Official Blurb
Science Fiction is speculative literature that generally explores the consequences of ideas which are roughly consistent with nature and scientific method, but are not facts of the author’s contemporary world. The stories often represent philosophical thought experiments presented in entertaining ways. Protagonists typically “think” rather than “shoot” their way out of problems, but the definition is flexible because there are no limits on an author’s imagination. The reader-selected stories presented here were written prior to 1962 and became US public domain texts when their copyrights expired.
My Review
Well as usual with the Librivox collection blurb , it tells you absolutely nothing about the collection!
Well let me rectify that a little. As with the last collection this set of stores is pretty good, especially as most of them are fairely recently written (last 50 years!).
I rated only one as bad, two as ok and he rest as good, making this a collection well worth listening to.
I can reccommed "The Gun" which is a Phillip K Dick story and read by Gregg Margarite who is fast becoming one of my fave Librivox readers.
My other reccomendation is "Arm of the Law" by Harry Harrison, and once again read by Gregg Margarite!.
These two stories and most of the others are classic sci fi where a friends from the future deal with robots, aliens and smoke cigarettes. All in all a good little collection with some excellent reads.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to my pick
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Saturday, 14 November 2009
The Book of Dragons
Official Blurb
A dragon who flies out of a magical book; one whose purr quiets a fussy baby; another who eats an entire pack of tame hunting-hippopotomuses: These eight dragon tales are filled with the imaginative wit of children’s author Edith Nesbit.
My Review
The official blurb about nails it. THis is a book of eight seperate stories all about dragons, but not the expected fire breathing dragons you might expect. Sure, some of them do breath fire but it's pretty much incidental to these stories.
These are bed time stories that wont terrify, but will excite a childs imagination.
It's a childs book, and I think it holds up in todays world.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
A dragon who flies out of a magical book; one whose purr quiets a fussy baby; another who eats an entire pack of tame hunting-hippopotomuses: These eight dragon tales are filled with the imaginative wit of children’s author Edith Nesbit.
My Review
The official blurb about nails it. THis is a book of eight seperate stories all about dragons, but not the expected fire breathing dragons you might expect. Sure, some of them do breath fire but it's pretty much incidental to these stories.
These are bed time stories that wont terrify, but will excite a childs imagination.
It's a childs book, and I think it holds up in todays world.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
Monday, 9 November 2009
Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 017
Official Blurb
Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories, first published between 1951 and 1962, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.
My Review
Another great collection from Librivox. Ten short stories from various authors. Some of them being very very big names in the Sci fi genre. We've got E.E. Doc Smith Harry Harrison and Phillip K. Dick, among others.
I rated 6 of the stories as good and 3 more as good, meaning I only disliked 1!
If you like a variety of short stories these collections are great, especially since they are now including these more modern authors and therefore more modern stories.
As to my favourite, well it's truely hard to say. But I do reccomend "The Vortex Blaster" and "Postmark Ganymede" as a couple of goodies.
The readers are a good bunch.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
Download the collection from Librivox
Listen to my pick
Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories, first published between 1951 and 1962, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.
My Review
Another great collection from Librivox. Ten short stories from various authors. Some of them being very very big names in the Sci fi genre. We've got E.E. Doc Smith Harry Harrison and Phillip K. Dick, among others.
I rated 6 of the stories as good and 3 more as good, meaning I only disliked 1!
If you like a variety of short stories these collections are great, especially since they are now including these more modern authors and therefore more modern stories.
As to my favourite, well it's truely hard to say. But I do reccomend "The Vortex Blaster" and "Postmark Ganymede" as a couple of goodies.
The readers are a good bunch.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
Download the collection from Librivox
Listen to my pick
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Discovered Country
Official Blurb
Rosemary Halpern, a mild-mannered librarian from Boston, found herself trapped hundreds of years in the future. A future that faced a new Ice Age. A future where ghouls walked the Earth, ravenous for human flesh.
My Review
Not good. A bizarre narrative story. The protagonist finds herself thrown forwards in time to a future where people starve and the undead plague the living. You or me, might wonder how that happened, not the protagonist, she doesn't care and its not explained. She then goes on a journey having a series of episodic disjointed events that leave no stain or effect on the story, just disconected things happening.
The story is a typical heros journey but without any of the good bits! No explanation for why anthing happens, no questioning from those involved, no character development, all together quite bland.
I "think" this is YA novel, but some parts make me think otherwise, so I can't quite place it, or forgive it.
The only thing that kept me listening was the readers excellent voice.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 1
Total 6/9
Download the book from Podiobooks
Listen to the first chapter
Rosemary Halpern, a mild-mannered librarian from Boston, found herself trapped hundreds of years in the future. A future that faced a new Ice Age. A future where ghouls walked the Earth, ravenous for human flesh.
My Review
Not good. A bizarre narrative story. The protagonist finds herself thrown forwards in time to a future where people starve and the undead plague the living. You or me, might wonder how that happened, not the protagonist, she doesn't care and its not explained. She then goes on a journey having a series of episodic disjointed events that leave no stain or effect on the story, just disconected things happening.
The story is a typical heros journey but without any of the good bits! No explanation for why anthing happens, no questioning from those involved, no character development, all together quite bland.
I "think" this is YA novel, but some parts make me think otherwise, so I can't quite place it, or forgive it.
The only thing that kept me listening was the readers excellent voice.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 1
Total 6/9
Download the book from Podiobooks
Listen to the first chapter
Monday, 2 November 2009
The Creature From Beyond Infinity
Official Blurb
A lone space traveler arrives on Earth seeking a new planet to colonize, his own world dead. At the same time a mysterious plague has infected Earth that will wipe out all life. Can a lone scientist stop the plague and save the world? Or will the alien find himself on another doomed planet?
My Review
Well there is an interesting premise here. An alien arrives at earth, earth in the pre-mammal age, so he decides to hang around for people to develop and goes to sleep. A really really long sleep.
It's a good idea for a story and a fun listen. The alien in this case is just like us and so we have a lot of fun when he goes mixing with the earthlings. A human story but with all of the classic sci fi traits, aliens, time travel ( of a sort ) and massive super science. An excellent and fun piece literature. I especially loved the old world feel of this sci fi , for instance when photographers are still using "plates".
Read by the excellent Mark Nelson, who gives an outstanding professional reading as usual.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 2
Total 7/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
A lone space traveler arrives on Earth seeking a new planet to colonize, his own world dead. At the same time a mysterious plague has infected Earth that will wipe out all life. Can a lone scientist stop the plague and save the world? Or will the alien find himself on another doomed planet?
My Review
Well there is an interesting premise here. An alien arrives at earth, earth in the pre-mammal age, so he decides to hang around for people to develop and goes to sleep. A really really long sleep.
It's a good idea for a story and a fun listen. The alien in this case is just like us and so we have a lot of fun when he goes mixing with the earthlings. A human story but with all of the classic sci fi traits, aliens, time travel ( of a sort ) and massive super science. An excellent and fun piece literature. I especially loved the old world feel of this sci fi , for instance when photographers are still using "plates".
Read by the excellent Mark Nelson, who gives an outstanding professional reading as usual.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 2
Total 7/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
Sunday, 25 October 2009
The Aliens
Official Blurb
The human race was expanding through the galaxy … and so, they knew, were the Aliens. When two expanding empires meet … war is inevitable. Or is it …?
My Review
This short little novelette is a great human story dealing with the classic sci fi theme of "First Contact" with an alien race.
In this story we follow the crew members of the human populated ship as they react to and deal with the alien spaceship that turns up off the starboard bow. The people vary in their reactions, from awe to angry racism.
How should they deal with these "people", how do they communicate to them, what weapons do they have, why are they advancing , is that a threat, is it friendly?
This is a fun little story and runs for just under an hour and a half of classic sci fi that can't fail but be pleasing to any fan of space opera.
The reading was grand and paced wonderfully.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 2
Total 7/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
The human race was expanding through the galaxy … and so, they knew, were the Aliens. When two expanding empires meet … war is inevitable. Or is it …?
My Review
This short little novelette is a great human story dealing with the classic sci fi theme of "First Contact" with an alien race.
In this story we follow the crew members of the human populated ship as they react to and deal with the alien spaceship that turns up off the starboard bow. The people vary in their reactions, from awe to angry racism.
How should they deal with these "people", how do they communicate to them, what weapons do they have, why are they advancing , is that a threat, is it friendly?
This is a fun little story and runs for just under an hour and a half of classic sci fi that can't fail but be pleasing to any fan of space opera.
The reading was grand and paced wonderfully.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 2
Total 7/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
The Brighton Boys in the Radio Service
Oficial Blurb
The Brighton Boys in the Radio Service is a boys adventure story set in WWI – Three College Chums join the military and face the perils of spies, submarines and enemy soldiers in the trenches of embattled Europe. An engaging story set in a period where good guys wore white hats, bad guys wore black hats and every chapter ends with a cliffhanger so you have to come back for more!
My Review
The official blurb gives it all away! The story is a non stop WWI adventure for boys. The heros are young and new at the military thing but it doesn't stop them from being suspicious, resourceful and darned good at their new job in Wireless communications.
The characters are very 2D and despite the cliff hanger you know the good guys are going to win. Is this a bad thing? No, it's a good thing, predictable yes, and a fun filled rollercoaster of an adventure story. There is never a dull moment as the boys join up cross the atlantic and get into action against the Germans, along side thier allies the brave and bold French.
If you fancy a "Boys Own" type of listen you wont go wrong with this audio book. the reader does a darned good job of presenting the story in its upbeat "jolly good fun" tone.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 2
Total 7/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
The Brighton Boys in the Radio Service is a boys adventure story set in WWI – Three College Chums join the military and face the perils of spies, submarines and enemy soldiers in the trenches of embattled Europe. An engaging story set in a period where good guys wore white hats, bad guys wore black hats and every chapter ends with a cliffhanger so you have to come back for more!
My Review
The official blurb gives it all away! The story is a non stop WWI adventure for boys. The heros are young and new at the military thing but it doesn't stop them from being suspicious, resourceful and darned good at their new job in Wireless communications.
The characters are very 2D and despite the cliff hanger you know the good guys are going to win. Is this a bad thing? No, it's a good thing, predictable yes, and a fun filled rollercoaster of an adventure story. There is never a dull moment as the boys join up cross the atlantic and get into action against the Germans, along side thier allies the brave and bold French.
If you fancy a "Boys Own" type of listen you wont go wrong with this audio book. the reader does a darned good job of presenting the story in its upbeat "jolly good fun" tone.
Readng 3
Production 2
Story 2
Total 7/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
Thursday, 22 October 2009
The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian Antarctic expedition in the Fram, 1910-12
Official Blurb
In contrast to Scott’s South Pole expedition, Amundsen’s expedition benefited from good equipment, appropriate clothing, and a fundamentally different primary task (Amundsen did no surveying on his route south and is known to have taken only two photographs) Amundsen had a better understanding of dogs and their handling, and he used of skis more effectively. He pioneered an entirely new route to the Pole and they returned. In Amundsen’s own words: “Victory awaits him who has everything in order — luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.” Short accounts by other members of the party are appended.
My Review
Absolutely facinating account of true life adventures exploring the white land. I've enjoyed other books from Librivox relating to the snowy wastes (which for some unknown reason have always had a appeal to me).
This story was not quite on the same heroic scale of "South!" which I reviewed a good while ago, but is epic in it's breadth of detail about this journey.
Here we get the details of the journey to the south ( which in itself was quite an impressive sail journey ), and how they crew fell in love with the dogs.
We hear the details of journey across the ice, the dangers, the discovereries and the terrible, heart wrenching issues in dealing with the sled dogs later on in the journey.
In all I was bouyed up at this story of human endurance and fortitude and at times sadened by the horror of hunting and sledging in such extrems.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the first part
In contrast to Scott’s South Pole expedition, Amundsen’s expedition benefited from good equipment, appropriate clothing, and a fundamentally different primary task (Amundsen did no surveying on his route south and is known to have taken only two photographs) Amundsen had a better understanding of dogs and their handling, and he used of skis more effectively. He pioneered an entirely new route to the Pole and they returned. In Amundsen’s own words: “Victory awaits him who has everything in order — luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.” Short accounts by other members of the party are appended.
My Review
Absolutely facinating account of true life adventures exploring the white land. I've enjoyed other books from Librivox relating to the snowy wastes (which for some unknown reason have always had a appeal to me).
This story was not quite on the same heroic scale of "South!" which I reviewed a good while ago, but is epic in it's breadth of detail about this journey.
Here we get the details of the journey to the south ( which in itself was quite an impressive sail journey ), and how they crew fell in love with the dogs.
We hear the details of journey across the ice, the dangers, the discovereries and the terrible, heart wrenching issues in dealing with the sled dogs later on in the journey.
In all I was bouyed up at this story of human endurance and fortitude and at times sadened by the horror of hunting and sledging in such extrems.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
Download the book from Librivox
Listen to the first part
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Short Sci Fi Collection 16
Official Blurb
Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories, first published between 1951 and 1962, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.
My Review
The blurb doesn't give much away does it. This was a quite good collection of ten stories. Often with these collections you only get one or two good ones, but in this set there were five especially good stories, with the others being fairly average.
My favourite in this collection was story called "All Day Septemer", being a story set on the moon in the not too distant future.
The other stories I liked were "Beyond the door" and "Blessed are the meek", the latter of which brought a rye smile to my face as I listened.
I'd heard only one of the stories before ( often these short stories get repeated in later Librivox collections ) so it was a real breath of fresh air.
All of the readers were good and made it into a good listen. I give this collection a thumbs up.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
Download the collection from Librivox
Listen to my fave' story
Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories, first published between 1951 and 1962, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.
My Review
The blurb doesn't give much away does it. This was a quite good collection of ten stories. Often with these collections you only get one or two good ones, but in this set there were five especially good stories, with the others being fairly average.
My favourite in this collection was story called "All Day Septemer", being a story set on the moon in the not too distant future.
The other stories I liked were "Beyond the door" and "Blessed are the meek", the latter of which brought a rye smile to my face as I listened.
I'd heard only one of the stories before ( often these short stories get repeated in later Librivox collections ) so it was a real breath of fresh air.
All of the readers were good and made it into a good listen. I give this collection a thumbs up.
Readng 2
Production 2
Story 2
Total 6/9
Download the collection from Librivox
Listen to my fave' story
Friday, 16 October 2009
The Stars my Brothers
Official Blurb
Published in the May, 1962 issue of Amazing Stories “The Stars, My Brothers” gives us a re-animated astronaut plucked from a century in the past and presented with an alien world where the line between humans and animals is blurred.
My Review
This is a cool short sci fi story set a couple of hundred years into the future. It deals with a man frozen who is then woken up a hundred years later and the worlds he finds himself inhabiting.
It's not all ray guns and combat, but rather a more intellectual look at human attitudes and their relationship with aliens/animals.
So, as I've hinted, we dont have ray guns and space combat, but we do have , space ships, aliens, other worlds, a chase, high tech, and all wrapped around a neat little story that will keep the sci fi fan happy.
The reader is excellent, he doesn't do "voices" but he has a pacing and style that is very good.
Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 7/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
Published in the May, 1962 issue of Amazing Stories “The Stars, My Brothers” gives us a re-animated astronaut plucked from a century in the past and presented with an alien world where the line between humans and animals is blurred.
My Review
This is a cool short sci fi story set a couple of hundred years into the future. It deals with a man frozen who is then woken up a hundred years later and the worlds he finds himself inhabiting.
It's not all ray guns and combat, but rather a more intellectual look at human attitudes and their relationship with aliens/animals.
So, as I've hinted, we dont have ray guns and space combat, but we do have , space ships, aliens, other worlds, a chase, high tech, and all wrapped around a neat little story that will keep the sci fi fan happy.
The reader is excellent, he doesn't do "voices" but he has a pacing and style that is very good.
Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 7/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Police Operation
Official Blurb
H. Beam Piper (1904–1964) was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of “Paratime” alternate history tales. (Summary from Wikipedia)
My Review
This is a short novelette set in Piper's Paratime world, a future where human kind is crossing multiple parallell time streams and policing any illegal actions carried out by the paratimers.
This story is notable for giving a good explanantion of the paratime terminology, an introduction if you will to how the worlds of Paratime work and interact.
The story itself is rather simple, a paratimer has illegally taken a beast from one time line as a pet into another time line where the beast does not belong, and the paratime police are tasked with sorting the mess out.
The book is an interesting listen and doesn't take long, less than an hour. The reading is done by two people, the first half being notable for an excellent reading by a young librivoxateer. His reading is pretty good but suffers from a plosives on the mic' which is a little distracting. That said I'm glad I listened as it was a fun little jaunt into the paratime.
Reading 2/3
Production 1/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 5/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
H. Beam Piper (1904–1964) was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of “Paratime” alternate history tales. (Summary from Wikipedia)
My Review
This is a short novelette set in Piper's Paratime world, a future where human kind is crossing multiple parallell time streams and policing any illegal actions carried out by the paratimers.
This story is notable for giving a good explanantion of the paratime terminology, an introduction if you will to how the worlds of Paratime work and interact.
The story itself is rather simple, a paratimer has illegally taken a beast from one time line as a pet into another time line where the beast does not belong, and the paratime police are tasked with sorting the mess out.
The book is an interesting listen and doesn't take long, less than an hour. The reading is done by two people, the first half being notable for an excellent reading by a young librivoxateer. His reading is pretty good but suffers from a plosives on the mic' which is a little distracting. That said I'm glad I listened as it was a fun little jaunt into the paratime.
Reading 2/3
Production 1/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 5/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
Monday, 12 October 2009
Starmans Quest
Official Blurb
Travelling at speeds close to that of light, spacemen lived at an accelerated pace. When one of the twin boys left the starship, he grew older while his twin in space barely aged. So the starship twin left the ship to find what happened to his brother who was aging away on earth.
My Review
This is a great little story by Robert Silverberg. Not only are the characters fun to follow but the world has a lot of interest in it as well. As you listen you constantly discover new things about the Earth of the future and life abord space ships.
The Earthmen seem to age really quickly while the spacemen moving at close to light speed age very slowly, so a journey of year actually leave enough time for hundreds of years to pass on the planets. This leads to two different cultures , that clash at every opportunity.
So we have interesting people, and world to discover and two main plot lines and even a twist in the tail to keep you listening.
The reading is excellent and the pacing good so I heartily reccomend this story from Librivox.
Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 6/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
Travelling at speeds close to that of light, spacemen lived at an accelerated pace. When one of the twin boys left the starship, he grew older while his twin in space barely aged. So the starship twin left the ship to find what happened to his brother who was aging away on earth.
My Review
This is a great little story by Robert Silverberg. Not only are the characters fun to follow but the world has a lot of interest in it as well. As you listen you constantly discover new things about the Earth of the future and life abord space ships.
The Earthmen seem to age really quickly while the spacemen moving at close to light speed age very slowly, so a journey of year actually leave enough time for hundreds of years to pass on the planets. This leads to two different cultures , that clash at every opportunity.
So we have interesting people, and world to discover and two main plot lines and even a twist in the tail to keep you listening.
The reading is excellent and the pacing good so I heartily reccomend this story from Librivox.
Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 6/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
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