Showing results by narrator "B J Harrison" in All Categories

In the years before Little Women, Louisa May Alcott anonymously wrote several thrillers in order to make ends meet. Dubbed as her “blood and thunder tales”, they reveal a bright, inventive and passionate writer driven to keep the listener riveted. Behind a Mask is considered the best of these tales. Jean Muir works her will on the Coventry family, who are rich, indolent, and ripe for the picking. While also tackling themes of social status and feminism, Alcott deftly delivers a shocking tale of obsessive intrigue.

When a student arrives in a small town, seeking a quiet place where he can study in peace, he rents an old mansion where a notorious hanging judge once lived. But once he begins receiving regular nightly visits by an enormous rat with malevolent eyes, he soon discovers why the locals fear the judge’s house.

As one of New York's Finest, firefighter Cash Ryder is always prepared. When a woman's car skids off the side of a mountain during a snowstorm, he's there to rescue her. Cash is totally focused on the woman's well-being, but within minutes of getting her to safety, he realizes that he's nowhere near prepared for the heat that rolls off of sensual, smart-mouthed, and stubborn Siena Remington.

A stagecoach containing a microcosm of French society seek to escape to Le Havre during the Prussian war. Stopping at an inn along the way, they soon realize they have blundered into Prussian occupied territory. The travelers are not allowed to leave until one woman, a prostitute known as Boule de Suif, (literally suet dumpling, or ball of fat), sleeps with the commanding officer. This turn of events is met with universal indignation by the travelers. But as the days stretch out, everyone’s true colors are revealed.

Magic is real. Shifters exist. Trixie Russell knows this. Everyone does. But no one told her about the monster lurking in the basement of the dragon’s castle. Not until it was too late. Victor Petrov is ancient, and vampires his age should not lose control of their hunger. And yet that’s exactly the problem that landed him chained in a dragon’s dungeon. Then in walks a human female with cotton candy hair who smells like sunshine, her pulse a sweet melody in his parched ears, and the fragile thread of his control snaps. Again.

Ruby is done with jerks, dead-end jobs, and eviction notices. Everyone else she knows is finding ways out of this crappy neighborhood, so why can’t she? Since opportunities refuse to fall from the sky, Ruby makes her own. To hell with the little voice in her heart whispering about love. She never met a man she wanted to keep...then she met a gargoyle. Men were boring after all. Nick was a con, a thief, and a rogue. He couldn’t keep a dime in his pocket even if it was glued. Then, he met a ruby. Not one from the earth, but one of flesh and blood.

"Uncle Silas" is a Gothic locked-room mystery novel by Sheridan Le Fanu. Maud Ruthyn is an orphan, left in the care of her mysterious and evil uncle Silas. The latter keeps thinking up new and creative ways to get rid of his niece. In a similar vein to Wilkie Collins’ novels, Le Fanu’s "Uncle Silas" depicts a heroine in danger, who moves from one hair-raising adventure to the next, making it a perfect, terrifying, horror tale of greed and vile intentions. B. J.

Exploring themes of love, goodness, and predestination, Wilder exposes the nature of his characters by examining their relationships. The bonds of parents and children, siblings, and surrogate parents are all examined with elegant skill, leading us to ask the hard questions that point to the inevitable river below.

Luna Matsya is a local celebrity as a trendsetting hairstylist, but she’d prefer to spread her fin in a nice body of water rather than make a big splash around town. She’s starting to believe that her ability to live and walk among mortals is more of a curse rather than a blessing. Especially now that the flashy tent from a touring magic show is blocking her lake. Where’s a mermaid to swim when the slightest mistake can put her in the spotlight?

Aunt Agatha breaks her icy silence and asks Bertie to look after a fellow Englishman, Cyril, who is visiting in New York. She only has one stipulation: keep Cyril off the American stage. But by the time Bertie gets the imperiling word, Cyril lands a part in a musical comedy. And with Jeeves turning a bit of a cold shoulder after a bust up over some purple socks, what's a Wooster to do?

Sure, you have some concept of a supreme being - but is your god-notion God? The one true God? The biblical God? The God who is? To anyone who has ears to hear, I simply say that it’s time to open the book and truly behold the dreadful holiness and terrifying awe of "I am". Certainly, it is long past time in this era of low-resolution preaching, denominational banality, and pervasive biblical illiteracy. For indeed, the Bible is unmistakably clear: “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)

A mysterious city. A cryptic leader. A deranged prisoner. Blind followers. A life saved. A plot thwarted. An ally gained. And still, Victor Wells is marked for death. Upon their arrival in the city to the south, Victor and team enter an environment unlike anything they’ve ever experienced—a place free from crime, strife, or division. Ville is a system of coexistence, lead by an enigmatic man known simply as “The Chairman,” whom the citizens of Ville trust and adore.

"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story about love, selflessness, sacrifices and struggles. Della and James are a young married couple who want to surprise each other with a secret gift for Christmas. Unfortunately, neither of them has much money yet still they each hope they'll manage to buy something in time and that it will be appreciated. "The Last Leaf" tells us the story of poor Johnsy, who is so sick that her days are counted.

Many say that capital punishment is inhumane. But is it, in fact, more humane to take away life in one swift stroke, rather than condemn an individual to a lifetime in captivity? Two men place wagers, each backing a different side of the argument. After 15 years, this clumsy bet irrevocably changes their lives forever.

A vicious tempest is raging on a New England mountainside. A young traveler sojourns through the sea of wind and snow, finding refuge in a cottage, cozily nestled in the notch of a hill. The traveler burns with a determination to make his name known to the world. But that will all have to wait until the storm subsides.

Adventure from the Australian Outback. Cowboy style poetry from Australia's Banjo Paterson. Includes the poems: "The Man from Snowy River", "Old Pardon", "Clancy", and "Conroy's Gap".

A country governess is hired to raise two orphaned children in a lonely estate in Essex. But mystery surrounds the house, the grounds, and the children. Haunting questions arise, and Henry James pens one of the most famous ghost stories.

"A weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares." This is how Marlowe describes his journey into the Belgian Congo. And while Europeans go mad, Corporations turn tyrannous, and the legend of a great Ivory hunter is dangled before him, Marlowe observes everything with a keen eye, as we journey with him, into the Heart of Darkness. This audiobook also includes another short story featuring Marlowe, "Youth".

After battling the tempestuous sea, four men in a boat finally spy land. But will the process of getting to the land be their undoing? Based upon Crane’s experience of surviving a shipwreck when traveling to Cuba, The Open Boat is an excellent example of literary Naturalism. H.G. Wells considered it “the crown of all [Crane’s] work”.

Skeletons and corpses rise from their fitful sleep and share a haunting message from beyond the grave.