Audiobooks narrated by Chirag Patel

Perfect Your Writing: How to be a stylish, insightful and convincing writer.

Are you keen to perfect your writing? This audiobook will teach you how to be a stylish, insightful and convincing writer. This compilation includes Twain's On the Decay of the Art of Lying, Strunk's The Elements of Style, and Bennett's The Author's Craft - all in one. The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr first clarifies the writer's understanding of how to - correctly. In it, Strunk has laid a detailed, essential map, one he believed pays off, for in unlocking the secrets of style, one opens the terrain for mastery of literature.Now over a century since its first publication, the book is anything but outdated, as it is still widely used today – just testament to Strunk’s timeless knowledge and mastery with the pen.'The skilled observer ... does not have to change his mind.' – Arnold Bennett.The Author's Craft is Arnold Bennett’s four-part writing tutorial. As an esteemed journalist, novelist and playwright, he believed truly 'Seeing Life' primed the pen, out of which 'Writing Novels', 'Writing Plays' and 'The Artist and The Public' emerge. In the exposition, he expands on how to see the world, and how to not overlook the details most miss… These skills and techniques give rise to the craft he feels the author is really trying to achieve: art.Mark Twain’s “On the Decay of the Art of Lying” was his wryly told essay on why he felt the world needs educated lying, published in 1880 for a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, Connecticut. The way he saw it, everyone lies at some point in their lives. Twain decided that lying could be a valuable skillset in various different arenas - provided you knew how to do it well, and didn’t try to hurt anybody. As he put it, 'What chance has the ignorant uncultivated liar against the educated expert? What chance have I against Mr. Per—against a lawyer? Judicious lying is what the world needs.'

Arnold Bennett, Mark Twain, William Strunk Jr (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Folk Punk, literary style: The Poetry of Pat ‘The Bunny’ Schneeweis AKA Johnny Hobo

There are artists out there able to lift the spirits of the downtrodden, who point towards a better world with all they are. Sometimes, they do this in DIY punk style: raw, unplugged, and deeply human. Patrick Schneeweis, better known as Pat the Bunny, is an artist who chose the road less travelled, instinctively deeming it more honest and less controlling. Freer. He grew up in Vermont, where he found people liked his voice and the controversial topics he tackled, and by 16 years old, he had released his first album ‘Fire Hazard’. Pat had the courage to test his reality, and then nakedly vocalise it (in both the metaphorical and literal senses). His lyrics saw conflicting ideologies meet and fight to the death, in outlooks that were as captivating as his personal anecdotes were relatable. Pat’s journey offers direction to the lost, if only in the promise that so is he; and for all his youthful anarchism and burn-it-to-the-ground spiritedness, his commentary of the world is ironically sobering. Pat’s music career only spanned thirteen years, from 2003-2016. He reincarnated several times in different bands of his own making, and split albums with other folk-punk artists equally hungry to change the world. He fought like hell for a vision of peace, and made the battlegrounds his own state of consciousness. Like a flashfire burning everything in its wake, towards the end of his career, Pat’s had simmered down, but shoots of new life had sprung up from the ashes, a new direction in which his life could take. This book paints the picture of Pat’s fallings and risings, a final cadence before he left the punk scene behind him for good.

Patrick Schneeweis (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Proto Sci Fi 182-1741AD: The very first speculative fiction tales, translated from the Latin, Dutch

This volume includes works that we would now recognize as science fantasy, with tropes such as exploring civilizations on the moon and strange devices with magical powers. It includes: A True Story, Lucian of Samosata, c. 182. Written partly as a response to the inventions in other ‘histories’ of the Roman era, which were often as much fantasy and rumor as fact, this story is the earliest known work to include space travel, aliens, liquid air, robots, interplanetary warfare, and worlds with different rules of physics. The Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter, Ozaki, c.939. From the oldest extant Japanese folk narrative, this work is also known and in film as “The Tale of Princess Kaguya’. In today’s terms, it is the first work of speculative fiction, concerned with encounters with beings of impossible power, and a princess whose home and people are on the Moon. Somnium, Johannes Kepler, 1609. A novel written by the astronomer whose name is still known today, described by Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov as one of the first works of science fiction. Describes a culture and civilization on the Moon. The Man In The Moone, Francis Godwin, 1638. Drawing on contemporary theories of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Gilbert, the inhabitants of the Moon in this story are a tall Christian people encountered by a roguish hero who must learn of their lands, and gains items that allow the control of light, heat, and gravity. Described by Edgar Allen Poe as “a singular and somewhat ingenious little book”, it was a direct influence on Jules Verne and HG Wells. Niels Klim's Journey Under The Ground, Louis Holberg, 1741. Originally written in Latin, this is the first book in the “hollow Earth” genre. It concerns a traveler who falls into orbit around the inner sun, and must learn the ways of a strange six-armed people that populate the inner surface of the Earth.

Francis Godwin, Iwaya Sazanami, Johannes Kepler, Louis Holberg, Lucian Of Samoa (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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What Did Jesus Really Say?: A Study Of The Inner Knowledge

In the first century AD a religion was born: Christianity, with Jesus Christ head of the Church. Little evidence survives regarding the critical formative years, all from second-hand sources and mostly one man, Paul of Tarsus, who never physically walked with Jesus. The living narrative of Jesus’ life is in question. More in question is the message he gave. Historians are divided as to what Jesus said and did, and today many doubt the accuracy of the New Testament canon that Christians take as scripture. A wide divergence grows with coming of the modern age. Historians and scholars grotesquely disagree, a few believing Jesus never existed and to the other extreme of every word of the Bible being God’s inerrant word. “What Did Jesus Really Say?”, authoritatively answers these formerly unanswerable questions. Jesus taught of an inner world, and this very inner world can be tapped today for answering what the written record cannot reveal. Trusted inner sources are the key and were tapped for this book. It is a short read packed with informative material that will forever change present-day understanding of life and death and the beyond in all disciplines of modern thought, and bring clear resolution to the Jesus story.

Arthur Telling, Cleopatra De Los Dolores (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Biggles Defies The Swastika: Captain James Bigglesworth goes undercover in Nazi-occupied Norway and

Even the best of heroes can find themselves in a sticky situation, and this is one of the very stickiest. How will our hero survive when he is set to hunt himself? Biggles is working on an undercover mission in Norway when the streets outside his hotel are stormed by Nazis. His escape via the aerodrome is thwarted by renegades working with the S.S. To avoid capture or worse, Biggles camouflages himself as a Norwegian traitor and swears into the German Air-Force, donning a swastika armlet and adopting the role of a Nazi. With no intention of remaining in Nazi occupied Norway, Biggles uses the first opportunity to escape into Sweden, where he is put through to Colonel Raymond at Headquarters. But Biggles is strategically placed behind enemy lines, and Colonel Raymond has other ideas for him. A pilot thrust back into the role of a spy, Biggles must use every resource available to avoid detection and gather as much intelligence about the enemy's movements as possible – but the Gestapo are on the lookout for a British soldier stationed in Norway, and his arch nemesis Erich von Stalhein is right on his tail. Read on for tales of high adventure in the heart of the Second World War as Britain's greatest pilot and hero must use all his wits and daring to survive.

We Johns (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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The Citadel of Fear

Gertrude Barrows Bennett’s The Citadel of Fear (1918) is one of the greatest dark fantasy classics, a gorgeously written and imaginatively conceived masterpiece. In a career that spanned a mere three years, Bennett published half a dozen books under the pseudonym of Francis Stevens which came to define a number of later genres. She is most popularly known as the woman who invented dark fantasy, but along the way she also invented a new, creepier kind of dystopian sci-fi. When The Citadel of Fear first appeared in The Argosy, H.P. Lovecraft raved of its “wonderful and tragic allegory,” describing it as a “masterful” and “huge mystery” — a “gigantic tragedy.” Although set during the first world war, the story centres around the forgotten (yet active) Aztec civilisation of Talapallan, tucked away in an eerie underworld of the Mexican wilds. Among its many temples stands the black fetid shrine, where the dark god Nacoc-Yaotl is worshipped. When an Irishman and an American from modern-day United States stumble into Talapallan one falls in love, while the other is possessed by Nacoc-Yaotl. Their return to the quiet suburbs of the US is anything but, bringing in their lucid wake a world of rampaging monsters, mutated civilians, and battling gods. Romance, magic, adventure, and scrumptious writing are embedded in this lengthly, yet unavailable and often overlooked, masterwork. This edition is accompanied by an audiobook, narrated by Chirag Patel, and includes illustrations by Virgil Finlay (from the original editions of Bennett’s work).

Francis Stevens, Gertrude Barrows Bennett (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Forged On The Frontier (1818-1849): The Emperor’s youth as an 1820 Settler, cockney farmer, brother

A wryly humorous telling of the British colonialisation in South Africa, told from the point of view of a not-very-successful family and the child that would become Emperor, thousands of miles away.Long before he became Emperor of the United States, Joshua Norton won his place in history as one of the 1820 Settlers, in the British colonialisation of the Cape Colony, in today's South Africa.Many think the patron saint of Discordianism a myth, or his life absurdly exaggerated, but they are wrong. Reality is far stranger than fiction could ever be, and Joshua Norton is the absolute proof, a real-life Don Quixote formed in tragedy and triumph, scarred into a delusion of a better world by the violence of this one. This volume covers Joshua's upbringing as an 1820 settler in the newly-formed Albany region, in what would become the Eastern Cape. It brings to life one of history's most turbulent periods, as Dutch, British, Xhosa, Khoi and Fingo all try to build a life on a land riven by constant war. Read on for a tale of heroes and villains, but mostly of people trying to survive where they can when all the odds are stacked against them and great political winds tear through their desperate lives. The first volume of the definitive history of Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. Told with with a wry dramatisation, it contains the most accurate and complete information on Joshua's early life in any book to date.

Chirag Patel (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Sunfire!: Collected pulp magazine tales from the original mistress of fantasy

Illustrated with images by Virgil Finlay, the artist who illustrated many of Bennett/Stevens' original tales in the strange tales magazines in which they were published. Getrude Bennet has been called the 'most important woman writer of fantasy between Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1759-1797) and C.L. Moore (1911-1987)'. This is a complete collection of short stories by the woman who first explored the dark fantasy worlds of the modern era. this book contains tales that were originally published in Weird Tales, Argosy, and All-Story Weekly between 1918-1923. Also included is the first known sci fi story published by a woman writer in America, 'The Curious Experience of Thomas Dunbar', which was the very first story sold by Bennett, under the pen-name of GM Barrows. This story predates her otherwise 6-year long writing career by 14 years, when she was just 21.

Francis Stevens, Gertrude Barrows Bennett (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Biggles, Secret Agent: Only One Man Can Save The Empire

The inventor of a uniquely powerful new explosive has gone missing while working on a new poison gas for the British. Can Biggles and Ginger find him before the enemy does? Professor Max Beklinder has disappeared. He is the inventor of Linderite explosive, a Lucranian by birth but British by naturalization. The Professor was working on a secret poison gas for the British when he was reported as having been killed in a car accident in Unterhamstadt in Lucrania. Biggles is sent to find out if he is really dead and if not, to get him back. Written during the height of the Second World War in 1940, this classic adventure is a rare wartime adventure outside the Royal Flying Corps. Instead of having a relaxing time going to the pictures with his friends, biggles is instead seconded by British Intelligence to go to the castle of Van Stalhein, their old nemesis.

We Johns (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Zhuangzi | Chuang Tzu: The foundation of chinese esoteric thought

The Chuang Tsu is one of the most important books in Chinese literature and philosophy. It is one of the two foundational texts of Daoism. Also titled Zhuangzi, it is a commentary and extension of the Dao de Jing/Tao Te Ching, in the same way that Mencius' Analects are an exploration of Confucius' thought. Written in around 300BCE during the Warring States period, it is a collection of anecdotes, fables, and stories that are as silly and funny as they are profound and thought provoking. Where the Dao De Jing is a distilled and poetic exploration of the Way, Zhuangi takes a much more human and real-world path through the mysteries of the Dao. Using often humorous anecdotes, allegories, parables and fables mixed with conversations about particular aspects of the Way. James Legge’s translation is perhaps the most sophisticated and exacting one in existence. It carries as much as possible of the subtlety and detail in the original masterwork. It is regarded as one of the greatest literary works in all of Chinese history, and has been called 'the most important pre-Qin text for the study of Chinese literature.' Its main themes are of spontaneity in action and of freedom from the human world and its conventions. The fables and anecdotes in the text illustrate the illusion of distinctions between good and bad, large and small, life and death, and human and nature. While other ancient Chinese philosophers focused on moral and personal duty, Zhuangzi promoted carefree wandering and becoming one with 'the Way' (Dào 道) by following nature. It has influenced great Chinese and Western writers for more than 2000 years, including Oscar Wilde, Yeats, Nietzsche, Sima Xiangru, Li Bai, Su Shi and Lu You.

James Legge, Zhuang Zi (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Sergeant Bigglesworth, C.I.D.: The first book of Biggles' detective adventures after WWI

Now that the Second World War has ended, what's a heroic fighter pilot to do? fortunately for Captain Bigglesworth, he doesn't have long to wait to find out. Commandeered into a newly formed division of Scotland Yard, join Biggles, Algy, Ginger and the gang as they go on a merry chase that takes them to Africa and Asia in search of devious villains and strange plots.

We Johns (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Seekers & Speakers: Learning To Walk Your Own Path

This is not a self-help book, or a book of specific guidance. In fact, it was written because too many works that claim to help you find your way either disappear into meaningless abstraction or are so petty and particular they fall at the first hurdle, teaching control instead of acceptance. There are a lot of spiritual self help books out there, but most of them either pretend to be enlightened or provide such specific direction that you’ll never truly open your mind. This books is an attempt to address that problem. Come with Arthur and Chirag as they discuss the ways they have sought understanding and progress over time, both within and without. The intent of this book is to give something back, and perhaps help others seeking greater truths about the world and themselves to find their path, and not feel so alone. Perhaps in their tales of the search, you can find a further step on your own path.

Arthur Telling, Chirag Patel (Author), Arthur Telling, Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Chirag Patel