-
The Aylesford Skull
- The Adventures of Langdon St Ives, Book 3
- Narrated by: William Gaminara
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.72
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
A skeletal hand clutching an iron key lies hidden within a mermaid's wooden sarcophagus; a hand-drawn map is stolen from beneath the floorboards an old museum. All while an eccentric inventor - he Sleeper - dreams of a passage to the centre of the hollow earth. And by dreaming, brings the passage into being....
Pursued by kidnappers thinking of riches and murder, Katherine Perkins and her two cousins must descend into the depths of the hollow earth in order to return the Sleeper to his ancestral home on the shores of Lake Windermere. But to awaken him might mean the end of his dream, the closing of the Windermere Passage, leaving the three intrepid explorers marooned in a savage land forgotten by time itself.
Zeuglodon, set in the world envisioned in James P Blaylock's The Digging Leviathan, is a landscape of colour, mystery, and adventure, in which reality and fantasy are shifting currents, and nothing is quite what it seems to be.
James P Blaylock is one of the founding fathers of modern steampunk along with fellow writers and friends Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter. He has won the World Fantasy and Philip K. Dick Awards. Blaylock lives in Orange CA with his wife, they have two sons.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Homunculus
- The Adventures of Langdon St Ives, Book 1
- By: James P Blaylock
- Narrated by: Nigel Carrington
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1870s London, a city of contradictions and improbabilities, a dead man pilots an airship and living men are willing to risk all to steal a carp. Here, a night of bangers and ale at the local pub can result in an eternity at the Blood Pudding with the rest of the reanimated dead.... A comic science-fiction novel first published in 1986. It took the Philip K Dick award that year, and was the second book in Blaylock's loose steampunk trilogy, following The Digging Leviathan (1984) and preceding Lord Kelvin's Machine (1992).
-
-
Over the top in the right kind of way
- By Katherine on 03-22-12
By: James P Blaylock
-
Midnight Riot
- Rivers of London, Book 1
- By: Ben Aaronovitch
- Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Probationary constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London's Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he'll face is a paper cut. But Peter's prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter's ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale....
-
-
I LOVE this Book!
- By Nancy J on 02-26-13
By: Ben Aaronovitch
-
A Night in the Lonesome October
- By: Roger Zelazny
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Loyally accompanying a mysterious knife-wielding gentleman named Jack on his midnight rounds through the murky streets of London, good dog Snuff is busy helping his master collect the grisly ingredients needed for an unearthly rite that will take place not long after the death of the moon. But Snuff and his master are not alone. All manner of participants, both human and not, are gathering with their ancient tools and their animal familiars in preparation for the dread night.
-
-
So happy this is finally on Audible!
- By Shannon GC on 08-23-22
By: Roger Zelazny
-
Space: 1969
- By: Bill Oakley
- Narrated by: Natasha Lyonne, full cast
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nancy Kranich (played by Emmy-nominated actress Natasha Lyonne of Russian Doll and Orange Is the New Black) is a night nurse on an orbiting space station. But Nancy hates her job, is sick of space, and longs to find adventure and a safe place to smoke cigarettes that won’t blow everyone up. But when Nancy gets caught up in an outer-space conspiracy involving President Kennedy, former vice-president Richard Nixon, and an intergalactic object that could change the course of history, she gets way more adventure than she bargained for.
-
-
Simply the Best Full-Cast Audio Book Ever!
- By Veritas on 07-09-22
By: Bill Oakley
-
Gideon the Ninth
- By: Tamsyn Muir
- Narrated by: Moira Quirk
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap out of the audio, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy. Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse.
-
-
Fun. Not art, very gory, but 100% fun.
- By Sarah K. on 10-27-19
By: Tamsyn Muir
-
Elric of Melniboné
- Volume 1: Elric of Melnibone, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and The Weird of the White Wolf
- By: Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 24 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Moorcock began chronicling the adventures of the albino sorcerer Elric, last king of decadent Melniboné, and his sentient vampiric sword, Stormbringer, he set out to create a new kind of fantasy adventure, one that broke with tradition and reflected a more up-to-date sophistication of theme and style. The result was a bold and unique hero: a rock-and-roll antihero who would channel all the violent excesses of the '60s into one enduring archetype.
-
-
Skip the first chapter, it's not Moorcock.
- By Ted C. on 02-17-22
By: Michael Moorcock, and others
-
Homunculus
- The Adventures of Langdon St Ives, Book 1
- By: James P Blaylock
- Narrated by: Nigel Carrington
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1870s London, a city of contradictions and improbabilities, a dead man pilots an airship and living men are willing to risk all to steal a carp. Here, a night of bangers and ale at the local pub can result in an eternity at the Blood Pudding with the rest of the reanimated dead.... A comic science-fiction novel first published in 1986. It took the Philip K Dick award that year, and was the second book in Blaylock's loose steampunk trilogy, following The Digging Leviathan (1984) and preceding Lord Kelvin's Machine (1992).
-
-
Over the top in the right kind of way
- By Katherine on 03-22-12
By: James P Blaylock
-
Midnight Riot
- Rivers of London, Book 1
- By: Ben Aaronovitch
- Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Probationary constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London's Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he'll face is a paper cut. But Peter's prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter's ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale....
-
-
I LOVE this Book!
- By Nancy J on 02-26-13
By: Ben Aaronovitch
-
A Night in the Lonesome October
- By: Roger Zelazny
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Loyally accompanying a mysterious knife-wielding gentleman named Jack on his midnight rounds through the murky streets of London, good dog Snuff is busy helping his master collect the grisly ingredients needed for an unearthly rite that will take place not long after the death of the moon. But Snuff and his master are not alone. All manner of participants, both human and not, are gathering with their ancient tools and their animal familiars in preparation for the dread night.
-
-
So happy this is finally on Audible!
- By Shannon GC on 08-23-22
By: Roger Zelazny
-
Space: 1969
- By: Bill Oakley
- Narrated by: Natasha Lyonne, full cast
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nancy Kranich (played by Emmy-nominated actress Natasha Lyonne of Russian Doll and Orange Is the New Black) is a night nurse on an orbiting space station. But Nancy hates her job, is sick of space, and longs to find adventure and a safe place to smoke cigarettes that won’t blow everyone up. But when Nancy gets caught up in an outer-space conspiracy involving President Kennedy, former vice-president Richard Nixon, and an intergalactic object that could change the course of history, she gets way more adventure than she bargained for.
-
-
Simply the Best Full-Cast Audio Book Ever!
- By Veritas on 07-09-22
By: Bill Oakley
-
Gideon the Ninth
- By: Tamsyn Muir
- Narrated by: Moira Quirk
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap out of the audio, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy. Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse.
-
-
Fun. Not art, very gory, but 100% fun.
- By Sarah K. on 10-27-19
By: Tamsyn Muir
-
Elric of Melniboné
- Volume 1: Elric of Melnibone, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and The Weird of the White Wolf
- By: Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 24 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Moorcock began chronicling the adventures of the albino sorcerer Elric, last king of decadent Melniboné, and his sentient vampiric sword, Stormbringer, he set out to create a new kind of fantasy adventure, one that broke with tradition and reflected a more up-to-date sophistication of theme and style. The result was a bold and unique hero: a rock-and-roll antihero who would channel all the violent excesses of the '60s into one enduring archetype.
-
-
Skip the first chapter, it's not Moorcock.
- By Ted C. on 02-17-22
By: Michael Moorcock, and others
-
Crosstalk
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a not-too-distant future, a simple outpatient procedure that has been promised to increase empathy between romantic partners has become all the rage. So when Briddey Flannigan's fiancé proposes that he and Briddey undergo the procedure, she is delighted! Only, the results aren't quite as expected. Instead of gaining an increased empathetic link with her fiancé, Briddey finds herself hearing the actual thoughts of one of the nerdiest techs in her office. And that's the least of her problems.
-
-
It doesn't work like that.
- By Joel on 10-31-16
By: Connie Willis
-
Speaks the Nightbird
- By: Robert R. McCammon
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 30 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Carolinas, 1699: The citizens of Fount Royal believe a witch has cursed their town with inexplicable tragedies -- and they demand that beautiful widow Rachel Howarth be tried and executed for witchcraft. Presiding over the trial is traveling magistrate Issac Woodward, aided by his astute young clerk, Matthew Corbett. Believing in Rachel's innocence, Matthew will soon confront the true evil at work in Fount Royal....
-
-
Dark, Twisted Period Piece with GREAT Characters!
- By aaron on 06-05-12
-
The Hangman's Daughter
- A Hangman's Daughter Tale, Book 1
- By: Oliver Pötzsch, Lee Chadeayne - translator
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Germany, 1660: When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play in his small Bavarian town. Whispers and dark memories of witch trials and the women burned at the stake just seventy years earlier still haunt the streets of Schongau.
-
-
Great but graphic
- By Margaret on 07-14-13
By: Oliver Pötzsch, and others
-
Quicksilver
- Book One of The Baroque Cycle
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Neal Stephenson (introduction), Kevin Pariseau, Simon Prebble
- Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In which Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and courageous Puritan, pursues knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe -- in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.
-
-
Be aware of what you're getting into
- By David on 12-16-11
By: Neal Stephenson
-
The Beekeeper's Apprentice, or On the Segregation of the Queen
- Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, Book 1
- By: Laurie R. King
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1915, Sherlock Holmes is retired and quietly engaged in the study of honeybees in Sussex when a young woman literally stumbles onto him on the Sussex Downs. Fifteen years old, gawky, egotistical, and recently orphaned, the young Mary Russell displays an intellect to impress even Sherlock Holmes. Under his reluctant tutelage, this very modern, twentieth-century woman proves a deft protégée and a fitting partner for the Victorian detective.
-
-
A fabulous new take on Sherlock Holmes
- By Steph on 04-14-14
By: Laurie R. King
-
Some Danger Involved
- Barker & Llewelyn Series, Book 1
- By: Will Thomas
- Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An atmospheric debut novel set on the gritty streets of Victorian London, Some Danger Involved introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar in London's Jewish ghetto. When the eccentric and enigmatic Barker takes the case, he must hire an assistant, and out of all who answer an ad for a position with "some danger involved", he chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man with a murky past.
-
-
Clever writing!
- By Kathi on 01-13-17
By: Will Thomas
-
What Angels Fear
- Sebastian St. Cyr, Book 1
- By: C. S. Harris
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III's England. Then a beautiful young woman is found savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey. A dueling pistol found at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man - Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.
-
-
An Addictive Series
- By Bibliophile1963 on 10-17-16
By: C. S. Harris
-
Warlock Holmes
- A Study in Brimstone
- By: G. S. Denning
- Narrated by: Robert Garson
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sherlock Holmes is an unparalleled genius who uses the gift of deduction and reason to solve the most vexing of crimes. Warlock Holmes, however, is an idiot. A good man, perhaps; a font of arcane power, certainly. But he’s brilliantly dim. Frankly, he couldn’t deduce his way out of a paper bag. The only things he has really got going for him are the might of a thousand demons and his stalwart flatmate. Thankfully, Dr. Watson is always there to aid him through the treacherous shoals of Victorian propriety...
-
-
Short on Clues--Heavy on Delightful Twists
- By Gillian on 01-10-17
By: G. S. Denning
-
Finn
- A Novel
- By: Jon Clinch
- Narrated by: Ed Sala
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One hundred and twenty years ago, Mark Twain left Huckleberry Finn’s father dead in a room crowded with oddities: a wooden leg, women’s underclothing, two black cloth masks, and more. Now, in a resonant and remarkable new novel, Jon Clinch tells the story of how the brutal and explosive Finn met his end in a room jammed with the telltale artifacts of his strange and mysterious life.
-
-
Finn brought to life in Clinch's homage to Twain.
- By Darrell on 03-21-12
By: Jon Clinch
-
The Night Crossing
- By: Robert Masello
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bram Stoker kept secret a tale even more terrifying than Dracula. It begins among the Carpathian peaks, when an intrepid explorer discovers a mysterious golden box. She brings it back with her to the foggy streets of Victorian London, unaware of its dangerous power…or that an evil beyond imagining has already taken root in the city. Stoker, a successful theater manager but frustrated writer, is drawn into a deadly web spun by the wealthy founders of a mission house for the poor. Far from a safe haven, the mission harbors a dark and terrifying secret.
-
-
I just couldn't get into it because of narrator.
- By Leonidas Karr on 11-10-18
By: Robert Masello
-
The Outcasts of Time
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the country in the grip of the Black Death, brothers John and William fear that they will shortly die and suffer in the afterlife. But as the end draws near, they are given an unexpected choice: either to go home and spend their last six days in their familiar world, or to search for salvation across the forthcoming centuries - living each one of their remaining days 99 years after the last. John and William choose the future and find themselves in 1447, ignorant of almost everything going on. The year 1546 brings no more comfort, and 1645 challenges them further....
-
-
Disappointment
- By Kathy on 07-01-19
By: Ian Mortimer
-
The Bright Empires Series
- The Skin Map, The Bone House, The Spirit Well, The Shadow Lamp, The Fatal Tree
- By: Stephen Lawhead
- Narrated by: Simon Bubb
- Length: 54 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Bright Empires series is a unique blend of epic treasure hunt, ancient history, alternate realities, cutting-edge physics, philosophy, and mystery. The result is a pause-resisting adventure like no other.
-
-
Literary Christian Rock
- By J. M. Sanders on 03-17-23
By: Stephen Lawhead
Editorial reviews
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
The Anubis Gates
- By: Tim Powers
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Brendan Doyle is flown from America to London to give a lecture on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, little does he expect that he will soon be traveling through time and meeting the poet himself. But Brendan could do without being stranded penniless in the teeming, thieving London of 1810.
-
-
Yesterday… All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away
- By Doug D. Eigsti on 06-21-16
By: Tim Powers
-
The Ashes of London
- By: Andrew Taylor
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, September 1666. The Great Fire rages through the city, consuming everything in its path. Even the impregnable cathedral of St. Paul's is engulfed in flames and reduced to ruins. Among the crowds watching its destruction is James Marwood, son of a disgraced printer and reluctant government informer. In the aftermath of the fire, a semi-mummified body is discovered in the ashes of St. Paul's, in a tomb that should have been empty. The man's body has been mutilated, and his thumbs have been tied behind his back.
-
-
Entertaining Historical Fiction
- By Simone on 05-01-17
By: Andrew Taylor
-
Finn
- A Novel
- By: Jon Clinch
- Narrated by: Ed Sala
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One hundred and twenty years ago, Mark Twain left Huckleberry Finn’s father dead in a room crowded with oddities: a wooden leg, women’s underclothing, two black cloth masks, and more. Now, in a resonant and remarkable new novel, Jon Clinch tells the story of how the brutal and explosive Finn met his end in a room jammed with the telltale artifacts of his strange and mysterious life.
-
-
Finn brought to life in Clinch's homage to Twain.
- By Darrell on 03-21-12
By: Jon Clinch
-
Jack Maggs
- By: Peter Carey
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With scars on his back and silver in his pocket, the huge figure of Jack Maggs strides across the rich landscape of 19th century London. As this enigmatic man moves through its streets and houses, his single-minded quest to find his son will engender love, deceit, and vengeance in the lives around him.
-
-
Jack Maggs
- By Kathleen on 04-04-05
By: Peter Carey
-
Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
- By: Kelly Link - editor, Gavin J. Grant - editor
- Narrated by: Sarah Coomes, Nico Evers-Swindell, Shannon McManus, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and recraft a world of automatons, ornate clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, and intrepid orphans - decked out in corsets, clockwerk suits, and tall black boots - solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.
-
-
MMMM, Orca Bacon
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-14-13
By: Kelly Link - editor, and others
-
Hide Me Among the Graves
- By: Tim Powers
- Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham
- Length: 17 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winter 1862, London. Adelaide McKee, a former prostitute, arrives on the doorstep of veterinarian John Crawford, a man she met once seven years earlier. Their brief meeting produced a child who, until now, had been presumed dead. McKee has learned that the girl lives - but that her life and soul are in mortal peril from a vampiric ghost. But this is no ordinary spirit; the bloodthirsty wraith is none other than John Polidori, the onetime physician to the mad, bad, and dangerous Romantic poet Lord Byron.
-
-
One More Mortal Sin
- By Dave on 01-31-14
By: Tim Powers
-
The Anubis Gates
- By: Tim Powers
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Brendan Doyle is flown from America to London to give a lecture on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, little does he expect that he will soon be traveling through time and meeting the poet himself. But Brendan could do without being stranded penniless in the teeming, thieving London of 1810.
-
-
Yesterday… All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away
- By Doug D. Eigsti on 06-21-16
By: Tim Powers
-
The Ashes of London
- By: Andrew Taylor
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, September 1666. The Great Fire rages through the city, consuming everything in its path. Even the impregnable cathedral of St. Paul's is engulfed in flames and reduced to ruins. Among the crowds watching its destruction is James Marwood, son of a disgraced printer and reluctant government informer. In the aftermath of the fire, a semi-mummified body is discovered in the ashes of St. Paul's, in a tomb that should have been empty. The man's body has been mutilated, and his thumbs have been tied behind his back.
-
-
Entertaining Historical Fiction
- By Simone on 05-01-17
By: Andrew Taylor
-
Finn
- A Novel
- By: Jon Clinch
- Narrated by: Ed Sala
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One hundred and twenty years ago, Mark Twain left Huckleberry Finn’s father dead in a room crowded with oddities: a wooden leg, women’s underclothing, two black cloth masks, and more. Now, in a resonant and remarkable new novel, Jon Clinch tells the story of how the brutal and explosive Finn met his end in a room jammed with the telltale artifacts of his strange and mysterious life.
-
-
Finn brought to life in Clinch's homage to Twain.
- By Darrell on 03-21-12
By: Jon Clinch
-
Jack Maggs
- By: Peter Carey
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With scars on his back and silver in his pocket, the huge figure of Jack Maggs strides across the rich landscape of 19th century London. As this enigmatic man moves through its streets and houses, his single-minded quest to find his son will engender love, deceit, and vengeance in the lives around him.
-
-
Jack Maggs
- By Kathleen on 04-04-05
By: Peter Carey
-
Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
- By: Kelly Link - editor, Gavin J. Grant - editor
- Narrated by: Sarah Coomes, Nico Evers-Swindell, Shannon McManus, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and recraft a world of automatons, ornate clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, and intrepid orphans - decked out in corsets, clockwerk suits, and tall black boots - solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.
-
-
MMMM, Orca Bacon
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-14-13
By: Kelly Link - editor, and others
-
Hide Me Among the Graves
- By: Tim Powers
- Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham
- Length: 17 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winter 1862, London. Adelaide McKee, a former prostitute, arrives on the doorstep of veterinarian John Crawford, a man she met once seven years earlier. Their brief meeting produced a child who, until now, had been presumed dead. McKee has learned that the girl lives - but that her life and soul are in mortal peril from a vampiric ghost. But this is no ordinary spirit; the bloodthirsty wraith is none other than John Polidori, the onetime physician to the mad, bad, and dangerous Romantic poet Lord Byron.
-
-
One More Mortal Sin
- By Dave on 01-31-14
By: Tim Powers
-
The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack
- Burton & Swinburne, Book 1
- By: Mark Hodder
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sir Richard Francis Burton and Algernon Charles Swinburne are sucked into the perilous depths of a moral and ethical vacuum when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack - and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London's East End.
-
-
Fun Steampunk but on the outlandish side
- By Robert L. on 02-08-12
By: Mark Hodder
-
The Book of Magic
- By: Gardner Dozois - editor, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, and others
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker, Sile Bermingham, Maxwell Caulfield, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois's acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf... and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda... and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore... and Severus Snape? Figures of wisdom and power, possessing arcane, often forbidden knowledge, wizards and sorcerers are shaped - or misshaped - by the potent magic they seek to wield.
-
-
some stinkers mostly good
- By M.T. on 12-11-18
By: Gardner Dozois - editor, and others
-
Greenglass House
- By: Kate Milford
- Narrated by: Ben Levin
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler’s inn is always quiet during this season, and 12-year-old Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again....
-
-
A magical mystery with twists and heart
- By Jane Pearl on 02-13-22
By: Kate Milford
-
Instruments of Darkness
- A Novel
- By: Imogen Robertson
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the year 1780, Harriet Westerman, the willful mistress of a country manor in Sussex, finds a dead man on her grounds with a ring bearing the crest of Thornleigh Hall in his pocket. Not one to be bound by convention or to shy away from adventure, she recruits a reclusive local anatomist named Gabriel Crowther to help her find the murderer, and historical suspense's newest investigative duo is born.
-
-
Not The Best, But Not Too Bad...
- By MJ on 01-13-13
By: Imogen Robertson
-
The Bedlam Detective
- By: Stephen Gallagher
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sebastian Becker, a former Pinkerton man, lives in England and investigates wealthy eccentrics who may be too insane to care for their own affairs. He is asked to investigate rich landowner Sir Owain, but arrives to discover two young girls have been murdered, and it is not the first time children have come to harm in this small town.
-
-
Satisfying!
- By Margaret on 03-26-12
-
What Angels Fear
- Sebastian St. Cyr, Book 1
- By: C. S. Harris
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III's England. Then a beautiful young woman is found savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey. A dueling pistol found at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man - Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars.
-
-
An Addictive Series
- By Bibliophile1963 on 10-17-16
By: C. S. Harris
-
The Invisible Man and The Time Machine
- By: H. G. Wells
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Invisible Man, a scientist theorizes that if a person's refractive index is changed to exactly that of air his body does not absorb or reflect light, then he will not be visible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but cannot become visible again, becoming mentally unstable as a result. In The Time Machine, we follow the Time Traveller to the year 802,701 A.D.. He finds a golden race of small, soft, innocent people. But what is it that lurks in the dark shadows?
-
-
When The Invisible Man ends and The Time Machine begins
- By kíli on 04-08-18
By: H. G. Wells
-
Warlock Holmes
- A Study in Brimstone
- By: G. S. Denning
- Narrated by: Robert Garson
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sherlock Holmes is an unparalleled genius who uses the gift of deduction and reason to solve the most vexing of crimes. Warlock Holmes, however, is an idiot. A good man, perhaps; a font of arcane power, certainly. But he’s brilliantly dim. Frankly, he couldn’t deduce his way out of a paper bag. The only things he has really got going for him are the might of a thousand demons and his stalwart flatmate. Thankfully, Dr. Watson is always there to aid him through the treacherous shoals of Victorian propriety...
-
-
Short on Clues--Heavy on Delightful Twists
- By Gillian on 01-10-17
By: G. S. Denning
-
The Monstrumologist
- By: Rick Yancey
- Narrated by: Steven Boyer
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Warthrop is a scientist who tracks and studies real-life monsters. Assisted by his 12-year-old apprentice, Will Henry, Dr. Warthrop discovers a pod of Anthropophagi and launches a hunt to destroy the foul beasts.
-
-
Reader Be Warned
- By Eddie on 01-25-15
By: Rick Yancey
-
The Pale Blue Eye
- By: Louis Bayard
- Narrated by: Charles Leggett
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the body of a suicide victim disappears at West Point Military Academy in 1831, only to be discovered hours later missing its heart, the Academy calls on retired detective Gus Landor to investigate. Landor is something of a legend among his peers, noted for an uncanny, Holmesian ability to read people. When Edgar Allan Poe, a new cadet, comes forth with his own cryptic conclusion—that the man Landor is looking for is a poet—Landor is intrigued and enlists Poe as his assistant.
-
-
Could not get through it
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-15
By: Louis Bayard
-
Cover Her Face
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Headstrong and beautiful, the young housemaid Sally Jupp is put rudely in her place, strangled in her bed behind a bolted door. Coolly brilliant policeman Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard must find her killer among a houseful of suspects, most of whom had very good reason to wish her ill. Cover Her Face is P. D. James' electric debut novel, an ingeniously plotted mystery that immediately placed her among the masters of suspense.
-
-
OK but...
- By NoelleJ on 11-14-14
By: P. D. James
-
The Jekyll Revelation
- By: Robert Masello
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While on routine patrol in the tinder-dry Topanga Canyon, environmental scientist Rafael Salazar expects to find animal poachers, not a dilapidated antique steamer trunk. Inside the peculiar case, he discovers a journal, written by the renowned Robert Louis Stevenson, which divulges ominous particulars about his creation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It also promises to reveal a terrible secret - the identity of Jack the Ripper.
-
-
pleasantly surprised
- By Genevieve Paquette on 04-17-17
By: Robert Masello
What listeners say about The Aylesford Skull
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael S. Thomas
- 11-27-23
Classic Sci-fi steampunk
Always wonderful to leave this modern post 2000s world for a more simplistic rich historical Victorian era. Blaylock never disappoints
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Katherine
- 03-20-15
Absurd steampunk with a subtle wit
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.
James P. Blaylock is most famous for being a protégé of Philip K. Dick and, along with his friends K.W. Jeter and Tim Powers, developing the steampunk genre of fantasy fiction in the 1980s. Blaylock’s most popular steampunk stories take place in Victorian England and feature gentleman inventor Langdon St. Ives and his archnemesis Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, a hunch-backed necromancer. The Aylesford Skull is considered to be the seventh installment of THE NARBONDO SERIES, though each of the LANGDON ST. IVES novels can stand alone.
In The Aylesford Skull, Langdon St. Ives seems to be considering retirement. He and his wife (Alice) and their two small children (Eddie and Cleo) have moved to the country to lead a quiet life. Langdon continues to work on his hobby — building a functioning airship in his barn. Currently he’s trying to figure out how to roll back the roof of the barn so the airship can get out. He’s thinking about acquiring an elephant to provide the pulling power. Meanwhile Alice is fishing for the huge pike that lives in the stream behind their house so she can stuff it. (Are there always fish in Blaylock’s novels? I’m not sure.)
But the peace doesn’t last long. Narbondo’s mother (he has a mother?!) lives up the hill. When she asks St. Ives to help her destroy her son, at first he refuses. But then he discovers that Narbondo has been using a child’s skull to conjure up ghosts. When Narbondo kidnaps Eddie, St. Ives decides to act. He recruits his gentlemen friends from the Royal Academy and off they go to London on a manhunt. Arthur Conan Doyle, who was in town to meet with his publisher, accompanies them. The gentlemen don’t know it yet, but they will also be joined by a few more characters including Alice, Narbondo’s mom, a fortune-teller, and the gardener.
In London they uncover a nefarious plot that involves ghosts, skulls, anarchists, a pipe organ, and a portal to Hell. The plot is zany and chaotic as the characters run around chasing each other all over and underneath London, stopping only for the scientists to dine and for the dastardly villains to monologue. There are plenty of chases, gunshots, and explosions. And, of course, an airship goes up in flames.
I expect that the likelihood of any particular reader enjoying The Aylesford Skull will depend on how well they appreciate Blaylock’s extremely subtle and absurd sense of humor. If it doesn’t amuse you to think of using elephants to solve engineering problems, or to witness a group of gentlemen scientists from the Royal Academy camping in the woods (it’s extremely civilized camping), or to watch them running around London while buildings explode, then you might not find this story entertaining. There are nice period details and dialogue, but the story is slow moving at times (the book’s a bit too long), several of the characters are shallow, and it’s not blatantly funny. Those who are already familiar with Blaylock’s sense of humor and know they enjoy it will surely be entertained by The Aylesford Skull. Those who are unfamiliar with this father of steampunk should certainly give Blaylock a try.
I listened to William Gaminara’s narration of The Aylesford Skull. It’s 12 hours long and produced by Audible Studios. Gaminara does a very nice job with this story and I enjoyed his performance.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Perschon
- 08-01-13
Combining the best of Blaylock
I've been studying Blaylock's work for four years now, since I first read portions of the omnibus collection of his early steampunk works, "The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives." When I was asked to interview Blaylock at a convention, I thought it best to acquaint myself with his non-steampunk writing as well, and read a few of his urban fantasies. I found that I preferred his later writing, which is to be expected. While I enjoy his early steampunk immensely, it's his modern theodicies like "Last Coin" and "All the Bells on Earth" I found to be more compelling. "The Aylesford Skull" combines the best of Blaylock's urban fantasies' villainous horror with the whimsy and romance of his steampunk world, in a book that is easily one of his best. William Gaminara's narration is superb, and his delineation of voices by accent, pitch, and mannerisms is among the best I've heard. I have no idea what prompted an early reader to give it one star, though I will readily admit that Blaylock may not be to the taste of modern readers used to brainless page turners. If you're looking for thoughtful, whimsical, and sometimes dark prose, Blaylock is your man.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful