Literature&Fiction Audiobooks

Ayahuasca is a powerful tool for transformation, that more and more Westerners are flocking to drink in a quest for greater self-knowledge, healing and reconnection with the natural world. This formerly esoteric, little-known brew is now a growth industry. But why? Ayahuasca is a psychoactive tea that has a long history of ritual use among indigenous groups of the Upper Amazon. Made from the ayahuasca vine and the leaves of a shrub, ayahuasca is associated with healing in collective ceremonies and in more intimate contexts, generally under the direction of specialist – an ayahuasquero . These are experienced practitioners who guide the ceremony and the ‘drinkers’ experience. Ayahuasca has gained significant popularity these days in cities around the world. Ceremonies happen nightly and Hollywood stars, Wall Street players and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs now drink the brew. Why? What effect might ayahuasca be having on our culture? Could it be the LSD of our time? Does the brew, which seems to inspire environmental action, simplified lifestyles and more communitarian behaviour, act as an antidote to frenzied consumerist culture? In When Plants Dream , Pinchbeck and Rokhlin explore the economic, social, political, cultural and environmental impact that ayahuasca is having on society. Part 1 covers the background; what ayahuasca is, where it is found, and its cultural origins. Part 2 explores the role and practices of the ayahuasquero in both Amazonian and Western cultures. Part 3 examines the medicinal plants of the Amazon, looking particularly at the ingredients in ayahuasca and their therapeutic qualities, covering the most up-to-date biomedical research, psychedelic science and psychopharmacology. Part 4 looks more closely at how ayahuasca is perceived and used today, covering law, the drug wars, media and money. Lastly in Part 5 Pinchbeck and Rokhlin question the future of ayahuasca. When Plants Dream is the first book of its kind to look at the science and expanding culture of ayahuasca, from its historical use to its appropriation by the West and the impact it is having on cultures beyond the Amazon.

Born in 1960, Olivier Aymar has a PhD in history, specialising in the history of the Kurds and Zazas. In this book, he presents eight traditional folk tales of kindness, goodness, courage, compassion and other such qualities. Eight short initiatory stories in which the various characters outdo themselves, revealing their courage and bravery and acting like true heroes of ancient mythical days.

A child growing up, losing his father right after meeting him, the support and love of a half-brother taking care of him while facing hardships and people's judgments. The journey of a child becoming a man, wishing to spread his wings towards the East.<br><br>A desire to get to know the East, to discover the mystifying country of the rising moon, to take off in an attempt to discover new worlds: this is the dream the protagonist is chasing, without ever giving up while facing the greatest hardships. It is a story of a wonderful friendship, which is tainted by fright, desolation and conflict, yet triumphant in the end over everything. In the eighteenth century, while Europe is filled with new ideas that will lead to the great revolutions, in a castle that seems to belong to a fairy tale, but is more like a golden prison, the lives of three brothers are intertwined. Their personal stories are permeated with disappointment and refused affection. Despite all this, they find in their friendship the strength and courage to follow their dreams. The path to maturity is long and difficult, but during their journey, they discover that nobody is really a prisoner of one's history, that freedom can be seized, even if there is a high price to pay, and that love is stronger than any law. Beyond the accurate historic setting, the story transcends time and applies to everyone.

In a bar in a Parisian neighbourhood, a man is busy scribbling down ideas on blank sheets of paper. Suddenly a young woman approaches him and asks if he is a writer. The conversation begins...

Megan's School Trip (volume 3): The staff are organising a school trip, and the pupils can vote on where they want to go. Megan is confused about her first vote, but gets to go where she wants to go. She loves the trip, and explores the prehistoric cave site with Grrr, her ghost tiger friend. She seems to be transported back into those ancient times, but doesn’t find it scary, because her friend is with her. She later discusses her experience with her Spirit Guide, Wacinhinsha.<br><br>The Psychic Megan Series consists of twenty-three novelettes about a young girl's growing realisation that she is able to do things that none of her family can. Megan is twelve years old in the first volume. She has two seemingly insurmountable problems. Her mother is frightened of her daughter's latent abilities and not only will not help her but actively discourages her; and she can’t find a teacher to help her develop her supernatural, psychic powers. For she wants not only to know what it is possible to do and how to do it, but to what end she should put her special abilities. Megan is a good girl, so it would seem obvious that she would tend towards using her powers for good, but it is not always easy to do the right thing even if you know what that is. These stories about Megan will appeal to anyone who has an interest in psychic powers, the supernatural and the paranormal and is between the ages of ten and a hundred years old. Megan's School Trip (volume 3): The staff are organising a school trip, and the pupils can vote on where they want to go. Megan is confused about her first vote, but gets to go where she wants to go. She loves the trip, and explores the prehistoric cave site with Grrr, her ghost tiger friend. She seems to be transported back into those ancient times, but doesn’t find it scary, because her friend is with her. She later discusses her experience with her Spirit Guide, Wacinhinsha.

Welcome to my story. This book is a mere collection of nightmares, without any pretensions but to let you enter the intricate folds of my mind. I think everyone has experienced nightmares in their life, whether asleep or awake; I can well say I am an impressive expert on sleeping terrors. Close-eyed nightmares are my personal curse: I have been having them since I was a child, and I could never explain the reason why. My childhood was always related to the fear that something catastrophic was about to happen, either to me or to the people I loved. I usually felt something akin to a cold breath on my neck that made my hair stand on end; that icy, slimy hand touching your back which makes you startle, aghast. Oftentimes my vision went completely dark, so that I had to go and lie down on my bed in order to feel more at ease; yet, even entering my bedroom I dreaded what would happen when I finally closed my eyes. Things did not improve at all in my teen years: every time, soon after a dream I woke up in a sweat, shivering. After such nights I obviously had to face life again like everyone else, though still doubtful about my future; but it was whenever I had personal choices to make, that the nightmares worsened. At those times my life easily became hell; I closed myself off entirely and always wondered what I had achieved so far and what I wanted next from my life. Over time I have come to write my dreams down in order to understand them, alongside my wishes, to see if they come true. This has helped me shed some light more than once. But back to nightmares. I then thought to myself that I would tell you all about my terrors, embellishing each one and including them in a collection of every spine-chilling thrill I have ever experienced. I apologise for this chilly gift on my part, but my mind likewise is as cold and messy a place. It is the mind of a woman, of a fighter who openly faced evil, and chose to talk about it. Though my words could sometimes wound the more susceptible souls, I do not mean to claim the moral high ground over any of you. Everyone has their own worldview; we feel and shape everything around us accordingly. And after all the ordeals I have endured through life, I now strive to use my inner eye in order to create a more fruitful vision of the future. I would like to see a future full of dreams, studies, travels: dreams are basically wishes our hearts make. As to nightmares, though... Close-eyed nightmares have always been my speciality, and there are several reasons behind this phenomenon, but the main one is probably that I am a tolerant person, yet emotional and sensitive; over the course of my life I have in fact experienced both thorns in my side and many a rainy day. But I have always sought light to illustrate this part of me, so I will tell you of my favourite poem: Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes.

After the great success obtained with ”The mystery of the book”, Angelo Grassia returns with his second book, a story full of mystery, love and feelings. ”Finally we are here” is the continuation of ”The mystery of the book”. Laura, a beautiful girl with green eyes, after reading ”The mystery of the book”, impressed by the story decides to contact the author for more information. The two meet at the Bar Bazzanti in Gaeta, the same Bar where last year he had known Sabrina, another beautiful girl with green eyes. Laura tells she was fascinated by the story, and she bought from the same second-hand dealer a ring belonging to Claudia and also a postcard Vittorio had sent just before they became husband and wife. This was the last postcard left. The only one missing from Angelo's collection. Laura shows it to him and Angelo is impressed. He thinks it was Fate who sent Laura with that postcard and the message written on it was directed to him. On the postcard there was written: Finally we are... with love, Vittorio. From this message Angelo understands it is now time to publish the entire manuscript of Vittorio, he had received as a gift the year before from a junk dealer never seen before. The manuscript tells about the mutual feelings between father and son, and about the beautiful love story between Vittorio and Claudia, they were engaged to meet in a street in Como called ”the street of the stars”, where the stars , in fact, with their magical splendour they seemed to be whispering: ”Love yourselves... The best thing in life is love!”

The fascinating historical-mythological epic, with its enormous weight of pain and death, but over all the splendid timeless scenes of the Trojan War.<br><br>The fascinating historical-mythological epic, with its enormous weight of pain and death, starts with a simple love triangle whose sides are: Elena, ”femme fatale” ante litteram of the Homeric legend; Paris, hero in possession of a classic virile charm; Menelaus, pale ruler of Sparta, overwhelmed by the continuous confrontation with his valiant brother Agamemnon. The meeting between these characters creates a destiny that is filled with pathos: Paris, son of King Priam and who is madly in love with Helen, escapes with her; Menelaus, former husband of Helen, is blinded by jealousy and lust for revenge, will declare war on Troy, beginning a ruinous tragedy that will last ten years. Around this central nucleus, infinite events come to life that are linked by invisible Fate, now tangling now dissolving: unfathomable and mysterious, the true deus ex machina of Greek mythology, Fate exceeds, with its absolute determinism, even the will of the gods. In this fictionalized version of the Trojan epic, the author seems to already know that readers will remain, in spite of themselves, ensnared by the plot and that, like children placed in front of a fairy tale, at the end of each chapter they will ask with irrepressible curiosity: ”And then ?”.

A fairy tale for children and adults. Who said that from the sad facts of life you can not be reborn stronger than before? The wizard Scarfutur demolishes the beautiful Cosmopolis where Cammie lives with her animals. Only the dachshund Orestes and the donkey Lewis will believe in the reconstruction...

Series: I’m writing this for you Massimo and Maria Grazia are a couple both in real and literary life, and they love writing fiction for everyone, regardless of their age. This idea was born with the idea of turning the tales they had made up for their children into books.