Tag: LibriVox

Piper In The Woods by Philip K. Dick

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Piper In The Woods by Philip K. Dick (from Imagination, February 1953)

This is a Philip K. Dick story that I’m totally baffled by. I don’t get it.

Can someone please explain to me what I’m missing?

Why don’t I understand what Philip K. Dick was getting at?

There has to be a key, somewhere, that fits the lock that will decode the meaning that Piper In The Woods hides within itself. Right?

Right?

Help!

LIBRIVOX - Piper In The Woods by Philip K. DickPiper In The Woods
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: June 27, 2010
Earth maintained an important garrison on Asteroid Y-3. Now suddenly it was imperiled with a biological impossibility—men becoming plants! First published in Imagination, February 1953.

Here is a |PDF| made from its publication in Imagination.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Mr. Spaceship by Philip K. Dick

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

The short story, Mr. Spaceship by Philip K. Dick, is about Philip Kramen and Commander Gross, two characters that are trying to end a war. To do it these agents have to build a ship guided by something intelligent so they can defeat the “yuks” (enemy aliens that are trying to invade Earth). Kramen and Gross determine that the ship should be guided by a disembodied human brain!

To this end they recruit Professor Thomas, a very aged man confined to his bed. The brain removal is a success, and Thomas gains control of the ship.

The story’s premise is similar, remarkably similar, to the later published tale, The Ship Who Sang. The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey was published in the April 1961 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction – eight years after Mr. Spaceship was published.

I think Mr. Spaceship is one of the most interesting Philip K. Dick works that I’ve read. Mr. Spaceship is a very well organized story that was planned out step by step. The writing was very clear, giving us the main problem, and how the characters were going to solve it. I definitely recommend Mr. Spaceship to readers who like science fiction stories.

Mr. Spaceship by Philip K. Dick

LibriVoxMr. Spaceship
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: June 27, 2010
|ETEXT|
A human brain-controlled spacecraft would mean mechanical perfection. This was accomplished, and something unforeseen: a strange entity called — Mr. Spaceship. First published in Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy, January 1953.

Here is a |PDF| made from scans of the original publication in Imagination.

Posted by Andrew Kang

LibriVox: Mountain Man by Robert E. Howard

Jesse Willis

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Robert E. Howard’s Breckinridge Elkins stories are humorous tall tales about a mighty naive but mighty muscled country boy. This one, the very first, starts off a little like Winnie The Pooh, but fear not, all Howard’s usual themes are in there. There’s a bit of a difference though, even though you’ve got a barbaric he-man battling civilized folk the story differs from a CONAN tale in that it’s set in the then contemporary world (1934) and also because it’s told in first person by an unreliable narrator.

The audiobook’s narrator, RK Wilcox, on the other hand, is a very reliable narrator, as you’ll hear in this solid reading of Mountain Man.

Mountain Man by Robert E. Howard

LibriVoxMountain Man
By Robert E. Howard; Read by RK Wilcox
1 |MP3| – Approx. 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 25, 2008
|ETEXT|
Introducing the famous Breckinridge Elkins of Hardrock County, suh-the first and foremost What-a-Man of 1934! He was raised on b’ar meat and panther milk – and strong men hunt a hideout when it’s his night to howl! First published in Action Stories, March-April 1934.

Here’s a |PDF| from the original publication in Action Stories.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: What Was It? by Fitz-James O’Brien

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

I’ve posted about this story before. It’s worth posting about again and again. What’s new now is this reading, which is PUBLIC DOMAIN, and therefore extremely handy. Included also, for the first time, is some really stunning art!

I’ve also added a PDF, for handy printing!

What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien

"In Five Minutes We Had A Plaster Mold Of The Creature"

What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien - illustration from Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1949

What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien - from A Stable For Nightmares, 1896

LibriVoxWhat Was It?
By Fitz-James O’Brien; Read by Peter Yearsley
1 |MP3| – Approx. 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 2006
|ETEXT|
One of the earliest known examples of invisibility in fiction is What Was It? by Fitz-James O’Brien – He’s been called “the most important figure after Poe and before Lovecraft” and this story serves as a kind of a bridge between the supernatural and the scientific, between the likes of de Maupassant’s The Horla and Wells’ The Invisible Man.
First published in Harper’s Magazine, March 1859.

Here’s a |PDF| complied from the Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1949 publication.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Good Neighbors by Edgar Pangborn

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxA first contact story and a mystery story! When a massive alien, the size of a city, enters Earth’s atmosphere fighter jets are scrambled to meet it. The alien seems to be in search of something – but what it is won’t turn out to be what we expect. Here’s part of the description of the alien:

She had a head, drawn back most of the time into the bloated mass of the body but thrusting forward now and then on a short neck not more than three hundred feet in length. When she did that the blunt turtle-like head could be observed, the gaping, toothless, suffering mouth from which the thunder came, and the soft-shining purple eyes that searched the ground but found nothing answering her need. The skin-color was mud-brown with some dull iridescence and many peculiar marks resembling weals or blisters. Along the belly some observers saw half a mile of paired protuberances that looked like teats.

The Good Neighbors by Edgar Pangborn - illustrated by Wood

LibriVox - The Good Neighbors by Edgar PangbornThe Good Neighbors
By Edgar Pangborn; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 21, 2009
|ETEXT|
You can’t blame an alien for a little inconvenience—as long as he makes up for it! First published in Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1960.

And here is a |PDF| made from the original publication in Galaxy.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Under The Knife by H.G. Wells

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Under The Knife by H.G. Wells

Here’s an interesting story by the always pioneering H.G. Wells – it’s Horror of sorts – or as close as the master of SF can come to it – it features an out of body experience, a near death experience, and astral projection!

Under The Knife by H.G. Wells - Editorial Introduction by Hugo Gernsback

Under The Knife by H.G. Wells - Illustration from Amazing Stories

LibriVoxUnder The Knife (aka Slip Under the Knife)
By H.G. Wells; Read by William Coon
1 |MP3| – Approx. 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 07, 2007
A patient, under surgery, relates his sense experiences as careens around the physical universe in a celestial journey. First published in The New Review, January 1896.

Here’s a |PDF| made from the March 1927 issue of Amazing Stories.

Posted by Jesse Willis