Needle in a Timestack

And Other Stories

By: Robert Silverberg

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Needle in a Timestack is Robert Silverberg at his very best - intelligent, inventive, and visionary. This collection showcases his talent for thought-provoking science fiction, ranging in themes from time travel to space travel, the media to mortality.

In the titular story - under development as a feature film by Oscar-winning screenwriter John Ridley - a jealous ex-husband warps time in a vindictive attempt to destroy his former wife's new marriage. Thirty-one identical sons have a shocking surprise for their mother in "There Was an Old Woman". The prophetic "The Pain Peddlers" depicts reality TV in a way that allows viewers to revel in a voyeuristic, adrenaline-fueled rush. Also included are Silverberg's Hugo Award-winning "Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another", and the Locus Award winner "The Secret Sharer", a Joseph Conrad-inspired tale of a ship captain drawn into a strange alliance with a stowaway.

©2019 Robert Silverberg (P)2019 Tantor

A mixed bag of concepts - so tired of flat portrayals of women!

Silverberg is definitely a card-carrying member of the Mid-Century White Male Science Fiction Writers of Two-Dimensional Female Characters, right up there with Asimov, Heinlein, etc. I can still appreciate the concepts presented and good writing when done, but wince-inducing portrayals of women as props make it so I can only take so much of these guys at a time. The Audible narration using the same breathy, little-girl tone for almost every woman as well didn’t help.

A mixed bag as in almost any short story collection. It collects works from the 1950s to the ‘80s or ‘90s. Some interesting concepts and methods, and some stories drag on way too long.

Fantastic collection!

A big fan of Robert Silverberg’s work and this book is a nice collection. I appreciated the author background before each story, although this may not be to everyone’s liking. Truly a gifted storyteller.

A must for time travel fans

It’s a mixed bag of stories. Some are so good you wish they lasted longer, some are dull and seem like they would never end. But Silverberg is a master writer. Most of his early stories are so prophetic that it is scary. His intros about the history of each story are a plus.

Love the narrator.

Meh

Entering enough I guess.

I know it's sci-fi, but good sci-fi to me, if not realistic, can at least be imagined to be possible. Many of these stores drift too far from that for me. Chimps spontaneously developing religious beliefs and rituals with no prior knowledge of religion is the one that stands out. Spent too much time arguing with the ridiculousness of it for it to be entertaining.

The repeated self-aggrandizement in the introduction to almost every introduction became a bit much as well.

Awesome collection of Silverberg's best stories

it's sometimes a gamble when a reader begins reading a "new" or unfamiliar work of Silverberg's. Given the fact that he wrote approximately a thousand stories over a career exceeding 50 years, it's unrealistic to assume there aren't a good many garbage titles amongst his library.
This fantastic collection did a great job of separating the wheat from the chaff. I highly recommend this book for anyone who considers themselves to be a fan of science fiction.

8.80/10.00