Showing results by narrator "Vincent Marzello" in All Categories

In this series we listen to short stories that are NOT by perhaps the most well-known author of this type. But the many other rich talents in the volume may have treated the subject matter a little differently, or were perhaps just overlooked in the stampede to applaud the winner, but these authors are of equal merit.

An alternative history of the US space programme, dramatised by Dirk Maggs. What if John F. Kennedy survived the assassination attempt and developed the space programme? President Nixon, with the help of former president JFK, has just green-lit NASA’s first manned expedition to Mars. Aboard the expedition is Natalie York, a geologist who risks everything she loves for the chance to go to space; Phil Stone, former X-15 test pilot; and Ralph Gershon, a Vietnam War hero intent on being the first African American to reach another planet.

Diplomacy by other means may, at times, sound heroic. A fight for principles and ideals carried out by young men armed to the teeth and directed by older men in pursuit of their own version of glory for themselves and their Nations. Right will triumph over wrong. But war can be an illusion, stirred up by schemers and opportunists to take something from other nations that may or may not be right. As blood and limb are sacrificed the true cost is seen but often set to one side as the dispute becomes embedded in emotions and reason falls away.

This collection of short stories contains several gothic tales to bear macabre and chilling witness to writers as diverse as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Elizabeth Gaskell, Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, and Edith Nesbit. These tales are designed to unsettle you, just a little, while you sit back and take in their words as they lead you on a walk to places you’d perhaps rather not visit on your own. Our stories are "The Wedding Knell" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Old Nurse's Story" by Elizabeth Gaskell, and more.

A rich man parks his expensive car in downtown New York. As he gets out of the car, he is surprised to see a young man in front of him, holding a gun. No need to panic. He's been in this situation before. It's surely about money, and therefore negotiable - isn't it? There's a sharp crack of a gun and then silence. A week later a small time crook has been arrested for murder. Two eye witnesses have put him at the scene of the crime, but did he pull the trigger?

In 1930s Georgia, 12-year-old Joseph hears of the brutal murder of a young girl, the first of a series of killings that will take 10 lives. Compelled by fear and duty, Joseph and his friends are determined to protect the people of Augusta Falls.

The majority of Hawthorne's works centre on New England and have a Puritan inspiration and outlook, with their inherent evil and sin of humanity. This volume centres on his short stories which are beautifully crafted pieces layered with characters ill at ease with their path through life.