Night of the Animals audiobook

Cuthbert Handley is a man on a mission. Never mind that he is 90. Nor that he is obese. Nor that he is a drug addict, and a member of the underclass known as Indigents. Never mind that he is probably psychotic. Never mind that the particularly unpleasant police branch known as the Red Watch have a BOLO out for him. Bill Broun - from Philly.comConsider instead that Cuthbert has a heart as big as England, and I don’t mean his medical condition. Consider instead that he may be the last carrier of an ancient tradition known as The Wonderments. Consider instead that the horror he seeks to foil may be real, as an American-based death cult is eager to exterminate all animal life on Earth, although Cuddy knows only that something bad is coming and he needs to act now. When you consider that the London Zoo is the last working zoo on the planet in 2052, and that it contains not only the last wild animals on earth but the DNA of thousands of species that no longer exist, it makes Cuddy’s urge seem less peculiar. Cuddy may be a ponderous Lancelot, but his grail is no less noble, just because it is not an object you can hold in your hands. He wants to let all the animals out. The seed for Broun's story was planted one day in the 1990s when he was living in Texas and went to the Houston Zoo with a friend who has schizophrenia. "He started talking to the howler monkeys," Broun recalls. "It just lit a fuse for me. - from the McCall articleNight of the Animals is both horrifying and heart-warming, a dystopian vision rich with the technological details of oppression, but not so much as to interfere with wonderful story-telling. Cuddy may be damaged goods. Having had an abusive father did not help. Seeing his brother, Drystan, drown while out in the woods when he was six sealed the deal. There is a part of Cuddy that still expects Drystan to reappear someday. Despite some regrettable moments in his life, Cuddy is damaged goods you will very much root and care for. But his youth held more than misery. There was his Gran. since their earliest childhood, their gran had told them various tales, notions, and advices she referred to collectively as The Wonderments. All along Welsh Marches, where Offa’s Dyke once bullied the Welsh with Mercian royal might, a dwindling number of families bound “neither by rank nor nation,” as their gran put it, had for centuries quietly bequeathed the Wonderments, from granddad to granddaughter, then grandmother to grandson, and so on. Is it from magic or psychosis and a lifetime of substance issues that this Dystopian Doctor Doolittle can converse with animals? Is it hubris or a religious summons that makes him feel he has been chosen to carry out this mighty task? Will his quest to be reunited with his long lost brother prove a fool’s errand? At the time, there were news reports about mentally ill men trying to enter animal enclosures in zoos, often alluding to them being religiously motivated. In creating his protagonist, Broun could draw from personal experience with his own struggles with addiction and mental health problems... "I'm a recovering alcoholic and addict. I've been clean and sober for 25 years." Broun said he quit drinking when he was 24. "It was either quit or die and it was so clear," he says. Twice, he was voluntarily hospitalized for mental health issues. - from the McCalls articleAs for the nutters, they are drawn from far too real an example. Called Heaven’s Gate in the book, they are based on a cult that was founded in Texas and moved to California. Also named Heaven’s Gate, they believed much the same things ascribed to this cult. Even the leader has the same name as the model on which he is based. Difference is these folks have some pretty nifty tech, and a huge, global following. I guess if humanity has pretty much spoiled the planet, offloading one’s being onto the spaceship contained in a passing comet might seem appealing. No crazier than building a gigantic wall. And if that entails committing suicide to free one’s spirit, well, it wouldn’t be the first time suicide has been sold as a gateway to paradise. (I have included a link to information about the real Heaven’s Gate cult in EXTRA STUFF)The Penguin Exhibit at the London ZooThe bulk of the novel takes place during and around Cuddy’s attempt to spring the caged, with looks back at his childhood, and early adulthood. There is much that is dark in Broun’s near future world. It is a place where the current extraction of all wealth by the wealthy has continued apace, with civil liberties following suit. There are plenty of tech details offered. Google Glass taken a step further with eye-implants. Spray-on video screens, a new addictive, hallucinogenic consumable called Flôt, that has generated enough addiction to merit its own Anonymous. It is Cuddy’s drug of choice. There is an overarching theme of Anthropocene destruction. And a hearkening back to a sylvan, magical ideal that is at odds with the very anti-nature nature of much of modern civilization. I didn’t consciously think much of the story of the ark as [I] wrote until later in the drafting process. I did think constantly of the post-flood covenant between God and humanity, as depicted in Genesis 9:13: “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.” This line promises that God will protect the animals of earth, but as humans, we must be God’s stewards. - from the Qwillery pieceBroun calls on the history of talking animals in English literature for some backup and some fun. Cuddy has conversations with the four-footed that made me smile with a Hitchhiker’s sort of gleam, particularly during Cuddy’s exchanges with an Islamic sand cat, which also made me think of Sheherezade. A lion is given a particularly fitting name. But these are not all sweetness and light cuddlies. There is plenty of tooth and claw, and attitudes that would be right at home in homo sap. There is a bit of a fairy tale sensibility at work here, but this is definitely no book for the kids. More of a parable about the Fifth Extinction, or, as Broun notes in the Houston Chronicle article, “a modern-day saint story.” The US embassy at Grosvenor Square looms large - from Architectsjournal.co.ukSome things to keep an eye on include the color green with all the hearkenings you would expect. Moths flit in and about with some frequency. You might look for a parallel, or a contrast between Cuddy and the cult leader in their relationship to the magical. Tony Blair comes in for a mention or two, and the dictator offered is one who you might recognize. Religion permeates, from the Druidic through Christian and Islamic into the darkly new ageist. As Winefride [Cuddy’s gran] remembered it, the Wyre Forest before the Second World War seemed like the last verdant haven against all this, a place of glory and grief somewhere between Eden and Gethsemane. This is a special and very unusual book, with large ambitions that are mostly realized. The grand finale was certainly booming and lively. I confess that parts of the big finish were a miss for me, as a bit of tech, that goes a long way to explaining a lot, is introduced late enough to qualify as a deus ex machina contrivance. Given its significance a few clues to its existence should have been inserted earlier on. There is a bit of murkiness with the big show at the end that slowed it down for me. But that is really my only gripe, enough to knock it down to 4.5 stars, but not enough to keep from rounding up to five. What Muezza the sand cat probably looks like - from bigcatswildcats.comThere is so much in this book that is wonderful that one glitch should not keep you from giving it a go. I fully expect that you will enjoy Night of the Animals immensely and that it will be a breakout hit this summer. Publication date – 7/5/2016Review Posted – 7/8/16Re-posted - July 2020=============================EXTRA STUFFLinks to the author’s personal, Twitter, and FB pagesInterviews and Articles-----The Qwillery interview-----Local writer Bill Broun lets the animals out - into a fine new novel - by Lynn Rosen - from Philly.com-----'Night of the Animals': Novel by Hellertown's Bill Broun gets strong reviews by Margie Peterson for The Morning Call feature of McCall.comIntel-----Marshall Applewhite and Heaven’s Gate-----The Undley bracteate is an item that figures in the story’s iconography – the link is to Wiki-----a collection of photos of the Wyre-----A wiki on the Wyre Forest-----A Druidic take on the yew tree, a significant item in the story. (It’s not me, it’s yew) ----- Saint Cuthbert comes in for some attention. Here is a bit of information that should enhance your read.Other-----An audio sample - Read by Ralph Lister – 5 minutes-----What muezza might have looked like when younger - ta die faw - link found by GR friend Mary Duckworth Demis Mimouna

...And after a time as he lay thus, there came two otters which licked every place of his body, and then went again to the water that they came from. And then Cuthbert arose all whole."The Life of St. Cuthbert"The Golden Legend, A.D. 1260London, 2052. The UK is an extreme surveillance state governed by Henry IX, a.k.a. "Harry9." Inequality and substance abuse are rampant. The natural world has all but disappeared, most of the world's remaining "natural" animals (i.e., not genetic clones) are confined to zoos. To add to unpleasantness, the sighting of the Urga-Rampos comet is causing cultists to come out of the woodwork. They're conducting mass ritualistic suicide, and they're bent on taking animals with them.Enter Cuthbert Handley--homeless, addicted to Flôt (a legal hallucinogen with ruinous withdrawal effects), and ninety years old (advanced medical technology--including artificial organs--is one positive of the future). As a child, Cutty's brother Drystan disappeared while playing in the woods on day. Drystan may or may not have become a sort of "Christ of the Otters," as evidenced by the large mustelid Cutty saw in his brother's stead. Since then, Cutty may or may not have gained the ability to communicate with animals. His grandmother called this gift "The Wonderments," his primary care provider, Dr. Baj, calls it a sign of mental illness. Either way, Cutty has taken it upon himself to free the animals from the London Zoo--especially the otters--as an act of atonement, and a way of seeking closure with his long lost brother. At the risk of sounding cliche, this book is unlike anything I have ever read. The story works together speculative fiction, magical realism, and world religions (Christian, Sufi, and Sikh faiths play important roles in the characters' lives). The lessons affect us on a personal and societal level. Aside from a too-lengthy (in my opinion) pairing with a Sufi sand cat, the pace of the narrative is just about perfect. The writing weaves together "fading and emerging" dialects, slang, and jargon, with footnotes to help us out when needed. I know for sure that I will be recommending this to fans of offbeat literary fiction and animal lovers once it becomes available to the general public. I'll definitely check out what Bill Broun does next. Fine print: This review is for an advance reader copy. It may differ from the version that hits stores and libraries in two months.

I love books with heroes who aren't the regular kind, and Cuthbert -- old, fat, haunted, and imaginative -- is a hero for me. Not to mention a psychiatrist lifting barbells in his office and a speaking Sand Cat. Cuthbert has lost someone, and he's on a quest to recover him, and to recover himself, and this is a quest I and I think probably many others can relate to. The language is rich, the London night is strange and deep. Encounters like the one between the sick trader and the wandering jackals seem unforgettable to me. This is a book about loss and possibility, although it is also scary and unsettling, with its vision of the spooky rise of an authoritarian state and demonization of the ill and the poor. In this, Cuthbert's story has a political voice that I think is important.

Vast and somewhat rambling, this dystopian debut novel is worth the effort. I read this book because of a favorable review, and I'm glad I did. Set in a future that appears to be unfolding as Broun envisioned it, this is a socially insane Britain of the 2050s. Broun takes a hard and sympathetic look at addiction as people respond the only way they can to a society that favors the rich while effectively making anyone not privileged a kind of slave to the system. Where do the animals come in?Cuthbert, the protagonist, is one of the addicts. He believes the animals in the London Zoo—many of them the last of their kind on earth—are speaking to him, asking him to release them. In my blog post about this book, Sects and Violence in the Ancient World, I focus on the Noah's Ark aspect of the story. There's much more than that going on, however. The crazed lack of meaning in this plutocracy leads many to revive Heaven's Gate as the answer to earth's problems. A new protagonist is introduced late in the story and brings the vast, raging insanity to a somewhat peaceful conclusion. The system remains, however. The rich will never give up anything. There's a realism here that makes the book compelling. At times the action drags a bit, but this is a book to be chewed over and thought about. Given his clear view of the future, I think Broun is set to be considered a new George Orwell in days to come.

Finally finished and so impressed and “wildly” moved tbh. Freaky how much of Night of the Animals reads like prophecy for what’s happening in our world this last year. It’s a pro-animal radical environmental fable on the loss of the Animal Kingdom. No question it’s a literary achievement and personally I’d say pretty damn masterpiece-isa.Read a lot online written about this book online. Fact is night of the Animals has received almost uniform raves ..NYT, WSJ, SFChron, Chicago Trib etc from what I can tell. Almost every single published review gushes over the book’s wordcraft, originality and ambition. I don't always agree with the pundits but in this case I found I really did.Does that mean you will like it? Maybe not, but either virtually every single mainstream critic is wrong …… or they are not. And in this case I think they are 1000% right. It’s absorbing grownup literary fiction that reminded me sort of of Thomas Pynchon and even some of Margaret Atwood, but if you want a breezy Harry Potter read, you will probably be disappointed. But if you want to take a walk on the wild side in a strange and very emotionally moving universe this may be for you!!!!!!

Speculative fiction takes what currently is and shows us what the future could be. Fantasy uses what cannot be to expand our ideas of what is possible. Bill Broun's Night of the Animals is a strange immersive brew, part speculative fiction, part fantasy, part ancient folklore/Celtic spiritualism...and wholly original. In 2052, 90 year-old Culthbert Handley, an indigent addict, believes he's the last person to possess The Wonderments, the ancient power to speak to animals. It seems the animals at the London Zoo, each the last of their kind on earth, have implored Handley to set them free. The animals insist this is the only way to save Handley's beloved England--now under the rule of the invasive, iron-fisted and capricious King Harry--from destruction at the hands of the world's most insidious suicide cult. Is Handley in possession of The Wonderments or an insane addict? Do "suicide cults" actually threaten England or are they an instrument of propaganda for The Crown to control its subjects? While Broun spins current societal forces and technologies 35-plus years into the future to interesting effect, what sets Night of the Animals apart is its understanding of the future that speculative fiction so often misses: in our present moment, we are terrible at predicting the future. Broun uses contemporary afterthoughts to great, unexpected (and often comedic) effect. The story explores how technology, like a drug, creates an eternal "now" and flattens history; do we have the capacity any longer to truly differentiate what from the past needs to be saved? Sadly--but not fatally--Broun has some difficulty, I feel, in pulling it all together. There are third act issues relating to pacing and proportion and the climax felt a bit frantic and muddled...teetering into lazy and rampant deus ex machina plot devices. I'd venture that a stronger editorial hand could have really sent this one into the stratosphere of thoughtful, sui generis speculative fiction. A weird, possibly profound tale of personal, national and spiritual history, and the preservation of each, Night of the Animals is a trip. An immersive, imperfect, unforgettable trip.

Night of the Animalsby Bill BrounHomeless Flot addicted Cuthbert Handley forms an unlikely bond with his physician / therapist Dr. Bajwas as the last living animal inhabitants of the London Zoo is threatened by a newly discovered comet nearing Earth. Taking place in 2052, Author Bill Broun's novel Night of the Animals cleverly conducts a well orchestrated visit to a mentally futuristic ark that bides in the mind of main character Cuthbert Handley. Species such as otters, lions, and bears begin speaking to Handley to set them free formulating an omen that will unfold in front of the reader like a warped Kipling dream.

Wonderful novel! The language is absolutely beautiful and the story is really clever and captivating. To me, the story was balancing on the edge where I could not tell whether the main character was simply delusional or the events were happening to him, but it kept me wanting to figure it out. I was worried that I might not like the ending because I really liked the story. I liked the ending. This is a book that speaks to your mind and heart if you are ready to open them. Excellent work!

Dystopian enough that it reflects this hideous moment in time, but hopeful enough that it transcends it. Not an easy book, but a worthwhile one.

I really enjoyed the premise of this novel. It's beautiful, yet strange sequence set in near future London was absorbing and delightful. The protagonist was quite engaging and brilliant throughout.

** spoiler alert ** “Night of the Animals” is a novel that seemed to begin as a good choice for some light reading, but then escalated into one of the most exciting, intricate and captivating adventures I have ever experienced. It is a novel that was written over fourteen years by Bill Broun; the story takes place in the year 2052, and though it isn’t the main focus of the story, Broun’s descriptions of his futuristic society are as intriguing as his abundance of deeply thought-out characters and plot lines. Because the story is set in the U.K., some lines in this book can be hard to understand but for the most part, Broun provides enough context for the reader to understand any historical references. It is a fascinating read and I would recommend it to anyone.

I loved the book but it did bog down in the middle a bit. Had to put it down and rest.... The idea of a future in which so many species of animals are extinct is not that far fetched, nor a society that actually discourages compassion and worships death. So it was a great book although a bit of a struggle.

I cannot imagine anyone giving this book less than 5 stars. It's a tour-de-force of imagination, creativity, character, and story, and happens to be about sentience and the animal world, two subjects incredibly important to me. It's a work of literature, not pulp fiction and should be appreciated as such.