Backstories
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Narrated by:
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Bobby Hirston
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Catherine Dryden
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Simon Van der Velde
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Stacey Patterson
About this listen
Can you find the famous person hidden in every story? And once found, can you understand them?
"Ingenious idea, brilliantly executed." (Daily Mirror)
"Humanity shimmers at the heart of every tale...and it is this that resonates, long after each mystery has been solved." (Caroline Ward Vine, winner of the Costa Prize)
These are the stories of our heroes, back when they were just another black or Jew or queer. Back when they were nobody. But the real key to these stories is that the protagonists’ identities are withheld. This means that your job is to find them - leading to that Eureka moment when you realise who's mind you've been living inside for the last 20 minutes.
A little like LSD, Backstories sweeps away your pre-conceptions and lets you rediscover your heroes as they truly are.
These are people you know, but not as you know them. Peel back the mask and see.
This book is dedicated to the victims of violent crime, the struggle against discrimination in all its forms and making the world a better place for our children. That is why 30 percent of all profits will be shared between Stop Hate UK, The North East Autism Society, and Friends of the Earth.
Backstories is published by Smoke & Mirrors Press.
My Backstories Quest
“Whatever happened to, all of the heroes?” The Stranglers 1977
I was 12 years old when I first heard this song, and although there was something in the feral tone that grabbed me, I didn’t really understand it. I do now. I get the angst and the loss and the emptiness, which I why, in Backstories, I aim to answer the question.
So join me on my quest, and together we’ll uncover the passions and prejudices that made our heroes what they were, and perhaps catch a glimpse of ourselves along the way.
Whatever happened to all of the heroes?
They turned out to be human beings, in all their diverse glory.
Simon Van der Velde January, 2021
Editorial Reviews
"Unique, astonishing, and magical, Backstories is the most entertaining book I have ever read." (The Book Magnet)
"Ingenious idea, brilliantly executed." (Daily Mirror)
"Backstories is a thrilling and at times shocking read that bravely addresses the fundamental questions of human identity." (Dr. Sara Northey, Director Forensic Psychology, Sussex)
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Story
Hit me. Kick me. Hurt me. Hate me. There’s nothing that the students of Raleigh High can do to Silver Parisi anymore. Over the past year, she’s had to endure more pain and suffering than most people are asked to bear in their lifetimes. She’s a pariah, an outcast, a ghost. She’s also never been one to take shit lying down, though...despite what half the football team might say. With only 168 days left of the school year, it won’t be long until graduation, and Silver’s planning on skipping town and leaving Raleigh firmly in her rearview mirror. Until he comes along....
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Not a YA only! Do NOT blow this off!
- By Amazon Customer on 02-29-20
By: Callie Hart
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We Are Not Free
- By: Traci Chee
- Narrated by: Scott Keiji Takeda, Dan Woren, Ryan Potter, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Fourteen teens who have grown up together in Japantown, San Francisco. Fourteen teens who form a community and a family, as interconnected as they are conflicted. Fourteen teens whose lives are turned upside down when over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry are removed from their homes and forced into desolate incarceration camps. In a world that seems determined to hate them, these young Nisei must rally together as racism and injustice threaten to pull them apart.
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There are few words
- By Riceball0413 on 09-28-20
By: Traci Chee
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Dangerous Beauty
- Dangerous Beauty, Book 1
- By: J.T. Geissinger
- Narrated by: Aiden Snow, Lidia Dornet
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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For Nasir, former Special Ops military man and bodyguard, his new job seems like an easy-money gig: Trail a Russian mobster’s runaway wife in Mexico, enjoy the sun, observe, and report. Just one rule: Don’t get too close. But it’s all Naz can do not to watch the alluring dancer’s every move. A closer look is irresistible - especially when she’s in trouble.
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Action and Romance!
- By Melanie on 04-15-19
By: J.T. Geissinger
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No Perfect Hero
- Heroes of Heart's Edge, Book 1
- By: Nicole Snow
- Narrated by: Rita Fleur, Edward Thomas
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Bossy. Heart of stone. Snarly mess next door. Send help before I'm prick-matized.... My next big mistake has a name. Warren Ford. Best kept secret in this weird little town. An alpha's alpha. Spartan abs. Too blunt for everybody's good. Moody, broody, mysterious, and totally up in my business.
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Where’s the Story?
- By Julie on 12-23-19
By: Nicole Snow
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Rabbit, Run
- By: John Updike
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Rabbit, Run is the book that established John Updike as one of the major American novelists of his - or any other - generation. Its hero is Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, a onetime high-school basketball star who on an impulse deserts his wife and son. He is 26 years old, a man-child caught in a struggle between instinct and thought, self and society, sexual gratification and family duty - even, in a sense, human hard-heartedness, and divine Grace. Though his flight from home traces a zigzag of evasion, he holds to the faith that he is on the right path.
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A Thinking Man's Novel
- By L. Berlyne on 01-12-09
By: John Updike
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An Ordinary Wonder
- By: Buki Papillon
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Oto leaves for boarding school with one plan: Excel and escape his cruel home. Falling in love with his roommate was certainly not on the agenda, but fear and shame force him to hide his love and true self. Back home, weighed down by the expectations of their wealthy and powerful family, the love of Oto's twin sister wavers, and, as their world begins to crumble around them, Oto must make drastic choices that will alter the family's lives for ever.
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Intriguing
- By Mary P Browne on 09-20-21
By: Buki Papillon
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Hellboy: An Assortment of Horrors
- By: Various
- Narrated by: Seth Podowitz
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifteen of the biggest names in weird literature come together to pay tribute to Hellboy and the characters of Mike Mignola’s award-winning line of books! Assembled by Joe Golem and Baltimore co-writer Christopher Golden, this anthology boasts 15 original stories by the best in horror, fantasy, and science fiction, including Seanan McGuire (October Daye series), Chelsea Cain (Heartsick), Jonathan Maberry (Joe Ledger series), and more! The new writer of Hellboy and the BPRD, iZombie co-creator Chris Roberson, pitches in as well!
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An assortment of good times.
- By Chris E. on 02-28-20
By: Various
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Brand New Ancients
- By: Kae Tempest
- Narrated by: Kae Tempest
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Kae Tempest is one of the most exciting and innovative performers to have emerged in spoken-word poetry in many years; her dramatic poem "Brand New Ancients" won the prestigious Ted Hughes Prize for innovation in poetry. Tempest's wholly unique blend of street poetry, rap, and storytelling - combined with the spellbinding delivery of an open-air revivalist - has won her legions of followers all over the UK. Her remarkable stage presence is wholly audible in this poem, a spoken story written to be told with live music.
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An extraordinary experience
- By James on 04-02-15
By: Kae Tempest
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Blacklands
- By: Belinda Bauer
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Debut author Belinda Bauer crafts an incredibly moving first novel in Blacklands. Twelve-year-old Steven is determined to put an end to his family’s misery and find the remains of his uncle, who was believed to be murdered as a child by a local pedophile. Steven spends his days digging for clues around his grandmother’s home, but when his search fails to unearth anything new, he reaches out to the only person with answers—the accused murderer now serving life in prison.
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just okay
- By Rebecca on 02-06-11
By: Belinda Bauer
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A Phoenix First Must Burn
- Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope
- By: Patrice Caldwell - editor
- Narrated by: York Whitaker
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Evoking Beyoncé’s Lemonade for a teen audience, these authors who are truly Octavia Butler’s heirs have woven worlds to create a stunning narrative that puts Black women and gender-nonconforming individuals at its center. A Phoenix First Must Burn will take you on a journey from folktales retold to futuristic societies and everything in between. Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters through which you cannot help but see yourself reflected.
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Absolutely brilliant
- By Ruthi on 03-11-20
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Boy Swallows Universe
- A Novel
- By: Trent Dalton
- Narrated by: Stig Wemyss
- Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Eli Bell’s life is complicated. His father is lost, his mother is in jail, and his stepdad is a heroin dealer. The most steadfast adult in Eli’s life is Slim - a notorious felon and national record holder for successful prison escapes - who watches over Eli and August, his silent genius of an older brother. Exiled far from the rest of the world in Darra, this 12-year-old boy with an old soul and an adult mind is trying to follow his heart, learn what it takes to be a good man, and train for a glamorous career in journalism. But life insists on throwing obstacles in Eli’s path.
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A beautiful adventure both on paper and in audio
- By David on 06-17-20
By: Trent Dalton
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Lionel Asbo
- State of England
- By: Martin Amis
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Lionel Asbo, a terrifying yet weirdly loyal thug (self-named after England's notorious "Anti-Social Behaviour Order"), has always looked out for his ward and nephew, the orphaned Desmond Pepperdine. He provides him with fatherly career advice (always carry a knife, for example) and is determined they should share the joys of pit bulls (fed with lots of Tabasco sauce), Internet porn, and all manner of more serious criminality. Des, on the other hand, desires nothing more than books to read and a girl to love .
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Jēz...us! Just don't buy it for your Grans.
- By Darwin8u on 01-03-13
By: Martin Amis
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Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms
- By: Katherine Rundell
- Narrated by: Bianca Amato
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Even a life on the untamed plains of Africa can't prepare Wilhelmina for the wilds of an English boarding school in this lovely and lyrical novel from the author of Rooftoppers, which Booklist called "a glorious adventure". Wilhelmina Silver's world is golden. Living half-wild on an African farm with her horse, her monkey, and her best friend, every day is beautiful. But when her home is sold and Will is sent away to boarding school in England, the world becomes impossibly difficult.
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Wonderful!
- By Clayton on 10-11-24