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Thuggiana

The First Quarto, Book 5

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Thuggiana

By: Gregory Ashe
Narrated by: J.F. Harding
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About this listen

Pics, or it didn’t happen.

Thuggiana is a collection of short stories connected to The First Quarto. It includes the following:

  • “The Slightest Folly”: This prequel provides a glimpse into Auggie’s and Theo’s lives in high school. It takes place before They Told Me I Was Everything.
  • “As School-Boys from Their Books”: A series of vignettes set shortly after the events of They Told Me I Was Everything.
  • “The Woodsong Fog”: A series of vignettes set shortly after the events of Yet a Stranger.
  • “We Fools of Nature”: Theo and Auggie go on a float trip. This story is set after The Fairest Show.
  • “Thuggiana”: Auggie takes the gang on a private, overnight ghost hunt in an abandoned prison. This story is set after A Fault against the Dead.

Please note that the first four stories were distributed previously in various formats.

“Thuggiana” is exclusively available in this collection.

©2022 Gregory Ashe (P)2026 Gregory Ashe Anthologies & Short Stories Literature & Fiction Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Short Stories
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Thuggiana (and you’ve gotta love that Gregory Ashe has adopted the ship name given to Theo and Auggie by fans!) is a collection of short stories from the First Quarto series that, as with the other similar collections from other series, feature the characters in more… domestic, less life-threatening situations than they face in the full-length books. The first four stories were originally sent out with the author’s newsletter and the fifth is new material, available only in this collection. Having J.F. Harding back in the narrator’s chair for the audio version is just the icing on the cake.

The first story, The Slightest Folly, is set before the events of They Told Me I Was Everything; Theo – who is still going by his first name, Daniel, at this point – is in high school and acting like a redneck thug in order to fit in; ten years later, sixteen-year-old Auggie is also in high-school and grappling with his attraction towards another boy in his year. As School-Boys from Their Books, The Woodson Fog and We Fools of Nature fill in some of the gaps between books, and offer some valuable insight into how their relationship is developing and into their growth as characters and as a couple. The stories are funny and charming and full of banter and affection - even when the pair of them are trying not to be cute and affectionate and in love with each other.

The final story, Thuggiana, reminds us once again that if you look up the definition of “trouble magnets” in the dictionary, you’ll find the names Theo Stratford and Auggie Lopez next to it. They, along with Orlando and his partners and his emotional support Doritos (which he witholds from Auggie!) head off to spend the night in an abandoned – and supposedly haunted – prison, and of course, things take a turn for the scary.

And that cliffhanger… I hope we’re going to get some resolution to that in the not too distant future.

J.F. Harding is one of my all-time favourite narrators, and he does a fantastic job here. The handful of secondary characters are clearly differentiated, the pacing is spot on and he absolutely gets Theo and Auggie and their dynamic - Auggie’s winsome brattishness, Theo’s long-suffering (but secretly adoring) exasperation – and voices them perfectly. Thuggiana is fun, poignant, silly and heartwarming by turns; Theo and Auggie are one of my favourite Asheverse couples, and I loved getting to spend time with them again.

Charming, funny and heartfelt

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Listener received this title free

I FORGOT ABOUT THAT ENDING.

I love these two. Their whole dynamic, the way they love each other, everything about them is just perfection to me. But, sometimes I have a bone to pick with Greg because of the damage he does to my heart rate. (JK I love it, give me more)

This two are everything!

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Listener received this title free

I listened to this book as an advanced listener.

These short stories made me wonder what I would say to my younger self about how things will work out when, in the moment, it is not always clear where the light is.

These stories start before the First Quarto with Auggie and Theo's high school selves, through to stories between the various books in the series. Both Auggie and have their personal travails when they meet, not withstanding the age difference, but there is a natural attraction that keeps pulling them back to one another like moths to a flame.

Here, Gregory Ashe captures some of their more intimate moments, both fun and more serious, but always entertaining, and with Jeff Harding as narrator, who always manages to embody Ashe's characters, this is a good listen.

It takes work to find yourself

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