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  Candide - Audiobook

  Voltaire, Classic Audiobooks,...

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  Candide is Voltaire's razor-sharp philosophical satire that follows the naive young man Candide as he travels the world, enduring war, betrayal, natural disasters, and heartbreak — all while clinging to his mentor Pangloss's absurd claim that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds." Through Candide's misadventures, Voltaire mercilessly mocks blind optimism, organized religion, and the cruelty of human institutions.Packed with irony, wit, and fast-paced action, Candide remains one of the most influential works of the Enlightenment. Beneath its humor lies a serious call for reason, practical action, and compassion — a reminder that cultivating one's own garden may be the truest form of wisdom.

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  A Man with Two Lives - From...

  Ambrose Bierce

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  Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on 24th June 1842 at Horse Cave Creek in Meigs County, Ohio. His parents were poor but they introduced him to literature at an early age, instilling in him a deep appreciation of books, the written word and the elegance of language.  
  Growing up in Koscuisko County, Indiana poverty and religion were defining features of his childhood, and he would later describe his parents as “unwashed savages” and fanatically religious, showing him little affection but always quick to punish. He came to resent religion, and his introduction to literature appears to be their only positive effect. 
  At age 15 Bierce left home to become a printer’s devil, mixing ink and fetching type at The Northern Indian, a small Ohio paper. Falsely accused of theft he returned to his farm and spent time sending out work in the hopes of being published. 
  His Uncle Lucius advised he be sent to the Kentucky Military Institute. A year later he was commissioned as an Officer.  As the Civil War started Bierce enlisted in the 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment.  
  In April 1862 Bierce fought at the Battle of Shiloh, an experience which, though terrifying, became the source of several short stories. Two years later he sustained a serious head wound and was off duty for several months. He was discharged in early 1865.  
  A later expedition to inspect military outposts across the Great Plains took him all the way to San Francisco. He remained there to become involved with publishing and editing and to marry, Mary Ellen on Christmas Day 1871.  They had a child, Day, the following year.  
  In 1872 the family moved to England for 3 years where he wrote for Fun magazine. His son, Leigh, was born, and first book, ‘The Fiend’s Delight’, was published.  
  They returned to San Francisco and to work for a number of papers where he gained admiration for his crime reporting. In 1887 he began a column at the William Randolph Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner.  
  Bierce’s marriage fell apart when he discovered compromising letters to his wife from a secret admirer. The following year, 1889 his son Day committed suicide, depressed by romantic rejection. 
  In 1891 Bierce wrote and published the collection of 26 short stories which included ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’.  Success and further works including poetry followed.  
  Bierce with Hearst’s resources helped uncover a financial plot by a railroad to turn 130 million dollars of loans into a handout. Confronted by the railroad and asked to name his price Bierce answered “my price is $130 million dollars. If, when you are ready to pay, I happen to be out of town, you may hand it over to my friend, the Treasurer of the United States”.  
  He now began his first foray as a fabulist, publishing ‘Fantastic Fables’ in 1899.  But tragedy again struck two years later when his second son Leigh died of pneumonia relating to his alcoholism.  
  He continued to write short stories and poetry and also published ‘The Devil’s Dictionary’.  
  At the age of 71, in 1913 Bierce departed from Washington, D.C., for a tour of the battlefields where he had fought during the civil war. At the city of Chihuahua he wrote his last known communication, a letter to a friend. It’s closing words were “as to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination,” Ambrose Bierce then vanished without trace.

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  Frankestein

  Mary Shelley

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  "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley, first published in 1818. It tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a grotesque creature through an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley began writing the story when she was 18, and it was published when she was 20. The book has been influential in the gothic and horror genres and offers a profound commentary on the ethical and moral implications of scientific and technological advancement

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  The Tomb

  Guy de Maupassant

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  Title: The Tomb 
  Author: H. P. Lovecraft 
  Narrator: Jonathan Dunne 
  Original Publication: 1917 (first published 1922) 
  Public Domain: Yes 
  Series Placement: Number 26 in the Timeless Terrors series 
  Description: 
  The Tomb by H. P. Lovecraft is a tale of ancestral obsession, forbidden curiosity, and the thin veil separating memory from madness. It follows Jervas Dudley, a solitary dreamer fascinated by an ancient mausoleum belonging to the long-dead Hyde family. Drawn by an irresistible pull, he becomes consumed by the mystery of the tomb — and by the eerie sense that his destiny is entwined with the dead within. 
  Through Lovecraft’s early mastery of gothic atmosphere and psychological unease, The Tomb explores themes of hereditary memory, morbid fixation, and the haunting persistence of the past. What begins as mere curiosity descends into a dreamlike horror, where identity and sanity unravel among the shadows of the grave. 
  Narrated by Amazon bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance evokes the dark romanticism and creeping dread of Lovecraft’s vision — a descent into the spectral corridors of the mind. While the text resides in the public domain, this narration is an original work and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne. 
  Part of Timeless Terrors, a series devoted to reviving the classic works of horror and the uncanny, The Tomb bridges gothic tradition and cosmic dread — a haunting meditation on the lure of the past and the peril of those who cannot let the dead rest. 
  Listeners should prepare for a story where fascination becomes fate, where dreams trespass upon death, and where the past itself refuses to stay buried.

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  Hunchback of Notre-Dame The...

  Victor Hugo

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  Book 1: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame or Notre-Dame de Paris is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. - The story is set in Paris in 1482 during the reign of Louis XI. The gypsy Esmeralda (born as Agnes) captures the hearts of many men, including those of Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire, but especially Quasimodo and his guardian Archdeacon Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his obsessive lust for Esmeralda and the rules of Notre Dame Cathedral. He orders Quasimodo to kidnap her, but Quasimodo is captured by Phoebus and his guards, who save Esmeralda. Gringoire, who attempted to help Esmeralda but was knocked out by Quasimodo, is about to be hanged by beggars when Esmeralda saves him by agreeing to marry him for four years.

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  Winnie-the-Pooh

  Alan Alexander Milne

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  Enjoy the beloved book that started it all, featuring Christopher Robin and his friends! Join the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and the rest for delightful mishaps and adventures filled with Warmth, Whimsy, and Honey. Rediscover the charming tales that have captured hearts for generations.

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