
Duck for Cover & Other Tales
A Collection of Short Stories
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Narrated by:
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Emily M. Wilson
About this listen
Fourteen short stories with a twist, Duck for Cover & Other Tales is filled with surprises.
"The Yes Man" is about a woman who looks after her elderly father with dementia, only to discover he still has life lessons to teach her. "Living My Best Life" tells the story of an aging rock star who finds his legacy lives on in a way he hadn't imagined. "Thicker Than Blood" is about the dilemmas caused by modern technology when a trio of siblings is asked to make the hardest decision of their lives. "The Devil's Workshop" is the story of a young man being scared straight from a life of delinquency by a clever probation officer and an ex-con.
Topical, relatable, and just plain fun, these and many other stories in this collection deal with friendship, kinship, and the complexities of the modern world, and are sure to leave you with a smile.
©2022 Barbara Venkataraman (P)2022 Barbara VenkataramanListeners also enjoyed...
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Gratuitous swearing and foul language
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Overall
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Good read!
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Hideaway
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Overall
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Performance
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Engaging story but not well written
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Medallion Status
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After spending most of his 20s pursuing a career as a literary agent, John Hodgman decided to try his own hand at writing. Following an appearance to promote one of his books on The Daily Show, he was invited to return as a contributor. This led to an unexpected and, frankly, implausible career in front of the camera that has lasted to this very day, or at least until 2016. In this audiobook, Hodgman explores the strangeness of his career, speaking plainly of fame, especially at the weird, marginal level he enjoyed it.
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I like John Hodgman but....
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Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
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Very frustrating and confusing
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Bring on the Blessings
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Performance
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Bernadine Brown is a woman with money to spend. Henry Adams is a town in desperate need of cash. But after Bernadine puts up the money, she has some ideas about how the town should be run. Will the townspeople be willing to shake up their comfortable lives to share the gift they’ve been given with others who really need it?
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Not my idea of a Christian story
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Binge
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Overall
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Performance
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Thirty years after Douglas Coupland broke the fiction mould and defined a generation with Generation X, he is back with Binge, 60 stories laced with his observational profundity about the way we live and his existential worry about how we should be living: the very things that have made him such an influential and bestselling writer. Not to mention that he can also be really funny.
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Doug continues to be under-rated
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The Getaway
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Widowed young, Genevieve Prentice dedicated her life to raising her four children. Now, though, they’re all grown and scattered to the wind, and Genevieve is ready for a change. In a flash of inspiration, she puts her home on the market and heads to Lake in the Clouds, Colorado, to renovate a rustic waterfront lodge with her sister. But just as they begin, Genevieve gets the shock of a lifetime: the arrival of her son.
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Finally A Delightful Book Worth Mentioning
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A Beginner's Guide to Free Fall
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Overall
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Performance
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Davis Winger has it all. A respected engineer who designs roller coasters in theme parks across the country, he is deeply in love with his wife and has a beautiful young daughter and a happy home. Until an accident strikes on one of his rides. Nothing fatal - except to his career. And to his marriage, when a betrayal from his past inadvertently comes to light. In one cosmically bad day, Davis loses it all.
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"I like roller coasters ..."
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Plantation Shudders
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Story
It's the end of the summer and prodigal daughter Maggie Crozat has returned home to her family's plantation-turned-bed-and-breakfast in Louisiana. The Crozats have an inn full of guests for the local food festival. But when the elderly couple keels over dead within minutes of each other - one from very unnatural causes - Maggie and her family suddenly become suspects in a murder.
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Unimpressed.
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By: Ellen Byron
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Midnight in Delta County
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- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Heather Matthews, pregnant and in handcuffs, had an uncertain future ahead of her. Quinn Harstead, newly married and enjoying literary success, found out that someone very close to her held the answers to a mystery from decades before.
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J. L. Hyde is fantastic!!
- By leslee on 03-21-23
By: J. L. Hyde
What listeners say about Duck for Cover & Other Tales
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Patricia W
- 12-10-22
Fantastic Listen
OMG!!! This audiobook was fantastic. Each story in it made me smile. It’s a quick listen. But each story will make you think. But not too hard! I found myself chuckling at the end of them.
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- GaryE
- 12-05-22
Very fun short book of very short stories
I was given a copy of this audio book for free in exchange for an honest review.
I generally listen to audio books while I am doing other things (usually walking my dog). Since I was asked to write a review I wanted to make sure my mind did not wander and I missed something . . . so I listened to this twice. At a little under 2 hours this was easy to accomplish. Honestly due to the nature of these very short stories that probably wasn’t necessary. But I enjoyed them the second time as much as if not more than the first.
I generally don’t like shorter stories and essays but these were the exception to that rule. These were often very ironic stories/essays/whatever you want to call them. Some were more poignant than others but most were still funny.
There is little overlap between the stories (nothing at all obvious) but sometimes you get the feeling that the stories are somehow related in a way you just can’t put your finger on. I don’t know if that is because I’ve recently read through a few novels set in Florida that had a few vaguely similar stories in them or it was just my overactive imagination. The bottom line is that these were very enjoyable very short stories.
As far as the audio production value this was very good. Far better than I expected to be honest. I’ve absolutely listened to novels on the best sellers list that had worse readers/performances.
If you are looking for a quick read/listen give this a shot it’s quite enjoyable and it’s absolutely worth reading or listening to more than once.
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- Deedra
- 12-23-22
Duck for cover
Fast fun read. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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- Em Wilson
- 03-07-24
Loved the voices
I appreciated the energy and the expressive voices. They made the stories feel more real.
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- Kathleen C.
- 04-07-23
Earns 5/5 Emotional Journeys…Engaging Fun!
Duck for Cover & Other Tales Earns 5/5 Emotional Journeys…Engaging Fun!
Snippets, bits and pieces, vignettes that need to be shared, and the audiobook is one perfect way to enjoy them all! Emily M. Wilson’s voice artistry enriched Barbara’s writing with her entertaining performance using a change in tone to illustrate age, gender, and the various emotional predicaments. Barbara Venkataraman compiled fourteen shorts with a wide range of themes, characters, and karmic consequences. She explores revenge and comeuppance, pay back and pay forward, and the dynamics of a myriad of relationships. Each tale is a well-written narrative with engaging dialogue to illustrate the multi-generational personalities and a multitude of emotions. I, too, had various reactions from a fist pump “Yeah!” to a gasp of relief, from a poignant tear to an audible giggle, from thanks karma to a “I want more” wish. All in all this set was an enjoyable experience, short in length, but not short on entertainment, and exactly what I expected from Barbara Venkataraman!
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- L. Ruetz
- 01-16-24
hilarious and relatable
These are super short stories but they are chock full of entertainment! Despite the stories being short, these are full of wit and excellent characters that are fully relatable and fun. They may be short, but they have a lot of heart. Each story feels like it is told in a distinct voice and the narration matches the energy of the stories perfectly.
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