• Needle in a Timestack

  • And Other Stories
  • By: Robert Silverberg
  • Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
  • Length: 24 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (18 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Needle in a Timestack  By  cover art

Needle in a Timestack

By: Robert Silverberg
Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.79

Buy for $25.79

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

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

What listeners say about Needle in a Timestack

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

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

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

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.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

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.

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

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

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful