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Word Puppets
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
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Publisher's summary
Celebrated as the author of five acclaimed historical fantasy novels in the Glamourist series, Mary Robinette Kowal is also well-known as an award-winning author of short science fiction and fantasy. Her stories encompass a wide range of themes, a covey of indelible characters, and settings that span from Earth's past to its near and far futures as well as even farther futures beyond. Alternative history, fairy tales, adventure, fables, science fiction (both hard and soft), fantasy (both epic and cozy) - nothing is beyond the reach of her unique talent. Word Puppets - the first comprehensive collection of Kowal's extraordinary fiction - includes her two Hugo-winning stories, a Hugo nominee, an original story set in the world of "The Lady Astronaut of Mars", and 14 other show-stopping tales.
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Story
Oto leaves for boarding school with one plan: Excel and escape his cruel home. Falling in love with his roommate was certainly not on the agenda, but fear and shame force him to hide his love and true self. Back home, weighed down by the expectations of their wealthy and powerful family, the love of Oto's twin sister wavers, and, as their world begins to crumble around them, Oto must make drastic choices that will alter the family's lives for ever.
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Intriguing
- By Mary P Browne on 09-20-21
By: Buki Papillon
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Final Cuts
- New Tales of Hollywood Horror and Other Spectacles
- By: Ellen Datlow
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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From the secret reels of a notoriously cursed cinematic masterpiece to the debauched livestreams of modern movie junkies who will do anything for clicks, Final Cuts brings together new and terrifying stories inspired by the many screens we can't peel our eyes away from. Inspired by the rich golden age of the film and television industries as well as the new media present, this new anthology reveals what evils hide behind the scenes and between the frames of our favorite medium.
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Not Poor, Not Rich
- By Gary & Jay on 08-23-20
By: Ellen Datlow
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The Color of Dragons
- By: R. A. Salvatore, Erika Lewis
- Narrated by: Aline Stokes, John York
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Magic needs a spark. And Maggie’s powers are especially fickle. With no one to help her learn to control her magic, the life debt that she owes stretches eternally over her head, with no way to repay it. Until she meets Griffin, the king’s champion, infamous for hunting down the draignochs that plague their kingdom. Neither has any idea of the destiny that they both carry, or that their meeting will set off a chain of events that will alter every aspect of the life they know - and all of history thereafter.
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More please.
- By Allison on 10-24-21
By: R. A. Salvatore, and others
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Courting Catherine
- The Calhoun Women, Book 1
- By: Nora Roberts
- Narrated by: Kate Rudd
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Catherine "C.C." Calhoun is determined to keep her family's estate, known affectionately as the Towers, in the family. She admits the cost of keeping up the crumbling mansion might be quickly exceeding what C.C., her sisters and her aunt can afford, but the only way to save the house can't be to sell it. Especially not to arrogant and handsome hotel magnate Trenton St. James III.
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The narration is really annoying
- By Kate on 04-08-15
By: Nora Roberts
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The Beholder
- By: Anna Bright
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match. But after an excruciatingly public rejection, Selah’s stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic to visit a series of potential suitors - and if she doesn’t come home engaged, she shouldn’t come home at all. From the gardens of England to the fjords of Norge, Selah’s quest will be the journey of a lifetime. But her stepmother’s schemes aren’t the only secrets hiding belowdecks.
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A hot mess
- By Whimsical Dragonette on 07-07-19
By: Anna Bright
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The House Girl
- A Novel
- By: Tara Conklin
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The year is 2004: Lina Sparrow is an ambitious young lawyer working on a historic class-action lawsuit seeking reparations for the descendants of American slaves. The year is 1852: Josephine is a 17-year-old house slave who tends to the mistress of a Virginia tobacco farm - an aspiring artist named Lu Anne Bell. It is through her father, renowned artist Oscar Sparrow, that Lina discovers a controversy rocking the art world: Art historians now suspect that the revered paintings of Lu Anne Bell, an antebellum artist known for her humanizing portraits of the slaves who worked her Virginia tobacco farm, were actually the work of her house slave, Josephine.
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Disappointing
- By Jeanette Finan on 02-21-13
By: Tara Conklin
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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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Chosen Ones
- By: Veronica Roth
- Narrated by: Dakota Fanning
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifteen years ago, five ordinary teenagers were singled out by a prophecy to take down an impossibly powerful entity wreaking havoc across North America. He was known as the Dark One, and his weapon of choice - catastrophic events known as Drains - leveled cities and claimed thousands of lives. Chosen Ones, as the teens were known, gave everything they had to defeat him. After the Dark One fell, the world went back to normal...for everyone but them. Of the five, Sloane has had the hardest time adjusting.
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Same dull and depressed tone throughout
- By Thien-Nga Vo on 04-09-20
By: Veronica Roth
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Bloodleaf
- By: Crystal Smith
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Princess Aurelia is a prisoner to her crown and the heir that nobody wants. Surrounded by spirits and banned from using her blood-magic, Aurelia flees her country after a devastating assassination attempt. To escape her fate, Aurelia disguises herself as a commoner in a new land and discovers a happiness her crown has never allowed. As she forges new bonds and perfects her magic, she begins to fall for a man who is forbidden to rule beside her.
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Not Understanding All the Praise
- By GPChlorine on 08-23-19
By: Crystal Smith
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Daughter of the Sword
- A Novel of the Fated Blades
- By: Steve Bein
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Mariko Oshiro is not your average Tokyo cop. As the only female detective in the city’s most elite police unit, she has to fight for every ounce of respect, especially from her new boss. While she wants to track down a rumored cocaine shipment, he gives her the least promising case possible. But the case - the attempted theft of an old samurai sword - proves more dangerous than anyone on the force could have imagined.
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Beyond my expectations!
- By Professor on 10-06-12
By: Steve Bein
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The End and Other Beginnings
- Stories from the Future
- By: Veronica Roth
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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No world is like the other. Within this masterful collection, each setting is more strange and wonderful than the last, brimming with new technologies and beings. And yet, for all the advances in these futuristic lands, the people still must confront deeply human problems. In these six stories, Veronica Roth reaches into the unknown and draws forth something startlingly familiar and profoundly beautiful.
By: Veronica Roth
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Under the Water
- By: Paul Pen, Simon Bruni - translator
- Narrated by: James Daniels
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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From the outside, Frank and Grace seem to have the perfect family. He’s a loving husband, she’s a devoted wife, and together they have two happy children. But appearances can be deceiving. A strange series of misfortunes has left them reeling: an unexplained break-in, a catastrophic handgun accident, and a bizarre poisoning that’s left Grace feeling especially unnerved. Packing up their RV for a move across the country, they’re ready for a fresh start, expecting to leave all their problems safely behind.
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Good syuff
- By Kindle V C on 10-12-19
By: Paul Pen, and others
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Storm Glass
- By: Maria V. Snyder
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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As a glassmaker and a magician-in-training, Opal Cowen understands trial by fire. Now it's time to test her mettle. Someone has sabotaged the Stormdancer clan's glass orbs, killing their most powerful magicians. The Stormdancers--particularly the mysterious and mercurial Kade--require Opal's unique talents to prevent it happening again. But when the mission goes awry, Opal must tap in to a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening.
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Interesting character, no Gabra
- By Glenn J on 06-16-09
By: Maria V. Snyder
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Classic mystery, forward worldbuilding
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After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well. But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence? Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.
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I gave up
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The fantasy novel you’ve always wished Jane Austen had written. When Jane realizes that one of Melody’s suitors is set on taking advantage of her sister for the sake of her dowry, she pushes her skills to the limit of what her body can withstand in order to set things right—and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.
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Great if you love speculative fiction and Austen
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After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well. But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence? Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.
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What listeners say about Word Puppets
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- scott
- 02-27-24
I really like these short stories
As always I love the narration. I feel like she writes the story and all the characters have the right voices. I love the stories. All were really good. Also, I like this had some story to add to the Lady Astronaut series. Thank you so much for the stories you write!
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Nice Mix
I liked Mary Robinette's variety of stories. M. R. explores medieval time travel, death magic, AIs trying to learn puppeteering, and more. Something for everyone. My favorite was Body Language, the story that goes with the cover image.
Also love that she narrates her own work!
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- Tim
- 02-18-22
Good, sometimes intense.
The first couple stories weren't as polished as those of the author's novels I've read, but after that they're all refined in both the technical and artistic senses. Full of fun worlds and challenging themes. Some good jokes, and good characters to leaven the challenging stuff.
Patrick Rothfuss wrote a very good intro, but I wish he'd finish his own novel series already.
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- Misha
- 07-18-24
A glittering variety of stories!
Fairy tales, adventures,puzzles, sf alternate histories and more, yet all from a single mind. Splendid!
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- moneekyisis
- 07-28-21
awesome
please finish your short stories. I need to know what happens for every story. thanks.
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- Michael D. Johas Teener
- 11-17-23
Wonderful
Notation add, just wonderful. Great fantasy and great SF and among the best characters ever. Great voice acting, too.
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- Thomas G Stratton
- 05-09-22
Mary Robinette's short fiction is...
...as good as it gets. Brilliant, imaginative sci-fi and fantasy, with a soft, tender core of humanity.
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- Robert
- 12-03-22
Reviving my faith in SF
MRK is among the finest true SF authors writing today. Original, yet true to the SF tradition. A rousing storyteller while inviting the listener to feel the emotions of the story. I eagerly await each of her books. And she's a terrific narrator as well, of her own and the works of others. Brava!
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- Dan L.
- 12-07-22
Great collection of short stories
All very different and interesting in vastly different ways. I enjoyed them all while at the same time many made me cry
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