Review of The Greatest Science Fiction Stories Of The 20th Century

SFFaudio Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Greatest Science Fiction Stories Of The 20th CenturyThe Greatest Science Fiction Stories Of The 20th Century
By various; Read by various
4 Cassettes – 6 Hours [Unabridged]
Publisher: Dove Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0787116807
Themes: / Science Fiction / Magical Realism / Aliens / Time Travel / Parallel Worlds / Space Travel / Mutation / Nuclear Winter /

What would a long time SF fan consider a collection called The Greatest Science Fiction Stories Of The 20th Century when none of the stories would make his top ten list, and some aren’t even SF? In this case, I consider it a very good collection of stories. If anything, this seems a collection of well-read and written, but randomly chosen, speculative fiction stories.

Clearly intended to present a wide variety of “Science Fiction,” this audio-anthology has neither theme nor consistency but it doesn’t need them. The stories, with only two exceptions, are quite entertaining. They are all extremely well read, my quibble with a poor attempt at an accent notwithstanding, ranging from Harlan Ellison’s wonderfully passionate reading of his story to Nana Visitor’s aesthetically perfect interpretation of “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.”

Each story is briefly commented on below.

“Jeffty Is Five”
By Harlan Ellison; Read by Harlan Ellison
Reality is distorted around a boy who doesn’t age. This is Magical Realism, not SF, but an amazing story nonetheless. Ellison’s response to the bitter cynicism of modernity will tear at the core of your soul unless A) you’re very young or B) you don’t have a soul. The best story in the collection.

“Twilight”
By John W. Campbell; Read by Richard McGonagle
A good early SF story but not quite great. It feels a bit to much like Wells’ The Time Machine, but it entertaining enough. A retelling of a time traveler’s visit to the twilight of humanity.

“The Ones Who Walk Away Fom Omelas”
By Ursula K. Le Guin; Read by Nana Visitor
Virtually everyone knows this Fantasy, again not SF, story. It has all the strengths and weakness of Le Guin’s writing, amazing authorial voice and great storytelling, but a strong tendency to be overly didactic to the point of sanctimoniousness. Still as with most of her stories, the strengths far outweigh the weaknesses.

“Bears Discover Fire”
By Terry Bisson; Read by Arte Johnson
Bears start using fire in an otherwise normal Kentucky. This Magical Realism, not an SF. This story was the only one that bored me. It also had my only, relatively minor, reading complaint. The reader’s Kentucky accent is a bit off and sounds a bit condescending.

“The Crystal Spheres”
By David Brin; Read by Alexander Siddig
A very interesting, though highly implausible, story about a universe in which all stars are encircled by invisible, impenetrable, crystal spheres.

“That Only a Mother”
By Judith Merril; Read by Terry Farrell
Due to radiation poisoning, a baby is born mentally gifted but physically impaired. A disturbing, unpleasant story that is only marginally SF.

“Allamagoosa”
By Eric Frank Russell; Read by James A. Watson
Wonderful over-the-top humor. This story of a spaceship facing an inspection while missing an offog, an item no one knows what is, is a gem.

“Tangents”
By Greg Bear; Read by Melissa Manchester.
A boy can see into the the fourth physical dimension and a scientist helps him play music for the beings there. Interesting enough, but forgettable.

“The Nine Billion Names of God”
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Alexander Siddig
Tibetan monks have a computer print out all the names possible names of God with the intent of fulfilling the purpose of creation. Good enough but not even Clarke’s best short story.

“Huddling Place”
By Clifford D. Simak; Read by David Ackroyd
In a future with robots and space travel agoraphobia has become a serious threat. This story would have been just acceptable filler except for the fact that in this story from 1944, Simak predicts the internet, though he describes it in terms of a television with knobs.

“Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Diner”
By Lawrence Watt Evans; Read by Wil Wheaton
A fun, interesting take on the the idea of parallel universes. Certainly an enjoyable story.

“Fermi And Frost”
By Frederik Pohl; Read by Denise Crosby
Icelanders face the prospects of nuclear winter in the post-apocalyptic tale. A good downbeat story to balance some of the lighthearted stories.

Conclusion: This is a very good anthology. It definitely isn’t a collection of the best stories, but it may be the best collection of stories available. Highly recommended.

I started reviewing this collection on the expectation that it was out of print and I would have to recommend Amazon or eBay as a source of a used cassette copy. So imagine my surprise when a mere day after finishing it, I hear an Audible.com ad for it on Pseudopod. So, it is easily available for those interested.

Posted by David Tackett

The Book Show Interviews Ursula K. Le Guin

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Book ShowThe Book Show interviews Ursula K. Le Guin. |MP3|

You can subscribe to the podcast at this feed: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/bsw.xml

Posted by Charles Tan

New Audiobook Imprint Available for Public Libraries

SFFaudio News

Recorded BooksEditor, anthologist and blogger John Joseph Adams points us to this February 15th 2008 press release…

Recorded Books, LLC, the world’s premier publisher of unabridged audiobooks since 1979, announces the release of a new imprint of audiobooks that will be available for immediate release to public libraries—Science Fiction. With the growing popularity of the science fiction and fantasy genres, fans are demanding more sci-fi literature on audiobook. The Sci-Fi imprint from Recorded Books features many award-winning authors, including Piers Anthony, Terry Brooks and Ursula K. Le Guin. Among the current releases are Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury, The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman, and Blindsight by Peter Watts. Recorded Books, which operates a New York City recording studio, employs award-winning Broadway and Off-Broadway actors to record some of the world’s most popular and critically acclaimed titles.

Thanks JJA!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Hour of the Wolf Shows

OnlineAudio

Hour of the Wolf, a radio program on WBAI 99.5, has a couple of speculative fiction interviews with authors like Lucius Shepard, Chris Barzak, and Richard Bowes that you can stream. Sorry, no mp3 downloads. You can check out their listing here.

On the side that you can download, they had a 9-hour special last December 1, 2007. Here’s the breakdown of the show:

“The Star Pit” written and read by Samuel Delaney.  |MP3|

New York Review of Science Fiction Reading event at the South St. Seaport featuring Samuel Delaney. |MP3|

A recreation of two scenes from the original “The Star Pit” radio drama that includes Jim Freund and Lois Kagan Mingus. |MP3|

An interview with Ursula K. le Guin. |MP3|

Posted by Charles Tan

New Releases for a new year!

SFFaudio New Releases

The announcement of a new Infinivox “Great Science Fiction Stories” title is always a time of happiness, this one, by Maureen F. McHugh, was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula Award…

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Cost To Be Wise by Maureen F. McHughThe Cost To Be Wise
By Maureen F. McHugh; Read by Vanessa Hart
2 CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Infinivox
Published: January 2008
ISBN: 188461275X
Listen to an MP3 sample!
Set on a distant planet, this is a gripping tale about Sckarline, a colony that believes in “appropriate technology adoption.” A heavily armed clan arrives at the colony while it is being visited by off-world anthropologists. Sckarline’s technological beliefs are put to the test when events spiral out of control. Told from the viewpoint of a young woman, she soon learns just how high the price of wisdom can be.

Another title in the ever popular Miles Vorkosigan series…

Diplomatic ImmunityDiplomatic Immunity
By Lois McMaster Bujold; Read by Grover Gardner
9 Cassettes; 1 MP3-CD or 10 CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: January 2008
ISBN: 1433213137 (cassettes), 1433213151 (MP3-CD), 1433213144 (Cds)
A rich Komarran merchant fleet has been impounded at Graf Station in distant Quaddiespace after a bloody incident involving the convoy’s Barrayaran military escort. Lord Miles Vorkosigan and his wife, Lady Ekaterin, have other things on their minds, such as getting home in time to attend the long-awaited births of their first children. But when duty calls in the voice of Barrayar’s Emperor Gregor, Miles, as imperial auditor, has no choice but to answer.

A short novel from 1966, Blackstone has released it to Audible.com first with plans to follow it up with a hard copy later…

Science Fiction Audiobook - Planet of Exile by Ursula K. LeGuinPlanet of Exile
By Ursula K. LeGuin; Read by Carrington MacDuffie & Steven Hoye
1 Audible File – 4.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks / Audible.com
Published: 2007
The Earth colony of Landin has been stranded on Werel for 10 years. Ten of Werel’s years are over 600 terrestrial years, and the lonely and dwindling human settlement is beginning to feel the strain. Every winter, a season that lasts for 15 years, the Earthmen have neighbors, the humanoid hilfs: a nomadic people who only settle down for the cruel cold spell. The hilfs fear the Earthmen, who they think of as witches and call the farborns. But hilfs and farborns have common enemies: the hordes of ravaging barbarians called gaals and eerie preying snow ghouls. Will they join forces or be annihilated?

Halo: Contact Harvest by Joseph StatenHalo: Contact Harvest
By Joseph Staten; Read by Holter Graham and Jen Taylor
10 CDs – 11 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: December 10, 2007
ISBN: 1427202494
This is how it began… It is the year 2524. Harvest is a peaceful, prosperous farming colony on the very edge of human-controlled space. But we have trespassed on holy ground–strayed into the path of an aggressive alien empire known as the Covenant. What begins as a chance encounter between an alien privateer and a human freighter catapults mankind into a struggle for its very existence.
But humanity is also locked in a bitter civil war known as the Insurrection. So the survival of Harvest’s citizens falls to a squad of battle-weary UNSC Marines and their inexperienced colonial militia trainees. In this unlikely group of heroes, one stands above the rest…a young Marine staff sergeant named Avery Johnson.

This one sounds like its tackling some of the same science as did Bill DeSmedt’s SFFaudio Essential designated novel Singularity

Blashphemy by Douglas PrestonBlasphemy
By Douglas Preston; Read by Scott Sowers
11 CDs – 14 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: January 08, 2008
ISBN: 1427202745
The world’s biggest supercollider, locked in an Arizona mountain, was built to unlock the secrets of the very moment of creation: the Big Bang itself. The Torus is the most expensive machine ever created by humankind, run by the world’s most powerful supercomputer. It is the brainchild of Nobel Laureate William North Hazelius. Will the Torus divulge the mysteries of the creation of the universe? Or will it, as some predict, suck the earth into a mini black hole? Or is the Torus a Satanic attempt, as a powerful televangelist decries, to challenge God Almighty on the very throne of heaven?

The first multiple narrator recording of the third book in Frank Herbert’s original Dune series…

Children Of Dune by Frank HerbertChildren Of Dune
By Frank Herbert; Read by Simon Vance, Scott Brick and Others
14 CDs – 17 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: January 22, 2008
ISBN: 1427202915
The bestselling science fiction series of all time continues! In this third installment, the sand-blasted world of Arrakis has become green, watered and fertile. Old Paul Atreides, who led the desert Fremen to political and religious domination of the galaxy, is gone. But for the children of Dune, the very blossoming of their land contains the seeds of its own destruction. The altered climate is destroying the giant sandworms, and this in turn is disastrous for the planet’s economy. Leto and Ghanima, Paul Atreides’s twin children and his heirs, can see possible solutions—but fanatics begin to challenge the rule of the all-powerful Atreides empire, and more than economic disaster threatens…

The Kraken Wakes by John WyndhamThe Kraken Wakes
By John Wyndham; Performed by a full cast
2 CDs – 1 Hour 25 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: January 2008
ISBN: 9780792754121
John Wyndham’s classic tale of monsters from the deep, alien invasion, and ecological disaster comes alive in this full-cast BBC radio dramatization. At first, the fireballs seemed to be nothing more than a dazzling display of lights in the sky, plunging into the deepest oceans and disappearing without trace. But when ships started sinking inexplicably and the sea lanes became impassable, it seemed that the world was facing a threat of unprecedented proportions. Mike and Phyllis Watson, both radio journalists, are caught up at the center of events, well aware that it’s not the cold war or international conflicts that are causing these crises, but something infinitely more deadly-an alien invasion. And that’s not all: the sea level is rising, the ice caps are melting, London and other cities are flooding, millions of people are drowning, and ecological disaster looms. And whatever the alien beings are, they have begun to emerge from the sea…

Here’s an oddity, The Reign of Terror was the final story of Doctor Who’s first season on television (this adventure was set in 1794 in and around Paris, during the French Revolution). The story was originally wiped from the BBC’s archives, but episodes 1-3 and 6 have been recovered from a foreign TV station and a private film collector here is the result…

Doctor Who - The Reign Of Terror RADIO DRAMADoctor Who: The Reign Of Terror
By Dennis Spooner; Performed by a full cast with narration by Carole Ann Ford
2 CDs – 2 Hours 31 Minutes [TELEVISION AUDIO TRACK]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: December 2007
ISBN: 9780792750048
William Hartnell, William Russell, Jaqueline Hill and Carole Ann Ford star in this original television soundtrack of a classic Doctor Who adventure. The Tardis brings the Doctor and his companions to Robespierre’s Paris, where they discover the French Revolution to be in full swing. Separated from each other, the group find themselves caught up in history as they struggle to stay alive and find their individual way back to the Tardis. Linking narration is provided by Carole Ann Ford, who played Susan in the original series. In a short bonus interview she recalls the time she spent working on the program.

Merging Science Fiction and Chandleresque detective stories, Jonathan Lethem’s first novel, Gun, With Occasional Music, was a finalist for the 1994 Nebula Award, and placed first in the “Best First Novel” category of the 1995 Locus Magazine reader’s poll! Sounds good huh?

Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan LethemGun, With Occasional Music
By Jonathan Lethem; Read by Nick Sullivan
7 CDs or MP3-CD – 8 Hours 40 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: December 2007
ISBN: 9780792750567 (cds), 9780792750871 (mp3-cd)
Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf has problems–not the least of which are the rabbit in his waiting room and the trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. Near-future Oakland is an ominous place where evolved animals function as members of society, the police monitor citizens by their karma levels, and mind-numbing drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol are all the rage. In this brave new world, Metcalf has been shadowing the wife of an affluent doctor, perhaps falling a little in love with her at the same time. But when the doctor turns up dead, our amiable investigator finds himself caught in the crossfire in a futuristic world that is both funny–and not so funny.

Posted by Jesse Willis