Showing results by narrator "Stephen" in All Categories

Flappers, ‘It’ girls, confidence tricksters, drug dealers, spies, jazz musicians. This wide ranging series about the first ever modern decade is full of colourful characters, dark deeds, strange beliefs and crazy predictions. Join Stephen Fry as he relishes secrets sexual, political and financial, observes the emergence of the first ever youth cult and reveals the secrets of this roaring decade.

Stephen Fry and John Bird star in all four series of the BBC Radio 4 satirical comedy, plus the 2006 special episode. Set in the Machiavellian world of modern PR, Absolute Power introduces us to London-based 'government-media relations consultancy' Prentiss McCabe, whose partners Charles Prentiss and Martin McCabe are frequently embroiled in the machinations of the British political system.

Originally written for the pulp magazines of the 1920s and '30s, H. P. Lovecraft's astonishing tales blend elements of horror, science fiction, and cosmic terror that are as powerful today as they were when first published. This tome brings together all of Lovecraft's harrowing stories, including the complete Cthulhu Mythos cycle, just the way they were when first released.

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.

Commissar Ciaphas Cain and the Valhallan 597th are in the thick of it again, putting down an uprising of Chaos cultists on an Imperial mining world. Though their mission is a success, they find evidence that the corruption might have spread to other planets and that the forge world of Ironfound could now be at risk. The munitions Ironfound produces are vital to the Imperial war effort in the subsector; its safety must be assured at all costs. As battle explodes across the planet, Ciaphas Cain and his regiment come up against allies and enemies old and new in their fight for victory.

Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past. For the last seven years she’s been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she’s received. Only death or repayment will fulfill the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear. Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer. He’s a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects. But for one client, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now.

This audiobook brings together 13 uproarious short stories and one novella, focused on Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium. His stories are celebrated as heroic propaganda pieces, but he’s simply trying to stay alive in a hostile galaxy.

Three favourite stories of Paddington, the beloved classic bear from Darkest Peru, brought together in one volume. Paddington is now a major movie star! This special edition brings together three favourite classic adventures – Paddington in the Garden, Paddington at the Carnival and Paddington and the Grand Tour. Whether he is gardening, walking along the canal or seeing the sights of London – as always – there is never a dull moment when Paddington is around!

Once again, reluctant hero Commissar Cain is catapulted into glory in the fourth instalment of this tremendously popular series. Escaping from a disastrous space battle, the commissar and his malodorous sidekick Jurgen crash-land behind enemy lines. Even the sly Cain can't avoid a straight fight this time, as the only way out is to round up what few troops they can find and fight their way back to safety. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of barbaric alien orks stand in their way.

Audible Studios presents the second volume of the best-selling PG Wodehouse collection. In this volume, Stephen Fry lends his voice to the Blandings stories. This collection contains: Summer Lightning, Heavy Weather, Blandings Castle and Elsewhere, Lord Emsworth and Others, Uncle Fred in the Spring Time.

At the Sunny Bay Home for Superfluous and Accidentally Parentless Children, Pip and Flora are in trouble. Running away with their dog they discover the Marvellous Land of Snergs, a magical world of cinnamon bears and scrumptious feasts - but also one of vegan ogres, disgraced jesters and dastardly Kelps, with a villain dressed entirely in purple.... Soon their only friend is forgetful but lovable snerg, Gorbo. He will lead them home - if they can decide where home really is and if Gorbo can remember how to get there.

In June of 1999, Stephen King was hit by a van while walking along the shoulder of a country road in Maine. Six operations were required to save his life and mend his broken body. When he was finally able to sit up, he immediately started writing. This book - part biography, part a collection of tips for the aspiring writer - is the extraordinary result.

A beautiful miller's daughter is locked away by the King and told she will never see her family again unless she spins straw into gold. Then an ancient dwarf promises to help - but there is a price to pay....

Cyril Avery is not a real Avery, or at least that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.

The British wars began on the morning of 23 July 1637, heralding 200 years of battles. Most were driven by religious or political conviction, as Republicans and Royalists, Catholics and Protestants, Tories and Whigs, and colonialists and natives vied for supremacy. Of the battles not fought on home territory, many took place across Europe, America, India, and also at sea. Schama's examination of this turbulent period reveals how the British people eventually united in imperial enterprise, forming 'Britannia Incorporated'.

Imperial commissar Ciaphas Cain returns to Nusquam Fundumentibus to crush the ork attacks which have been plaguing the frozen planet. But when his ship crashes into the wastelands outside the capital it disturbs a far greater enemy, one which has lain dormant under the permafrost since long before the Imperium came to this world and could now threaten the whole sector.

When the flow of desperately needed weapons for the Astra Militarum slows to nothing from a newly founded forge world, there’s only one man able and (un)willing to investigate…Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium. With Cain’s desperately sought-after retirement on the line, the Imperium’s most reluctant commissar must navigate insidious assassination attempts against his person, legions of mutinous skitarii, heresy within the upper echelons of the Adeptus Mechanicus itself… and a hidden foe, pulling the strings, with an agenda that could threaten the future of Imperial rule in the Damocles Gulf.

Paddington Bear has been delighting adults and children alike with his earnest good intentions and humorous misadventures for over 60 years. Here you can listen to seven hilarious Paddington stories, read by Stephen Fry and Jim Broadbent. Paddington is now a major movie star! Paddington Bear had travelled all the way from Darkest Peru when the Brown family first met him on Paddington station. Since then their lives have never been quite the same...for ordinary things become quite extraordinary when a bear called Paddington is around.

To the thousands of tiny nomes who live under the floorboards of a large department store, there is no outside. Things like day and night, sun and rain are just daft old legends. Then a devastating piece of news shatters their existence: the Store, their whole world, is to be demolished.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for eternal youth. As Basil Hallward, an aspiring artist, puts a few touches on a portrait of his handsome young friend Dorian Gray, Gray wishes that the portrait might grow old while he remains forever young. While Dorian Gray spends his life pursuing fresh experiences and new sensations, his looks do not change. However, the portrait, secretly hidden in the attic of his residence and with which he has grown increasingly obsessed, does.