Get Popular Authors Audiobooks in Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

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Title: Brother to Dragons

Author: Charles Sheffield

Narrator: Joe Wegner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-12-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Born to a crack-cocaine-addicted mother who abandoned him, Job Napoleon Salk would live to survive the horrors of a corruptly-run orphanage, life on the streets - even first love. But could he survive the dreaded TANDI, the toxic, nuclear disposal unit for all of America's "unwanted"?

Members Reviews:

The Book of Job for science fiction

A bleak "if this goes on" look at the future of America. Unlike most science fiction novels this one doesn't follow the handsome hero or powerful spy around. Instead, it follows a victim of the downspiral of social spending on education and health and his helplessness to even get near the people in power until one day they need him for a mission into the place they've exiled their scientists (can't have science, because it disturbs the status-quo that supports the upper classes...). He dies, but before dying brings out a final gift for the world, something to break the status quo once and for all. A bleak look at the present and what will happen if we let it. An important book. I am surprised Baen published it (Baen preferring upbeat books with spaceships in them). Let's hope Baen reprints it soon.

Perfect, near-future hard science fiction

Don't be fooled by the cheesy cover art. This is perfect, near-future hard science fiction from 1992. If you like your future dark and dystopian, with a glimmer of hope, this might be the book for you.

An excellent read!

Brother To Dragons is the story of a man born in the midst of a terrible time, in a deep city charity ward with extreme birth defects. Early in life he is, without knowing it, exposed to the illegal drug trade, because of which he ends up in a supposedly unescapable juvenile delinquint house with purposely lethal conditions, but somehow manages to escape. He then spends about ten years as a multi-lingual street vendor, until the government pulls him out by way of blackmail (his recent first love was, without the protagonist's knowing it, a member of an important political family). The government then uses him to find out what's going on in the country's biggest complete security prison/Toxic And Nuclear Disposal Installation facility. He comes back not only with what he was sent for, but also with a way to save the world, which he himself puts into action shortly before dying. Although I have read lots of science fiction, this book is the first book of its kind I have read (3 times!), and I look forward to reading more of Sheffield's work.

One of the best books I have ever read

When I read this, I was unsuspecting of what this story really was. Originally I just pointed out a book and bought it. Fortunatly my choice out of blind luck turned me on this dark look at the future focusing on an unfortunate good soul growing up in the worst conditions who would change the world forever. The cover is misleading, but I didn't feel at all jipped at being mislead. Infact, I greatly appreciated stumbling upon this jewel of a story.

Where is science taking us?

In a post successful USA the reader finds him or herself caught up in the life of an unlucky individual. A hero who rises from the bottom to achieve a goal. Yet this is unknown till only the end when the final and most drastic decision is made.

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Title: Mars Prime

Author: William C. Dietz

Narrator: Bill Quinn

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-05-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Aboard the Outward Bound, there are thousands of colonists headed towards Mars. But, one person on the ship is different. Inside that crew members head, there are a half-dozen voices, a half-dozen personalities normally bickering and disagreeing. Today, though, just as the ship is about to leave Earths orbit, they all agree on one thing - they have to kill to keep their secret safe.

Thats dangerous for Rex Corvan, because secrets are the thing he was born to seek out. Rex is Earths greatest reporter. Hes equipped with a probing intelligence and a video camera for a right eye. Rex and his wife Kim are traveling on the Outward Bound to document its trip outward to the frontier of Mars.

The story of colonization quickly takes a backseat to this unknown, zero-gravity serial killer. As Rex and Kim find clues to the murderers identity in the ships A.I., they become targets themselves. Will the ship reach Mars before the many killers in one body reach them?

Members Reviews:

I enjoyed the book greatly,

i wish the author would remember his early work and do more sometimes with it. I enjoy this authors books and would recommend them to any one.

Five Stars

I enjoy William Dietz books

Good story but way too many spelling errors

Good story that moves along at a good pace but has way too many spelling errors. There is no excuse for a modern day tale to not have a spell and grammer check. Has an interesting ending.

Another great read

I really liked this book. I mean really liked this book. As usually Mr. Dietz has done it again. Although I'm more into sci-fi stuff, since this was Mr. Dietz, I had to read it. This murder mystery in space story was good, he tied a couple of other things together to stear you away from the bad guy, but the ending was great. The whole camera in your head thing was good. Again with the interesting characters and strong female parts, defenetly an enjoyable read. Mr. Dietz knows how to blend mystery, suspense, military sci-fi, and drama into one GREAT package.

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Title: One Man's Universe

Subtitle: The Continuing Chronicles of Arthur Morton McAndrew

Author: Charles Sheffield

Narrator: L. J. Ganser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-28-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

One Man's Universe collects all of the author's stories starring top physicist Arthur Morton McAndrew, including two new novellas and an updated commentary on the discoveries in physics that inspired the fiction.

Members Reviews:

I remember reading this book when I was a teenager

It was great to listen to the story again. I like the combination hard science with science fiction. But why have a male narrator for a book that's written primarily from a woman's perspective?

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Title: Liberation

Subtitle: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America

Author: Brian Francis Slattery

Narrator: Paul Heitsch

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-27-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

From the author of the literary pulp phenomenon Spaceman Blues comes a future history cautionary tale, a heist movie in the style of a hippie novel. Liberation is a speculation on life in near-future America after the country suffers an economic cataclysm that leads to the resurgence of ghosts of its past (such as the human slave trade). Our heroes are the Slick Six, a group of international criminals who set out to alleviate the worst of these conditions and put America on the road to recovery. Liberation is a story about living down the past, personally and nationally; about being able to laugh at the punch line to the long, dark joke of American history. Slatterys prose moves seamlessly between present and past, action and memory. With Liberation, he celebrates the resilience and ingenuity of the American spirit.

Members Reviews:

Prose and Metaphor Masquerading as Novel

There is a story thread you can follow along the twisting pathway that is this broody and bizarre post-apocolyptic novel. However, if you are the kind of listener that runs your audio book while driving, cooking, or engaging in mindless tasks, then avoid this purchase. There are entire segments of this story that the listener must replay to determine if we are engaged in present or past tense (always a bad sign in the first hour of listening). Other times, we wonder if the science fiction/fantasy metaphors are part of the novel's structure, or if we are listening to an author's prose whose stream of consciousness has run totally amok.

The premise of the book is sound...the Dollar ($) collapses. Then we get the big "and." For Slattery, the author, his big "and" is to address the crisis by inventing the dream team of anti-heroes to save the day (maybe). To make these misfits more plausible, the author endows them with characteristics better left for bar room braggadocio. And, herein, lies the failure of this novel. It's all so out there...so far fetched...that the book is just a jumble of loosely connected stories leading to...well, I won't say because that's a spoiler. But...whatever man! It certainly is not Heller's "The Dog Stars." His post-apocolyptic novel was brilliant, believable, and left us empathetic with it's characters.

As for the main characters in "Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America," I could care less about them. Feh!

Brilliantly Written!

Author Brian Slattery has written a different type of dystopian novel but he has written it extremely well. This is one of the most realistic dystopan stories that I've listened to. The author adds a lot of details like humor. Slattery provides different ways things could go wrong after an industrial collapse. It provides several different scenarios, a variety of characters, and communities that react to the collapse in various ways. I found this story to be fun, fast paced, and one check of a rollercoaster ride.

Narrator Paul Heitsch does a wonderful job with this story. He brought this story to life. He does a great job with the characters and their voices of them all. I didn't have any trouble identifying who was speaking throughout the story. Paul did a magnificent job at keeping me connected and glued to the story.

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Title: One Against the Legion

Subtitle: Legion of Space, Book 3

Author: Jack Williamson

Narrator: Sam A. Mowry

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-24-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Space Vengeance!

"I am omnipotent and omniscient. I want every man on every planet to shudder and grow pale when he thinks of Me. For I have suffered gross injuries that must be avenged..."

This sinister message - and a loathsome serpent-like trademark - were the only clues the Legion of Space had to the identity of Mankind's most evasive and horrible enemy. But meanwhile, He or It - had meticulously begun to destroy the world...

The Legion of Space was well accustomed to facing mortal peril in the black depths of outer space in order to defend humanity against its unearthly foes. But even they were to find their courage and ingenuity tested to the utmost limits in their fight against the vile phantom that called itself God and shrouded the Universe in an incredible web of terror...

Members Reviews:

Classic '30's science fiction!

The dialogues get kinda corny and I'd forgotten about how Giles Habibula's seemingly endless blubbering in the third-person narrative that he's always at the edge of starvation (hardly) and how that he's many times saved the Legion with no thanks given, and his incredible gluttony (especially for wine) gets irritating at times. Oh, and as usual (prevalent even in today's novels) there's an impossibly beautiful woman who falls in love with the hero......

All that aside, the stories are a fun read and bring back memories of old sci-fi stories I read during the halcyon days of the '60's.

Oldie but Goodie

Classic old science fiction! Could be called a trashy dime novel, but it was written the the 1930's. Weak plot lines, (nowdays) stereotypical characters, forced, unrealistic dialogue, but for the time, great and exciting. First read it when I was about 11, in 1948, and have never forgotten the spell it cast over me. Over sixty years later, I re-read it, and even with the observations above, and enjoyed the hell out of it. Written almost 80 years ago--ground-breaking and original then, still worth reading now.

The Golden Age

This is a fun "Golden Age" read. If you only read hard science SF, likely not your cup of tea. More fantasy. The copy I received from the seller is in excellent condition.

While the First Installment of the Legion of Space Saga Does Not Age Especially Well, The Ensuing Works Get Better and Better

Having already written a review of The Legion of Space before realizing that this novel also is collected in Three from the Legion, now I will finish up with the full omnibus trilogy.

Although I had harped on some nagging features of the first Legion novel, the following works in the series struck me as noticeably better, which was a pleasant surprise. Yes, we are still reading space opera from the Golden Age of science fiction, so good is good, and bad is bad, with non-humans such as aliens from outside the Solar System or mad-scientist-created androids being the latter, and the flinty-eyed, usually tall officers of the mighty Legion of Space guarding the former. Fair enough for the genre.

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Title: The Exoterrestrials

Author: TW Brown

Narrator: Johnnie C. Hayes

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-20-13

Publisher: T. W. Brown

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Ever walk through a spider web where there should not be one?

Ever brush at your face and come away with nothing?

The Dre'le'exx have been marooned on this planet for over four decades. Their mission: To purge societies of those deemed unfit. Watch what you think, because there is no such thing as a passing thought when monitored by these intergalactic exterminators.

Beware The Exoterrestrials.

Members Reviews:

Pray That It Was Just A Spider's Web!

What made the experience of listening to The Exoterrestrials the most enjoyable?

The narration was cool, dark, and fit the feeling and purpose of the story.

What other book might you compare The Exoterrestrials to and why?

Not as much a book but as a movie line it would be between Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Troll. The stories are of people that need to be "addressed" and what happens to the naughty boys and girls if they stray too far from home.

What about Johnnie C. Hayess performance did you like?

Like Leonard Cohen mixed with Rod Serling, there is something deeply morose but at the same time well placed about his voice that makes the story reach out and take a hold of you.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The first time a full corpse from the "baggy killer" is found and the assigned officer is unable to hold his lunch in.

Any additional comments?

I will never feel the same way about the scent of cinnamon

cinnamon spice and not so nice

What did you love best about The Exoterrestrials?

T W Brown at his best. (yes i am a rabid fan ) this was phenomenal story. hooked me from the first line.

What does Johnnie C. Hayes bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

he did a good job

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

the crash seen and the house battle

Any additional comments?

this book was given to me by the author.

this story gave me the willies :) that hasn't happen in a long time . good thing i don't remember my dreams . don't think i will be doing any cinnamon for a bit.

my only gripe it cud have been a bit longer . only because i relay got in to it. i would love to see more shorts in this universe !

a book that surprises.

normally I don't like sci fi. but this book is not unlike the campfire stories I heard growing up. I won't ruin anything but Todd does not disappoint. its a amusing take on aliens and even after a year of having it. I still remember the plot well.

A creepy, terrifying tale.

What did you like most about The Exoterrestrials?

What I liked the most is that it wasn't what I was expecting. TW Brown is well known for his excellent DEAD series and when I came across this on Amazon it was an automatic buy. Its a hidden gem and one I'm glad I discovered.

What did you like best about this story?

It wasn't what I expected. I hate to give away spoiler but it was aliens arriving in a new town and how the local residents were disappearing. I like that it did take me by surprise, no long boring descriptions it was straight into the action. Lets just say the action was gruesome and terrifying.

What about Johnnie C. Hayess performance did you like?

The narrator was fantastic, I loved his gravely voice and accent. He suited the story and enhanced it in my opinion.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I'm not good at this type of thing, sorry.

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Title: Proteus in the Underworld

Subtitle: Behrooz Wolf, Book 3

Author: Charles Sheffield

Narrator: Laurel Lefkow

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-06-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

In the 22nd century, biofeedback techniques have enabled humans the ultimate expression - the ability to transform the body into any viable form. What began as an innocent technique to reduce anxiety without drugs has raised fundamental questions about what it is to be human. Enter the Humanity Test....

Members Reviews:

very good shape, i like it

the book is in very good shape, im reading it right now, good book, i like it....... thanks a lot

Not Free SF Reader

Bey Wolf is what you could call a shapeshifter detective. Not so much that he turns into a werewolf, but in a world where people can change their shapes he is involved in policing the dangerous and outlawed varieties of this technology.

Now, though, he has packed that in and is working on some of the science aspects himself when a relative approaches him for help in this area, and he must do some mystery solving again.

Sheffield questions the assumptions of the Proteus series.

Published in 1978, the first Proteus book,Sight of Proteus, featured a popular seventies' idea, biofeedback, carried to bizarre and implausible extremes. In the future, "form change" machines will enable the human will to mold the human form via biofeedback processes. The hero of the novel is Bey Wolf. As an agent of the Office of Form Control, he looks for "unauthorized" and dangerous forms in the multitude of shapes humanity has taken for fashion and profit. Sheffield continued the series ten years later withProteus Unbound, and this is the third and latest in the series though it is not really necessary to have read the earlier books.

Wolf is now retired and developing form change technology himself. However, a distant relative, Sondra Wolf Dearborn, asks him to help her solve a crucial puzzle. All human children are given "humanity tests". If they can consciously and deliberately alter their form they avoid being sent to the organ banks. However, some defi

interesting and well-written

the proteus books are probably sheffield's best. great characters, compelling locations, dynamic storylines, interesting science. what's not to like? i fail to see the "implausible" aspects of these books referred to in an earlier review (after all, sf is supposed to be a little aggressive in the science department - and this series is more about the _effects_ of the science than about the science itself). they're just plain cool.

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Title: Ocean on Top

Author: Hal Clement

Narrator: Tom Picasso

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-21-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Aquatic Enigma - The worlds energy was limited... and with overpopulation and a high level of technology, the Power Board had virtually become the real government of the world. Power was rationed, it was guarded, it was sacred. Thus when three of the Power Board's agents disappeared at sea, and there was evidence that something irregular was happening to the energy quota in that area, it was cause for real alarm.

Members Reviews:

plodding

starts well but very quickly slows down to a very plodding narrative that takes forever to get nowhere. it should have reached the end point in about an hour and then went on to develop some of the interesting ideas that are behind the basic plot. narrator also rather slow and uninspired. I applaud audible for recording old and classic scifi, but this one could have been nixed by whoever pre-reads these as choices. Needle wasn't too bad and I look forward (albeit with more trepidation) to more Clement, specifically Half Life and Heavy Planet (mission of gravity & star light)

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Title: Creative Destruction

Author: Edward M. Lerner

Narrator: Tom Weiner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-03-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 1 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Computing is mere decades young, a set of technologies we have scarcely begun to develop. It's already been quite a ride. Now, imagine every gadget around you becoming ever faster, cheaper, tinier, more interconnected, more intelligent...especially more intelligent. The stories in Creative Destruction explore what we could face in the next half century or so: artificial intelligence, malicious software to makes us nostalgic for mere viruses, ever-more-perfect virtual reality, direct neural interfaces to computers, ubiquitous networks, and more. The internet: that was nothing.

Members Reviews:

same title, different book

Any additional comments?

not the book I thought it was. There's an economics book by the same title, and this books description is vague enough it sounds like it could be it. Only now that I see Audible lists it under 'scifi and fantasy' , which is the only tip-off that this book is not the very popular economics book of the same name, and almost same description. That said, I enjoy sci fi, so decided to give it a chance. The writing in this is on par with young adult stuff like the 'Goosebumps' series. It can be entertaining to adolescents, but if you are looking for something more substantial for adult level reading I'd skip this one. I couldn't get through it. Logic was too juvenile.

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Title: Oracle

Subtitle: Oracle Trilogy, Book 2

Author: Mike Resnick

Narrator: Darla Middlebrook

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Since she was a little girl, all humanity has been frightened by Penelope Bailey's awesome psychic talent and her ability to bend events - and men - to her will. Now a grown woman and living on the planet Hades, Penelope is caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse with a bounty hunter, a government agent, and an out-for-profit outlaw cyborg - none of whom suspect the true depths of her power.

Members Reviews:

Choose the Future, Part 2

What would you choose, if you could choose the future? This is the middle book of a trilogy. As it happened, I read this one first. It stood alone okay, but I wanted to know the beginning and end of the story. They were not easy to find. Kindle versions were available so I bought them. Interesting story line. Pretty well written. Definitely worth the money.

A futuristic fairytale

The middle book in the trilogy is in my view the strongest of them, not that this mean best, I think that any full trilogy should be seen as one story, and either it is good or it is not.

'Oracle' however place the reader in the midst of the story, which takes turns which did not seem apparent from 'Soothsayer', the writing is what I deem a 'classic Resnick' and his penchant for creating larger than life characters and alien species is as good as ever.

None of the 3 books should be read as stand alone reads (though they can be), the circuitous way of the full story make it for an enjoyable read.