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The Gift of Fire & On the Head of a Pin
- Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman, Beresford Bennett
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
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Publisher's summary
The Gift of Fire
In ancient mythology, the Titan Prometheus was punished by the gods for bringing man the gift of fire - an event that set humankind on its course of knowledge. As punishment, Prometheus was bound to a rock. But in The Gift of Fire, those chains cease to be, and the great champion of man walks from that immortal prison into present-day South Central Los Angeles. Disheveled and lost, he is thrown in jail, where he meets lifelong criminal Nosome Blane. Shocked at what humanity has done with his gift, he looks for another way to empower his cause. His only hope lies with Nosome's bedridden fourteen-year-old nephew, Chief Reddy, who is anointed with Prometheus' second gift of fire.On the Head of a Pin
Joshua Winterland and Ana Fried are working at Jennings-Tremont Enterprises. JTE is developing advanced animatronics editing techniques that will create high-end movies indistinguishable from live action. But one night Joshua and Ana discover something lingering in the rendered footage . . . an entity that will eventually reveal itself as "the Sail" and lead Joshua and Ana into a new age . . . beyond the reality they have come to know, and deep into the true nature of good and evil.
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Who edited the audio?
- By Vincent E. Rogers on 12-09-22
By: Boyah J. Farah
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The Darling
- By: Russell Banks
- Narrated by: Mary Beth Hurt
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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The Darling is Hannah Musgrave's story, told emotionally and convincingly years later by Hannah herself. A political radical and member of the Weather Underground, Hannah has fled America to West Africa, where she and her Liberian husband become friends and colleagues of Charles Taylor, the notorious warlord and now ex-president of Liberia. When Taylor leaves for the United States in an effort to escape embezzlement charges, he's immediately placed in prison.
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Complex and compelling
- By Ellen H. Anderson on 02-05-05
By: Russell Banks
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City of Night
- By: John Rechy
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 17 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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When John Rechy's explosive first novel appeared in 1963, it marked a radical departure in fiction, and gave voice to a subculture that had never before been revealed with such acuity. It earned comparisons to Genet and Kerouac, even as Rechy was personally attacked by scandalized reviewers. Nevertheless, the book became an international best seller, and 50 years later, it has become a classic. Bold and inventive in style, Rechy is unflinching in his portrayal of one hustling "youngman" and his search for self-knowledge.
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A seminal classic
- By Robert Simmons on 09-22-19
By: John Rechy
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When She Woke
- By: Hillary Jordan
- Narrated by: Heather Corrigan
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Hannah Payne awakens to a nightmare. She is lying on a table in a bare room, covered only by a paper gown, with cameras broadcasting her every move to millions at home. She is now a convicted criminal, and her skin color has been genetically altered. Her crime, according to the State of Texas: the murder of her unborn child, whose father she refuses to name. Her color: red. The color of newly shed blood.
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A Thoughtful Dystopia
- By Amy on 01-28-13
By: Hillary Jordan
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The Memory of Earth
- Homecoming, Volume 1
- By: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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High above the planet Harmony, the Oversoul watches. Its task, programmed so many millennia ago, is to guard the human settlement on this planet, to protect this fragile remnant of Earth from all threats...to protect them, most of all, from themselves.
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I keep hoping, but, alas, ...
- By Ole Hippie on 02-22-10
By: Orson Scott Card
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The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination
- Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius
- By: John Joseph Adams - editor
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Mary Robinette Kowal, Justine Eyre
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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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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Priestdaddy
- A Memoir
- By: Patricia Lockwood
- Narrated by: Patricia Lockwood
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Father Greg Lockwood is unlike any Catholic priest you have ever met - a man who lounges in boxer shorts, who loves action movies, and whose constant jamming on the guitar reverberates "like a whole band dying in a plane crash in 1972". His daughter is an irreverent poet who long ago left the church's country. When an unexpected crisis leads her and her husband to move back into her parents' rectory, their two worlds collide.
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Terrible narration--read, don't listen
- By Penelope on 08-06-17
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How Long 'Til Black Future Month?
- Stories
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Shayna Small, Gail Nelson-Holgate, Robin Ray Eller, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights listeners with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.
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Great! One quibble with the audiobook editing
- By L on 03-05-19
By: N. K. Jemisin
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Unwind
- Unwind Dystology, Book 1
- By: Neal Shusterman
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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After America’s Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement. According to their Bill of Life, human life may not be terminated from the moment of conception until the age of thirteen. But between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, the child may be gotten rid of by their parent through a process called “unwinding.”
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Chilling, Scary, Difficult to Read
- By Joe on 11-11-20
By: Neal Shusterman
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A Fraction of the Whole
- By: Steve Toltz
- Narrated by: Colin McPhillamy, Craig Baldwin
- Length: 25 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Stewing in an Australian prison, Jasper Dean reflects on his relationship with his dead father and recounts the many zany adventures they shared together.
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A Funny and Thought-provoking Tale of Human Nature
- By Asha Ember on 01-27-10
By: Steve Toltz
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Stepping Stone & Love Machine
- Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, Sean Crisden
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Stepping Stone and Love Machine are but two of six fragments in the Crosstown to Oblivion short novels in which Walter Mosley entertainingly explores life’s cosmic questions. From life’s meaning to the nature of good and evil, these tales take us on speculative journeys beyond the reality we have come to know. In each tale, someone in our world today is given insight into these long pondered mysteries. But how would the world really receive the answers?
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Twilught Zone
- By F V Alexander on 06-02-21
By: Walter Mosley
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Been Wrong So Long It Feels Like Right
- A King Oliver Novel
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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Story
Joe King Oliver’s beloved Grandma B has found a tumor, and at her age, treatment is high-risk. She’s lived life fully and without regrets, and now has only a single, dying wish: to see her long-lost son. King has been estranged from his father, Chief Odin Oliver, since he was a young boy. He swore to never speak to the man again when he was taken away in handcuffs. But now, Grandma B’s pure ask has opened King’s heart, and through his hunt, he gains a deeper understanding of his father as a complicated, righteous man—a man defined by women, a man protected by women, a man he wants to know.
By: Walter Mosley
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Merge - Disciple
- Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Bernard K. Addison, JD Jackson
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Merge: Raleigh Redman loved Nicci Charbon until she left him heartbroken. Then he hit the lotto for 24 million dollars, quit his minimum-wage job, and set his sights on one goal: reading the entire collection of lectures in the Popular Educator Library. As Raleigh is trudging through the eighth volume, he notices something in his apartment that at first seems ordinary but quickly reveals itself to be from a world very different from our own. Disciple: Hogarth "Trent" Tryman is a 42-year-old man working a dead-end data-entry job. One night he receives a bizarre instant message. At first he thinks it's a joke, but in just a matter of days his life changes.
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Other Wordly ~
- By R. Pontiflet on 02-17-14
By: Walter Mosley
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Fortunate Son
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Lorraine Toussaint
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Tommy's nickname is Lucky, but no one would think this crippled boy was blessed. Cursed with health problems and drawn into trouble more often than not, Tommy is the recipient of pity rather than admiration. He is nothing like his stepbrother Eric.
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Very Disappointing
- By Myron on 05-27-06
By: Walter Mosley
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Touched
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Martin Just wakes up one morning after what feels like, and might actually be, a centuries-long sleep with two new innate pieces of knowledge: Humanity is a virus destined to destroy all existence. And he is the Cure. Martin begins slipping into an alternate consciousness, with new physical strengths, to violently defend his family—the only Black family in their neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles—against pure evil.
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Quick Good Read
- By Aimee W. Wallace-hodo on 12-05-23
By: Walter Mosley
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Devil in a Blue Dress
- An Easy Rawlins Mystery
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Michael Boatman
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Los Angeles, 1948: Easy Rawlins is a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant. Easy is drinking in a friend's bar, wondering how he'll meet his mortgage, when a white man in a linen suit walks in, offering good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Money, a blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs.
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Beware of Mysterious Sexy Women with Big Suitcases
- By Jefferson on 02-13-11
By: Walter Mosley
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Stepping Stone & Love Machine
- Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, Sean Crisden
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stepping Stone and Love Machine are but two of six fragments in the Crosstown to Oblivion short novels in which Walter Mosley entertainingly explores life’s cosmic questions. From life’s meaning to the nature of good and evil, these tales take us on speculative journeys beyond the reality we have come to know. In each tale, someone in our world today is given insight into these long pondered mysteries. But how would the world really receive the answers?
-
-
Twilught Zone
- By F V Alexander on 06-02-21
By: Walter Mosley
-
Been Wrong So Long It Feels Like Right
- A King Oliver Novel
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joe King Oliver’s beloved Grandma B has found a tumor, and at her age, treatment is high-risk. She’s lived life fully and without regrets, and now has only a single, dying wish: to see her long-lost son. King has been estranged from his father, Chief Odin Oliver, since he was a young boy. He swore to never speak to the man again when he was taken away in handcuffs. But now, Grandma B’s pure ask has opened King’s heart, and through his hunt, he gains a deeper understanding of his father as a complicated, righteous man—a man defined by women, a man protected by women, a man he wants to know.
By: Walter Mosley
-
Merge - Disciple
- Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Bernard K. Addison, JD Jackson
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Merge: Raleigh Redman loved Nicci Charbon until she left him heartbroken. Then he hit the lotto for 24 million dollars, quit his minimum-wage job, and set his sights on one goal: reading the entire collection of lectures in the Popular Educator Library. As Raleigh is trudging through the eighth volume, he notices something in his apartment that at first seems ordinary but quickly reveals itself to be from a world very different from our own. Disciple: Hogarth "Trent" Tryman is a 42-year-old man working a dead-end data-entry job. One night he receives a bizarre instant message. At first he thinks it's a joke, but in just a matter of days his life changes.
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Other Wordly ~
- By R. Pontiflet on 02-17-14
By: Walter Mosley
-
Fortunate Son
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Lorraine Toussaint
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tommy's nickname is Lucky, but no one would think this crippled boy was blessed. Cursed with health problems and drawn into trouble more often than not, Tommy is the recipient of pity rather than admiration. He is nothing like his stepbrother Eric.
-
-
Very Disappointing
- By Myron on 05-27-06
By: Walter Mosley
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Touched
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Martin Just wakes up one morning after what feels like, and might actually be, a centuries-long sleep with two new innate pieces of knowledge: Humanity is a virus destined to destroy all existence. And he is the Cure. Martin begins slipping into an alternate consciousness, with new physical strengths, to violently defend his family—the only Black family in their neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles—against pure evil.
-
-
Quick Good Read
- By Aimee W. Wallace-hodo on 12-05-23
By: Walter Mosley
-
Devil in a Blue Dress
- An Easy Rawlins Mystery
- By: Walter Mosley
- Narrated by: Michael Boatman
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Los Angeles, 1948: Easy Rawlins is a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant. Easy is drinking in a friend's bar, wondering how he'll meet his mortgage, when a white man in a linen suit walks in, offering good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Money, a blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs.
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Beware of Mysterious Sexy Women with Big Suitcases
- By Jefferson on 02-13-11
By: Walter Mosley
What listeners say about The Gift of Fire & On the Head of a Pin
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- l e m
- 08-18-16
Great story - telling
Two very good, very unpredictable short novels. Both would make great sci- fi movies. World shaking narratives, but very personal. Much to say about human values and morals.
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- mary
- 09-26-12
Love Mosley's take on science fiction and fantasy!
I've been a long time fan of this author. He has such a wonderful way of interpreting life. The first of these two short novels reflect his reinterpretation of Greek mythology in a wonderfully creative way. The second represents his take on the future. I listened to both stories multiple times and it was my introduction to both readers who I found to be highly competent. I especially liked Beresford Bennet. Of the two novellas, I found The Gift of Fire to be the most engaging. They were both too short and I hope sometime in the near future the author uses these as a basis for a full-length novel. I love Mr. Mosley's science fiction and fantasy work, even more than the Easy Rawlins series! Bravo!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kevin Palmer
- 10-13-21
Good, not great
Admittedly I only listened to the first story. It was entertaining but....meh. I wasn't that interested in Part 2. I'm still in WM's camp, but not this section. Meanwhile, I'm totally looking forward to the next Leonid McGill novel or meeting one of his other independent creations (like Johnny Fry, John Woman, or Debbie; all fantastic characters).
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