Showing results by narrator "Simon Vance" in All Categories

The Man Who Laughs (“L’Homme qui Rit”) was called by its author “A Romance of English History,” and was written during the period Hugo spent in exile in Guernsey. Like The Toilers of the Sea, its immediate predecessor, the main theme of the story is human heroism, confronted with the superhuman tyranny of blind chance. As a passionate cry on behalf of the tortured and deformed, and the despised and oppressed of the world, The Man Who Laughs is irresistible.

Who hasn't wondered for a split second what the world would be like the object of your affliction ceased to exist? But then you've probably never heard of The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of the homicidal arts. To gain admission, a student must have an ethical reason for erasing someone who deeply deserves a fate no worse (nor better) than death.

In different corners of the world four high-profile figures are assassinated in less than a week. Nobody links the deaths but one thing is certain: each of them has been stalked, sought out, and killed with care and preparation. Then a sinister connection is established: a single, blood-tipped rose is sent to each funeral and an unremarkable female agent is murdered in Switzerland.

Jack Sparrow and his friends are back and ready for another adventure. But this time, it looks like they might be in over their heads. In Dead Man's Chest, aspiring pirates will get a chance to re-live the action of the movie.

Once a member of the king's personal guard, Guillot dal Villevauvais spends most days drinking and mourning his wife and child. He’s astonished - and wary - when the Prince Bishop orders him to find and destroy a dragon. He and the Prince Bishop have never exactly been friends, and Gill left the capital in disgrace five years ago. So why him? And, more importantly, how is there a dragon to fight when the beasts were hunted to extinction centuries ago by the ancient Chevaliers of the Silver Circle?   

Chris Faulkner has just landed the job of his dreams. But Shorn Associates are market leaders in Conflict Investment. They expect results, they expect the best. Chris has one very high-profile kill to his name already but he will have to drive hard and go for kill after kill if he's to keep his...

Little Dorrit is Amy, born in debtor’s prison, the youngest child of debtor William Dorrit, an inmate of the Marshalsea. The two are befriended by a man whose wife hires Little Dorrit as a seamstress. When William Dorrit inherits a fortune, he escapes the Marshalsea. The family, assuming a station befitting their wealth, travel to Italy.

One of Thomas Hardy's classic statements about modern love, courtship, and marriage, The Return of the Native is set in the pastoral village of Egdon Heath. The fiery Eustacia Vye, wishing only for passionate love, believes that her escape from Egdon lies in her marriage to Clym Yeobright, the returning "native", home from Paris and discontented with his work there.

This magnificent novel, sequel to The Warden and second in the Chronicles of Barsetshire, satirizes the struggle for ascendancy among the clergy of a cathedral city. The contest is between the outgoing church authorities led by Archdeacon Grantly and the newcomers led by Mrs. Proudie and her protégé, the ambitious Mr. Obadiah Slope. Each wishes to become the dominant voice in the quiet diocese of Barchester, and they contend for the newly vacant post of warden of Hiram's Hospital.

Taimin and Selena have destroyed the firewall that once trapped them in their dangerous wasteland. But with their hard-fought freedom now comes a greater threat. Outside the wasteland, under the same two scorching suns, live the bonded. This powerful ancient enemy will unleash a destructive war on the wasteland’s inhabitants, and Taimin knows it’s a fight they cannot win. When Zorn comes under attack, Selena uses all her power as a mystic to protect the white city. Meanwhile Taimin’s path takes him to Agravida, the capital of the advanced bonded civilization.

Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain’s defense by taking to the skies . . . not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo, an...

But when a video is sent to the local newspaper showing the deceased man engaging in a compromising act with a minor, Atticus realizes that there's much more to this case than he initially thought. Is it blackmail? Suicide? Or murder? Two more bodies are found and two more videos are sent to the press. Atticus and his former colleague, detective chief inspector Mackenzie Jones, race against time to identify the culprit before he can strike again.

It was an outlawed book, a text so dangerous “it could only be countered by the most vicious burnings, of books and men and women.” But what book could incite such violence and bloodshed? The year is 1526. It is the age of Henry VIII and his tragic Anne Boleyn, of Martin Luther and Thomas...

Young Tess Durbeyfield attempts to restore her family's fortunes by claiming their connection with the aristocratic d'Urbervilles. But Alec d'Urberville is a rich wastrel who seduces her and makes her life miserable. When Tess meets Angel Clare, she is offered true love and happiness, but her past catches up with her and she faces an agonizing moral choice.

Bond reluctantly finds himself recruited into a dangerous mission involving an equally dangerous and treacherous alliance of agents from the CIA, the KGB, and Israel's Mossad. The team dubbed "Icebreaker" waste no time double crossing each other, as they try to root out the leader of the murderous National Socialist Action Army, Count Konrad von Gloda, a one time SS officer, who now perceives himself as the New Adolf Hitler.

This gripping story of courage and achievement is the account of Robert Falcon Scott's last fateful expedition to the Antarctic, as told by surviving expedition member Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Cherry-Garrard, whom Scott lauded as a tough, efficient member of the team, tells of the journey from England to South Africa and southward to the ice floes. From there began the unforgettable polar journey across a forbidding and inhospitable region.

Kylar has rejected the assassin's life. In the wake of the Godking's violent coup, both his master and his closest friend are dead. His friend was Logan Gyre, heir to Cenaria's throne, but few of the ruling class survive to mourn his loss. So Kylar is starting over: new city, new companions, and new profession. But when he learns that Logan might be alive, trapped and in hiding, Kylar faces an impossible choice.

Under Heaven takes listeners to Tang dynasty China, where the son of an honored general has received an unheard of gift: 250 Sardian horses. But this is a prize men would, and will, kill for.

A landmark short story collection that put the more character-based New Wave science fiction on the map, Dangerous Visions won several prestigious awards and was nominated for many others. This now-classic anthology includes thirty-three stories by thirty-two award-winning authors, over half of whom have won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards.

Strong-willed and full of hope, Leo strives to learn more of the magic he has read so much about. He's heard of invisible links in his world, and hidden rifts to other realms filled with creatures and stones of power. But Leo's family is stuck in an impoverished city. He performs backbreaking farm work beside his older brother, a rebellious and cunning thief, but nonetheless a brother whom Leo would trust with his life. Leo believes everything will change for the better when he begins work as a bookbinder and finally leaves the dreadful farm.