Voices of Today

Infinite Lubricity The Fluid of Salvation (Greasepolis, Book 9) By Otto Handley Narrated by Gregory Dwyer In the surreal academic landscape of Tumbarumba, history professor Stella Pontifex discovers that grease is not merely a culinary byproduct but a metaphysical archive of human memory. As the world suffers from “The Great Sizzle” and a subsequent “thinning” of reality known as attenuation, Stella is contacted by the spirits of legendary Grease Prophets like Frank and Glen. These apparitions warn her that corporate interests and a fanatical cult, the Way of Dryness, are draining the universe of its viscosity and historical depth. To prevent existence from becoming a brittle, unseasoned husk, Stella must travel through bureaucratic afterlives and commercialised voids to understand how to preserve cosmic lubricity. Ultimately, she becomes a quiet custodian of memory, using her scholarly discipline to mend the shimmering currents of a world threatened by spiritual evaporation.

The Myth of the Resurrection and Other Essays By Joseph McCabe Narrated by Oberon Michaels In one of his most celebrated assertions the Apostle Paul wrote: “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (From 1 Corinthians 15) In this collection of essays skeptical scholar Joseph McCabe examines three contentious issues related to the assertions of the apostle: - The historicity of the Resurrection - The historicity of Jesus - The rapid spread of Christianity Using the tools of historical analysis, McCabe concludes that the claims about both the identity and resurrection of Jesus rest on shaky ground, and that myths about dying and rising gods occur frequently in pre-Christian history.

The Classical Monologues By Robert Browning Read by Evan and Marie Blackmore Robert Browning was fascinated by people—not only people of his own day, but also people who had lived in the remote past. Five of his famous dramatic monologues are spoken by characters from the ancient Classical world: a Greek goddess (Artemis), a Roman senator (in “Imperante Augusto Natus Est—“), an Arab physician (Karshish), a Greek poet (Cleon), and the last surviving eyewitness of Jesus Christ (in “A Death in the Desert”). They probe many different questions, especially regarding the transition from paganism to Christianity. How did such a change happen? And how might it have struck contemporaries? As a supplement, the collection also includes “Bishop Blougram's Apology” (sometimms called the greatest of all Browning's monologues), which pursues many of the same issues down to his own day. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Classical-Monologues-Audiobook/B0GVL14D6K

The Cavalier Poets Collected and edited by Thomas W. Parrott Read by Denis Daly The poets whose work is included in this collection were contemporaries of John Milton and were active during the reigns of Charles I and Charles II and the intervening period of the Commonwealth. While Milton expressed his disdain for these light-hearted lyrics, they display a compelling and ingenuous charm which has been rarely equalled. Contents 1 - Introduction by Thomas W. Parrott 2 - To his Mistress the Queen of Bohemia by Sir Henry Wotton 3 - Ask me no more by Thomas Carew 4 - Two poems by Sir John Suckling 5 - Two poems by Richard Lovelace 6 - Six Poems by Robert Herrick 7 - On a Girdle by Edmund Waller 8 - Two poems by George Herbert 9 - Peace by Henry Vaughan The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Cavalier-Poets-Audiobook/B0FV2299XP

A Victorian Miscellany Selected and edited by Thomas W. Parrott Read by Denis Daly During the Victorian era many authors tried their hand at a range of literary genres, including poetry. Many of the authors whose work is represented in this collection are famous for their activity in other genres, eg. Macaulay as a historian, Stevenson as a writer of classic adventure novels, John Henry Newman as a theologian and Kingsley and Thackeray as novelists. The most notable contributors who are known primarily as poets are Arnold and Swinburne. While Victorian verse is often less elegant and graceful than the lyric productions of earlier centuries, it has a distinctive note of earnestness and humanistic charm. Contents 1 - Introduction by Thomas W. Parrott 2 - 3 poems by Matthew Arnold 3 - 4 poems by Walter Savage Landor 4 - The Sea by Bryan Wallace Proctor 5 - The Battle of Naseby by Thomas Babington Macaulay 6 - 3 poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 7 - The End of the Play by William Makepeace Thackeray 8 - 2 poems by Charles Kingsley 9 - 2 poems by Dante Gabriel Rossetti 10 - Riding Together by William Morris 11 - 3 poems by Algernon Charles Swinburne 12 - 2 poems by Robert Louis Stevenson 13 - Lead Kindly Light by John Henry Newman 14 - Recessional by Rudyard Kipling The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/A-Victorian-Miscellany-Audiobook/B0G2F9VWCT

An Elizabethan Miscellany Selected and edited by Thomas W. Parrott Read by Denis Daly Shakespeare's dominance during the Elizabethan era has overshadowed the works of many of his truly gifted contemporaries. This collection features poems covering a wide range of subjects, including love songs, wedding songs and meditations on death, presented in a variety of forms. 1 - Introduction by Thomas W. Parrott 2 - My True Love hath my Heart by Sir Philip Sidney 3 - Rosalind's Madrigal by Thomas Lodge 4 - In Time of Pestilence by Thomas Nash 5 - The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Chistopher Marlowe 6 - O Sweet Content by Thomas Dekker 7 - Two poems by Ben Jonson 8 - Good Morrow by Thomas Heywood 9 - Lines on the Tombs in Westminster by Francis Beaumont 10 - Roses, Their Sharp Spines being Gone, by John Fletcher 11 - Two poems by Michael Drayton The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/An-Elizabethan-Miscellany-Audiobook/B0FRPNDTVB

History and Beliefs of the Major Religions By Warren Scholl Narrated by Oberon Michaels Warren Scholl's pamphlet on world religions was published in 1924, and reflects the spiritual philosophies and membership levels of the day. The author provides succinct and accessible summaries of the doctrines of each faith, which are totally free of apologetic bias. The religions discussed are as follows: Confucianism Mohammedanism Hinduism Animism Buddhism Taoism Shintoism Judaism Miscellaneous Religions Christianity The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/History-and-Beliefs-of-the-Major-Religions-Audiobook/B0G2TF2MZP

Who Should Have Been Poet Laureate? Collected and edited by Evan Blackmore Narrated by Evan Blackmore In 1892, Alfred Tennyson, the official Poet Laureate of Great Britain, died. According to custom, a new Laureate now had to be chosen by the Prime Minister. But on this occasion, uniquely, there was a problem. Many different candidates for the position were suggested, but for several years, none were chosen. In this recording, we listen to selected poems by Tennyson himself and by ten writers nominated to succeed him: A. C. Swinburne, William Morris, John Ruskin, Austin Dobson, Rudyard Kipling, Alice Meynell, Edwin Arnold, Lewis Morris, Alfred Austin, and Robert Bridges. If you had been Prime Minister, whom would you have chosen? The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/Who-Should-Have-Been-Poet-Laureate-Audiobook/B0G5BCZ868

Marx's Capital: Hegelian Sources By Andy Blunden Narrated by Gary MacFadden and Denis Daly This is sequel to another volume by Andy Blunden, The Capital/Logic Debate. In this book, the author provides a systematic presentation of the Hegelian structure of the three volumes of Capital. It is shown that Capital contains three distinct layers of structure, originating from Marx's reading of Hegel's Logic and his Philosophy of Right. Capital reflects Marx's critique of the Political Economists, his unique appropriation of economic history and an application of the method outlined by Hegel in his Logic and applied to his Encyclopaedia. These insights into Capital are presented here for the first time. ©2025 Andy Blunden (P)2025 Gary MacFadden The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/Marxs-Capital-Hegelian-Sources-Audiobook/B0FZNNLJ4G

The Vision of Piers Plowman By William Langland Narrated by Evan Blackmore Butchers, bakers, brewers, businessmen, farmers, fabric workers, entertainers, comedians, gluttons, lechers, spongers and swindlers, prostitutes and parasites, the pope and his priests, the king and his courtiers, compete for attention in this lively and subversive vision of corruption in fourteenth-century England. The popular tale was altered, expanded, and imitated many times. This recording presents the initial two-dream Vision of Piers Plowman in its simplest and clearest form (the A-text), translated by W. A. Neilson, with an appendix of supplementary episodes from the later B and C texts. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Vision-of-Piers-Plowman-Audiobook/B0FZDPC161

The Autobiography of Charles Darwin Read by Oberon Michaels The original title of this text was Recollections of the Development of my Mind and Character. This memoir was intended for Darwin's family and was written between May and August 1876. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Autobiography-of-Charles-Darwin-Audiobook/B0FVBF9PRL

Debunking the Lourdes Miracles and Other Articles By Joseph McCabe Read by Oberon Michaels Lourdes is a town in south-western France which in 1858 became the site of one of the most famous Marian apparitions. The recipient of the vision, Bernadette Soubirous, was directed to start digging in a cave, and a spring was uncovered. The waters of the spring gained the reputation of possessing healing properties, and subsequently Lourdes has become one of the most popular Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world. In the opening essay of this collection, celebrated skeptic and scholar Joseph McCabe turns his acerbic investigative eye on these events and challenges the validity of many of the healings. This collection also includes three other short essays on other religio-political issues and an article about McCabe by J.V. Nash. Contents Debunking the Lourdes Miracles The Church in Mexico England's Religious Census The Cowardice of American Scientists The Views and Philosophy of Joseph McCabe by J. V. Nash The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/Debunking-the-Lourdes-Miracles-and-Other-Articles-Audiobook/B0FZMJ88DP

The Four Last Things And a few more. By Otto Handley Read by Graham Scott Where do we go after we die? In this story, the recently deceased Oscar Whatmore is judged as worthy of admission to Heaven. But is the posthumous paradise a realm of unalloyed happiness? And is Hell as dire as it is usually portrayed? Oscar decides to find out. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Four-Last-Things-Audiobook/B0GWKH7Y1R

The Virgin and the Gypsy By D. H. Lawrence Narrated by Patrick Barker Yvette, daughter of the Anglican rector of an East Midlands village, is awakened to the possibilities of life and love by an encounter with a dark, handsome gypsy. Published shortly after Lawrence's death in 1930, this short novel was written in 1926 and was a precursor to Lady Chatterley's Lover. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Virgin-and-the-Gypsy-Audiobook/B0GT6DVYBQ

The Protestant Pope By Tom Lindsay Narrated by Denis Daly In a world weighed down by centuries of doctrine and power, a boy from Belfast makes an unexpected journey marked by social and personal upheaval. Born of Protestant roots and forged in suffering, his life challenges the boundaries of faith, tradition, and institutional control. Through violence, doubt, silence, and revelation, he comes to represent a truth that transcends denomination, a truth whispered in every tradition yet owned by none. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Protestant-Pope-Audiobook/B0FZDJWKTL

The Shorter Byron Lyrical and Other Poems Satirical and Occasional Verse Letters Selected and Edited by Ernest Rhys Narrated by Denis Daly This collection contains a wide range of pieces, demonstrating Byron's versatility in form and expression. Also included is a selection of Byron's letters to colleagues, friends and lovers, which show the poet in his more revealing and unguarded moments. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Shorter-Byron-Audiobook/B0GF3MSXQ1

This is the story of Edgar Blunt, an ordinary man who discovers an annotated anthology of philosophy and becomes obsessed with achieving virtue through rigid interpretations of Aristotelian concepts. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Man-Who-Tried-to-Impress-Aristotle-Audiobook/B0GPRHYFB9

What might happen if a sceptical medical professional met G. K. Chesterton? This narrative explores the intellectual and moral tension between flamboyant philosophy and the quiet discipline of maintenance. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Man-Who-Tried-to-Impress-G-K-Chesterton-Audiobook/B0GPZ2286Z

One day Gregory Thistlethwaite, an unremarkable student, experiences a life changing auditory hallucination – Jordan Peterson orders him to clean his room. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Man-Who-Tried-to-Impress-Jordan-Peterson-Audiobook/B0GF35F1Q3

The Middle Ages was the high point of papal power. Pope Blatantly IV plans to reclaim this level of control by an ambitious plan of territorial expansion and theocratic overreach. He is opposed by Frank, the Grease Prophet who sets up the Grease Underground. The conflict culminates in a "Greasequake," which triggers the forced resignation of Blatantly IV, and the final scene suggests a return to theological harmony as Grace and Grease emulsify. This is the eighth volume in the alternative fantasy series The Greasepolis Chronicles. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/Sliding-into-Sin-Audiobook/B0GVKXDQG3

This is a tale of a highly metafictional conflict concerning language, consciousness, and theological viscosity. A computer programmer liberates the letter V, causing a global linguistic crisis where meaning and grammar collapse. This is the seventh volume in the alternative fantasy series The Greasepolis Chronicles. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/Verbosity-Unchained-Audiobook/B0GKCD58L3

In this instalment of the Greasepolis Chronicles, Grease itself starts to become sentient. It forms a commission, which opposes itself to the original apostles of grease, Frank and Glen. The story investigates the difficult search for a lasting equilibrium between matter and meaning, This is the sixth volume in the alternative fantasy series The Greasepolis Chronicles. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/Escape-into-Sentience-Audiobook/B0GJT34SBS

In this story, Frank, the prophet of the way of Grease, meet his most fearsome opponent: the Pope himself. The Vatican seeks destroy Frank and his movement, and establish a universal way of dryness. The Vatican's regulatory efforts eventually fail when a "Great Grease Schism" culminates in Rome being flooded by "holy viscosity". This is the fifth volume in the alternative fantasy series The Greasepolis Chronicles. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/A-Papal-Emulsification-Audiobook/B0GJ6ZW55X

A note, C sharp, escapes from the tonal palette, causing a worldwide collapse of sonic systems. Various parties, including the Bureau of Eclectic Notation, Detective Fiddlefaddle, the Fryer Prophet Frank, and the adverbial entity Softly collaborate to resolve this crisis between pitch and substance. This is the fourth volume in the alternative fantasy series The Greasepolis Chronicles. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Distress-of-the-Sharp-Audiobook/B0GFXNH228

Greasepolis III: The Wombat Ultimatum is set in a world governed by culinary principles. An elaborate linguistic and theological crisis occurs when a rogue faction of wombats, led by the charismatic tobacconist Runciman, abducts the sacred adverb Softly to demand political rights, academic degrees, and tax relief, causing global grammatical panic. This is the third volume in the alternative fantasy series The Greasepolis Chronicles. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Wombat-Ultimatum-Audiobook/B0GFXWJ1PM

In this enthralling narrative a conflict erupts between the forces of flavour and imperfection (represented by the prophets Frank and Glen the Fryer) and the forces of order and blandness (led by the metaphysical entity Softly, the Adverb, and the Bureau of Blandness). This is the second volume in the alternative fantasy series The Greasepolis Chronicles. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Fryer-Ascends-Audiobook/B0GF34XWRB

A humble carpet salesman, Glen receives a unique divine calling. It begins when he receives a hot chip that ignites a new faith based on the theology of grease and viscosity, centred around the search for the elusive spiritual mentor, Frank. After a pilgrimage to Moonee Ponds, Glen finally encounters Frank, who reveals that true holiness lies not in spectacular fire but in the humble act of shared cooking and acceptance of life's messiness. This is the first volume in the alternative fantasy series The Greasepolis Chronicles. The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Story-of-Glen-Audiobook/B0GF3HR5WJ

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/wehdg The Twins of Emu Plains By Mary Grant Bruce Narrated by Lyndal Curran Doolan Twins Jean and Jo Weston are fifteen-year-old country girls who are just finishing their first year at boarding school in Melbourne. They receive bad news from their father: due to drought the farm at Emu Plains is struggling, and next year they will need to stay home and help around the property. They will also be required to tutor their little brother, Billy. But just before they leave for home, Helen Forester, their school captain, makes a suggestion. Her little brother Rex will need looking after during the next year, and Emu Plains might be just the place for him. Helen says that her wealthy parents, who live overseas, would be willing to cover any expenses and Rex could be an ideal chum for Billy. The girls conclude an arrangement with Mrs. Forrester, but without telling their parents. The scene is set for a tumultuous return home and a tremendous battle with the ongoing drought, a common feature of rural life in Australia.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/26n9d One Poet, One Poem Narrated by Evan and Marie Blackmore This collection includes favorite English-language poems by 178 favorite authors, beginning with Sir Philip Sidney and the Countess of Pembroke in Elizabethan times, and ending with T. S. Eliot and Marianne Moore in the twentieth century. Cavaliers and Puritans, a famous king and a pilloried criminal, soulful lovers and sharp-witted satirists, Shakespeare and Jonson, Milton and Marvell, David Garrick and Rabindranath Tagore, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Christina Rossetti—all are here, in one constantly changing kaleidoscope of brilliant verse.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/p7yu0m The Last of the Bushrangers An Account of the Capture of the Kelly Gang By Francis Augustus Hare Narrated by Gregory Dwyer The book is written in the first person, giving a detailed, autobiographical account of Hare's experiences as a superintendent in the Victorian Mounted Police, particularly during the pursuit and final capture of the Kelly Gang. Hare's account offers insights into the social and criminal landscape of colonial Victoria, the operations of the police force, and the complexities of pursuing outlaws who were both feared and, by some, romanticized.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/trkcww The Eureka Stockade By Raffaello Carboni Narrated by Gregory Dwyer A firsthand account of the 1854 Eureka Rebellion in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Carboni, an Italian revolutionary and participant in the uprising, wrote the book to document the miners' struggle against the colonial authorities. The story captures the miners' frustrations over oppressive mining licenses, police corruption, and lack of representation. It details the events leading up to the violent clash at the Eureka Stockade, where miners built a makeshift fort and confronted government troops. Although the rebellion was crushed, it became a significant symbol of resistance and led to reforms in mining laws and democratic rights. Carboni's narrative offers a passionate, personal perspective on the fight for justice and equality.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/2nmll A Manual of Buddhism By Dudley Wright Narrated by Oberon Michaels Buddhism has a vast array of scriptures but a relatively small body of essential doctrines. In this short treatise, the author presents a systematic introduction to Buddhist teaching, commencing with a discussion of the Noble Eightfold Path. Other topics include the Buddhist views of God and enlightenment, and the practice of Buddhism in the world of today. Dudley Wright (1868-1949) wrote extensively on a wide variety of religious subjects and was also active as an investigator of the paranormal. He was a practising Freemason, who believed that all religions shared a common basis.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/lcn3y8 The Real Jefferson Davis By Landon Knight Narrated by Ron Altman Jefferson Davis (1808 - 1889) was an American politician who became president of the Confederate States during the Civil War. He took his seat in Congress as the representative for Mississippi in 1847. As a Democrat, Davis was an enthusiastic supporter of the expansion of slavery. In 1861 he resigned from the Senate when the state of Mississippi seceded. During the Civil War Davis acted as chief executive and commander in chief for the Confederacy. After the war, he was captured and charged with treason. He was imprisoned for two years but was released under the terms of a general pardon from President Andrew Johnson before his case had come to court. In later years he supported himself with speaking tours and involvement in various business enterprises. Because of his agressive advocacy for the continuation of slavery, today Davis is not generally viewed favourably. Many of the memorials to him have been removed in recent years. This disapprobation has obscured Davis' undoubted abilities as politician and the extent of his influence as a notable public figure of his time.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Kobo.com: https://n9.cl/3r9bmr The Complete Love Sonnets of Michael Drayton by Michael Drayton Narrated by Evan Blackmore As he himself said, Drayton's sonnets are the most “sportive” of the great Elizabethan love poems, “ever in motion,” by turns “wild, madding, jocund, and irregular,” yet maintaining a universality and sturdy good sense that have spoken to the hearts of hearers and readers for four centuries. This recording includes in full not only his famous final collection, Idea (1619), but also the earlier Idea's Mirror (1594), as well as the various love sonnets that he wrote on other occasions.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com. https://n9.cl/blkbp On Our Selection By Steele Rudd Narrated by Gregory Dwyer On Our Selection is a collection of humorous short stories by Australian author Steele Rudd. It follows the trials and tribulations of the Rudd family, pioneers carving out a living in the Australian bush. The book humorously depicts the struggles of farming life, the resilience of the settlers, and the quirks of rural Australian society.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/ihyo2 Cynthia Wakeham's Money By Anna Katharine Green Narrated by Bonnie Trost This classic crime novel features the detective Ebenezer Grice, one of Anna Katherine Green's recurring characters.A young lawyer is summoned to draw up the will of an elderly and infirm woman. She directs that all her property be bequeathed to her sister. At the end of the consultation, the woman dies. When the heir goes missing, it is suspected that the woman's death was not due to natural causes. Further investigation reveals that the woman and her sister were trapped in a reclusive lifestyle by a promise exacted by their uncaring and overbearing father. Each woman had a lover whom she wished to marry, but the unions were frustrated by the demands of the father. A major sinister figure is the woman's brother, who stands to gain from the death of the sister.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/38xmp Memory: How to Develop, Train and Use It By William Walker Atkinson Narrated by Denis Daly Although the many works of New Thought author William Walker Atkinson (1862-1932) have generally been classified as self-help texts, their true focus tends to be self-development. This book on memory is not a catalogue of mnemonic techniques but rather a survey of its whole structure and operation. In the first chapter, Atkinson writes: "We see that the cultivation of memory is far more than the cultivation and development of a single mental faculty—it is the cultivation and development of our entire mental being—the development of our selves."

The complete audiobook is available at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/93z5vd Dr Thorndyke Intervenes By R. Austin Freeman Narrated by Graham Scott The great medical jurist Dr John Thorndyke must unravel three intricate cases, as a wealthy American attempts to prove a preposterous claim to an English earldom, based only upon a startlingly tall old family tale; a hundredweight of platinum, worth a fortune, is stolen; and, most bizarrely of all, a severed human head is discovered in a box in the left luggage office of London's Fenchurch Street Station...

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/cvvrl Sea Spray and Smoke Drift By A.L. Gordon Narrated by Gregory Dwyer Sea Spray and Smoke Drift is a collection of poetry. The book showcases Gordon's deep connection to nature, the sea, and the rugged Australian landscape. His verses explore themes of courage, adventure, and personal struggle, often reflecting his own turbulent life. The poems, characterized by their vivid imagery and rhythmic flow, capturing the spirit of colonial Australia. Notable pieces like “A Song of Autumn” and “The Swimmer” highlight his skill of lyrical storytelling. The collection remains a significant contribution to Australian literature, celebrated for its emotional depth and evocative language.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/64qr4 While the Billy Boils By Henry Lawson Narrated by Gregory Dwyer While the Billy Boils (1896) is a collection of short stories by Australian writer Henry Lawson, portraying life in the Australian outback during the late 19th century. The stories, written with a real touch of dry humor, focus on the struggles of bush workers, swagmen, shearers, and settlers. Lawson captures the themes of rural life, of isolation, resilience, and mateship. It highlights the everyday hardships and quiet heroism of the ordinary Australians. The collection remains a significant work in Australian literature, shaping national identity and bush storytelling traditions.

The complete audiobook can be purchased at Audible .com: https://n9.cl/a2vut The Girls By Edna Ferber Narrated by Martha H. Weller The Girls is the story of three spinsters living in Chicago—an aunt, her niece, and her niece's niece. The aunt has memories of the Civil War, and all three women have adjusted to the outbreak of the First World War. Generational changes, particularly in regard to romantic attachments, are a central feature of the book, which is also a fascinating portrait of the Chicago lifestyle of the time. The emerging political and social power of women is also a significant feature of the story.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/ijxnp Sea Garden By H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) Read by Nancy Beard Hilda Doolittle was an American poet and novelist who was one of the founders of the Imagist movement, which includes such poetic luminaries as Ezra Pound and Richard Aldington, with both of whom Doolittle had romantic relationships. Sea Garden, a collection of 27 short poems, was published in 1916. The verse is characterized by an economy of expression and frequent allusions to Greek myths.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/yjpgf The Escaped Cock By D. H. Lawrence Narrated by Patrick Barker The Escaped Cock is Lawrence's take on resurrection, the life-force, and sexuality. The man who has been crucified wakes up in the garden wounded and weakened. Disillusioned with his old companions and inspired by the zest for life of the escaped cock of the title, he decides to live anew. Journeying to the sea, he stumbles on a temple of Isis, where its priestess, who mistakes him for the lost Egyptian god Osiris, introduces him to the pleasures of the flesh. Published in 1929, The Escaped Cock (also published as The Man Who Died) was Lawrence's last major work of fiction before his untimely death in 1930.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/fue3r The Land By Vita Sackville-West Narrated by Patrick Barker Vita Sackville-West's book length poem celebrates the landscapes and produce of the Weald of Kent. Divided into four parts—Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn—it paints a vivid picture of the Kentish countryside across the year and the farming practices of the Kentish folk eking out a living on its unpredictable clayey soils. Published in 1926, the poem was a great success, winning the Hawthornden Prize for Literature and going through six print runs in three years.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/p0g1y The Jane Austen Omnibus Narrated by Catherine Bilson, Terah Tucker, Sarah Jane Rose, Graham Scott, Denis Daly and Linda Barrans. Jane Austen commenced writing in her adolescence and continued right up to her untimely death in 1817. Her novels are reflections of the socially constricted world in which she lived, and the plots are built around the search of one or more young women for a suitable spouse. Austen's works are noted for the perceptive elegance of her prose and for vigor and detail of characterization. Celebrated critic F. R. Leavis considered Austen as one of the four great English novelists, along with George Eliot, Henry James, and Joseph Conrad. This collection contains the following titles: Sense and Sensibility (1811) Pride and Prejudice (1813) Mansfield Park and Lovers' Vows (1814) Emma (1816) Works published posthumously: Northanger Abbey (1818) Persuasion (1818) Lady Susan (1871) Unfinished works: The Watsons (1871); completed by L. Oulton (1923) Sanditon: Fragment of a Novel (1925)

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/oind6 The Pageants By William Shakespeare Comprising multicast performances of Henry V and Henry VIII Shakespeare's history plays fall into two categories: political dramas and propagandistic pageants. The second category is comprised of the two plays in this presentation, Henry V and Henry VIII. These two plays have many elements in common. An underlying theme is the necessity and glory of government by sovereign royalty. Each play is presented by a chorus, who defines the action and intent of the drama. Rather than a continuous narrative the action is depicted in a series of tableaux, each of which seeks to illustrate a positive aspect of the monarch's character. In each play an early part of the action involves the detection of treason and the punishment of the malefactors, presented as examples of the king's shrewdness and rigorous sense of justice. Henry V, originally titled The Life of Henry the Fifth, tells the story of the king's successful incursion into France to regain control of the territories claimed by the English crown, and his consolidation of his position by marrying the daughter of the King of France. Despite its references to the horror of military conflict, the mood of the play is generally bright and upbeat, although in the final speech the Chorus warns that much of this glory will be lost under the rule of Henry VI. Henry VIII, first published as The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth, was a joint production by Shakespeare and John Fletcher. It appears to have been written in 1612-1613. During a production of the play at the Globe Theatre in 1613, a cannon was discharged, resulting in a fire which burned the building to the ground. The action of Henry VIII focuses on three major events: The allegation of treason against the Duke of Buckingham, and his subsequent conviction and execution; Henry's concern over the failure of his wife Katharine of Aragon to produce a male heir, his desire to divorce her and to marry the much younger Anne Bullen (Boleyn); and the birth of Anne's child, the future Queen Elizabeth I. All references to Anne Bullen's fall from grace and execution and to Henry's subsequent marriages are strictly avoided. Henry is presented as a thoughtful and capable sovereign, somewhat overbearing, but genuinely troubled by the thought that his marriage to Katharine may have been canonically improper. Featuring Blaise Doran as Henry V and Josh Innerst as Henry VIII. Audio edited by Denis Daly.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/ohdqkm The Dunciad In Four Books Edited by George Gilfillan By Alexander Pope Read by Denis Daly Alexander Pope was fiercely critical of writers whom he considered to have little talent and whom he liked to nominate as dunces. His most encyclopedic examination of these apostles of dullness is the Dunciad, a long satirical saga first published in a three book version in 1728. A variorium edition followed shortly afterwards in 1729. In 1742 Pope added a fourth book and a new complete edition was published in 1743. The concept of an excoriation of dullness in mock heroic form appears to have been inspired by John Dryden's MacFlecknoe or, A satyr upon the True-Blue-Protestant Poet, T.S. (1682). Dryden's target was the poet and low-brow playright Thomas Shadwell, who later replaced Dryden as Poet Laureate in 1688. In Pope's view dullness is at war with reason, and he nominates Lewis Theobald and Colley Cibber as the champions of insipidity. In the words of editor George Gilfillan: "The "Dunciad" is in many respects the ablest, the most elaborate, and the most characteristic of Pope's poems. In embalming insignificance and impaling folly he seems to have found, at last, his most congenial work."

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/qjs3vd Jonah By Louis Stone Narrated by Gregory Dwyer A wonderful character-filled novel of Larrikin life in the poorer areas of early Sydney.Johah describes the social atmosphere of many of the working class, and in particular traces the change in the main character of Jonah, a hunchback, from his beginnings in life as a “streetarab” to rising successfully in the world of business with his own street smarts. The narrative reflects many social views of the time, some of which may be considered unacceptable today, but the author's writing brings a real-life and identifiable cheerfulness in his characters. His expectation that a person's better qualities will eventually find expression remains engaging to the audience of today.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/0dwpd Mornings in Mexico By D. H. Lawrence Narrated by Patrick Barker D. H. Lawrence's homage to his travels in Mexico and the American southwest. The first four essays are products of a short visit to Oaxaca in Mexico. The following three, which include Lawrence's classic account of the Hopi snake dance, are set in New Mexico. In the last essay, Lawrence remembers Saint Catherine's Day at the ranch in Taos from the vantage point of his new residence in Italy. All are written in an inimitable style which combines acute observation and sardonic humour with Lawrence's often eccentric views on culture and philosophy.

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/k626f Few of Emily Dickinson's poems were published in her lifetime. Her posthumous fame is largely due to the efforts of her editors and supporters Thomas W. Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd. In the foreword to this second collection, published in 1891, Mabel Loomis Todd wrote: “The eagerness with which the first volume of Emily Dickinson's poems has been read shows very clearly that all our alleged modern artificiality does not prevent a prompt appreciation of the qualities of directness and simplicity in approaching the greatest themes—life and love and death. That “irresistible needle-touch,” as one of her best critics has called it, piercing at once the very core of a thought, has found a response as wide and sympathetic as it has been unexpected even to those who knew best her compelling power. This second volume, while open to the same criticism as to form with its predecessor, shows also the same shining beauties.” Narrators: Larry Wilson Lyndal Curran Doolan Martha H. Weller Amy Soakes Kylie Elliott Margaret Wakeley Lee Ann Howlett Linda Barrans Ron Altman Nancy Beard Gary MacFadden Terah Tucker Denis Daly Gregory Dwyer Charlie Albers JaeAudio

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://n9.cl/2ecoy For the Term of His Natural Life His Natural Life By Marcus Clarke Narrated by Gregory Dwyer For the Term of His Natural Life can be described as a “ripping yarn.” While it relies on slightly unrealistic coincidences, the story follows the (mis)fortunes of Rufus Dawes, a young man transported for a murder he did not commit. The story also explores the harsh environment and the often inhumane treatment meted out to the convicts in the early penal settlements, some of whom were transported for minor crimes. The appalling conditions experienced by the convicts are graphically described. But the story also involves a heartfelt rescue and its long-term consequences.