As a man surveys the countryside for the construction of a reservoir, he comes across a stretch of barren farmland leeched of life. An aged survivor of the town tells him the tale of a rural farmer's family and their path to madness and unspeakable horror.
Micki says:
"Horrible narration, ruins a great story."
Future humanity has found the secret of faster-than-light travel, but it comes with great dangers. To minimize these dangers, man can pilot ships through the up-and-out with cats as their partners. Underhill shares his mind with his cat-partner, the Lady May, and must travel to the terrible open places between the stars. Only by working together can they defend themselves and the ship's passengers against the dragons in the emptiness of space.
Working in a military research facility, Kramer comes up with a system of installing a man's brain as the central processor of a rocket. Since a pilot could not withstand the pressures of deep space flight, a willing sacrifice will need to be made. Kramer's ex-wife, Dolores, remembers an old professor, Professor Thomas, that she and Kramer had attended in college. Professor Thomas is near the end of his lifespan. His mind is still agile, and it is agreed that it is his mind that will go into the rocket.
When Brion Bayard was kidnapped and brought to the alternate world where Earth's history took a different turn, it was not a pleasant experience. It was, however, a startling experience. Here was a world that was just like the Earth he was taken from--with just a few subtle changes. On top of all this, Brion was given a puzzling assignment by his captors. He was to secretly enter a palace, and kill a dangerous and tyrannical dictator. There was one, small catch--the hated dictator in this world was the mirror image of Brion Bayard.
A future New York City has changed since a nuclear bomb left areas of radiation that threaten the residents. Women wear coverings over their faces as the latest fashion trend. An Englishman in New York saves a girl from a speeding coupe with fish hooks on its fender. He finds himself attracted and repelled by the girl in this classic story of future shock from a science-fiction grand master.
To save her newborn son, Dr. Helen Murray has to remain behind on an alien world. But is she alone? As her son, Robin, becomes older, he acts strangely and describes other people that Helen cannot see.
When Ray Baker meets a woman on his sojourn, he doesn't know if he wants to kill her or sleep with her. Ray doesn't understand his urge to murder. But he feels it like all the other Deathlanders. Just as he knows the girl feels it. Laying down their arsenal of weapons will leave them both vulnerable. The cost of a moment of intimacy may lead to the last moments of their lives. And what to do when the act is over, and both their minds turn back to murder.
When Raf Kurbi's spaceship from Earth burst into unexplored skies of the far planet Astra, it was made welcome by the natives of a once-mighty metropolis. But Kurbi was unaware of three vital things.
Taylor felt life was pretty good. Sure living in an underground bunker developing more sophisticated weapons to bomb the Soviets was less than ideal. But he had a pretty wife, and he was safe from the radioactive poisoned environment that existed above ground. The leadies, a sophisticated robot servant, could inform them of the devastating destruction, the bombed out cities, and the further Soviet attacks. But it was a strange fact that the latest leadie to return to the bunker showed no sign of radioactivity.
A trading spaceship often has to carry unusual cargo. But none as strange as the blubberous pig-like alien known as the wub. The captain of the ship decides that the wub may make an excellent meal for him and the crew. But the wub might have something to say about it.
The Earth has forcibly been taken from its orbit. It began with an extra-terrestrial pyramid on top of Mt. Everest. And then a "runaway planet" took the Earth as its binary. And now harsh generations have passed since the inhabitants last saw the light of their sun, Sol. Society has grown rigid. The meek lambs have inherited the Earth, even if it's a very poor Earth, indeed.
The Day the Earth Stood Still: Selected Stories of Harry Bates
UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 21 mins)
By Harry Bates
Narrated By William Coon
Overall
(19)
Performance
(2)
Story
(1)
In Farewell to the Master, Cliff Sutherland, a freelance reporter, is determined to get more photos of the giant robot that stands as a silent sentinel over his dimensional space-traveling ship. Cliff is determined to have an overnight vigil to get behind the mystery of the slain alien known as Klaatu.
You'll hear the soft, lazy voice of a dame who's been around, and you'll meet up with a beautiful heller. You'll learn the lurid secrets of a man's locked past, and you'll prowl dark alleys with two men--two men turned hunters. And you'll wonder--why Ed and his Uncle Am didn't level with the cops; what business a gang would have with Ed's dead father; and where the killer thought the hunters would go wrong. Here are your answers, in this fast-spinning, two-fisted mystery about thugs, molls, and carnival folks.
Man has conquered space, but not without costs. To maintain the space lanes, Scanners have to undergo an operation in which their brain is severed from their sensory inputs to block the Pain of Space. A man named Adam Stone claims that he has a found a way to travel in the deep of space without the use of the Scanners - and the community of Scanners has decided that he must die. But one Scanner realizes the madness of that solution.
"Sam, This is You" is a humorous look at Sam, a telephone lineman and inventor. Sam's invented a device to talk to himself back in time. Unfortunately, Sam's main interest is courting Rosie, and his love life is being sabotaged by his worst enemy - his future self. "The Other Now" is a poignant love story. When Jimmy Patterson loses his beloved wife, Jane, in a car accident, he believes he begins to get messages from her. Can their love be enough to reunite them?
Dr. Daniel Scott has invented a serum that enables the organism to adapt itself to overcome injuries and disease. He gets his chance to try his experimental drug on a dying tubercular patient named Kyra Zelas. Scott and his colleague Dr. Herman Bach are amazed when the girl recovers, but she soon begins to exhibit strange actions.
Garin Featherstone has been sent to explore a mysterious blue haze that was spotted in the polar region. There he discovers a lost civilization and a strange environment of vivid green lands, crimson tree trunks, and golden rivers. He must save Thrala of the light against the lizard men.
A Sheckley Trilogy: Three Classic Tales of Science Fiction
UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 4 mins)
By Robert Sheckley
Narrated By Mark Douglas Nelson
Overall
(11)
Performance
(1)
Story
(1)
Robert Sheckley, master of the science-fiction short-story form, created numerous tales of dark humor. He had an entertaining gift for looking at society with a warped mirror, enabling us to see ourselves in a clearer reflection.
Life changes on Earth when the population tips the scales at over X billion people. Harry lives in a single room without a window and hates the commutrain ride, which is like the black hole of Calcutta on wheels. If he can get his private car out of commugarage, he might be able to get to work on time. If only it wasn't for his headaches....
