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The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of the 20th Century cover art

The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of the 20th Century

By: Greg Bear, Terry Bisson, David Brin, John W. Campbell, Harlan Ellison, Ursula K. Le Guin, Judith Merrill, Frederik Pohl, Eric Frank Russell, Arthur C. Clarke
Narrated by: David Ackroyd, Wil Wheaton
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Publisher's Summary

From Ellison to Clarke to Merrill, hear a dozen unabridged science-fiction short stories, considered the best of the best from the 20th century. They are: "Why I Left Harry's All-Night Diner" by Lawrence Watt Evans, "Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison, "The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke, "The Crystal Spheres" by David Brin, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. LeGuin, "Huddling Place" by Clifford D. Simak, "That Only a Mother" by Judith Merrill, "Fermi and Frost" by Frederick Pohl, "Tangents" by Greg Bear, "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson, "Allamagoosa" by Eric Frank Russell, and "Twilight" by John W. Campbell.
©1987 by Lawrence Watt Evans; 1935 by Street & Smith Publications; 1985 by Davis Publications, Inc.; 1953, Renewed 1981 by Arthur C. Clarke; 1948 by Judith Merrill; 1973 by Ursula K. LeGuin; 1986 by Omni Publications International Ltd.; 1990 by Davis Publications Inc., "Allamagoosa", Copyright 1955 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc.; 1977 by Harlan Ellison; 1984 by David Brin; 1944 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc., Renewed 1972 by Clifford D. Simak (P)1998 by NewStar Media, Inc.

What listeners say about The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of the 20th Century

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Terrible Quality Audio

What did you like best about The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of the 20th Century? What did you like least?

Favourite Story was the Crystal Spheres - it sounds mystical, but it's not at all - and it still holds up to today

What did you like best about this story?

Most of the stories were timeless.

Which character – as performed by David Ackroyd and Wil Wheaton – was your favourite?

Don't really recall either narrators - they sounded more like they were recorder 20+ years ago.

Was The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of the 20th Century worth the listening time?

Definitely worth listening to, if anything for quick bite sized stories - good for 1 hour road trips.

Any additional comments?

The audio quality is TERRIBLE. It sounds like a recording of a telephone call through a radio on a cassette tape. I found a lot of the more unusual names and words impossible to hear clearly, which is kinda important for science fiction.Performance and stories 5/5Audio Quality 0/5

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Don't waste your money or credit.

Clearly someone thought they could make some money uploading a rubbish quality recording. The stories/chapters aren't even labelled, and the chapters miss the start and end of each short story by a few seconds.

The audio quality is like it was recorded on a wax cylinder in the 30's.

I'm sure the stories are decent, I've only listened to a couple and they weren't bad. But the quality and care taken just ruins it and makes listening impossible.

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