Showing results by narrator "Edward Miller" in All Categories

"One Basket" is a collection of numerous short stories by author Edna Ferber, published in 1947. All of them share the author's wonderful way with prose and tone, and most of them are about very ordinary men and women, living their daily lives... Especially the women, their hopes, fears, strength and weakness are brought to loving life by the author!

"Grimly Eric John Stark slogged toward that ancient Martian city.´With every step he cursed the talisman of Ban Cruach that flamed in his blood-stained belt. Behind him screamed the hordes of Ciaran, hungering for that magic jewel. Ahead lay the dread abode of the Ice Creatures. At his side stalked the whispering spectre of Ban Cruach, urging him on to a battle Stark knew he must lose!"... Welcome to the sci-fi world of Leigh Douglass Brackett and U.S. pulp fiction.

"Omnilingual" is an unusual sci-fi story as it focuses on archaeology on an alien culture. An expedition from Earth to Mars discovers a deserted city, the remains of an advanced civilization that died out 50,000 years before. The human scientists recover books and documents left behind, and are puzzled by their contents. Earnest young archeologist Martha Dane deciphers a few words, but the real breakthrough comes when the team explores what appears to have been a university in which the last few civilized Martians made their last stand...

"A Book of Nonsense" is a volume of limericks by author Edward Lear, published in 1846. Containing over a hundred hilarious verses suitable for both children and non-children; the author was a key figure in popularizing the form! Here is a delightful sample: "There was a young fellow named Tate Who dined with his girl, at 8.08 But I'd hate to relate What that fellow named Tate And his tête-à-tête ate at 8.08."

"The Road to Oz: In Which Is Related How Dorothy Gale of Kansas, The Shaggy Man, Button Bright, and Poly-chrome the Rainbow's Daughter Met on an Enchanted Road and Followed it All the Way to the Marvelous Land of Oz" is the fifth of L. Frank Baum's "Oz" books, published in 1909. As the long, complete title of the work says quite a bit about the wonderful proceedings in this work, there is no need for more than for the listener to just jump into it all and enjoy.

"A Witch Shall Be Born" is one of the original novels by Robert E. Howard about Conan the Cimmerian (a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian). The story concerns a witch replacing her twin sister as queen of a city state, which brings her into conflict with Conan who had been the captain of the queen's guard. Themes of paranoia, and the duality of the twin sisters are paramount in this story but it also includes elements of the conflict between barbarism and civilization that is common to the entire Conan series.

"The Homely Heroine" is a collection of four short stories by author Edna Ferber. The other three stories in the collection are: "A Bush League Hero", "What She Wore" and "The Man Who Came Back". All of them center around ordinary people, showing off both their courage, dignity and their shortcomings when facing challenges in life. A moving and thoughtful listening experience.

"The Lost Princess of Oz" begins with the disappearance of Princess Ozma, the ruler of Oz and covers Dorothy and the Wizard's efforts to find her. The introduction to the book states that its inspiration was a letter a little girl had written to Baum: "I suppose if Ozma ever got hurt or losted, everybody would be sorry..." Well, everyone is indeed sorry; and doing their utmost to find Ozma... find out if they do in this ravishing piece of entertainment!

"Rinkitink in Oz" is the tenth wonderful book of the Land of "Oz" series written by L. Frank Baum. The full and extended title says a bit about what's going on in this enchanting and more than slightly mad world: "Rinkitink in Oz: Wherein is Recorded the Perilous Quest of Prince Inga of Pingaree and King Rinkitink in the Magical Isles that Lie Beyond the Borderland of Oz". As always with the Oz audio books, the listener gets fully enveloped by the wonderfully strange surroundings and the equally strange and wonderful (not always, though!) persons.

"The Devil in Iron" is one of the original Conan the Cimmerian (a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian) books, published in 1934. The plot concerns the resurrection of a mythical demon due to the theft of a sacred dagger, and an unrelated trap - in the lovely form of a noble born sensational beauty called Octavia - that lures Conan to the island fortress roamed by the demon... Get ready for a wonderfully entertaining listening experience!

The Defenders is a 1953 science fiction novel by American master of the genre Philip K. Dick, and the basis for Dick's 1964 novel "The Penultimate Truth". (It is one of several of his stories to be expanded into a novel)... Eight years ago a nuclear war began between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. American survivors evacuated to gigantic bunkers miles under ground. Sophisticated, radioactivity-immune robots called "leadys" continue fighting the war on the devastated surface.

"The Emerald City of Oz" was published in 1910. It is the story of Dorothy and her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em coming to live in Oz permanently due to the impending loss of their farm in Kansas because of a terrible tornado. While they are toured through the Quadling Country, the Nome king is assembling allies for an invasion of Oz! In this adventure the listener is in for a real treat, meeting more of the wonderful inhabitants of Oz than ever before (as well as some of the scary folk from the underground Nome Kingdom).

"Personality Plus" is an early novel by American author Edna Ferber. Originally published in 1914, it chronicles the travels and events in the life of Emma McChesney. Ferber achieved her first successes with a series of stories centering on this character, a stylish and intelligent divorced mother who rises rapidly in business.

"The Knights of Arthur" by Frederik Pohl, published in 1958, is a humorous sci-fi tale. The sum total population of the entire U.S. is now less than 10,000(!) as the listener is taken on a wildly funny ride, an Arthurian quest, actually; but of a very eccentric nature indeed, as Arthur is an entity with very strong and particular opinions... without body and limbs, by the way.

"Emma McChesney and Company" is the third instalment in a series of novels about the independent career woman, mother and divorcee Emma McChesney, published in 1915 by author Edna Ferber, famed and loved for her beautiful descriptions of "ordinary women" and their lives. This work is no exception; here our heroine travels to Argentina to sell her products - petticoats and skirts - but will success be awaiting...? And what about romance...?

"Second Variety" is a short story by Philip K. Dick, first published in Space Science Fiction magazine, in 1953. A nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the West has reduced much of the world to a barren wasteland. The war continues, however, among the scattered remains of humanity. The Western forces have developed "claws", which are autonomous self-replicating robots to fight on their side. It is one of Dick's many stories in which nuclear war has rendered the Earth's surface uninhabitable.

"The Magic of Oz" relates the terrible attempt of the Munchkin boy Kiki Aru and former Nome King Ruggedo to conquer Oz... The terribly long, complete title of the book says it all, but not really... as always with L. Frank Baum, the magic is in the wonderful, eccentric and never-ending details!

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (commonly shortened to "Alice in Wonderland") tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children! It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. Its narrative course and structure, characters and imagery have been enormously influential.

Lord Tedric was a smith (both blacksmith and whitesmith) residing in a small town near a castle in a situation approximately equivalent to England of the 1200s. He received instruction in advanced metallurgy from a time-traveler that wanted to change the situation in his own time by modifying certain events of the past. From this instruction he was able to build better suits of armor and help defeat the villains of the piece.

"The Judas Valley" is a co-authored sci-fi story by Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett, published in magazine form in 1956. Our two heroes, Peter and Sherri, have to solve - and do it quickly! - the mystery behind the deaths of seasoned space personnel on a strangely peaceful planet; or else they are next in turn.