Welcome to the fourth leg of our LibriVox World Tour! Enjoy our trip through the New World with 10 gems from our catalog.

Perfectly suited to us cheechako’s – newcomers – in these lands are the Selections from Ballads of a Cheechako by Robert W. Service, one of the best known Canadian poets.

Newcomers also are those Hindus who fight for their rights at a college in the Midwest of the USA. As the granddaughter of the college founder goes over to their side, the trouble gets even worse… Enjoy our production of Susan Glaspell’s drama Inheritors.

In 1519, Hernando Cortes and his conquistadores came to America in search of fame and riches. The History of the Conquest of Mexico by William H. Prescott describes how they destroyed the empire of the Aztecs.

300 years later, in 1838, the remains of another empire – the Mayan – were discovered by John Lloyd Stevens and F. Catherwood. The former wrote down their adventures in Belize, Guatemala and Honduras in Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, Vol. I.

It is clear that such a discovery in Honduras attracts many adventurers. Victor Appleton portrays the search for a Mayan idol made of pure gold in the juvenile fiction Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders.

Similarly miraculous is the island of Bermuda, certainly when seen through the eyes of Mark Twain. Picture his trip to this beautiful island with the white houses with Some Rambling Notes on an Idle Excursion.

Staying on an island is usually rather pleasant – unless you happen to be A Prisoner of Morro, like US Naval cadet Clif Faraday. Read about his adventures in the novel by Upton Sinclair, set in Cuba during the Spanish American War of 1898.

About 80 years earlier, the Caribbean was the hunting spot for pirates. Aaron Smith, on the way from Jamaica to England, was captured and enslaved by Cuban pirates, finally managed to escape – but only to be put on trial for piracy in England. The Atrocities of the Pirates is his story.

A far more romantic depiction of pirate life – as the final choice of a wrongly convicted man – is Captain Blood. Set in Barbados, the adventure novel by Rafael Sabatini was the basis for the film of the same name which made Errol Flynn famous.

Stanton H. King, born in Barbados, could only resist the siren call of the sea until his 12th birthday. Then he followed the footsteps of his older brothers and became a sailor, and endured Dog Watches at Sea for just as many years, before settling down on dry land again.

Enjoy – and send a postcard!

July has arrived – just the perfect time for some light reading. Get your fix on “adventures for the masses” with 10 gems from our catalog.

Andrew Lanning is walking the Way of the Lawless, closely followed by the law in the form of Hal Dozier. But did Andrew really commit the crimes he is accused of? Hopefully, justice will prevail in the classic western by Max Brand.

A different kind of outlaw is portrayed by Johnston McCulley. The Curse of Capistrano is the first story of Zorro, fighting for justice, against Sgt. Gonzales, and for his love Lolita, of course.

In the story by H. Beam Piper, Pappy Jack also fights the establishment – in the form of his employer. They are willing to resort to dirty tricks so that Little Fuzzy is not declared sapient – and they can keep exploiting his planet.

The Simple Sabotage Field Manual is full of strategies to bring down an enemy force. All tactics are approved – and probably tested – by the US Office of Strategic Services. Just be smart enough not to be caught!

Extremely clever are The Inventions of the Idiot. The Idiot presents his thoughts about improving the civilized man. Our dramatic reading of John Kendrick Bangs’ novel wil help you decide if they are worth anything.

Certainly worth reading are the recollections of Mark Twain. While publication was planned after his demise, he decided to publish some Chapters from My Autobiography before already, probably because they could have done no more harm anyway.

No more harm will come to La Goualeuse after she has been saved by the mysterious Rodolphe. But who is this guardian angel, and what are his ultimate goals? Read The Mysteries of Paris, one of the most successful French serials, by Eugène Sue. This book is also available in French.

The goal of the National Geographic Magazine is clear: to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge. This is its very first issue from 1889, and almost 125 years later, it is still going strong…

The city of Xuchotl is not to be found on any map. Between death and despair Conan the Cimmerian and the pirate Valeria have to fight for their lives. Red Nails is the final story of Conan by Robert E. Howard – and often considered the best.

A London Plane Tree and Other Verse was the final book of poetry by Amy Levy, whose very first poem was published in a magazine when she was only fourteen.

Enjoy – and good luck with your adventures!

Welcome to the third leg of the 2012 LibriVox World Tour! Go on a trip through the Pacific Isles and Down Under with 10 gems from our catalog.

In Omoo, a voyage on a whaling vessel ends with a mutiny on Tahiti. Follow the narrator of Herman Melville’s story as he explores the island and its inhabitants.

What happens when missionaries try to enforce their moral standards on others is masterfully told by W. Somerset Maugham in his short story Rain, set on Samoa.

The Solomon Islands, Fiji, Bora Bora,… lay on the way of Jack London’s Cruise of the Snark. As a bonus, his travelogue introduced a new sport to the masses: surfing.

Maoriland Fairy Tales, written down by Edith Howes, tell the mythological history of the Maori – from their roots in Polynesia, their seafaring, and their final settling in New Zealand about 1300 CE.

More than 3000 years later, Katherine Mansfield was born in Wellington. The famous author from New Zealand recalls her happy childhood there in Prelude.

Much less happy was the outcome of the Burke and Wills expedition, with the aim of crossing Australia from South to North. Andrew Jackson tells the details of the ill-fated undertaking in Robert O’Hara Burke and the Australian Exploring Expedition 1860.

None of The Pioneers in Australia had an easy life. Read the novel by Katharine S. Pritchard, about the Camerons, free-settlers in the wilderness, who must stand their ground against escaped convicts and bushfires on their way to prosperity.

The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke follow the transformation of Bill, from gang member to contented husband and father, at the hands of his wife Doreen. This verse novel was written by J. C. Dennis, the most prosperous poet in Australia’s history.

A prominent place in history is reserved for The Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty, which happened near Tonga in 1789. Sir John Barrow tries to shed light on its cause and consequences.

How can we talk about the tropics and not drop a single word about pirates? Hopefully our amazing – and brand new – rendition of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance will make you forgive that it is not set in the South Seas…

Enjoy – and send a postcard!

Nature and the muses are finally awakening in May. What kind of artistic feelings do the following 10 gems from our catalog awaken in you?

Building all kinds of housing – nests, burrows, hives – is a major occupation throughout the animal kingdom. One of the biggest achievements of man in this art is certainly the high gothic style, described in detail by John Ruskin in The Seven Lamps of Architecture.

What to do when huddled together in a drafty cave? Talking of course. The step to singing is but a tiny one. How to do it properly, is taught in How to Sing by Lilli Lehmann, considered one of the best singers of her time.

No great voice? You can learn an instrument instead! Clumsy fingers? In that case, the last resort is to become a critic. In How to Appreciate Music, Gustav Kobbé explains all you’ll need for the job.

A well versed and highly dangerous critic hides behind the mask of The Phantom of the Opera. Read the famous novel by Gaston Leroux and glimpse behind the scenes of the theater at their artists and patrons.

Homer De Vere has worked as an actor for ages, but now his voice is failing. The solution for his family is quickly found in the new – silent – film industry. Laura Lee Hope describes in The Moving Picture Girls how they adjust to the new medium.

Paintings cannot move or change. Except for The Picture of Dorian Gray of course, which records every little transformation of its motive, who instead lives on in eternal beauty. Have fun with our dramatic reading of Oscar Wilde’s horror story; or listen to a German translation of it.

William Blake is known for his dark and scary paintings, but also for his Poems. This collection contains his Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

Collecting famous paintings can be a very pricey hobby – and also a dangerous one. The lives of a nurse, a pawn shop owner and an art collector meet in The Pagan Madonna, an intriguing novel by Harold MacGrath, set in Shanghai.

Austria is where The Street of Seven Stars is located. Harmony studies violin to become a professional musician. When money runs out, Peter is determined to protect her. But who of them will have to sacrifice their passion? Find out in the love story by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Sarrasine, a young French sculptor, is also madly in love – with La Zambinella, an Italian singer. Honoré de Balzac describes the winding roads the youth is willing to travel in search for his art and his muse.

Enjoy – and be creative!