Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
More of the Best of Science Fiction and Fantasy  By  cover art

More of the Best of Science Fiction and Fantasy

By: Orson Scott Card, Arthur C. Clarke, Karen Joy Fowler, Roger Zelazny, John Varley, Joe Haldeman, Robert Silverberg, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Lawrence Watt-Evans
Narrated by: Roddy McDowall, Terry Farrell, Wil Wheaton, other stars of
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.47

Buy for $17.47

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Who better to narrate today's best science-fiction stories than today's favorite science-fiction stars? This exciting collection features Roger Zelazny's "Permafrost" read by Siddig El Fadil ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Orson Scott Card's "Fat Farm" read by Roddy McDowall ( Planet of the Apes), and John Varley's "Options" read by Claudia Christian ( Babylon 5). Robin Curtis ( Star Trek III and Star Trek IV), Terry Farrell ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Nana Visitor ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and Wil Wheaton ( Star Trek: The Next Generation) also perform, reading works by Karen Joy Fowler, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Robert Silverberg, Arthur C. Clarke, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Joe Haldeman.
©1980 by Omni Publications International Ltd.; 1951 by Arthur C. Clarke; 1993 by Joe Haldeman; 1980 by Agberg, Ltd.; 1979 by John Varley; 1988 by Omni Publications International Ltd.; 1985 Karen Joy Fowler; 1987 by Davis Publications; 1987 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (P)1995 by Dove Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about More of the Best of Science Fiction and Fantasy

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    35
  • 4 Stars
    55
  • 3 Stars
    45
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    36
  • 4 Stars
    19
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    6
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    26
  • 4 Stars
    32
  • 3 Stars
    16
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Just one complaint

This is a fine collection. The narration is also good. The one REALLY annoying characteristic is that there is no break between stories. No announcement of author, title, date etc. The next story just starts in with even less pause than between sentences within a story. If it were not for the fact that the narrator changes, you would not even be able to tell only by listening when one ends and the next one starts.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

57 people found this helpful

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

Table of Contents (Listed by Audible Chapter)

1 “This is Audible” Introduction.

2 "The Sentinel" by Arthur C. Clarke, read by Siddig El Fadil.

3 "Fat Farm" by Orson Scott Card, read by Roddy McDowall.

4 "Our Lady of the Sauropods" by Robert Silverberg.

5 "Options" by John Varley, read by Claudia Christian.

6 "Why I Left Harry's All Night Hamburgers" by Lawrence Watt-Evans, read by Wil Wheaton.

7 "The Poplar Street Study" by Karen Joy Fowler, read by Terry Farrell

8 "Skin Deep" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, read by Robin Curtis.

9 "Permafrost" by Roger Zelazny, read by Siddig El Fadil.

10 "Feedback" by Joe Haldeman, read by Nana Visitor.


Review of “Options” by John Varley

I wanted to listen to this collection because of one story: “Options” by John Varley. “Options” is one of Varley’s 8-Worlds stories and fits early in the overall chronology, circa 100 O.E., Occupation Earth. Varley handles the subject of what would happen to society if easy, safe and completely reversible sex-changing were to become a reality. When this was written in 1979 is was far more shocking and fantastic that is may seem today. The wonder of the story is that Varley manages to take the reader, or listener in this case, from the initial reaction of shock and disgust to the point of empathy for the sex-changing character. Varley is one of the science fiction greats. Listen to this story and you will hear why.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

48 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Needs a pdf download to track book titles/authors/

I agree with another reviewer in that there is no way to know the title and author of the short story, or for that matter who is narrating. A break between stories and an introduction to identify the narrator would be a welcome enhancement. Most books on tape have this feature, and this shortfall is somewhat frustrating when trying to identify selections from a collection.

If nothing else, to have a pdf document posted to the site with this information would be tremendously helpful.

Other than that shortcomming, the stories met my expectations of these well known authors. The stories spark imagination and easily transend the decades since they were created and are every bit as entertaining today.

The writing is great, the naration is entertaining; but the lack of knowing exactly what you are listening to detracts from the entertainment value.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Despite it's less than stupendous ratings...

I enjoyed this audiobook a lot. The narration was done by familiar voices. It was acted out rather well. The content was great as well. The only complaint I had was that two stories were louder than the other. I would turn the volume up pretty loud (being on the freeway and all...) and then have to turn it down when it went on to a louder story. But only one narrator was loud and she did two stories, so it's not much of a complaint.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good material, horrible production

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

1. Announce the story titles and authors2. Better audio quality

What did you like best about this story?

Great stories from some of my favorite authors

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

No changes

Any additional comments?

I gave this a 1-star review because I would rather not have purchased it. The audio quality is very poor (it sounds like the narrators are calling from the 1970's over a bad transatlantic phone call).But the worst thing about it, as several others have pointed out, is the lack of breaks between stories, and the inexplicable omission of story titles and author credits. How on earth did this get into production without those key elements?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

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

Two excellent stories and some terrible ones

I had to give it a 3 even though two of the stories were excellent. The bad ones brought it down.

The Sentinel (Arthur C. Clarke)
Well-written and interesting story of an Earth-man’s encounter on the moon. (3 stars out of 5)

Fat Farm (Orson Scott Card)
Gross and dumb (1/5)

Our Lady of the Sauropods (Robert Silverberg)
If nature eventually fixes its mistakes, this one is a doozy! (4/5)

Options (John Varley)
A stupid story but a topic definitely relevant to society today. A technological trip to logical conclusions and their ultimate downsides. But the story itself tries to take all sides. (1/5)

Why I Left Harry’s All Night Hamburgers (Lawrence Watt-Evans)
AWESOME story! It’s all about perspective. (5/5)

The Poplar Street Study (Karen Joy Fowler)
How would you react to becoming a lab rat? (4/5)

Feedback (Joe Haldeman)
Interesting technology in a not bad story. (3/5)

Permafrost (Roger Zelazny)
Cool story that could have been an episode of Westworld. (4/5)

Skin Deep (Kristine Kathryn Rusch)
Excellent story about a family of colonists from Earth. (5/5)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

More of the Best not the best

I have only listened to the first three stories and am immensely disapponted .. not in the reading which is very good, not in the literature which is very entertaining, but in the audio book itself. This is a book of short stories, but the presentation lacks titles, authors and readers for each story. Very confusing to listen to, so it really detracts from the enjoyment.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Nice Road Trip Book

I enjoyed this audio book and was entertained on my extended drive to Atlanta. I agree with the other reviewer on the transition between stories; there is none, one story ends the next begins. Was not too big of a deal but I found myself wondering what was the title to that story and is that really Roddy McDowall??? I also had problems with the volume of the narration being different from one story to the next. The stories wont blow your mind however, it was worth the one credit for entertainment value.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Terrible

The narration is the worst I've experienced on Audible and the stories are all fused together; there are no delineations between them so you have no idea when one starts and one ends.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

Great Stories, great performances, terrible production values.

Excellent selection of stories, great narraters. Should’ve been a five star review. But the entire production was horrible. Sounds like it was recorded over a phone. No introductions, not even title (I recognize most of the stories and they are fantastic - Especially Clarke’s Sentinel, and Varley’s Options.). Still, I highly recommend this audiobook for its content, if not it’s quality.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful