Showing results by narrator "Mike Vendetti" in All Categories

Award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti recites Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 14".

Prepare yourself for a jolt and a chill in capsule form. O. Henry could have been proud of it. It could well become a minor classic.

Linc Jackson and his buddy Rick Weaver thought they'd seen it all on the brutal battlefields of Desert Storm, but found themselves displaced and forgotten men when they came back to the States. Now, a year later, the opportunity of a lifetime suddenly drops in their laps.... That is, if they don't mind tiptoeing on the dark side to make the score. During a freak flood that causes havoc in the downtown business hub of Chicago, Linc and Rick put everything on the line as they execute a heist that they hope will put them on Easy Street for the rest of their lives.

In true Lovecraftian fashion a man's wife thought to be dead is entombed in the family crypt. The husband has an uneasy feeling, so he enters the tomb and finds the lid torn off the coffin. His wife is alive but in a state of delirium and shock. He sees a naked creature scurrying off through the inner vaults on all four semi-human limbs.

In "Death and the Child," narrated as an audiobook by Mike Vendetti Stephen Crane captures the brutal realities faced by both soldiers and civilians, emphasizing the profound human cost of conflict.

Step into the electrifying world of "The Five White Mice," where chance and fortune collide in the streets of 19th-century New York. This gripping tale follows a group of young men whose lives revolve around the thrill of a dice game steeped in risk and reward. As they toast to their luck with five white mice of chance, the night unfolds into an adventure filled with audacity and reckless abandon.

"The Mermaid's Husband" is a poetic short story by Lord Dunsany, a writer known for his contributions to fantasy literature in the early 20th century. The story revolves around a mermaid and her husband, exploring themes of love, longing, and the complexities of relationships across different worlds. The narrative presents the mermaid as a creature of beauty and the sea, caught between her oceanic home and the world of humans. The husband, who is a human, represents the terrestrial life that clashes with the enchanting but perilous allure of the ocean.

Frank Belknap Long's "Brown." is indeed pertinent in today's discourse surrounding artificial intelligence. The relationship between Horn and his creations, particularly Brown, serves as a microcosm of our own interactions with technology.

Sonnet 20 is one of the best-known of 154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare. Part of the "Fair Youth" sequence where the subject of the sonnet is widely interpreted as being male, thereby raising questions about the sexuality of its author.

"The Easter Egg", a short story by H. H. Munro ("Saki"), is not a happy Easter story but a tale of a proud and brave mother who loves her son even though the son is timid and perhaps cowardly. The story takes place prior to World War I, and the son, in his one act of bravery, prevents an international incident that possibly would have started the war sooner.

It is the turn of the last century, and Alaska is a mysterious wilderness. At the suggestion of several hundred thousand ladies desiring to revel and possibly riot in the saturnalia of equal franchise, the unnamed lakes in that vast and little known region in Alaska bounded by the Ylanqui River and the Thunder Mountains were now being inexorably named after women.

Did you ever wonder at the lonely life the bird in a cuckoo clock has to lead--that it might possibly love and hate just as easily as a real animal of flesh and blood? Philip Dick used that idea for this brief fantasy tale. We're sure that after reading it you'll give cuckoo clocks more respect.

The title of this short story by F Scott Fitzgerald is a bit deceptive and doesn't do this story justice. The four fists are actually four very valuable life lessons delivered with a fist.

This short story remains an enigma, as F. Scott Fitzgerald once again takes on the aristocracy. The heroine, Ardita, beautiful, rich, and spoiled rotten lounges on her uncle's yacht until she is carried away by an offshore pirate, Curtis Carlyle. Carlyle tells her of his upbringing as poor white trash in a Tennessee town, and his rise to become a successful musician - but one who has never been able to dance with the aristocracy. Until that is, the beautiful, spoiled-rotten Ardita falls in love with him, as much as she is capable of falling in love with anyone other than herself, on the deserted tropical island.

Water, Water Everywhere by Milton Kaletsky, narrated as an audiobook by Mike Vendetti reflects on the fundamental role of water in supporting and sustaining life on Earth. It emphasizes water's unique chemical properties, particularly its ability to dissolve substances, which is crucial for biological processes. The narrative traces the origins of life in the oceans millions of years ago, highlighting that even as organisms adapted to land, water remained essential for their development and survival.

A Man and Some Others features Bill, a man with a turbulent past marked by both aristocracy and misfortune. His brash attitude and penchant for trouble set the stage for a clash with the Mexican men he confronts, showcasing a dramatic and tense moment fraught with the threat of violence. This moment signifies the isolation he feels as the "only white man in half a day's ride," emphasizing the precarious nature of his existence in a hostile environment.

"The Rat That Could Speak," written by Charles Dickens, is a darkly whimsical tale that explores themes of fate, desperation, and the supernatural. It revolves around a shipwright named Chips, who, like his forefathers, unwittingly makes a pact with the Devil, trading away his fate for material goods: an iron pot, a bushel of tenpenny nails, some copper, and a rat that can speak. As the story unfolds, Chips discovers that his bargain comes with unforeseen consequences, particularly with the rat, which seems to multiply in his life after he attempts to rid himself of it.

"The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane is a profound short story that captures the struggle for survival experienced by four shipwrecked men adrift in a small dinghy after their steamer, the Commodore, sinks. The narrative is based on Crane's real-life experience of being stranded at sea, and it explores themes of nature's indifference, the bond between humans in the face of adversity, and existential reflections.

This clever and thought-provoking short story by Isaac Asimov, one of the masters of science fiction, suggests that a higher power can step in and steer us from our reckless ways. After all, we may be inhabitants of a universal barnyard overseen by a master farmer.

Step back in time with "Midnight Sketches," a captivating audiobook narrated by the talented Mike Vendetti. Published in 1898 by the renowned author Stephen Crane, this collection invites listeners into a world where the simplicity of life coexists with the complexity of human emotions. Through eight beautifully crafted vignettes, Crane masterfully explores themes of love, loss, ambition, and desperation, reminding us that while eras may change, the essence of the human condition remains constant.