Showing results by author "Di Riddell" in All Categories

As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.

The days are getting colder, the nights are getting longer, and as Christmas approaches the time is high for some ghostly tales. As an exclusive gift for Audible members, settle down, snuggle up and listen to four chilling ghost stories, read by Simon Callow. Four great stories, one master storyteller - what could be simpler than that?

As the third moon rises over Muddle Earth's Perfumed Bog, the twinkling lights are lit on a small houseboat, home to a wizard, Randalf, and his familiar, a very sarcastic budgie called Veronica. Randalf is in trouble: he's stony broke. He's just spent his last silver pipsqueak. There's only one way for a wizard to make cash on Muddle Earth, and that's by doing some magic. Meanwhile, life is about to change beyond recognition for Joe Jefferson, an ordinary schoolboy on ordinary Earth, and his dog, Henry.

Statistically speaking, only one out of every one thousand sexual acts between a man and a woman will result in a pregnancy. And, as we know, sex does not solely take place just between men and women. So: what is sex for? In this wide-ranging and powerful new history of sex, Dr Fern Riddell will uncover the sexual lives of our ancestors and show that, just like us, they were as preoccupied with sexual identities, masturbation, foreplay, sex and deviance; facing it with the same confusion, joy and accidental hilarity that we do today. 

Chris' wonderful anthology features famous poems, old and new, and a few surprises. Classic verses from William Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, W. B. Yeats and Christina Rossetti sit alongside poems from Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Carol Ann Duffy, Neil Gaiman and Roger McGough to create the ultimate collection brought to life by Sam West's exquisite readings.

In the great floating city of Sanctaphrax, blizzards howl through the streets as the Edgeworld descends into an endless winter. Quint, the son of a sky pirate, has just begun his training at the Knights Academy - training that involves heading out over the Edge on tethers to develop his flying skills. But when Quint breaks the rules and head out to Open Sky on his own, he runs into the great sky leviathan known as a cloud-eater.

Cade has never met his uncle, the infamous ‘descender’ Nate Quarter, who years ago committed heresy by lowering himself over the cliff-face of the Edge. But Nate has returned, and the Academy of Flight are looking for revenge against all of his supporters - including Cade. So now he has to run. With no money and nowhere else to go, Cade’s only option is to stow away aboard the Xanth Filatine - a mighty sky-ship bound for the city of Hive. But getting onto the ship is only the beginning of his troubles....

In the floating city of Sanctaphrax, fusty old professors scheme and bicker with each other as they study the weather in minute detail - mistsifting, fogprobing, researching the air blowing in from beyond the Edge. But some experiments are best left alone.

Far over the Edge, the Mother Storm is brewing: a storm more terrifying than any seen in the lifetime of any Edgelander. Sweeping in from the open sky, it must strike the source of the Edgewater River to bring new energy to the land. But in its way is Sanctaphrax: a magnificent city built on a floating rock and tethered to the land by a massive chain.

Preparations for the Ghastly-Gorm Garden Party and bake-off are under way. Celebrity cooks are arriving at the hall for the big event and Maltravers, the indoor gamekeeper, is acting suspiciously. Elsewhere at Ghastly-Gorm Ada's wardrobe-dwelling lady's maid Marylebone has received a marriage proposal. Ada vows to aid the course of true love and find out what Maltravers is up to, but amidst all this activity, everyone appears to have forgotten her birthday!

Ottoline and Mr. Munroe do everything and go everywhere together. That is until the day Mr. Munroe mysteriously disappears, leaving a strange clue written in string.... Armed with her Amateur Roving Collectors' travel pass, Ottoline sets off on a journey over, under, and on top of the sea to find her hairy best friend - and bring him back home.

Ottoline is back in Ottoline and the Purple Fox, a brand-new adventure from Children's Laureate Chris Riddell. Ottoline and Mr Munroe love puzzles, clues and mysteries. One day they meet an enigmatic purple fox who offers to take them on a nighttime urban safari. The fox shows them all the hidden animals of the city, and Ottoline makes notes on them in her field notebook. Mr Munroe is making notes, too - on the anonymous poems he finds stuck to lampposts on their journey. Who is the secretive poet, and how can he and Ottoline help them mend their broken heart?

Rook Barkwater dreams of becoming a librarian knight - sent out to explore the mysteries of the Edgeworld. So when his chance comes, he grabs it. Breaking all the rules, he sets out on a journey to the Free Glades and beyond.

Meet Ottoline and her hairy, helpful friend, Mr. Munroe. Ottoline is off to the Alice B. Smith School for the Differently Gifted, but she is rather worried that she doesn't have a special gift. Mr. Munroe is more worried about the ghost who is said to haunt the school halls at night. Does Ottoline discover her hidden talent, and can they expose the spook?

The Kingdom of Thrynne is a place where fairy tales don’t behave, and magic can be found in unexpected places. But magic brings danger to Zam, Phoebe and Bathsheba, because it is forbidden. Now, the future of magic itself is under threat from powerful enemies: those who fear it and, worse, those who want to use it for their own ends. What can three ordinary children do to protect it?

A creative call to arms from the mind of Neil Gaiman. Art Matters will inspire its listeners to seize the day in the name of art. Be bold. Be rebellious. Choose art. It matters. Neil Gaiman once said that 'the world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before'. This audiobook is the embodiment of that vision. Drawn together from speeches, poems and creative manifestos, Art Matters explores how reading, imagining and creating can change the world, and will be inspirational to young and old.  

Since his childhood in the Deepwoods, young Twig has always longed to soar above the forest canopy and explore the sky. Now a lowly crew member on his father's sky pirate ship, the Stormchaser, his dream seems fulfilled. But a much higher destiny awaits Twig as plots and treacheries from many years ago bring the lofty city of Sanctaphrax, home of the Edgeworld's most learned academics, to the point of disaster.

Barnaby Grimes is a tick-tock lad, running errands in his city, day and night, and "high-stacking" around the rooftops in search of new mysteries to solve. In this first adventure, Barnaby is attacked one night by an enormous dog. He kills it: but that's not the end of this particular mystery...as Barnaby finds himself swept up in a world of crooked doctors, poor and ill-advised patients, strange tonics, and very expensive furs.

From the once-popular yet unfairly neglected Victorian writer Charlotte Riddell comes a pair of novels that cleverly upholster the familiar furniture of the haunted house story. In An Uninhabited House, the hauntings are seen through the perspective of the solicitors who hold the deed of the property. In Fairy Water, Riddell again subverts the expectations of the audience, suggesting a complex moral character for her haunting spirit.

From forgotten jellybeans to sparking daydreams, Alex's poems, written for primary school age children, are both funny and thoughtful, and aim to spark familiarity and inclusion. These poems use rhyme, rhythm and free verse and are ideally suited to performance in a school setting, nurturing a love of language, reading, confidence and self-expression.