Here are this week’s new and notable audiobooks featuring Post-Apocalyptic, Sci-Fi, Thrillers, and more from Brian’s Book Blog.
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Immortal Life by Stanley Bing
Narrated by the Author
Whispersync Deal
An ancient mogul has bought the power to live forever, but the strong young body he plans to inhabit has other ideas. The battle for immortal life begins.
Immortal life. A fantasy. An impossible dream. For now, maybe. But as we speak, the moguls of Big Tech are pouring their mountain of wealth into finding a cure for death. Don’t tell them they won’t succeed.
None of these titans is richer than Arthur Vogel. This inventor, tech tycoon, and all-round monster has amassed trillions (with a T) and rules over a corporate empire stretching all the way to Mars. The newest – and most expensive – life extension technology has allowed him to live to 127 years, but time is running out. His last hope to escape the inevitable lies with Gene, a human being specifically created for the purpose of housing Arthur’s consciousness. The plan is to discard his used-up old carcass and come to a second life in a young, strong body with all appropriate working parts. But there’s a problem: Gene. He may be artificial, but he is a person. And he has other ideas.
As Arthur sets off to achieve his goal of world domination, Gene hatches a risky plan of his own. The forces against him are very, very rich, extremely determined, and used to getting what they pay for. The battle between creator and creation is joined as the two minds wrestle for control of one body.
This story is real. The tech is in development. The sponsors are the titans of industry well known to you. Eternal life may very soon be at the fingertips of those who can afford it.
Mixing brisk action, humor, and wicked social commentary, Immortal Life imagines a day just around the corner. Welcome to a brave new world that is too familiar for comfort – and watch the struggle for humanity play out to the bitter end.
Year One by Nora Roberts
Narrated by Julia Whelan
Whipsersync Deal
A stunning new novel from the number-one New York Times best-selling author – an epic of hope and horror, chaos and magic, and a journey that will unite a desperate group of people to fight the battle of their lives…
It began on New Year’s Eve.
The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed – and more than half of the world’s population was decimated.
Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river – or in the ones you know and love the most.
As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed of burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.
In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.
The end has come. The beginning comes next.
The Vault of Poseidon by Rob Jones
Narrated by Shaun Grindell
Whispersync Deal
What is the oldest, darkest secret in the world? The discovery of an ancient Greek text that could be the final piece of a mysterious puzzle older than time itself leads to a hunt for the truth as Joe Hawke fights to stop dark forces intent on changing the course of history forever.
Former Commando and SBS Special Forces operative Joe Hawke finds himself drawn into the most lethal archaeological treasure hunt in history in this high-stakes action adventure. Hawke races across nations to save the world from an ancient force so deadly its location was hidden forever by the Gods themselves – until now. Packed with fast-paced action and with a dash of humor on the side, this thrilling high-octane race from London to New York to Athens reaches its deadly climax in the caves of Kefalonia, where Hawke must stop an insane enemy from seizing the most powerful force in history and destroying human civilization.
The future of mankind is on a knife-edge…
Night Society by Ambrose Ibsen
Narrated by Joe Hempel
It was only supposed to be a game.
In a boring suburb, three lonely men seeking distractions from their monotonous routines get together in an abandoned house to play a macabre game of show-and-tell.
Nothing is off-limits in their little circle – anything, no matter how depraved, is welcome…so long as it’s frightening.
But when one member brings what sounds like an audio recording of an actual murder to a meeting, featuring the tortured screams and pleas of an anonymous woman, the jaded club members find themselves truly rattled.
From that moment, the horrific audio – and strange visions of the recorded victim – begin to seep into their daily lives. Agonized cries and sobs are heard in otherwise empty rooms. Shadowed figures lurk in unlit corners. Somehow, the mysterious victim is reaching out to them from beyond death.
Or is she? Digging deeper, they begin to suspect they’re being led back to the abandoned house by something else – something that seeks to consume them, body and soul.
And if they aren’t careful, it’ll get its way.
T-H-B (The Coded Message Trilogy) by Randy C. Dockens
Narrated by Jason Huggins
Amazing how a small choice can change your life forever.
Luke feels he has his dream job being an astrophysicist at the Houston Aerospace Engineering Center preparing for the upcoming Mars mission. He even has a blooming romance with Sarah, a physician where he works. Life in 2089 is good – couldn’t be better. Until….
Until he makes that fateful choice. The decision to pick up that small piece of paper containing three simple letters plunges him into a conspiracy and forces him to face the world as he never knew it to be. He discovers he – everyone – is being manipulated by an elite few. Does he dare try to face the answers to the questions life is now throwing at him? Or does he blissfully ignore reality and go back to his fantasy world?
He chooses to face the answers, and every direction he turns points him to T-H-B. What is the well-kept secret? Is it the answer, the truth, which he seeks? Will finding it bring clarity to his life and the right path for his future? Or will it make him an enemy to the entire world?
Edge of Disaster by Alex Gunwick
Narrated by Kevin Meyer & Sarah Beth Goer
An epic battle to survive….
At the end of Edge of Collapse, Luke managed to get within 60 miles of his family’s Bug Out Location. As he struggles to make it home, he faces new threats. He teams up with a mysterious stranger to battle the lawless world. Without power, food, or water, they face a grueling uphill battle against the forces of darkness. He’ll have to get creative if he wants to survive, but nothing will keep Luke from getting back to his family. Nothing. Not even the people who stand in his way.
Liz struggles to defend the cabin from the preacher and his men. With too much land to cover and not enough resources, she reluctantly teams up with other people in the canyon. Their thread-bare agreement might not hold up under pressure, but it’s better than nothing. Post-apocalyptic America is a desolate, dangerous world on the edge of disaster. Unable to trust strangers, family is more important than ever. Liz will do whatever it takes to protect her kids. One day Luke will return home, but until then, she’s ready to take up arms against anyone who threatens them.
Edge of Disaster is book two in the thrilling, post-apocalyptic survival prepper, EMP fiction series, American Fallout.
Crusader One by Brian Andrews & Jeffrey Wilson
Narrated by Ray Porter
Whispersync Deal
Nothing stops former Navy SEAL and Tier One operator John Dempsey from answering the call of duty – including a mission with the highest stakes he’s ever faced. When one of the most brazen and lethal acts of terrorism rocks American and Israeli intelligence forces at the highest levels, Dempsey’s ultracovert antiterror unit, Ember, mobilizes.
But this operation isn’t just a retaliatory strike by Ember; it’s a mission of vengeance for Dempsey – against the Iranian terrorist mastermind who slaughtered Dempsey’s Tier One comrades. Racing from Tel Aviv to Tehran, the elite American warrior and his formidable Israeli counterpart must forsake their backup in a capture-or-kill gambit that could turn into a suicide run.
But with missiles flying across the Middle East, Dempsey’s do-or-die quest must succeed. If it doesn’t, it’s a short countdown to World War III.
Counterfeit Conspiracy by Frank Tayell
Narrated by Fiona Hardingham
As nations rebuild, democracy is under threat.
In 2019, the AIs went to war. Millions died before a nuclear holocaust brought an end to their brief reign of terror. Billions more succumbed to radiation poisoning, disease, and the chaotic violence of that apocalypse. Some survived. They rebuilt. Twenty years later, civilisation is a dim shadow of its former self. Crime is on the rise.
During the investigation of a routine homicide, Police Officer Ruth Deering prevents a group of Luddites from destroying the telegraph. This act of sabotage is only the beginning. As arrests are made, and criminals are caught, evidence emerges that the saboteurs are connected to the AIs, the counterfeiting, and to the assassination. The shadowy figure behind the conspiracy must be unmasked before their fragile democracy is destroyed.
Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams by Philip K Dick
Narrated by Tanya Eby, Luke Daniels, Peter Berkrot, Jeff Cummings, Patrick Lawlor
The Stories Behind the Series
Though perhaps most famous as a novelist, Philip K. Dick wrote more than 100 short stories over the course of his career, each as mind-bending and genre-defining as his longer works. Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams collects 10 of the best. In “Autofac,” Dick shows us one of the earliest examples (and warnings) in science fiction of self-replicating machines. “Exhibit Piece” and “The Commuter” feature Dick exploring one of his favorite themes: the shifting nature of reality and whether it is even possible to perceive the world as it truly exists. And “The Hanging Stranger” provides a thrilling, dark political allegory as relevant today as it was when Dick wrote it at the height of the Cold War.
Strange, funny, and powerful, the stories in this collection highlight a master at work, encapsulating his boundless imagination and deep understanding of the human condition.
Last Days by Jacqueline Druga
Narrated by Rick Gregory
Last Days is the first book in the Last Days trilogy. It is where the story begins….
Led by his curiosity and fueled by intelligence, Dr. Marcus Leon embarks on what he believes is the greatest scientific experiment of all time. One that ignites a firestorm of controversy. Not only does Marcus intend to extract DNA from the blood trapped in the Shroud of Turin, but he will clone the image upon it.
The experiment is a success, and the masses embrace the clone as the embodiment of Christ, failing to recognize that science can replicate the body but cannot touch the soul.
Devoid of this essential spirit, the clone is nothing more than a directionless vessel in need of a captain. A position quickly filled. The arrival of the clone begins the end to all humanity.
