Showing results by narrator "Nick Boulton" in All Categories

Arthur C Clarke is without question the world's best-known and most celebrated science-fiction writer. His career, spanning more than 60 years, is one of unequalled success. Clarke has always been celebrated for his clear prophetic vision, which is fully on display in this audiobook, but there are also many stories that show his imagination in full flight, to the distant future and to far-flung star systems.

Winter 1793. Master and Commander Charles Hayden’s orders are to return to the ill-fated frigate, HMS Themis. Placed in temporary command, he is to join the escort for the last convoy of the season - braving the wintry seas. Hayden's uncanny knack for attracting the attention of the French navy sees the Themis thrown back into action only hours out of port. Soon, Hayden's captaincy and military skill are stretched to their utmost....

The far-flung and isolated citadel of Arete faces out across the wasteland, awaiting the inevitable invasion. One man is sent to marshal the defences of this lonely city; one man to shore up the crumbling walls of a once indomitable symbol of Roman power; a man whose name itself means war, a man called Ballista.

As the streets of Paris are overrun with revolutionary fervour, England prepares for the inevitable war with France. Lieutenant Charles Hayden is a man of undeniable ability. The son of an Englishman, his allegiance to the English Crown is beyond dispute. But, with a French mother, and without any influence in the Admiralty, he is seemingly overlooked for his first commission as Master and Commander. Instead, he is posted to an ageing frigate, the Themis.

Treachery hangs ominously over the Roman Empire and sparks of Christian fervour have spread through the empire like wildfire. The battle-bloodied general Ballista returns to the imperial court from the fallen city of Arete only to find that there are those who would rather see him dead than alive.

AD 264 - The Roman Empire is torn in two. The latest blazing novel in the Warrior of Rome series. The western provinces - Gaul, Spain and Britain - have been seized; to the east, on the plains of northern Italy, armies muster. War is coming. Everyone must choose a side. Ballista must journey the Amber Road to the far north to Hyperborea, back to his original home and the people of his birth. Yet not all welcome Ballista’s return. Does treachery pose the greatest danger?

AD262 - the Imperium is in turmoil after the struggle for the throne. Furthermore, Ephesus, Asia's metropolis, lies in ruins, shattered by a mighty earthquake. Yet an even greater threat to the Empire advances from the North. The barbaric Goth tribes sail towards Ephesus, determined to pillage the city. Only Ballista, Warrior of Rome, knows the ways of the barbarians, and only he can defeat them.

A collection of stunning short stories from the most acclaimed Science Fiction author of any generation. Arthur C Clarke is without question the world's best-known and most celebrated science fiction writer. His career, spanning more than sixty years, is one of unequalled success.

AD 260 - Betrayed by his most trusted adviser, the Roman Emperor Valerian has been captured by the Sassanid barbarians. Ballista looks on helplessly, but vows to avenge those who have brought the empire to the brink of destruction with their treachery. First he must decide what price he will pay for his own freedom. Only the fearless and those whom the gods will spare from hell can now save the empire from a catastrophic ending. Ballista, the Warrior of Rome, faces his greatest challenge yet.

Charles Hayden sets off aboard the ill-fated HMS Themis with orders to destroy a French frigate and to gather intelligence from a royalist spy. On discovering French plans for an imminent invasion of England, Hayden must return to Portsmouth to give warning before it's too late. But the enemy has been lying in wait for him, and so begins a dangerous chase out into the Atlantic and into the clutches of a powerful French squadron…

The fifth collection of gripping short stories from the most acclaimed Science Fiction author of any generation.

Arthur C Clarke is without question the world’s best-known and most celebrated science fiction writer. His career, spanning more than 60 years, is one of unequalled success. Clarke has always been celebrated for his clear prophetic vision, which is fully on display in this audiobook, but there are also many stories which show his imagination in full flight, to the distant future and to far-flung star systems. The second volume in a collection of five.

AD 263 - the Roman Empire is in turmoil, with violent uprising threatening the balance of power. Ballista undertakes his most treacherous journey yet in a covert attempt to turn the barbarians against each other. He must face the Heruli - the Wolves of the North - the most brutal tribe of them all. But is it possible that the greatest threat may come from within Ballista’s own familia?

A forth collection of gripping short stories from the most acclaimed Science Fiction author of any generation. Arthur C Clarke is without question the world's best-known science fiction writer, enjoying a career of unequalled success. Clarke has always been celebrated for his prophetic vision, which is fully on display in this audiobook, but there are also many stories which show his imagination in full flight.

A dispute between rival gangs escalates into violence. One teenage girl is left dead, another injured and a police officer is caught in the crossfire. DI Resnick is hauled back to the front line to help deal with the fallout. But when the dead girl's father seeks to lay the blame on his colleague, Resnick finds the line between personal and professional dangerously blurred.

Despite his early death from tuberculosis at the age of 44, Chekhov was a prolific writer and produced more than 250 short stories in addition to several novellas and a novel. The Russian was also a practicing doctor. A celebrated playwright, Anton Chekhov is often recognised as an influential figure of early modernism of the theatre in addition to being held in high esteem by the likes of George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf, although much praise was not as forthcoming until after his death in 1904.

m the killing fields of the East Midlands to the mean streets of London, from the jazz clubs and clip joints of Soho to the barren fenlands of East Anglia, this is a world of broken families and run-down estates, revenge killings and prostitution, drugs, guns and corruption; a world of overstretched police forces and underpaid detectives, men and women who strive nonetheless for a kind of justice; a world in which everything, even friendship, has a price. Featuring familiar characters including Frank Elder and Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick.

This compelling space drama tells the story of two men faced with an impossible decision. Somewhere between Venus and Earth, a space freighter is hit by a meteor, destroying vital supplies of oxygen. There is only enough oxygen remaining for one man to survive the journey home. But who should live? And how will they decide?

The sun is about to implode, destroying Earth and the rest of the solar system when it happens. A species of aliens not previously aware of the existence of humans suddenly learns two facts: that the sun will implode in less than 10 hours and that Earth is inhabited by intelligent beings.

Beth is an albino, half blind, and given to looking at the world out of the corner of her eye. Her neighbours in the Derbyshire town of Blackmoor have always thought she was 'touched', and when a series of bizarre happenings shake the very foundations of the village, they suspect her involvement. The neighbours say that Beth eats dirt from the flowerbeds, and that smoke rises from her lawn. By the end of the year, she is dead.