Showing results by narrator "Gareth Richards" in All Categories

Big Pharma is more interested in profit than health. This was made clear as governments rushed to produce vaccines during the Covid pandemic. Behind the much-trumpeted scientific breakthroughs, major companies found new ways of gouging billions from governments in the West while abandoning the Global South. But this is only the latest episode in a long history of financializing medicine—from Purdue's rapacious marketing of highly addictive OxyContin through Martin Shkreli's hiking the price of a lifesaving drug to the 4.5 million South Africans needlessly deprived of HIV/AIDS medication.

In our spine-chilling homage to the late, great Dennis Wheatley and the inimitable Hammer Horror films spawned from his works, HellBound Books presents 20 superlatively satanic stories guaranteed to have you fearing for your very soul. A whole host of hell's denizens skulk within this audiobook, waiting with growing impatience for the brave of heart - or the relentlessly foolhardy - to make their otherworldly acquaintance, so please, do venture inside. If you dare....

In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Paul Slack takes a global approach to explore the historical and social impact of plague over the centuries, looking at the ways in which it has been interpreted and the powerful images it has left behind in art and literature.

Ex-chef and now fully dedicated vanlifer, Max Effort picked the perfect spot for a relaxing few days. A quiet campsite where he could unwind with his best friend Anxious the Jack Russell. When his parents arrived to spend a few days with him, he wasn't surprised to find them towing a huge monstrosity they called a "caravan"—think flamingo pink with enough chrome to blind astronauts. Even more shocking was the stewed corpse of a man inside their rental.

It's Lydstock time again, the most anticipated music festival of the year. Max Effort, chilled ex-chef turned vanlifer, is already there, and when Min arrives to spend the whole weekend with him and Anxious the Jack Russell Terrier, he's as happy as any ex-husband could be. As the first night gets underway, and Uncle Ernie "Elbows" Effort's ska punk band The Skankin' Skeletons headline instead of their arch-rivals The Third Skatallion, things get spicier than a habanero vindaloo.

Disaster struck the morning of the Chucklefest Comedy Festival. Not with a bomb, but with a canine whimper. Vanlife convert Max Effort's best buddy, Anxious the Jack Russell Terrier, managed to disassemble his favorite toy, leaving him bereft. But help was on hand, and Min, Max's ex-wife, hightails it across the country, determined to deliver a replacement bestie. Feeling chilled and in good spirits, Max's mood soon soured when he reached into the festival freezer and discovered a smiling face staring back at him. Shame it wasn't attached to the rest of the comedian's body.

The Black Plague's terrible toll never ends, unleashing a new wave of zombies with disastrous consequences. Low on hope, Knight Alaric von Mertz and his companions flee their crumbling sanctuary, and soon come under the unlikely wing of murderous pirates. There, they learn of a legendary artifact called Mournshroud that could destroy swathes of the undead, but to claim it they must defeat an evil sorceress on an isolated island. Guarded by a dragon! A knight's honor demands he defend his kingdom, no matter the cost.

The names of few medieval monarchs and their queens are better known than Eleanor of Aquitaine, uniquely queen of France and queen of England, and her second husband Henry II. Although academically labeled "medieval," their era was the violent transition from the Dark Ages, when countries' borders were defined with fire and sword. If princes fought for their succession to crowns, the princesses were traded—usually by their mothers—to strangers for political power without the bloodshed.

Anxious the Jack Russell Terrier has a poorly paw. Burned-out chef and van life convert Max Effort will do anything for his best friend, even if that means a visit to the vets and the inevitable whining. Stopping in Harlech on the Welsh coast means they can get the little guy sorted out and take in the sights, too, even if Anxious is less than keen on visiting the doctor!

Burned-out chef Max Effort-he still hates his parents for the name-is slowly settling into van life. Used to swanky kitchens and state-of-the-art equipment, he's even mastered cooking outside without the flame blowing out. One-pot cooking or bust was Max's promise to himself, but the joys of letting his dinner simmer for hours on lazy summer days are soon on the back-burner when murder rears its ugly head once more.

We decided upon the shopping list theme for this particular volume of horror short stories as an antithesis to those wildly successful writers (they know who they are) of whom it is often said "we would read their shopping list if they published it!" Well, we have given 21 of the hottest new horror authors in the independent scene the unique opportunity to have their own shopping lists listened to by you - along with their most terrifying tales, of course!

Archangel Uriel is hell bent on revenge on the demon prince Vladek. To get into the prince's impenetrable fortress, he'll have to fight in the pits of the underworld. And he'll need the help of the last person he can trust—the demon witch Nadya. There is no way Nadya, who spends her days taking care of others, expected to find Uriel on her doorstep. He seems no happier about being there than she does. But helping him means evening the scales against her backstabbing sister, and she'll do whatever it takes to make that bitch pay.

This compelling collection will engage the lovers of horror, fantasy, and science fiction and marry their eccentric desires in the church of Blithecraft. Twelve stories suitable for the discerning fantasist. A blithely return to the eccentric craft of weird short stories. Tales of other dimensions, eldritch beasts, and seditious sirens. Ancient witchcraft, necromancers, and giant arthropods. Worlds of past, present, and future are presented in a classical style with contemporary beguile.

Xing Ping turned into an angel after taking a leap of faith. He'd always been one of the most evil, vile, and contemptible people from his Sect. Every year, he pillaged, raided, and took anything he pleased including as many women as he could get his hands on...It turned out that angels weren't good because they wanted to be, and as Xing Ping began his adventure he'd have to learn to live with being an angel and deal with the thousands of woman who were reserved especially for him.

In the 1840s, the Donnelly family immigrates from Ireland to the British province of Canada. Almost immediately problems develop as the patriarch of the family is sent to the Kingston Penitentiary for manslaughter, leaving his wife to raise their eight children on her own. The children are raised in an incredibly violent community and cultivate a devoted loyalty to their mother and siblings, which often leads to problems with the law and those outside of the family.

A city of rogues. A seedy bar. A thief who stole the wrong prize. When Isabel sought refuge in the Dragon and Rose with a jeweled watch in hand, Digger’s biggest mistake was hiding her. After all, the treasure in her possession looked like an easy score. But the gang of mercenaries on her heels want it for themselves. Soon assassins and lawmen join the pursuit and begin scouring the city in their efforts to capture the thief. Isabel and Digger must race to discover who the watch really belongs to - and why they’re willing to kill anyone in their way to get it back.

Any business that allows their customers credit terms will invariably run into late or non-payments. This affects cash flow and business viability. However, as the authors show, customers that are solvent will pay some suppliers every month, even if they don't pay everyone. So how do you ensure you are "first in line" to get paid?

In 1880, an organized mob of the Donnellys' enemies murders four family members and burns their house to the ground. Another sibling is shot to death in a house a short distance away. William Donnelly and a teenage boy are the only witnesses to the murders. The surviving family members seek justice through the local courts but quickly learn that their enemies control the jury and the press. Two sensational trials follow that make national and international headlines as the Donnellys continue to pursue justice for their murdered parents, siblings, and cousin.

Spicy the goblin is the first creature Fath the dragon has trusted in generations. Now the dragon’s apprentice, Spicy has a chance to learn lore hidden away from human and goblin-kind alike. But Spicy has a dilemma. Five children were kidnapped from his village, along with his best friend Rime. Saving them means bringing the dragon and Hog, the ever-hungry troll, with him on an unplanned detour. His journey will lead them into lands where few of his kind have ever gone.

Josh Ridley is an overworked, underappreciated accountant caught up in life’s grind. All that changes when he is offered an adventure vacation that allows him to be miniaturized and placed in an unforgiving terrain filled with demons and demon lords, or to laymen...killer insects. In Betaloome, an infested terrarium with a land area equivalent to hundreds of square miles, Josh’s new god-like abilities make him adored by women, admired by men, and able to slay monsters.