Showing results by author "M.A. Larkin" in All Categories

Cedric The Brown is a wizard with a dark past. In an effort to make amends, he hides in plain sight among the residents of a space station he once nearly destroyed. Cut adrift by a bankrupt megacorp, the mobile mining station sets off to uncharted space in a desperate attempt to scrape by.

After losing control of his magic, wizard Cedric The Brown blew up his boss and nearly crashed a space station into a planet. Determined to make amends, he pledges to help the mining station negotiate with the nearby planet's mysterious magical inhabitants. With nothing but the bankrupt station as severance pay, Director Fujita Hiroko moves to the edge of the galaxy to keep the station afloat as an independent mining operation.

At the heart of each of these great classic stories is an adoptee with an indomitable spirit who becomes the heroine (or hero) of her own life. "The bravery it takes for an unwanted orphan to forge their own path in life was as great when these stories were written as it is today," says narrator Alison Larkin, who draws on her own adoption experience to bring these stories to authentic new life.

The syndicate had given her an ultimatum: disappear. Watched and wary, Fujita Hiroko obeyed for years, burying herself in work. Now one of the galaxy's most recognized faces, owner of the universe's must-see tourist trap, she can't hide any longer. And that's going to cost her. The Ruckers don't take kindly to loose ends, and they don't want their history with the station director coming to light. Already struggling to keep up with the demands of the massive influx of pilgrims, scientists, and tourists to Astral Prime, Hiroko won't be prepared for what's coming her way.

When a survey team unearths buildings on prospective mining planet, at first, it’s hailed as an archeological jackpot. But the ancient structures are more advanced than anyone’s seen. And the hedge against technology is a wizard. Cedric and Hiroko lead a team to study the mysterious underground facility from a lost age. And when they discover the alien caretaker, he’s none too happy that primitives have infested his home.

Cedric has discovered the means to fight back, but the price is high. Not all species are capable of carrying out his methods. It's one thing asking ships and crews to fight; it's another to ask them to sacrifice themselves. And yet, the valiant ships of Earth Navy continue to do so. If only the rest of the galaxy were so brave. A dark plan unfolds to doom one universe to save another. And an old foe will have to decide where his loyalties lie: to his species, or to himself?

With Astral Prime in chaos, Kendra hatches a desperate attempt to use forbidden alien technology to bring her lover back from the dead. As the struggle for control of the station unfolds, her efforts go horribly awry and plunge everyone into a strange and unfamiliar universe. Stranded in a desolate sector of an unknown universe, the citizens of the station cling to hope and ration their supplies of food, water, and medical essentials. But what hope can there be for rescue when even they don't know where they are?

They toyed with forces they didn't understand. Now, the inhabitants of Astral Prime are going to pay the price. Their foray into an alternate universe has not gone unnoticed. Nor will it go uninvestigated. While Jace Jarvis attempts to reassemble the pieces of a broken life, a new foe threatens to steal that life away yet again. With Hiroko shepherding a new flock and Cedric guarding the planet below, Astral Prime faces an invasion they might not be able to stop. They'll have to turn to the unlikeliest of allies if there's any hope to save the station.

The galaxy is in a state of panic. A horror has been unleashed, and it's a threat to every inhabited planet. Luckily, it currently rampages across a sparsely populated part of the Black Ocean. But even that callous view only holds limited hope for the fortunate species whose worlds lay safer by virtue of distance. Sooner or later, someone is going to have to destroy it. Hiroko plays the role of diplomat. In the face of a threat to all species, she hopes to forge a multi-species alliance to combat the monster.

In the aftermath of the station's invasion, Hiroko tries to rally the survivors around a new religion: hers. Combining her knowledge of anthropology with her alien enlightenment, she hopes to bring the galaxy together in spiritual awakening. Meanwhile, Cedric delves into the origins of the stations attackers, seeking a deeper understanding of why they came in the first place. And while both of them are occupied down on the planet's surface, Roland Kane is poised to seize control of Astral Prime—to a chorus of cheers from the inhabitants.

The galaxy has gone from troubled to doomed. Now faced with a multiplying threat, the races of the Milky Way are faced with a foe who cannot be stopped, cannot be turned back. And yet, for the sake of their own survival, they fight on in the desperate hope that they can hold out long enough to prevail. And they're running out of time. One of the ARGO core worlds may be next on the menu for the world-devouring monsters. As Cedric frantically searches for an alternative way to combat the abominations, Hiroko attempts to halt the proliferation of ancient weapons.

Unleashed from an alternate universe, the space-borne leviathan dubbed "void kraken" terrorizes the galaxy. The most powerful weapons barely scratch it. Whole fleets fall before it. Its movements are erratic. It's motives inscrutable. All anyone knows for sure is that if it isn't stopped, it's going to eat its way through the galaxy. Fujita Hiroko feels responsible for the beast's presence in the Milky Way. She tries to rally support to combat the creature, to form an unprecedented inter-species alliance to find a way to stop its rampage

With rival factions in orbit around Shadow Planet, the obvious threat was one another. When the defenses of an ancient alien outpost activate, trapping everyone in the star system, it becomes clear that there was more to worry about beneath the planet’s surface than in orbit around it. As Hiroko plays peacemaker to three rival fleets, Cedric and Kane lead an effort to shut down the power source keeping the system-wide energy field operational.

The ancient solution to get magic and tech to coexist lies within an alien structure older than any race in the galaxy. Now, the balance of power threatens to tip. As factions reinforce their fleets for a war to claim the ultimate technological prize, Hiroko finds herself trapped between three races—one of them her own—in a quest where even victory promises disaster.

Soothe your soul at bedtime as you listen to some of the world's most beautifully written classic stories, exquisitely read by Alison Larkin and Virginia McKenna. Alison's AudioFile Earphones award-winning reading of Peter Pan is followed by Through the Looking Glass and The Snow Queen. How the Elephant Got Its Trunk is read by Virginia McKenna, OBE, the iconic English actress best known for the films Born Free, A Town Like Alice, and Ring of Bright Water.