Historical Audiobooks | Science Fiction & Fantasy

Lyon's Bride: The Chattan Curse Audiobook

"“Maxwell mixes humor with meticulous characterization to create memorable stories.” —Publishers Weekly With Lyon’s Bride, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cathy Maxwell kicks off a wonderful historical romance series, The Chattan Curse—concerning a generational bane that ominously portends, “When a Chattan male falls in love, strike his heart with fire from above.” In this sensational marriage of convenience tale with a delightful twist, the so-called “Lord Lyon” is the latest family member cursed to eschew love or die. So he seeks a bride he does not love, only to be smitten by an English duke’s headstrong daughter, who compels him to dangerously tempt fate. Lyon’s Bride is the kind of lush and sensuous love story that will appeal not only to RITA Award nominee Cathy Maxwell’s legion of fans, but to the many devoted readers of Christina Dodd and Victoria Alexander as well."

Cathy Maxwell (Author), Rosalyn Landor (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Mongoliad: Book One

"The first novel to be released in The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One, is an epic-within-an-epic, taking place in 13th century. In it, a small band of warriors and mystics raise their swords to save Europe from a bloodthirsty Mongol invasion. Inspired by their leader (an elder of an order of warrior monks), they embark on a perilous journey and uncover the history of hidden knowledge and conflict among powerful secret societies that had been shaping world events for millennia. But the saga reaches the modern world via a circuitous route. In the late 19th century, Sir Richard F. Burton, an expert on exotic languages and historical swordsmanship, is approached by a mysterious group of English martial arts aficionados about translating a collection of long-lost manuscripts. Burton dies before his work is finished, and his efforts were thought lost until recently rediscovered by a team of amateur archaeologists in the ruins of a mansion in Trieste, Italy. From this collection of arcana, the incredible tale of The Mongoliad was recreated. Full of high adventure, unforgettable characters, and unflinching battle scenes, The Mongoliad ignites a dangerous quest where willpower and blades are tested and the scope of world-building is redefined. A note on this edition: The Mongoliad began as a social media experiment, combining serial story-telling with a unique level of interaction between authors and audience during the creative process. Since its original iteration, The Mongoliad has been restructured, edited, and rewritten under the supervision of its authors to create a more cohesive reading experience and will be published as a trilogy of novels. This edition is the definitive edition and is the authors’ preferred text."

Cooper Moo, Erik Bear, Greg Bear, Joseph Brassey, Mark Teppo, Neal Stephenson, Nicole Galland (Author), Luke Daniels (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Feindliche Segel: Episode 2

"Der Friede zwischen England und Frankreich 'bricht aus': Die Matrosen freuen sich, aber die Offiziere sitzen buchstäblich auf dem Trockenen. Jack Aubrey hat Probleme mit der Admiralität, mit seinem Vermögen und in der Liebe pflegt er eine doppelte Moral. Stephen Maturin entpuppt sich: Er ist nicht nur der weltfremde Wissenschaftler, sondern kann auch entschlossen und effektiv agieren. Auch er hat ein Problem mit der Liebe. So makaber es klingt: Der erneute Kriegsausbruch löst einige Probleme, vertieft die Freundschaft zwischen Jack und Stephen und führt zu neuen Abenteuern."

Patrick O'brian (Author), Johannes Steck (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Crown Imperilled

"The penultimate volume of the mighty Riftwar Cycle War rages in Midkemia but behind the chaos there is disquieting evidence of dark forces at work. Jim Dasher’s usually infallible intelligence network has been cleverly dismantled; nowhere is safe. He feels that the world is coming apart at the seams and is helpless to protect his nation. Quiet palace coups are underway in Roldem and Rillanon; and King Gregory of the Isles has yet to produce an heir. In each kingdom a single petty noble has risen from obscurity to threaten the throne. Lord Hal of Crydee and his great friend Ty Hawkins, champion swordsman of the Masters’ Court, are entrusted with the task of smuggling Princess Stephané and her lady-in-waiting, the lovely but mysterious Lady Gabriella, out of Roldem to a place of greater safety. But is there any safe haven to be found? Meanwhile, Hal’s younger brothers Martin and Brendan are attempting to hold the strategic city of Ylith against an onslaught of Keshian Dog Soldiers, and a mysterious force from beneath the sea. The Kingdom might lose Crydee and recover; but if Ylith falls, all is lost. An unknown player appears to orchestrating these conflicts. Can Pug and the Conclave of Shadows track down this source before Midkemia is destroyed?"

Raymond E. Feist (Author), John Meagher (Narrator)

Audiobook

Triumff: Her Majesty's Hero

"It is the year 2010. Her Divine Majesty, Queen Elizabeth XXX sits upon the throne. Great Britain’s vast Empire is run by alchemy and superstition. Now Sir Rupert Triumff, dashing swordsman, has uncovered a vile plot to dethrone her glorious majesty. For the honour of the nation: to arms!Multi-million selling author Dan Abnett whips up a furious maelstrom of incredible swordfights, wild invention and truly outrageous jokes. “Triumff is a witch’s brew of alternate history, hocus pocus, cracking action and cheesy gags. Reads like Blackadder crossed with Neal Stephenson. It’s a Kind of Magick—don't miss it.” —Stephen Baxter, esq.“Endlessly inventive, joyously irreverent, drenched with adrenaline and wicked humour, Dan Abnett’s Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero is a brilliant occult-comedy-historical-adventure that’s true to the best traditions of the genres it so eagerly devours.” —Mike Carey, esq."

Dan Abnett (Author), Simon Vance (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Tears of the Sun: A Novel of the Change

"It's Change Year 25, a generation after high-energy technology died in a catastrophe most of the human race didn't survive. The children born after the Change are now starting to take center stage—and Whoever or Whatever was behind the Change itself may be taking a hand in their rivalries. An expedition has travelled to Nantucked across a strange and hostile continent to find some answers."

S.M. Stirling (Author), Todd McLaren (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Night Circus

"In 1886, a mysterious travelling circus becomes an international sensation. Open only at night, constructed entirely in black and white, Le Cirque des Rêves delights all who wander its circular paths and warm themselves at its bonfire. Although there are acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists, the Circus of Dreams is no conventional spectacle. Some tents contain clouds, some ice. The circus seems almost to cast a spell over its aficionados, who call themselves the rêveurs - the dreamers. At the heart of the story is the tangled relationship between two young magicians, Celia, the enchanter's daughter, and Marco, the sorcerer's apprentice. At the behest of their shadowy masters, they find themselves locked in a deadly contest, forced to test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love... A fabulous, fin-de-siècle feast for the senses and a life-affirming love story, The Night Circus is a captivating novel that will make the real world seem fantastical and a fantasy world real. The Starless Sea, the magical second novel from the author of the The Night Circus, is available for pre-order now"

Erin Morgenstern (Author), Jim Dale (Narrator)

Audiobook

The House of Seven Gables

"In the House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores themes of guilt, retribution, and atonement in a New England family and colors the tale with suggestions of the supernatural and witchcraft. An evil house, cursed through the centuries by a man who was hanged for witchcraft, is haunted by the ghosts of its sinful dead and wracked by the fear of its frightened living. The story was inspired by a gabled house in Salem belonging to Hawthorne's cousin Susanna Ingersoll and by those of Hawthorne's ancestors who played a part in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Written as a follow-up to The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables is truly a masterful blending of the actual and the imaginary."

Nathaniel Hawthorne (Author), Mark Smith (Narrator)

Audiobook

Unafraid: A Novel of the Possible

"Two dates burn fiercely in the memory of millions of Americans: November 22, 1963, and September 11, 2001. These two tragedies bracket Unafraid, a story grounded in a simple question: What if the fatal bullet fired on that sunny Dallas afternoon had veered three inches off target? Unafraid lays out a compelling answer, rich with the public adventures and private dramas of twentieth-century icons-from J. Edgar Hoover to the Beatles-played out on a transformed world stage. At the center of this parallel history is a leader who blows the sides out of conventional politics with the simple belief that the primary reason idealistic goals are "impossible" to achieve is that we have needlessly decided that they are. With a tiny imaginary spin of history's wheel, Unafraid opens the gates to an America of realistic hope and possibility."

Jeff Golden (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Kurs auf Spaniens Küste: Episode 1

"Leutnant, später Kapitänleutnant Jack Aubrey, Seemann und Offizier, der das Befehlen gewohnt ist und Dr. Stephen Maturin, der schmächtige Zweifler und Kritiker mit sozialem Gewissen, lernen sich auf Menorca kennen. Sie spielen Geige und Cello, was sie verbindet. Es entwickelt sich trotz aller Gegensätzlichkeit Achtung und schließlich Freundschaft - die auch Streitereien und Meinungsverschiedenheiten überdauert. Gewürzt ist das alles mit feinem britischen Humor. Jack Aubrey erhält sein erstes Kommando, die recht kleine und alte Kanonen-Brigg Sophie mit zwei Masten und 14 Kanonen. Er ist ein außergewöhnlich guter Seemann und taktisch sehr versiert; neben Ehre und Beförderung möchte er auch guten Prisen erbeuten, an deren Wert damals Offiziere und die Mannschaft beteiligt wurden. An Land allerdings ist er ungeschickt und bereitet sich dadurch selbst viele Probleme. Oft, aber nicht immer, kann Maturin helfend eingreifen."

Patrick O'brian (Author), Johannes Steck (Narrator)

Audiobook

The War That Came Early: The Big Switch

"In this extraordinary World War II alternate history, master storyteller Harry Turtledove begins with a big switch: what if Neville Chamberlain, instead of appeasing Hitler, had stood up to him in 1938? Enraged, Hitler reacts by lashing out at the West, promising his soldiers that they will reach Paris by the new year. They don't. Three years later, his genocidal apparatus not fully in place, Hitler has barely survived a coup, while Jews cling to survival. But England and France wonder whether the war is still worthwhile. Weaving together a cast of characters that ranges from a brawling American fighter in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain to a woman who has seen Hitler's evil face-to-face, Harry Turtledove takes us into a world shaping up very differently in 1941. The Germans and their Polish allies have slammed into the gut of the Soviet Union in the west, while Japan pummels away in the east. In trench warfare in France, French and Czech fighters are outmanned but not outfought by their Nazi enemy. Then the stalemate is shattered. In England, Winston Churchill dies in an apparent accident, and the gray men who walk behind his funeral cortege wonder who their real enemy is. The USSR, fighting for its life, makes peace with Japan—and Japan's war with America is about to begin. A sweeping saga of human passions, foolishness, and courage, of families and lovers and soldiers by choice and by chance, The Big Switch is a provocative, gripping, and utterly convincing work of alternate history at its best. For history buffs and fans of big, blood-and-guts fiction, Harry Turtledove delivers a panoramic clash of ideals as powerful as armies themselves."

Harry Turtledove (Author), Todd McLaren (Narrator)

Audiobook

iGod

"David Soul ('Starsky and Hutch') narrates and Simon Day ('The Fast Show') stars in this fantastical BBC Radio 4 comedy series looking at the most entertaining apocalypses on parallel Earths. Originally broadcast from 15 December 2010 - 19 January 2011. We all worry about the end of the world, as economists and environmentalists speak in apocalyptic terms everyday. 'iGod' says that trying to predict the end of the world is as pointless as moisturising an elephant's elbow. In each episode, an unnamed, all-seeing narrator (David Soul) shows us that it is stupid to be worrying, as he looks back at some of the most entertaining apocalypses on parallel Earths. Each week our case study is a normal bloke called Ian (Simon Day) who manages to accidentally initiate the apocalypse of a different parallel world through a seemingly harmless single act (telling a lie, being lazy, cooking some lamb shanks). A succession of comic vignettes ensue that escalate to the end of a parallel world. With a full-range of sound effects and wonderfully funny and surreal twists, 'iGod' is a highly original aural extravaganza. Written by Sean Gray, one of the head writers of the BAFTA award-winning 'The Thick of It', and produced by Simon Nicholls ('Ed Reardon's Week', 'News at Bedtime'), 'iGod' stars Simon Day, David Soul, Rosie Cavaliero, Alex MacQueen and Dan Tetsell."

Sean Gray (Author), David Soul (Narrator)

Audiobook

Historical Audiobooks in Science Fiction & Fantasy