A Short, Sharp Shock
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A Short, Sharp Shock
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Narrated by:
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Richard Powers
About this listen
Kim Stanley Robinson, award-winning author of the best-selling trilogy Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars, was called “a literary landscape artist, creating breathtaking vistas” by the Detroit Metro News. Now he confirms his reputation for brilliance and for the unexpected in this luminous short work.
A man tumbles through wild surf, half drowned, to collapse on a moonlit beach. When he regains consciousness, he has no memory of who he is or where he came from. He knows only that the woman who washed ashore with him has disappeared sometime in the night and that he has awakened in a surreal landscape of savage beauty - a mysterious watery world encircled by a thin spine of land.
Aided by strange tribesmen, he journeys to the cove of the spine kings, a brutal race that has enslaved the woman and several of the tribesmen. That is only the beginning of his quest, as he struggles to find her identity in this wondrous and cruel land - and seeks out the woman whose hold on his imagination is both unfathomable and unshakable.
Haunting and lyrical, filled with uncommon beauty and terrible peril, A Short, Sharp Shock is an ambitious and enthralling story by one of science fiction’s most respected talents.
Kim Stanley Robinson is noted for the verisimilitude of his characters and for the meticulously researched hard-science basis of his work. His works contain ecological themes and emphasize the strong link between the human characters and the natural world. He has won both the Nebula and Hugo awards.
©1990 Kim Stanley Robinson (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“The novels and short stories of Kim Stanley Robinson constitute one of the most impressive bodies of work in modern science fiction.” (New York Times)
“Kim Stanley Robinson, justly famous for his science fiction, has created a mesmerizing fantasy work in A Short, Sharp Shock…Robinson’s imagination is far-ranging and he has a pointed way with words…Robinson’s evocation of pain is unforgettable. A Short, Sharp Shock is guaranteed to haunt the reader for a long time.” (Amazon.com editorial review)
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 66
On the vast, sunlit walls of the world's greatest monolith, two veteran climbers unwittingly ascend into a vertical underworld. In a place where obsession kills, they quickly fall prey to past loves, old demons, and ghostly revenge.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable
- By Bikerclimber on 06-20-07
By: Jeff Long
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Storm over Warlock
- By: Andre Norton
- Narrated by: Arthur Vincet
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 8
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 6
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6
"Storm Over Warlock" combines science fiction with fantasy, technology with witchcraft. Shann Lantee is lucky to be alive. He had snuck out of the small Terran base on the planet Warlock in the Circe system to find two artificially evolved wolverines, Taggi and his mate Togi, and bring them back to the base before anyone notices that they are missing. While he is gone, a force of Throgs, implacably hostile insectoid aliens, attacks the base and kills all of its occupants.
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4 out of 5 stars
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okay story, poor delivery
- By Glen Hanneman on 01-19-20
By: Andre Norton
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The Trees
- By: Ali Shaw
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
- Length: 18 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
There came an elastic aftershock of creaks and groans and then, softly softly, a chinking shower of rubbled cement. Leaves calmed and trunks stood serene. Where, not a minute before, there had been a suburb, there was now only woodland standing amid ruins. There is no warning. No chance to prepare. They arrive in the night: thundering up through the ground, transforming streets and towns into shadowy forest. Buildings are destroyed.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Post apocalypse with a little bit of magic
- By Tam on 09-20-16
By: Ali Shaw
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Gods and Warriors
- By: Michelle Paver
- Narrated by: Toby Stephens
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
The unabridged, digital audiobook edition of Gods and Warriors, the first in Michelle Paver’s breath-taking new adventure series set in the Greek Bronze Age. Read by the actor Toby Stephens. From a time of myths and ancient magic will come the legend of the lost city of Atlantis, tales of gods and warriors - and the rise of a hero? His sister is missing. His dog has been killed. High in the Greek mountains, Hylas is running for his life. The mysterious black warriors want Hylas dead.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Well-paced story for kids; fantastic reader
- By M.E.S on 02-28-13
By: Michelle Paver
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The Ninth Rain
- The Winnowing Flame Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Jen Williams
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 207
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 181
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 181
Jen Williams, acclaimed author of The Copper Cat trilogy, featuring The Copper Promise, The Iron Ghost and The Silver Tide, returns with the first in a blistering new trilogy. The great city of Ebora once glittered with gold. Now its streets are stalked by wolves. Tormalin the Oathless has no taste for sitting around waiting to die while the realm of his storied ancestors falls to pieces - talk about a guilt trip. Better to be amongst the living, where there are taverns full of women and wine.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Couldn’t put it down!
- By Renae on 09-09-22
By: Jen Williams
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Dragon of Ash & Stars
- The Autobiography of a Night Dragon
- By: H. Leighton Dickson
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 364
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 333
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 331
Stormfall is a dragon born with a coat the color of a starry night. When a violent storm strikes his island aerie, he is carried on hurricane winds into the complicated and sometimes cruel world of men. There, his journey takes him from fisher dragon to farmer, pit-fighting dragon to warrior, each step leading him closer to a remarkable destiny. But war is coming to the land of Remus, and with it a crossroads for the Night Dragon and the young soul-boy he allows on his back.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome!! Original story line! Made my top 5
- By Alex Sanders on 02-04-17
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Dragon's Blood
- The Pit Dragon Chronicles, Volume 1
- By: Jane Yolen
- Narrated by: Marc Thompson
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 353
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 307
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 309
Dragons are trained to fight to the death, and two determined teens help free them in this spellbinding saga. Training a dragon to be a fighting champion is the only way to freedom for 15-year-old Jakkin.
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1 out of 5 stars
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can't even listen to it
- By Ingvor V. Franklin on 11-12-17
By: Jane Yolen
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Wild Magic
- The Immortals, Book 1
- By: Tamora Pierce
- Narrated by: Tamora Pierce
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,186
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,783
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,780
When Daine comes down from the mountains, she carries with her two things: a dark secret about her own past, and a strangely powerful magic that even she doesn't understand.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Doesn't do the book justice.
- By S. L. Garner on 04-07-05
By: Tamora Pierce
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Flight of the Dragon Kyn
- By: Susan Fletcher
- Narrated by: Angele Masters
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 27
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23
"You must go to the dragon. You must leave tonight." Before she even hears the words, Kaeldra already knows she must find the mother dragon whose draclings have just hatched and get some of the precious milk in order to save her foster sister’s life. Since Kaeldra can communicate with dragons, she is the only one who can accomplish the task. And so she begins a journey that will entwine her fate with that of three little draclings and one would-be dragon slayer.
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4 out of 5 stars
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praise Dragons
- By Dragon Lizard Lord King Chaos Tiamatzilla on 07-28-15
By: Susan Fletcher
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Edge of Eternity
- By: Randy Alcorn
- Narrated by: Roger Marsh, Phil Ross
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 118
Nick Seagrave is a disillusioned business executive who has lost loved ones to tragedy and his family to neglect. Now, at a point of great crisis, he finds himself inexplicably transported to what appears to be another world. Suddenly he's confronted with profoundly clear views of his own past and personality. And he's enabled to see, hear, taste, and smell the realities of both heaven and hell - realities that force him to face dangers and trials far greater than any he's known before.
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5 out of 5 stars
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AMAZING
- By Julie R. VanderMate on 08-12-10
By: Randy Alcorn
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Orion
- Orion Series, Book 1
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 705
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 453
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Story4 out of 5 stars 458
John O'Ryan is not a god...not exactly. He is an eternal warrior destined to combat the Dark Lord through all time for dominion of the Earth. Follow him, servant of a great race, as he battles his enemy down the halls of time, from the caves of our ancestors to the final confrontation under the hammer of nuclear annihilation.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Cornucopia of Genre's
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 06-10-12
By: Ben Bova
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The Familiars
- By: Adam Jay Epstein
- Narrated by: Lincoln Hoppe
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 162
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 123
Running fast to save his life, Aldwyn ducks into an unusual pet store. Moments later Jack, a young wizard in training, comes in to choose a magical animal to be his familiar. Aldwyn's always been clever. But magical? Jack thinks so - and Aldwyn is happy to play along. He just has to convince the other familiars - the know-it-all blue jay Skylar and the friendly tree frog Gilbert - that he's the powerful cat he claims to be. Then the unthinkable happens. Jack and two other young wizards are captured by the evil queen of Vastia!
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good kid's story
- By Ed on 04-18-13
By: Adam Jay Epstein
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The Cloud Roads
- By: Martha Wells
- Narrated by: Christopher Kipiniak
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,433
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,266
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,260
Moon has spent his life hiding what he is - a shape-shifter able to transform himself into a winged creature of flight. An orphan with only vague memories of his own kind, Moon tries to fit in among the tribes of his river valley, with mixed success. Just as Moon is once again cast out by his adopted tribe, he discovers a shape-shifter like himself... someone who seems to know exactly what he is, who promises that Moon will be welcomed into his community.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Very original but flawed
- By David on 06-22-13
By: Martha Wells
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Arena
- 20th Anniversary Edition
- By: Karen Hancock
- Narrated by: Aimee Lilly
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story5 out of 5 stars 44
Transported surreptitiously to a terrifying alien world with limited resources and only a few cryptic words to guide her, Callie Hayes finds herself engulfed in a perilous battle for freedom—for her very life. After agreeing to participate in a routine psychology research experiment, she must unravel the mysteries shrouding her only route of escape or risk succumbing to the deadly deception of the Arena. A journey through the treacherous terrain of a strange and terrifying world. A powerful allegory that will capture your imagination with its timelessness and aching familiarity.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Captivating and intriguing
- By Si on 11-17-23
By: Karen Hancock
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The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe
- By: Kij Johnson
- Narrated by: Kij Johnson
- Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 191
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 167
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Story4 out of 5 stars 163
Professor Vellitt Boe teaches at the prestigious Ulthar Women's College. When one of her most gifted students elopes with a dreamer from the waking world, Vellitt must retrieve her.
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3 out of 5 stars
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it took me a few trys to ger through this audio
- By Melanie on 05-13-17
By: Kij Johnson
What listeners say about A Short, Sharp Shock
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Matt
- 01-09-19
Wicked, thrilling, exciting
This book is a TRIP. While it is not my favorite KSR book, it should be regarded as one of his greats. The storyline was fantastic, though hard to follow at times. The characters were interesting, and expressive. The DETAIL in this book is second to none in terms of fantasy fiction. KSR is a lyrical genius, and his genius is on full display in a Short, Sharp Shock.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- James T. Hopper
- 05-01-12
I never bought or received this book.
Is there anything you would change about this book?
I never bought or received this book. Sorry
Would you recommend A Short, Sharp Shock to your friends? Why or why not?
I never bought or received this book. Sorry
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
I never bought or received this book. Sorry
Could you see A Short, Sharp Shock being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
I never bought or received this book. Sorry
Any additional comments?
I never bought or received this book. Sorry
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Jessica
- 10-28-13
I have three words for this book: L frikin SD
What would have made A Short, Sharp Shock better?
This story was very difficult to follow. If the author had not been so into licking toads, it might have helped.
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