Audiobooks narrated by James Chen

For more than thirty years, Paul Yee has written about his Chinese-Canadian heritage in award-winning books for young readers as well as adult non-fiction. Here, in his first work of fiction for adults, he takes us on a harrowing journey into a milestone event of Canadian history: the use of Chinese coolies to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia in hazardous conditions. After the CPR is built in 1885, Yang Hok, a former coolie, treks along the railway to return his half-Chinese/half-Native son to the boy's mother where he confronts the conflicts arising from road-building among the Chinese and Native peoples. Hok's guide on the often perilous trip, Sam Bing Lew, also of mixed Chinese-Native blood, urges Hok to take his son to China, while Hok has dreams of finding fortune in America. The two men agree on little, as many issues fester between Chinese and Natives at a time when both races were disdained as inferior by whites ("redbeards"). This far-reaching novel crackles with the brutal, visceral energy of the time-a period marked by contraband, illegal gambling, disfigurement, and death. It also depicts the bawdy world of Chinese "bachelors," whose families remained in China while they worked in Canada, and who enjoyed more freedom to live their lives without restraint. Yang Hok is not an easy man to like; but through the blood and sweat of his experience, he aspires to become the "superior man" he knows he should be. Boldly frank and steeped in history, A Superior Man paints a vivid portrait of the experience of the Chinese in North America in the 19th century. Paul Yee's twenty-seven books for young people include the Governor General's Award-winning Ghost Train. This is his first novel for adults.

Paul Yee (Author), James Chen (Narrator)

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Adventures of the Karaoke King

In Harold Taw''s entertaining, sometimes bawdy, and often moving novel, Adventures of the Karaoke King, readers are quickly pulled into the vortex of the extremes of human emotions: passion, fear, hope, despair, and the longing for redemption and clarity. Guy Watanabe is a thirty-something man who is marginally in touch with his Asian heritage and completely out of touch with his own needs and desires. Recovering from a divorce, Watanabe is unsure of himself and the course his future might take. When he wins a local karaoke contest, he discovers not only a newfound confidence, but the courage to take risks. With the victor''s medallion in hand, he seizes the moment...and his life changes dramatically, albeit not as he might have hoped. From a weekend romp with Megumi, a former hooker, comes a physical beating and the loss of his beloved medallion. Stung by this humiliation, and yet able to muster a courage long dormant, his quest begins. From the western states and on to Asia, with a return trip in a shipping container, we follow his wild ride. Will a Korean barmaid be his downfall...or his redemption? Will Billy, a closeted gay man, or Milt, a heavily-armed dwarf, help Guy on his journey? And what about the patricidal Chinese businessman who will stop at nothing to create a global karaoke empire? So many people seeking the light, desperate to attain their dreams. And at the heart of their internal wars is Guy Watanabe''s quest for truth, hope, and self-discovery.

Harold Taw (Author), James Chen (Narrator)

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AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future

Brought to you by Penguin. In this ground-breaking blend of imaginative storytelling and scientific forecasting, a pioneering AI expert and a leading writer of speculative fiction join forces to answer an imperative question: How will artificial intelligence change our world within twenty years? AI will be the defining development of the twenty-first century. Within two decades, aspects of daily human life will be unrecognizable. AI will generate unprecedented wealth, revolutionize medicine and education through human-machine symbiosis, and create brand new forms of communication and entertainment. In liberating us from routine work, however, AI will also challenge the organizing principles of our economic and social order. Meanwhile, AI will bring new risks in the form of autonomous weapons and smart technology that inherits human bias. AI is at a tipping point, and people need to wake up-both to AI's radiant pathways and its existential perils for life as we know it. In this provocative, utterly original work of 'scientific fiction,' Kai-Fu Lee, the former president of Google China and bestselling author of AI Superpowers, joins forces with celebrated novelist Chen Qiufan to imagine our world in 2041 and how it will be shaped by AI. In ten gripping short stories, set twenty years in the future, they introduce readers to an array of eye-opening 2041 settings: In San Francisco, a new industry, 'job reallocation,' arises to serve displaced workers In Tokyo, a music fan is swept up in an immersive form of celebrity worship In Mumbai, a teenage girl rebels when AI gets in the way of romance In Seoul, virtual teachers offer orphaned twins new ways to learn and connect In Munich, a rogue quantum computer scientist's revenge plot imperils the world By gazing toward a not-so-distant horizon, AI 2041 offers urgent insights into our collective future-while reminding readers that, ultimately, humankind remains the author of its destiny. © Chen Qiufan 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Chen Qiufan, Kai-Fu Lee (Author), Emily Woo Zeller, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Feodor Chin, James Chen, Mirron Willis, Siho Ellsmore, Soneela Nankani (Narrator)

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All Involved

For six days, Los Angeles is a city ablaze. For six days, seventeen people are caught in the chaos. For six days, Los Angeles shows the world what happens when laws are no longer enforceable. Ernesto Vera is walking home from his job at a taco truck when three guys jump out of a car and assault him. Ernesto's not in a gang, he's not involved, but his sister is - and when Payasa hears that her innocent brother has been murdered, she wants revenge. As widespread rioting breaks out across the city, Ernesto's death triggers an astonishing sequence of events, not just for the gangs involved, but for the firefighters, nurses and law enforcement who must deal with the consequences. In April 1992, after one of the most notorious, racially charged trials in American history, the city of L.A. exploded in violence. All Involved tells the interconnected stories of seventeen characters over six life-changing days, and transforms the truly extraordinary story of the L.A. riots into a vivid, electrifying and addictive work of fiction.

Ryan Gattis (Author), Adam Lazarre-White, Anthony Ray Perez, James Chen, Jim Cooper, Marisol Ramirez (Narrator)

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All Involved: A Novel

A propulsive and ambitious novel as electrifying as The Wire, from a writer hailed as the West Coast's Richard Price; a mesmerizing epic of crime and opportunity, race, revenge, and loyalty, set in the chaotic streets of South Central L.A. in the wake of one of the most notorious and incendiary trials of the 1990s At 3:15 p.m. on April 29, 1992, a jury acquitted three white Los Angeles Police Department officers charged with using excessive force to subdue a black man named Rodney King, and failed to reach a verdict on the same charges involving a fourth officer. Less than two hours later, the city exploded in violence that lasted six days. In nearly 121 hours, fifty-three lives were lost. But there were even more deaths unaccounted for: violence that occurred outside of active rioting sites by those who used the chaos to viciously settle old scores. A gritty and cinematic work of fiction, All Involved vividly re-creates this turbulent and terrifying time, set in a sliver of Los Angeles largely ignored by the media during the riots. Ryan Gattis tells seventeen interconnected first-person narratives that paint a portrait of modern America itself; laying bare our history, our prejudices, and our complexities. With characters that capture the voices of gang members, firefighters, graffiti kids, and nurses caught up in these extraordinary circumstances, All Involved is a literary tour de force that catapults this edgy writer into the ranks of such legendary talents as Dennis Lehane and George V. Higgins.

Ryan Gattis (Author), Adam Lazarre-White, Anthony Rey Perez, James Chen, Jim Cooper, Marisol Ramirez (Narrator)

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An Excess Male: A Novel

From debut author Maggie Shen King, An Excess Male is the chilling dystopian tale of politics, inequality, marriage, love, and rebellion, set in a near-future China, that further explores the themes of the classics The Handmaid's Tale and When She Woke. Under the One Child Policy, everyone plotted to have a son. Now 40 million of them can't find wives. China's One Child Policy and its cultural preference for male heirs have created a society overrun by 40 million unmarriageable men. By the year 2030, more than twenty-five percent of men in their late thirties will not have a family of their own. An Excess Male is one such leftover man's quest for love and family under a State that seeks to glorify its past mistakes and impose order through authoritarian measures, reinvigorated Communist ideals, and social engineering. Wei-guo holds fast to the belief that as long as he continues to improve himself, his small business, and in turn, his country, his chance at love will come. He finally saves up the dowry required to enter matchmaking talks at the lowest rung as a third husband-the maximum allowed by law. Only a single family-one harboring an illegal spouse-shows interest, yet with May-ling and her two husbands, Wei-guo feels seen, heard, and connected to like never before. But everyone and everything-walls, streetlights, garbage cans-are listening, and men, excess or not, are dispensable to the State. Wei-guo must reach a new understanding of patriotism and test the limits of his love and his resolve in order to save himself and this family he has come to hold dear. In Maggie Shen King's startling and beautiful debut, An Excess Male looks to explore the intersection of marriage, family, gender, and state in an all-too-plausible future.

Maggie Shen King (Author), Elaine Kao, James Chen, Tim Chiou (Narrator)

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Crushing on You

Anna Tang doesn’t date Asian guys. Her own Chinese family is bad enough, and she's not looking to double the trouble. Besides, she's busy chasing her dream of becoming a music journalist, and she's going to march towards it single-mindedly—and single, if need be. But when she meets a handsome stranger on a flight to a wedding, she's charmed. Intrigued. Seduced. Too bad he’s Asian, and not her type. Ian Gao has a great tech job and rock-hard abs from years of climbing. His parents hope he’ll settle down soon, but he’s drawn to the fierce and lovely Anna, who doesn’t plan on getting married. Ever. But the more time they spend together, the more it feels like coming home. Does Ian have what it takes to make her to stay? Or are the walls around her heart too hard to climb?

Jen Trinh (Author), Emily Woo Zeller, James Chen (Narrator)

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Diverse Energies

“No one can doubt that the wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed, but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men. No one can doubt that cooperation in the pursuit of knowledge must lead to freedom of the mind and freedom of the soul.” —President John F. Kennedy, from a speech at University of California, March 23, 1962 In a world gone wrong, heroes and villains are not always easy to distinguish and every individual has the ability to contribute something powerful. In this stunning collection of original and rediscovered stories of tragedy and hope, the stars are a diverse group of students, street kids, good girls, kidnappers, and child laborers pitted against their environments, their governments, differing cultures, and sometimes one another as they seek answers in their dystopian worlds. Take a journey through time from a nuclear nightmare of the past to society’s far future beyond Earth with these eleven stories by masters of speculative fiction.

Cindy Pon, Daniel H. Wilson, Ph.D., Ellen Oh, Greg Van Eekhout, K. Tempest Bradford, Ken Liu, Malinda Lo, Paolo Bacigalupi, Rahul Kanakia, Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Catherine Ho, James Chen, Jasmin Walker, Kurt Kanazawa, Neil Shah, Nick Walther, Shaun Taylor-Corbett (Narrator)

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New Waves: A Novel

A wry and edgy debut novel about race and startup culture, secrecy and surveillance, social media and friendship "A knowing, witty, and thought-provoking exploration of love, modern isolation, and what it means to exist-especially as a person of color-in our increasingly digital age."-Celeste Ng, bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere Lucas and Margo are fed up. Margo is a brilliant programmer tired of being talked over as the company's sole black employee, and while Lucas is one of many Asians at the firm, he's nearly invisible as a low-paid customer service rep. Together, they decide to steal their tech startup's user database in an attempt at revenge. The heist takes a sudden turn when Margo dies in a car accident, and Lucas is left reeling, wondering what to do with their secret-and wondering whether her death really was an accident. When Lucas hacks into Margo's computer looking for answers, he is drawn into her private online life and realizes just how little he knew about his best friend. With a fresh voice, biting humor, and piercing observations about human nature, Kevin Nguyen brings an insider's knowledge of the tech industry to this imaginative novel. A pitch-perfect exploration of race and startup culture, secrecy and surveillance, social media and friendship, New Waves asks: How well do we really know one another? And how do we form true intimacy and connection in a tech-obsessed world? Praise for New Waves "Nguyen's stellar debut is a piercing assessment of young adulthood, the tech industry, and racism. . . . Nguyen impressively holds together his overlapping plot threads while providing incisive criticism of privilege and a dose of sharp humor. The story is fast-paced and fascinating, but also deeply felt; the effect is a page-turner with some serious bite."-Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A blistering sendup of startup culture and a sprawling, ambitious, tender debut."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Kevin Nguyen (Author), Adenrele Ojo, Allyson Ryan, James Chen (Narrator)

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Picture Us In the Light

When Danny discovers a taped-up box in his father's closet filled with old letters and a file on a powerful Silicon Valley family, he realizes there's much more to his family's past than he ever imagined. Danny has been an artist for as long as he can remember, and it seems his path is set, with a scholarship to RISD and his family's blessing to pursue the career he's always dreamed of. Still, contemplating a future without his best friend, Harry Wong, by his side makes Danny feel a panic he can barely put into words. Harry and Danny's lives are deeply intertwined, and as they approach the one-year anniversary of a tragedy that shook their friend group to its core, Danny can't stop asking himself if Harry is truly in love with his girlfriend, Regina Chan. When Danny digs deeper into his parents' past, he uncovers a secret that disturbs the foundations of his family history, and the carefully constructed façade his parents have maintained begins to crumble. With everything he loves in danger of being stripped away, he must face the ghosts of the past in order to build a future that belongs to him.

Kelly Loy Gilbert (Author), James Chen (Narrator)

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Search for the Buried Bomber

During China's tumultuous Cultural Revolution, the People's Liberation Army dispatches an elite group of prospectors famous for their work uncovering rare minerals to the mountains of rural Inner Mongolia. Their assignment: to bring honor to their country by descending into a maze of dank caves to find and retrieve the remnants of a buried Japanese World War II bomber. How the aircraft ended up beneath thousands of feet of rock baffles the team, but they'll soon encounter far more treacherous forces lurking in the shadows. Each step taken - and each life lost - brings them closer to a mind-bending truth that should never see the light of day.

Xu Lei (Author), James Chen (Narrator)

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The Fortunes

Ah Ling, the son of a prostitute and a "ghost"-a white man-is sent from his homeland to make his way alone in California. From humble laundry worker, he will rise to valet for a powerful railroad baron and unwittingly ignite an explosion in Chinese labor. Anna May Wong, the first Chinese film star in Hollywood, is forbidden to kiss a white man onscreen. Shut out of leading roles, cast only as Dragon Lady or Butterfly, she must find her place between two worlds and two cultures. Vincent Chin, aspiring all-American, is killed by a pair of Detroit auto workers simply for looking Japanese. He will become the symbol for a community roused to action in the face of hatred. John Ling Smith, though half-Chinese, doesn't speak the language. When he visits China for the first time to adopt a baby girl, he sees the long history of both cultures coming together in the spark of a new century. Inhabiting four lives-three inspired by real historical characters-The Fortunes captures and capsizes more than a century of our history, recasting the story of America through the lives of Chinese Americans. It brilliantly reimagines the multigenerational novel, looking through the prismatic fractures of immigrant experience, and showing that even as family bonds are denied and broken, a community can survive-as much through love as through blood. Building fact into fiction, spinning fiction around fact, The Fortunes is sly, funny, intelligent, and artfully structured. It proves, once again, that, in the words of Elizabeth McCracken, Peter Ho Davies "can do anything, and he does." In this wonder of a novel, Davies offers not just marvelous storytelling, not just prose that sings and humor that bites, but also a rallying, hopeful vision of what it might mean to be American.

Peter Ho Davies (Author), James Chen (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by James Chen