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The Drought
- Narrated by: Jonathan Coote
- Length: 7 hrs
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Publisher's summary
By the best-selling author of Cocaine Nights and Super-Cannes - the world is threatened by dramatic climate change in this highly acclaimed and influential novel. Water. Man’s most precious commodity is a luxury of the past. Radioactive waste from years of industrial dumping has caused the sea to form a protective skin strong enough to devastate the Earth it once sustained. And while the remorseless sun beats down on the dying land, civilisation itself begins to crack. Violence erupts and insanity reigns as the remnants of mankind struggle for survival in a worldwide desert of despair.
J.G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai, where his father was a businessman. After internment in a civilian prison camp, he and his family returned to England in 1946. He published his first novel, The Drowned World, in 1961. His 1984 bestseller Empire of the Sun won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was later filmed by Steven Spielberg. His memoir Miracles of Life was published in 2008. J.G. Ballard died in 2009.
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Assyria, in the reign of Ashurbanipal. For Aurya and her daydreaming brother, Sharo, every day is a struggle for survival, as they dodge the beatings of their drunken father and scrabble for scraps of food. One violent evening, everything changes. Soon, they are on the barge of King Ashurbanipal, bound for the beautiful, near-mythical city of Nineveh.
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What a great book!
- By Daniel on 07-14-21
By: Paul M.M. Cooper
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The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe
- By: Kij Johnson
- Narrated by: Kij Johnson
- Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Professor Vellitt Boe teaches at the prestigious Ulthar Women's College. When one of her most gifted students elopes with a dreamer from the waking world, Vellitt must retrieve her.
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it took me a few trys to ger through this audio
- By Melanie on 05-13-17
By: Kij Johnson
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Sudden Sea
- By: R.A. Scotti
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of The Perfect Storm, Sudden Sea hearkens back to a natural disaster that struck terror in the hearts of many. In this narrative, listeners experience the Great Hurricane of 1938, the most financially destructive storm on record.
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Very professional and interesting
- By Careful Consumer on 08-09-23
By: R.A. Scotti
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Eon
- By: Greg Bear
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Perhaps it wasn't from our time, perhaps it wasn't even from our universe, but the arrival of the 300-kilometer long stone was the answer to humanity's desperate plea to end the threat of nuclear war. Inside the deep recesses of the stone lies Thistledown: the remnants of a human society, versed in English, Russian and Chinese. The artifacts of this familiar people foretell a great Death caused by the ravages of war, but the government and scientists are unable to decide how to use this knowledge.
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Am Epic Original SciFi Read Worth Your Time...
- By Michael on 07-01-12
By: Greg Bear
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Unrestricted Access
- New and Classic Short Fiction
- By: James Rollins
- Narrated by: Christian Baskous, Scott Brick, Scott Aiello, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Experience the exciting breadth of #1 New York Times bestselling author James Rollins's wild imagination and adventurous spirit in this anthology of his short masterworks, including a new full-length novella featuring Captain Tucker Wayne and his military war dog, Kane, as well as nine previously published short stories, gathered together for the first time.
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James Rollins - shorter forms
- By Richard S. Swol on 11-04-20
By: James Rollins
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The Barrakee Mystery
- By: Arthur W. Upfield
- Narrated by: Peter Hosking
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Why was the redoubtable King Henry, an aborigine from Western Australia, killed during a thunderstorm in New South Wales? What was the feud that led to murder after nineteen long years had passed? And who was the woman who saw the murder and kept silent? This first story of Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, the half-aborigine detective, takes him to a sheep station in the Darling River bush country where he encounters those problems he understands so well... mixed blood and divided loyalties.
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Story from another time....
- By VtAdrienne on 06-15-15
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Darwinia
- By: Robert Charles Wilson
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1912, history was changed by the Miracle, when the old world of Europe was replaced by Darwinia, a strange land of nightmarish jungle and antediluvian monsters. To some, the Miracle was an act of divine retribution; to others, it is an opportunity to carve out a new empire. Leaving an America now ruled by religious fundamentalists, young Guilford Law travels to Darwinia on a mission of discovery that will take him further than he can possibly imagine.
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Not much about Darwinia.
- By Clavaine on 10-02-09
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Mudlark
- In Search of London's Past Along the River Thames
- By: Lara Maiklem
- Narrated by: Xanthe Elbrick
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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A quixotic journey through London's past, Mudlark plumbs the banks of the Thames to reveal the stories hidden behind the archaeological remnants of an ancient city. Long heralded as a city treasure herself, expert "mudlarker" Lara Maiklem is uniquely trained in the art of seeking. Tirelessly trekking across miles of the Thames' muddy shores, where others only see the detritus of city life, Maiklem unearths evidence of England's captivating, if sometimes murky, history - with some objects dating back to 43 AD, when London was but an outpost of the Roman Empire.
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thoroughly enjoyed
- By j on 11-21-20
By: Lara Maiklem
What listeners say about The Drought
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Miriam
- 10-02-14
For completists only
Would you try another book from J. G. Ballard and/or Jonathan Coote?
I am definitely a fan of JG Ballard, but this, the second of the dystopian 'World' series (the first being 'The Drowned World' and the third being 'The Crystal World'), is not a favourite of mine. I would only recommend it to someone familiar with his work. There is an uncharacteristic awkwardness to his writing in 'The Drought'.
Jonathan Coote was a new narrator to me. I really enjoyed his narration: there are some extreme characters in 'The Drought' and he brought them to life with subtlety. I would definitely try another audiobook narrated by Jonathan Coote.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
The most interesting aspect of this story for me is the 'missing' part of the text: the decade that passes between the start and end of the book. I can't help feeling that this would have been the more interesting phase to explore.
The least interesting aspect of this story for me is the Lomax/Miranda storyline.
Which character – as performed by Jonathan Coote – was your favorite?
I can't really say that I have a 'favourite' - most of the characters in this book are (deliberately) repugnant, or (deliberate) ciphers, their motives unimpenetrable.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
No - it is (deliberately) not engaging, and I cannot imagine it working as a film.
Any additional comments?
The Oedipal and Freudian overtones are pretty heavy-handed in this text.
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