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

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

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.

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.

wonderful amalgam

a great way to discover the work of some really talented sci-fi authors. definitely a great entry point work.

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!!!!

Mid century pulp stories!

So much fun! Incredible trip through 1940s-60s science fiction from pulp magazines. Loved every story and I never say that. Great way to relive the history of sci fi

Would think these would be great stories

...but they're pretty mediocre. The performance is fine, just she doesn't attempt to embellish, just reads it straight.

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!

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.

I Guess Narrators Do Make a Difference

Would you consider the audio edition of Favorite Science Fiction Stories, Volume 1 to be better than the print version?

Yes

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of the narrators?

Anyone, the main narrator is horrible monotonated and sounds the same in EVERY story!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

N/A

Any additional comments?

The old time stories are great still!

classic Sci fi at its best

I love these anthologies. The production is excellent and all the narrators top notch. I wish it was cheaper what with the stories all being public domain, but the production makes up for the price...somewhat.
If you can take poor narration and production values you can fund all these stories for free on Librivox.
Frankly, all these anthologies should be accessible for free with the Audible subscription.
in any event, you can't beat the classics.