Points of Possibility

By: Norman Turrell

Narrated by: Sam Isaacson

Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

A collection of science fiction, fantasy, horror and strange stories.

A collection of nine short stories from the imagination of best-selling British author Norman Turrell, ranging from science fiction, fantasy, horror, and purely strange tales.

• Science fiction: "Change of Mind" - A villainous corporate tycoon undergoes a new nanobot surgery to enhance himself
• Steampunk: "Steam Pressure" - A steampunk tale of political activists in old London town
• Science fiction: "It Came From Pluto" - An unmanned mission to Pluto has strange effects on the research team leader
• Fantasy: "Court" - Intrigue in a dysfunctional fantasy castle
• Science fiction: "Restart" - An online fantasy world brings two gamers together
• Strange: "From the Grave to the Grave" - The strange tale of a man who spends his life in graveyards
• Strange: "Paranoia" - Rich has difficulty coping with his world
• Horror: "Little Angel" - A father believes he is looking after his new born child
• Horror: "The Muse" - An American writer visits Scotland for inspiration but finds something else
• Excerpt from "Alice in Virtuality"
• Stories from Andrew Lennon, Leo McBride, and Val Tobin

©2016 Norman Turrell (P)2017 Norman Turrell

Solid writing marred by the narration

This is a collection of short stories in the sci-fi genre, which anyone longing for the anthologies that used to be so popular but are now mostly extinct, will appreciate.

The writing is solid, excellent even at times, but is hurt by the quality of the narrator and the recording.

The sound quality reminded me of the Douglas Adams recording of Dirk Gently, which was created in a time where recording quality wasn't a high priority for projects like this. Similarly, the narrator isn't particularly versed at making the voice of each character distinct, which is a shame. The whole thing sounds like it was recorded in a moving vehicle.

Still, don't let that dissuade you from getting this title. The relative short length of the stories make it very easy to start and stop and after a short adjustment to the narration, the text of the stories become far and away the highlight. You'll walk away from this title remembering the text far more than the performance, and if I had to choose one or the other, I'd prefer solid writing any day.

Pretty good- but not great...

The stories- weren’t bad! The problem with this audio book lies in two areas- the recording itself (read by the author), is poorly done.

There is no real break between the first and sending story and as I was listening- I was thinking, “wait!? What?”

The first story seems to be recorded at a faster rate- and as an American listener, I found it took a couple stories before I got used to the English accent and speech intonements.

I liked the first story best- overall- but I realize that I am not as into short stories- I start to get hooked then POW, it’s over. I have read plenty with what I feel is a respectable story arc- these just kind of ended too abruptly for me.

Had the author got others to read some of the stories and the recording was better- I would have rated it better.

By the way- the writing is solid- the author’s voice is fine but there is no distinct difference between character voices (one story to the next). He does a really good American accent.

That’s about it. If you are into shorts, you may like it more.