Anthony Boucher’s All Stars: 52 best SF books (+6 More) and 12 Fantasy books

SFFaudio Commentary

The Magazine Of Fantasy And Science Fiction - October1958

The “All Star Anniversary Issue” of Fantasy And Science Fiction Magazine (for October 1958) featured famed editor Anthony Boucher’s regular “Recommending Reading” column – but with a twist. In celebration of the magazine’s 9th anniversary Boucher challenged himself to create a list of “Fifty Review Copies I Would Not Part With.” He failed in this herculean task – he just couldn’t pair down the list to fifty (even by restricting what would qualify in a number of ways). Instead, he ended up listing 52 Science Fiction novels or collections that he had no hand in publishing, another six that he did, and twelve Fantasy titles that were absolute must keepers as well. Of them Boucher wrote:

“These are novels and collections which have, from 1949 through 1957, given intense pleasure to a man professionally, obligated to read every s.f. book published in America; and I venture the guess that any reader, novice or habitué of our field, will find stimulation and delight in a high number of these titles.”

That’s good enough for me! I have reproduced as Boucher listed them (in alphabetical order by author). But I’ve added links to extant audiobook editions:

Boucher’s 52 best SF books:
Brain Wave by Poul Anderson |BLACKSTONE AUDIO|

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov [COLLECTION] |READ OUR REVIEW|
The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov |READ OUR REVIEW|
The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov |READ OUR REVIEW|
Earth Is Room Enough by Isaac Asimov [COLLECTION]

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury [COLLECTION] |READ OUR REVIEW|

What Mad Universe by Fredric Brown
The Lights In The Sky Are Stars by Fredric Brown
Angels And Spaceships by Fredric Brown [COLLECTION]

Cloak Of Aesir by John W. Campbell [COLLECTION]

No Blade Of Grass / The Death Of Grass by John Christopher |AUDIBLE FRONTIERS|

Prelude To Space by Arthur C. Clarke
Expedition To Earth by Arthur C. Clarke [COLLECTION]
Against The Fall Of Night (and The City And The Stars) by Arthur C. Clarke

Mission Of Gravity by Hal Clement

The Wheels Of If by L. Sprague de Camp [COLLECTION]
Rogue Queen by L. Sprague de Camp

Nerves by Lester Del Rey

Eye In The Sky by Philip K. Dick |BLACKSTONE AUDIO|

The Third Level by Jack Finney [COLLECTION]

The Man Who Sold The Moon by Robert A. Heinlein [COLLECTION]
The Green Hills Of Earth by Robert A. Heinlein [COLLECTION] |BLACKSTONE AUDIO|BOOKS ON TAPE|CAEDMON|

Bullard Of The Space Patrol by Malcolm Jameson

Takeoff by C.M. Kornbluth
The Explorers by C.M. Kornbluth [COLLECTION]
Not This August by C.M. Kornbluth

Gather, Darkness by Fritz Leiber
The Green Millennium by Fritz Leiber |WONDER AUDIO|

The Big Ball Of Wax by Shepherd Mead

Shadow On The Hearth by Judith Merrril

Shadows In The Sun by Chad Oliver
Another Kind by Chad Oliver [COLLECTION]

A Mirror For Observers by Edgar Pangborn

The Space Merchants by Frederick Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth

The Other Place by J.B. Priestly [COLLECTION]

Deep Space by Eric Frank Russell [COLLECTION]

Untouched by Human Hands by Robert Sheckley [COLLECTION]

City by Clifford D. Simak [COLLECTION] |AUDIBLE FRONTIERS|
Strangers In The Universe by Clifford D. Simak

Without Sorcery by Theodore Sturgeon [COLLECTION]
The Dreaming Jewels by Theodore Sturgeon |BLACKSTONE AUDIO|
More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon |BLACKSTONE AUDIO|

Slan by A.E. van Vogt |BBC AUDIOBOOKS AMERICA|
The Weapon Shops and The Weapon Makers by A.E. van Vogt

Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. |AUDIBLE MODERN VANGUARD|

A Martian Odyssey by Stanley Weinbaum [COLLECTION] |LIBRIVOX|

The Throne Of Saturn by S. Fowler Wright

The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham |AUDIBLE FRONTIERS|
Re-Birth/The Chrysalids by John Wyndham |AUDIBLE FRONTIERS|

Excellent titles that had origins on the pages of Fantasy And Science Fiction:

Bring The Jubilee by Ward Moore

Tales From Gavagan’s Bar by Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp [COLLECTION]

The Sinister Researches Of C.P. Ransom by H. Nearing Jr. [COLLECTION]

One In Three Hundred by J.T. McIntosh

The Star Beast by Robert A. Heinlein |FULL CAST AUDIO|
The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein |BLACKSTONE AUDIO|

Boucher’s best dozen Fantasy books:

The Devil In Velvet by John Dickson Carr

Fancies And Goodnights by John Collier [COLLECTION]

The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison |MARIA LECTRIX|

The Circus Of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney

The Private Memoirs And Confessions Of A Justified Sinner by James Hogg

Fear by L. Ron Hubbard |GALAXY PRESS|

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson [COLLECTION] |BBC AUDIOBOOKS AMERICA|

The Ghostly Tales by Henry James [COLLECTION]

Pogo by Walt Kelly

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis |BLACKSTONE AUDIO|

Further Fables For Our Times by James Thurber [COLLECTION]

The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien |RECORDED BOOKS|

Posted by Jesse Willis

Golden Age Stories: FREE AUDIOBOOK – Pearl Pirate by L. Ron Hubbard

SFFaudio Online Audio

GoldenAgeStories.com (aka Galaxy Press) has a new FREE audiobook download for their newsletter’s subscribers:

Pearl Pirate by L. Ron HubbardPearl Pirate
By L. Ron Hubbard; Read by ????
1 |MP3| – Approx. 47 Minutes [UNABRIDGED?]
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Published: March 2010
American captain Smoke Engel loses his ship, the Witch, to a corrupt Chinese money lender and must then embark on a deadly errand to regain his rightful property—by stealing a fortune in black pearls from the most ruthless pirate on the South Seas.

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #054

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #054 – Jesse and Scott talk about audiobooks, the recent arrivals, the new releases and the current listens.

Talked about on today’s show:
Full Cast Audio, Kenneth Oppel, Starclimber, alternate, Lionsgate City (aka Vancouver), Space Station Rat by Michael J. Daley, Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein |READ OUR REVIEW|, Little Brother by Cory Doctorow |READ OUR REVIEW|, 1984 by George Orwell, Brilliance Audio, A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire, Mary Robinette Kowal, Where Angels Fear To Tread by Thomas E. Sniegoski, angels, Roger Zelazny, Blackstone Audio, Frostbite by David Wellington, werewolves, 13 Bullets by David Wellington, vampires, Let The Right One In, Dead Snow, David Wellington’s “Monster Trilogy”, zombie apocalypse, Survivors (2008), Terry Nation, Survivors (1975 – 1977), 30 Days Of Night, dreamy vampires, Blackstone Audio, Vampire$ by John Steakley, John Carpenter’s Vampire$, bounty hunting, Dark Is the Sun by Philip Jose Farmer, Recorded Books, Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross, LibriVox.org, Rastignac The Devil by Philip Jose Farmer, Gregg Margarite, The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert, Love Bites by Lyndsay Sands, the paranormal romance problem, Blue Moon by Laurell K. Hamilton, Obsidian Butterfly by Laurell K. Hamilton, Single White Vampire by Lyndsay Sands, Penguin Audio, The Silent Sea by Clive Cussler and Jack DeBrule, Dirk Pitt, “Jacque Cousteau as James Bond”, Cujo by Stephen King, Firestarter by Stephen King, The Monster Of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Running Man by Stephen King = reality television, Robocop, Thinner by Stephen King, The Long Walk by Stephen King, The Long Walk by Sławomir Rawicz, Siberia, walking from Siberia to India, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins |READ OUR REVIEW|, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, Cube, dragons, How To Train Your Dragon, Anne McCaffrey, Eragon, Around The World In Eighty Days by Jules Verne, Komodo dragons, Dragonslayer, Dragonheart, Smaug, The Geek’s Guide To The Galaxy podcast, DragonLance, Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George, Roadwork by Stephen King, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy meets The Omega Man, where the pseudonym “Richard Bachman” came from, “everything comes back to Donald E. Westlake”, Blackstone Audio, Empire Builders by Ben Bova, Nova Audiobooks, NASA, cutting the Constellation program, CBS coverage of Apollo 11, Robert A. Heinlein was a commentator for Apollo 11, why do we have so little Heinlein audio and video?, Sheepfarmer’s Daughter by Elizabeth Moon, Oath Of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon, Graphic Audio, The Serrano Legacy, Galaxy Press, A Matter Of Matter by L. Ron Hubbard, The Crossroads by L. Ron Hubbard, time travel, Captive Market by Philip K. Dick, economics, Brilliance Audio, Saucer by Stephen Coonts Saucer: The Conquest by Stephen Coonts, Peter Watts, The Eyes Of The Overworld by Jack Vance, Breaking Point by James Gunn |READ OUR REVIEW|, Tales Of Dying Earth by Jack Vance, “Vance has ideas and style”, The Last Castle by Jack Vance, The Moon Moth by Jack Vance |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Geek’s Guide To The Galaxy interviews The Tolkien Professor.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Golden Age Stories: FREE AUDIOBOOK – The Devil’s Rescue by L. Ron Hubbard

SFFaudio Online Audio

GoldenAgeStories.com, which is a site promoting Galaxy Press audio and ebooks, is offering a FREE audiobook download to visitors who “sign up for the Stories from the Golden Age newsletter.” To get the audiobook you need to answer a couple innocuous-sounding questions and type in your name, mailing address, email. Here is the result…

GOLDEN AGE STORIES - The Devil’s Rescue by L. Ron HubbardThe Devil’s Rescue
By L. Ron Hubbard; Read by R.F. Daley
Zipped MP3 Download – Approx. 43 Minutes [UNABRIDGED NARRATION WITH SOUND EFFECTS]
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Published: 2009?
Edward Lanson has been drifting in a lifeboat far below the Cape of Good Hope for weeks and seems destined for the watery depths until an ancient clipper ship rescues him. But what seemed to be salvation may indeed be his destruction when he is confronted with the captain of a crew of faceless sailors—a man known only as the Dark One—who has his own plans for Edward. First published in Unknown Fantasy Fiction, October 1940.

[via Bish’s Beat]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrival from Galaxy Press

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

The Professor Was a Thief by L. Ron HubbardThe Professor Was a Thief
By L. Ron Hubbard; Performed by a Full Cast
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Published: 2009
2 CDs – 2 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
ISBN: 9781592123247

Galaxy Press continues it’s publication of Golden Age Stories from L. Ron Hubbard:

Primed for promotion to the World-Journal city editor, grizzled senior reporter Pop is stunned when it’s announced that young Leonard Caulborn, the publisher’s son-in-law, will get the post. Worse, the lad wants him out. In protest, Pop demands to be given a beat again and gets his wish. . . only now he’s got just two days to find the “real” story about a dead-end assignment— a month-old physics lecture— or be fired.

When Pop starts searching for the story’s source, a professor named Pertwee, he lands in the middle of the story of a century after the Empire State Building, Grant’s Tomb and Grand Central Station all disappear. Apparently, Pertwee’s the mastermind behind it all. But Pop soon discovers that, instead of inventing a new way to blow things up, the professor may be doing quite the opposite.

ALSO INCLUDES THE SCIENCE FICTION STORIES “BATTLE OF WIZARDS” AND “THE DANGEROUS DIMENSION”

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

The SFFaudio Podcast #012 – NEW RELEASES/RECENT ARRIVALS

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #012 – Our sickest show yet. How sick? Well, I’d like Stanley Kubrick to direct the next Conan movie. We also talk about the SFFaudio Challenge #3, which is not as bad as Red Sonja (1985).

Talked about on today’s show:
Fallout 3 has a built-in radio drama (The Adventures Of Daring Dashwood), The Little Book, Selden Edwards, time travel, The Book Of Lies, Brad Meltzer, Nelson DeMille, The Border, The Third SFFaudio Challenge, Muureen O’Brien, Maria Lectrix Podcast, The Risk Profession, Donald E. Westlake, Spider Robinson, John D. MacDonald, Travis McGee, John Varley, The Persistence Of Vision, Scott Brick, Aural Noir, The Case Of The Dancing Sandwiches, Frederic Brown, The Fabulous Clipjoint, H. Beam Piper, Murder In The Gunroom, Galaxy Press, Elantris, Brandon Sanderson, Dennis Stocks, LibriVox, Masters Of Space, E.E. “Doc” Smith, E. Everett Evans, R.J. Davis, BSAP’s Queen Of The Black Coast, Robert E. Howard, Bill Hollweg, Stevie Farnaby, Brian Murphy, The Silver Key, Brett Ratner’s new Conan movie, HBO’s new A Song Of Ice And Fire show.

Posted by Jesse Willis