Pellucidar

Pellucidar (2nd in the Pellucidar series)
By Edgar Rice Burroughs; Read by Ralph Snelson
16 Zipped MP3s or Podcast - Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 2008

Themes: / Hollow Earth / Adventure / Prehistoric Beasts / Exploration / Nautical




Pellucidar is a difficult audiobook to review because it is quite depent on the listener being reasonably familiar with its predecessor, At the Earth's Core. Unfortunately, the LibriVox version of At the Earth's Core is still in its very early stages, though there is a nice looking commercial version by Tantor available.

Taking the above into account, the LibriVox Pellucidar is an enjoyable listen with plenty of adventure, a grand odyssee, new characters, and one of the coolest "dogs" (hyenadons) ever imagined. Its only flaw, a rather minor one, is its rather abrubt/summarized ending.

Pellucidar continues the adventures of David Innes, and too a lesser extent Abner Perry, in the Hollow Earth land of Pellucidar, after the surprise, cliffhanger ending of its precursor. David treks across much of Pellucidar in search of his lost love, Dian the Beautiful (It must be such a burdon going through life with that epithet). Overall a fun adventure story with a few clever twists.

Ralph Snelson does a very straight, non-interpretive, reading of the story with little excess of emotion or dramatization. It is a simple, pleasant reading without bells and whistles. This is another good reading that proves the value of LibriVox's free audiobooks.

An enjoyable audiobook, but only for those who have heard or read its predecessor (The movie would help a little, but not as much)

Greatest Science Fiction Stories

The Greatest Science Fiction Stories Of The 20th Century
By [see below]; Read by [see below]
4 Cassettes - 6 hours - [Unabridged]
Publisher: Dove Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0787116807
Themes: / Science Fiction / Magical Realism / Aliens / Time Travel / Parallel Worlds / Space Travel / Mutation / Nuclear Winter /




What would a long time SF fan consider a collection called The Greatest Science Fiction Stories Of The 20th Century when none of the stories would make his top ten list, and some aren't even SF? In this case, I consider it a very good collection of stories. If anything, this seems a collection of well-read and written, but randomly chosen, speculative fiction stories.

Clearly intended to present a wide variety of "Science Fiction," this audio-anthology has neither theme nor consistency but it doesn't need them. The stories, with only two exceptions, are quite entertaining. They are all extremely well read, my quibble with a poor attempt at an accent notwithstanding, ranging from Harlan Ellison's wonderfully passionate reading of his story to Nana Visitor's aesthetically perfect interpretation of "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas."

Each story is briefly commented on below.

"Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison, read by Harlan Ellison.
Reality is distorted around a boy who doesn't age. This is Magical Realism, not SF, but an amazing story nonetheless. Ellison's response to the bitter cynicism of modernity will tear at the core of your soul unless A) you're very young or B) you don't have a soul. The best story in the collection.

"Twilight" by John W. Campbell, read by Richard McGonagle.
A good early SF story but not quite great. It feels a bit to much like Wells' The Time Machine, but it entertaining enough. A retelling of a time traveler's visit to the twilight of humanity.

"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin, read by Nana Visitor.
Virtually everyone knows this fantasy, again not SF, story. It has all the strengths and weakness of Le Guin's writing, amazing authorial voice and great storytelling, but a strong tendency to be overly didactic to the point of sanctimoniousness. Still as with most of her stories, the strengths far outweigh the weaknesses.

"Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson, read by Arte Johnson.
Bears start using fire in an otherwise normal Kentucky. This Magical Realism, not SF, story was the only one that bored me. This story also had my only, relatively minor, reading complaint. The reader's Kentucky accent is a bit off and sounds a bit condescending.

"The Crystal Spheres" by David Brin, read by Alexander Siddig.
A very interesting, though highly implausible, story about a universe in which all stars are encircled by invisible, impenetrable, crystal spheres.

"That Only a Mother" by Judith Merril, read by Terry Farrell.
Due to radiation poisoning, a baby is born mentally gifted but physically impaired. A disturbing, unpleasant story that is only marginally SF.

"Allamagoosa" by Eric Frank Russell, read by James A. Watson.
Wonderful over-the-top humor. This story of a spaceship facing an inspection while missing an offog, an item no one knows what is, is a gem.

"Tangents" by Greg Bear, read by Melissa Manchester.
A boy can see into the the fourth physical dimension and a scientist helps him play music for the beings there. Interesting enough, but forgettable.

"The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke, read by Alexander Siddig.
Tibetan monks have a computer print out all the names possible names of God with the intent of fulfilling the purpose of creation. Good enough but not even Clarke's best short story.

"Huddling Place" by Clifford D. Simak, read by David Ackroyd.
In a future with robots and space travel agoraphobia has become a serious threat. This story would have been just acceptable filler except for the fact that in this story from 1944, Simak predicts the internet, though he describes it in terms of a television with knobs.

"Why I Left Harry's All-Night Diner" by Lawrence Watt Evans, read by Wil Wheaton.
A fun, interesting take on the the idea of parallel universes. Certainly an enjoyable story.

"Fermi and Frost" by Frederick Pohl, read by Denise Crosby.
Icelanders face the prospects of nuclear winter in the post-apocalyptic tale. A good downbeat story to balance some of the lighthearted stories.

Concussion: This is a very good anthology. It definitely isn't a collection of the best stories, but it may be the best collection of stories available. Highly recommended.

I starting reviewing this collection on the expectation that it was out of print and I would have to recommend Amazon or eBay as a source of a used cassette copy. So imagine my surprise when a mere day after finishing it, I hear an Audible.com ad for it. So it is easily available for those interested.

The Dreaming Void

The Dreaming Void
By Peter F. Hamilton; Read by Toby Longworth
20 CDs - 23 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Audio UK
Publication Date: 02/05/2008
ISBN: 9780230709829

AD 3580. The Intersolar Commonwealth has spread through the galaxy to over a thousand star systems. It is a culture of rich diversity with a place for everyone. Even death itself has been overcome. But at the centre of the Commonwealth is a massive black hole. This Void is not a natural artefact. Inside there is a strange universe where the laws of physics are very different to those we know. It is slowly consuming the other stars of the galactic core - one day it will devour the entire galaxy. Inigo, a human, has started to dream of a wonderful existence in the Void. He has a following of millions of believers and they now clamour to make a pilgrimage into the Void to live the life they have been shown. Other starfaring species fear their migration will cause the Void to expand again. They are prepared to stop them no matter what the cost. And so the pilgrimage begins…

The Dreaming Void is a very big book and it's an even bigger audiobook. Peter F. Hamilton's story is one of the better recent SF stories that I've experienced in any form, full of fascinating settings, situations, and ideas. It has many fully realized subplots and varied characters, too many. What could have been at least two brilliant stories, one of the commonwealth dealing with the potentially disastrous consequences of an attempted pilgrimage into the Void, and one of the much more low-key story of Inigo's dreams, is instead merely a long opening to a longer trilogy.

The main plot(s) of the story are wonderful. It is science fiction as it should be. It takes the imagination to new vistas, mixing newer ideas (the Void, gaiafield, etc) with core traditions of SF (space travel, aliens, etc). Indeed, the basic story is nearly perfect but with all the stretching, it greatly overstays its welcome. Somewhere around the twelve hour mark, listening to The Dreaming Void became a chore. If I had not already committed so much time to the story, I would have quit then.

Final analysis: The Dreaming Void is just too big a story, filled with many unnecessary subplots and distractions. It is far too easy loose track of the multitude of characters inhabiting this enormous beginning to the Void Trilogy. Yet, it is far from a hopeless audiobook. Throughout the epic story, the skill of both author and the reader are quite apparent and each part of the story is interesting. I am still of very mixed opinions about the story. I will look for more stories written by Peter F. Hamilton and more read by Toby Longworth, but only if they are about half this length or shorter. However, the audiobook might well be worth the effort for someone who has a lot of free time and is willing to take notes.

Rating: 7/10