatchford in 1903 impelled Chesterton to seize the gauntlet of refutation. His reply was immensely successful and was the early formation of his convincing credo that is so brilliantly and cogently argued in Orthodoxy, a masterwork that was published just five years later.

At long last, Gaius Petreius Ruso and his companion, Tilla, are headed home - to Gaul. Having received a note consisting only of the words "COME HOME!" Ruso has (reluctantly, of course) pulled up stakes and brought Tilla to meet his family. But the reception there is not what Ruso has hoped for: no one will admit to sending for him, and his brother Lucius is hoping he'll leave.

The Chosen: Come and See is the second installment of The Chosen books, a series of novels based on the global video phenomenon The Chosen. This book follows season 2 and contains not only the stories told in the video series, but also compelling back stories, thoughts, and motivations of key characters which will give the listener fresh insights that cannot be gained by just watching the video series.

From the frontlines of modern medicine, Tell Me Where it Hurts is a fascinating insider portrait of a veterinarian, his furry patients, and the blend of old-fashioned instincts and cutting-edge technology that defines pet care in the 21st century. Dr. Trout takes the listener on a vicarious journey through 24 intimate, heartrending hours in his life.

Samuel Rutherford, born in the early 1600s, faced many hardships throughout his personal and spiritual life. Despite the criticism of his faith, imprisonment for advocacy of the church, and his exile from his beloved hometown, Rutherford was still able to inspire the people of Scotland with his preaching. Rutherford is still an inspiration in the world of Christianity today through the letters he wrote, some of which can be found in The Loveliness of Christ.

Legend has it that Paxon Leah is descended from the royals and warriors who once ruled the Highlands and waged war with magical weapons. But those kings, queens, and heroes are long gone, and there is nothing enchanted about the antique sword that hangs above Paxon’s fireplace. Running his family’s modest shipping business, Paxon leads a quiet life—until extraordinary circumstances overturn his simple world . . . and rewrite his destiny.

What do you buy and sell when the global markets reach saturation point? The markets themselves. Thirty years from now the big players in global capitalism have moved on from commodities. The big money is in conflict investment. The corporations keep a careful watch on the wars of liberation and revolution that burn constantly around the world. They guage who the winners will be and sell them arms, intelligence, and power. In return for a slice of the action when the war is won.