Infamy is a difficult thing to live with. It removes privacy, infects every aspect of daily life, and even causes the people it encounters casually to run and hide. Very few know how to deal with it well, but others can make the infamous lifestyle an art form.

Join a university professor as he overcomes a slight brush with infamy, grabs life by the horns, and takes charge of his once fearful existence. Join a successful executive as he regains a life lost to an infamous woman. And join a graduate student researching the length and breadth of what infamy can do to a soul.

This is a story of three men grappling with the ingloriousness of human existence. Throw in a little adventure, stir up a little romance, and add a mythical trip to the afterlife, and you will have "Infamy," the first podiobook by Squid Varilekova. Plug in your headphones, download a few tracks, and explore your own infamous lifestyle. Infamy is waiting for you.

From the Author of How to Disappear Completely:
1999

Aston Somerfield, casual smoker and part-time alcoholic, has come to London to find himself. He knows who he's looking for, he's seen him on the cover of the NME. Drawn across oceans by fame and fate, Aston is keeping his diary empty to make sure he's available. Won't commit to anything until it's everything.

London, however, has other ideas.

When a virtual stranger calls Aston a few hours before his death, fate catches up with him, derailing his barely-made plans. Amid a hundred boozy evenings and romantic deadends, a mystery unfurls.

Equally assisted and hindered by tremulous accountant Tom Hensley and dedicated loafer Steven Black, Aston uncovers a different London, one of murder, ghosts, dangerous emails and the second big bang.

As chaotic and random as the city it inhabits,...[more]

Autobiographical coming-of- age tale of five working class boys in the historic village of Cooperstown New York. The story centers around a local brothel called the Sugarhouse, operated by Ma Rutledge, the Maple Sugar Madam, and her two saucy, bovine daughters, Bertha and Emma.

“The happiest times at the Sugarhouse came when Ma Rutledge was making maple syrup. During these sap-boiling days the sugary breath of the candy kitchen penetrated everywhere. The beds of the girls were saturated with sweetness. A roll in the hay with Emma or Bertha was like rolling in pastry flour.”

But there’s trouble in paradise.

A new girl arrives at the Sugarhouse, Belle Saint Marie, “a dusky Cajun princess with snapping black eyes and a body no man could ever forget once he'd seen it.” A lovers’ triangle develops, with tragic consequences for local hayshaker Paul Greenfield.

...[more]

There is something in the jungle of Irma Flores that has terrorized Sarah for years. As a scientist she needs to know what it is and by confronting this evil she is about to be awakened from her nightmare. She doesn’t know it but she will also begin her first faltering steps toward enlightenment. Along the way, she will have to contend with a strange dwarf people, pirates, corporate raiders and an obstinate lover. Her road to nirvana will be a raw and bruising journey that is certain to be both entertaining and moving for the listener.

The media eagerly made the startling announcement about the unique hobbit fossil find and the existence of hobbit human relatives on Flores Island 16,000 years ago, prehistoric survivors that seemingly went extinct just a few short years ago. Only, the scientists were dead wrong! They are still alive today and two American scientists are going to discover them and...[more]

In the nineteen-sixties, a group of wealthy men concludes that it's already too late to stop global warming from destroying the planet. But they have a plan to save themselves.

Twenty years later, Jack Crowley and Jim Patterson stumble onto the conspiracy, and every answer they find is accompanied by more questions - and more deaths.

Jack is a former idealist, turned cynical by his years working as a New York tabloid editor. But his enthusiasm returns as he looks into the work of a NASA scientist who tells Jack about cover-ups at the space agency. Jim is a detective with little patience for conspiracy nuts. But he hates loose ends, and is unable to let go of the inconsistencies in another suspicious NASA death. Soon, his investigation leads him to Jack, and they join forces.

As Jack and Jim dig deeper, they are targeted by the type of killers that don't usually miss....[more]

This is a poignant and irreverent diary of the author's yearlong (2001-2) experience of teaching English to college students in Beijing, People's Republic of China. From the very first pages, the author draws you into his struggle with a culture worlds away from his comfort zone. The author's generous and compelling personality allowed him to gain access to the lives of his students and their families, who became characters in his tale. One can experience the author's wit and humanity throughout the narrative.

The author's humorous view of China is especially timely and dovetails with the current explosion of interest in that country as it enters the modern world. The book is neither a travelogue nor a look at the government, although elements of those subjects are woven into the story. Instead, it is an engaging look at China, tailored toward those who know little about it. Still, those who have...[more]

Return with us once again to those thrilling days of yesteryear! A time when a man in a mask could make a stand against the growing forces of darkness... Decoder Ring Theatre is proud to return to Podiobooks with our second season of the pulp exploits of Canada's Greatest Superhero The Red Panda and his trusty sidekick The Flying Squirrel as they bring two-fisted pulp justice to Depression-era Toronto! Each episode is a self-contained, full-cast adventure story in the style of Radio's Golden Age.

A domestic terrorist attack evokes a violent and oppressive response from the U.S. government... a labor dispute ends in violence... a young boy lies dying of a rare disease with no hope in sight. When the conflict focuses on a small town in West Virginia, Ken Murphy, Iraq veteran and Lieutenant Colonel in the West Virginia National Guard, must find a way to protect his family and community in a world turned upside down. In a future America terrifying to behold, Republic evokes the specter of civil war in a world that is simultaneously familiar and changed beyond recognition.

Republic is written and performed by Charles Sheehan-Miles (also author of Prayer at Rumayla: A Novel of the Gulf War) with music produced by Luke Tripp.

Here's What Some People Have to Say About Republic:

The Podler Book Review, June 7, 2007
... vital, gripping, convincing ... compelling...[more]