The Flame Alphabet
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Narrated by:
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Andy Paris
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By:
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Ben Marcus
About this listen
In The Flame Alphabet, language is toxic to everyone but children. For adults this means no speaking, no reading, no writing, no listening - at least not without severe allergic reaction, depression or crippling pain. In telling the story, Sam, a man whose family has come apart, is literally dying a slow death. It’s poisoning him to write the words that we read. The story is set in our time, but that time has been just slightly broken open to accommodate a world where children have all of the power and where adults must shield themselves from language in any way that they can. Marcus’s narrative touches on a wide range of interests and issues, including a speculative conception of allergy science, rogue tactics of self-improvement, the trauma that surrounds aphasia, confidence games between excessively powerful children, the future of writing as a technology and cruelty within families. The novel is part satire and lament, dystopian fantasy and family tragedy.
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Mad scientists have never had it so tough. In super-hero comics, graphic novels, films, TV series, video games, and even works of what may be fiction, they are besieged by those who stand against them, devoid of sympathy for their irrational, megalomaniacal impulses to rule, destroy, or otherwise dominate the world as we know it. It’s just not fair. So those of us who are so twisted and sick that we love mad scientists have created this guide.
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HAND DANCING
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-30-15
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The Watchers
- By: A.M. Shine
- Narrated by: Jacqueline Milne
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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This forest isn't charted on any map. Every car breaks down at its treeline. Mina's is no different. Left stranded, she is forced into the dark woodland only to find a woman shouting, urging Mina to run to a concrete bunker. As the door slams behind her, the building is besieged by screams. Mina finds herself in a room with a wall of glass, and an electric light that activates at nightfall, when the watchers come above ground. These creatures emerge to observe their captive humans and terrible things happen to anyone who doesn't reach the bunker in time.
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Surprising and original
- By Leia Schoeck on 10-08-22
By: A.M. Shine
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Maplecroft
- The Borden Dispatches, Book 1
- By: Cherie Priest
- Narrated by: Johanna Parker, Roger Wayne
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny.But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place.
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The lengthy build up is worth the mystery.
- By DabOfDarkness on 10-25-14
By: Cherie Priest
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The Sky Is Yours
- A Novel
- By: Chandler Klang Smith
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In the burned-out, futuristic city of Empire Island, three young people navigate a crumbling metropolis constantly under threat from a pair of dragons that circle the skies. When violence strikes, reality star Duncan Humphrey Ripple V, the spoiled scion of the metropolis' last dynasty; Baroness Swan Lenore Dahlberg, his tempestuous, death-obsessed betrothed; and Abby, a feral beauty he discovered tossed out with the trash; are forced to flee everything they've ever known.
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a hot mess
- By Alison on 04-09-19
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The Year's Top Short SF Novels 5
- By: Cory Doctorow, Ken Liu, John P Murphy, and others
- Narrated by: Tom Dheere, Nancy Linari
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Short novels are movie-length narratives that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This audio collection presents the best-of-the-best short science fiction novels published in 2014 by current and emerging masters of this vibrant form of storytelling.
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Narrator sounds like Tony Danza
- By Sean on 03-05-16
By: Cory Doctorow, and others
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The Cider House Rules
- By: John Irving
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 24 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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From one of America's most beloved and respected writers comes the classic story of Homer Wells, an orphan, and Wilbur Larch, a doctor without children of his own, who develop an extraordinary bond with one another.
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Wonderful
- By Patricia B Tripoli on 07-02-07
By: John Irving
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Stories
- All-New Tales
- By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, Al Sarrantonio - editor, Joe Hill, and others
- Narrated by: Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Katherine Kellgren, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.
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Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
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The Portable Veblen
- By: Elizabeth Mckenzie
- Narrated by: Julia Gibson
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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An exuberant, one-of-a-kind novel about love and family, war and nature, new money and old values by a brilliant New Yorker contributor. The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that's as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars looming across its words, The Portable Veblen is an unforgettable look at the way we live now.
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Not what it was cracked up to be
- By Linda on 02-03-16
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Far North
- A Novel
- By: Marcel Theroux
- Narrated by: Yelena Schmulenson
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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My father had an expression for a thing that turned out bad. He'd say it had gone west. But going west always sounded pretty good to me. After all, westwards is the path of the sun. And through as much history as I know of, people have moved west to settle and find freedom. But our world had gone north, truly gone north, and just how far north I was beginning to learn.
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Spellbinding!
- By Joan on 01-14-10
By: Marcel Theroux
What listeners say about The Flame Alphabet
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Darryl
- 06-24-12
Good idea, but...
I like the idea behind this apocalyptic story, but I think the novel is a bit misconstructed, taking too long after backing up to get back to where it starts, and then there is a very strange element that just doesn't work involving a network of tunnels and secret Jewish/Hebrew underground. Trim that out, and concentrate on the ideas beginning to develop in the 2nd half of the story and it could have been great. I kept thinking of Saramago's Blindness, which is excellent though a bit long in the middle, and this could have been very much like that, exploring the consequences of the situation more, but as is, i have to say near miss.
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- Jennifer
- 02-20-12
Be warned
What disappointed you about The Flame Alphabet?
This book is about a Jewish family and how they deal with their intelligent, logic based, sullen teenage daughter. The disease is almost secondary. I wish I had known that before purchasing.
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- Eric
- 03-04-13
Great, if confusing, story
I don't mean that this story was confusing, just for the sake of confusion. It's rather the novel kept me in a constant state of confusion about how I felt about the narrator, the mother, the daughter, and the situation itself. I spent most of the book wondering how the narrator was going to survive and make it through the spread of the language virus, while also hoping that perhaps he'd die and I'd finally be able to hear the daughter or the mother's side of things. Given the theme of the book, I think this response is the exact one that Marcus intended for us.
I've read other reviews that didn't like the beauty of the language. I did. And, I enjoyed the dark, sick humor that would occur at the most unexpected of places.
Overall, I'm glad that I read this book and it makes me want to know more of Marcus and his work.
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- Matthew
- 06-15-13
Hopes Dashed
What disappointed you about The Flame Alphabet?
I thought the premise was interesting. The early chapters were promising, but as the story progresses it all sinks into a sludge of alienation that would probably even bum Kafka out. Lots of dreary descriptions of the sick getting sicker but not dying too fast and civilization crumbling but not quite coming to an end. The protagonist struggles to make sense of it all, but gets nowhere as he and his family literally and figuratively fall apart. Nearly all the characters stop speaking to each other, per the major plot point of the novel, so the reader is mostly left with the protagonist's/narrator's lengthy ruminations about existing in a world in which language - written or spoken - is deadly poison (irony?). In the end, I didn't care about anyone or anything in the novel. I simply felt, alienated. Was that Marcus's goal?
What do you think your next listen will be?
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
There are a few moments of gallows humor in the novel that Andy Paris handles well. At these moments, the text gives him an opportunity to use his voice to express the narrator's bitter frustration. This element might be the only thing that buoyed me through the story.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
I was disappointed that such a promising concept could be rendered as such a dud.
Any additional comments?
If you are depressed when you start reading this book, it will only make you more depressed.
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- Nate
- 03-09-12
A Brilliant Concept, Executed to Perfection
For a book detailing the slow and macabre proliferation of disease and dissolution of language, this reads like a methodical and ominously gorgeous work of prose. It wasn't without its flaws, but still earned its 5 stars (maybe 4.5) through its descriptions, analyses of familial relationships and religion, and execution of a great concept without going Hollywood Thriller. I keep turning parts of it over in my head and continue to draw out more about culture, spirituality, and of course language itself.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Salley
- 02-27-23
I tried to like this
I tried to like this but became frustrated by the lack of character development. Very painful to listen to someone beating themselves over the head for so long.
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- Kindle Customer
- 08-04-12
Dont waste a credit
I couldn't get through this one. I didn't make it past 2 hours. Maybe I will give it another shot on paper so I can get through it faster. I felt it was a waste to listen. Nothing really happened in the first 2 hours. Maybe other listeners got far in enough to get to the story, I didn't have the patience.
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- avoidthelloyd
- 04-12-12
MISSING ESSENTIALS
Not worth a credit knowing what I know now. I have almost 50 books in my library and this is in the worst 5. This book attracted me with the synopsis because it was an interesting idea (might be enjoyable to someone who studies languages and communication), but the entire story is problematic and missing some essential ingredients to make an enjoyable read. 1) The main theme is pain from verbal communication. Do you realize what that does? It eliminates the primary foundation for meaningful relationships. Do you what a story without meaningful relationships is? That's right, boring! The main character goes 11 long hours without any meaningful connection with any other character in the book! That results in 2) You don't care about the characters. The lack of meaningful relationships between characters means you don't care what happens to any of them, thus there is no tense climax that you are so anticipating that you remove all distractions so you can't miss! 3) there is no solution or closure at the end of the book. 4) There is no antagonist that must be overcome. Please avoid this book.
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1 person found this helpful