Showing results by narrator "Gildart Jackson" in All Categories

Experiencing a story read out loud is one of the oldest forms of entertainment there is. Fireside Reading is a way to slow down, reconnect with the timeless wisdom of great books and rediscover the simple pleasure of being read to. Join Gildart Jackson in front of a cozy fire as he reads The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman to you and your family.

A timely and important book that explores the societal and ethical implications of artificial intelligence as we approach the cusp of a fourth industrial revolution. George Zarkadakis explores one of humankind's oldest love-hate relationships: our ties with artificial intelligence, or AI. He traces AI's origins in ancient myth, through literary classics like Frankenstein to today's science fiction blockbusters, arguing that a fascination with AI is hardwired into the human psyche.

A masterful collection of horror fiction by widely acclaimed authors whose contributions to the genre have been lost in the shadow of Poe. Edgar Allan Poe did not invent the tale of terror. There were American, English, and continental writers who preceded Poe and influenced his work. Similarly, there were many who were in turn influenced by Poe's genius and produced their own popular tales of supernatural literature.

In the scorching summer of 1976 - the hottest since records began - Christopher Norton, his wife Laura, and their young daughter Faye settle into their new home in north London. The faded glory of the Victorian house is the perfect place for Norton, a composer of film soundtracks, to build a recording studio of his own. But soon in the long, oppressively hot nights, Laura begins to hear something through the crackle of the baby monitor. First, a knocking sound. Then come the voices.

The former Polish electrician tells of his rise from the Gdansk shipyard to the presidency, chronicles the history of Solidarity, and explains how he thinks Poland should react to the changing political climate.

As the former Archangel of Death, Azrael has always stoodapart from his brothers. Cursed to rule from the darkness, he is not only oneof the four favored archangels but the very first vampire, and king among hiskind. Sophie Bryce is a woman scarred by the dark secrets of her past. Though she isoverwhelmingly attracted to the brooding archangel, she simply cannot believethat she is the one fated to be with such an extraordinary being.

Pip's life was stricken with tragedy as a small boy, being orphaned with the loss of his mother, father, and siblings. Pip forms a relationship with the odd Miss Havisham and her lovely adopted daughter, Estella. An anonymous benefactor whisks Pip away from the life he once knew and the people he cared for to one of class and high society. When his beloved Estella enters his life once more after many years apart, she denies him the affections he longs for.

The Second Jungle Book is the sequel to Rudyard Kipling's acclaimed collection of stories about the Indian jungle. These new stories were published a year after the original and mostly focus on the same characters, including Mowgli, Baloo, and Beeghera. Similar to his first collection of fables, this sequel also contains a poem at the end of every story, showcasing Rudyard's knowledge of the politics of the time as well as his passion for the Indian Jungle.

Whatever this is, it started when Nicholas Slopen came back from the dead. In a locked ward of a notorious psychiatric hospital sits a man who insists that he is Dr. Nicholas Slopen, failed husband and impoverished Samuel Johnson scholar. Slopen has been dead for months, yet nothing can make this man change his story. What begins as a tale of apparent forgery involving unknown letters by the great Dr. Johnson grows to encompass a conspiracy between a Silicon Valley mogul and his Russian allies to exploit the darkest secret of Soviet technology: The Malevin Procedure.

Peter Ackroyd follows his hero, "the sweetest-tempered of all the Victorian novelists", from his childhood as the son of a well-known artist to his struggling beginnings as a writer, his years of fame, and his lifelong friendship with the other great London chronicler, Charles Dickens. In addition to his enduring masterpieces, The Moonstone - often called the first true detective novel - and the sensational The Woman in White, Collins produced an intriguing array of lesser-known works.

Set on capturing the elusive inner workings of the European Union, Robert Menasse, one of Austria's most creative thinkers, moved to the EU's headquarters in Brussels for an enthralling, wine-soaked tour of supranational institutions. The resulting novel has become an international sensation, translated from German into more than 20 languages and deemed "the first great EU novel" (Politico).

This children's fantasy novel is set on a fictional, hard-to-reach island somewhere on planet Earth. The island is host to a colony of children, a wicked witch, the crew of the Flying Dutchman, and the titular snergs—as well as unicorns, tigers, bears, ghouls, and dragons that live in the woods. The story follows Sylvia and Joe on an adventure gone wrong once they're taken captive by an ogre, Golithos, and the aforementioned wicked witch: Mother Meldrum. Gorbo the Snerg and Baldry, a court jester, must come to their aid.

You awaken in an underground cell, stripped of your armor and your sword. Your fellow prisoners inform you that you're trapped in the Underdark, soon to be taken to the great drow city of Menzoberranzan and sold off as a slave. But word is that demons are stirring in the underworld's depth. Perhaps you can use that to break free, fighter. Welcome to the Forgotten Realms Endless Quest.

London, 1946. The Nazis have conquered and now occupy Great Britain. John Henry Rossett, a decorated British war hero and former police sergeant, has been reassigned to the Office of Jewish Affairs. He now answers to the SS, one of the most powerful and terrifying organizations in the Third Reich. Now assigned a job he did not ask for and cannot refuse: rounding up Jews for deportation. But they are not the only victims, for the war took Rossett's wife and son, and shattered his own humanity.

When Robert Walter, popular mayor of Amsterdam, sees his wife toss her head back with laughter while chatting to one of his aldermen at a New Year's reception, he immediately suspects the worst. Despite their long and happy marriage, Robert is convinced that Sylvia is cheating on him - with the respectable alderman who is dedicated to the environment, no less. The man who wants to spoil the capital's skyline with wind turbines.

When you tried to pick the pocket of a civilar in the night-shrouded streets of Waterdeep, you never thought she'd catch you - and you never dreamed she'd force you into her service. Now you must find the baby griffon stolen by the beholder Xanathar, leader of the city's powerful Thieves' Guild. And if you should fail...you can count on spending the rest of your life behind bars, rogue. Welcome to the Forgotten Realms Endless Quest.

To protect his friends, Mage Alex Verus has had to change - and embrace his dark side. But the life mage Anne has changed too and made a bond with a dangerous power. She's going after everyone she's got a grudge against - and it's a long list. In the meantime, Alex has to deal with his arch-enemy, Levistus. The Council's death squads are hunting Alex as well as Anne, and the only way for Alex to stop them is to end his long war with Levistus and the Council, by whatever means necessary. 

The Harpers have lost one of their own, a legendary adventurer named Artus Cimber, keeper of the artifact known as the Ring of Winter. They've hired you to travel to the jungle-clad land of Chult to find him. Hopefully, you can manage to find Cimber before the frost giants do - or the zombies that infest the land get you first. You're in the jungle now, cleric. Welcome to the Forgotten Realms Endless Quest.

In the debut of an exciting new series from Heather Killough-Walden, the archangel Uriel thinks he has found his one true archess in Eleanor Granger-but can he protect her from the danger that threatens her?

Alex Verus can see the future. But he never thought he'd see this day. Manoeuvred by forces beyond his control, the probability mage has made a terrible choice: he's agreed to work for his old master once more. Richard Drakh, the sadistic dark mage Alex escaped as an apprentice, has him in his clutches again. And this time he won't let go so easily.