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Favorite Science Fiction Stories, Volume 1  By  cover art

Favorite Science Fiction Stories, Volume 1

By: Philip K. Dick, Robert Silverberg, Fritz Leiber, Kurt Vonnegut, Marion Zimmer-Bradley
Narrated by: Jim Roberts, Ben Hurst, Cindy Hardin Killavey
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Publisher's summary

This first volume of Favorite Science Fiction Stories features "the best of the best" from the Golden Age of science fiction. It includes 21 stories by, among others, Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Robert Silverberg, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Philip K. Dick, Edmond Hamilton, Jack Williamson, Alan Edward Nourse, Fritz Leiber, Frederik Pohl, Fredric Brown, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., and others. This is a must listen for sci-fi buffs and anyone who likes a well written and imaginative story.

Public Domain (P)2009 Jimcin Recordings

What listeners say about Favorite Science Fiction Stories, Volume 1

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    61
  • 4 Stars
    49
  • 3 Stars
    52
  • 2 Stars
    24
  • 1 Stars
    18
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    40
  • 4 Stars
    36
  • 3 Stars
    28
  • 2 Stars
    20
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    44
  • 4 Stars
    43
  • 3 Stars
    36
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    4

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great selection

Great selection of stories from the humorous ( The Wub ) to the profound ( Machine Stops ) and in between. Narrators all good. Was hoping to get Volume 2 next but I guess it's not out yet. Give us more! Can't wait!

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52 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent selection

Don't really care when these stories were written, as long as they are good...and they are. I liked some of the readers better than others but they were all good.

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48 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Very nice collection

Great selection of stories and nice variety of narration. Looking forward to more volumes!

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

I've had better

FYI this book is a compilation of 'classic' sci-fi. Not necessarily from the golden age of sci-fi but maybe a little after, I am guessing from late 50s to early 70s. The quality of the sound on the narration is poor and the most commonly used narrator has an almost robotic monotone voice. This voice comes in handy when robots are actually talking but not people.

Audible has some overall much higher quality classic sci fi compilations such as 'Best of Science Fiction and fantasy' and 'Minority Report and other stories'. Better yet for some really interesting contemporary stories I highly recommend 'Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine show'

This book may be worth it to have in your list for the few gems found in it but it should not be at the top of your list.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A Very Mixed Bag

Some of these stories are classics: A Martian Odyssey; The Machine Stops; Gifts of Asti; The Defenders. Others are less well-known: Image of the Gods; 2B R0 2B. A few were just utterly forgettable.

Many of these stories are available individually on Audible; one advantage to this collection is that you can snag a good half-dozen good stories with one credit. But there are also a lot of second- or third-tier stories mixed in. For example, A Martian Odyssey is considered to be one of the best shorter-than-novel sci-fi stories, period (although better renditions are available on Audible). 2B R0 2B is a pretty good story, but it's not Vonnegut's best (even relating to the particular theme); I had never encountered A World Called Crimson before listening to this collection, and I'm not in a hurry to encounter it again.

The most common theme, unfortunately, is fair-to-poor reading. Jim Roberts seems to have read most of them, and his performance is delivered in a quite uninspired monotone. The other narrators are better, but Roberts seems to have done a large fraction of them.

The bottom line: a mixed bag. Some great stories, some so-so stories, some non-good ones. Some good narrations, but many of the stories have a poor narrator.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

quite good and enjoyable.

Many reviews balk at the naration of these 7 collections of short science fiction stories.However though they are not the best of best narations I found them more than listenable and enjoyable..also considering that all 7 collections equals some100 hours of sci-fi fun and at a low price I think they are excelent audiobooks for anyones library..hope you enjoy...

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

not bad but lacks proper chaptering.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Ok for a straight listen. Bad if you want to select an author and listen to those stories in your own order.

Any additional comments?

Needs to be broken into the separate stories to ease navigation.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent Sci-fi stories

I have been listening to these stories, one at a time, every night at work and felt inspired after every single one. I started this book because thought it was an old time radio show like X minus One or The twilight zone radio dramas, but found out it was instead a collection of short sci-fi stories. The point is that this book was an unexpected surprise.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous collection

Not every story is a "5" star but most are and the ones that fall short, fall only to "4" stars. Bravo to the collector!!!!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Worst. Naration. Ever.

Otherwise entertaining classic SF stories by great authors are ruined by bad narrators. I'd like to see this compilation re-done by a competent producer who knows how choose decent narration talent...

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4 people found this helpful