Favorite Science Fiction Stories, Volume 5

By: Philip K. Dick, Murray Leinster, Horace Brown Fyfe, H. Beam Piper, Gordon Jarrett, Keith Laumer, A. Bertram Chandler

Narrated by: Cindy Hardin Killavey, Kevin Killavey, Jim Roberts, Mark Nelson, Emmett Casey

Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

The fifth set of Favorite Science Fiction Stories contains the following titles: "The Skull" by Phlip K. Dick, "Sam/ This Is You" by Murray Leinster, "Manners of the Age" by Horace Brown Fyfe, "Omnilingual" by H. Beam Piper, "Heist Job on Theiser" by Gordan Randall Jarrett, "The Yillian Way" by Keith Laumer, "The Ultimate Vice" by A. Bertram Chandler, "Backlash" by Winston Marks, "Adolescents Only" by Irving Cox, "Project Mastodon" by Clifford Simak, "Sargasso of Lost Starships" by Poul Anderson, "The Dictator" by Milton Lesser, "The Misplaced Battleship" by Harry Harrison, "A Pail of Air" by Fritz Leiber, "The Vilbar Party" by Evelyn E. Smith, "The Servant Problem" by Robert F. Young.

Public Domain (P)2012 Jimcin Recordings

A consistantly great collection

When I buy a collection of short stories I'm prepared for an uneven group. I've read several of these collections and I usually find the editor has made wonderful selections - as the editor did with this one. Bravo!

IF YOU LIKE BIG BOSSOMY BLONDES

IT'S GREAT LIFE IF YOU DON'T WEAKEN
Fritz Leiber has a story called A Pail of Air, which almost makes this whole collection worth buying in itself. It may be one of the more collected stories, when it comes to older collections.

BREAK THE CLASS OR THE CLASS WILL BREAK YOU
Like most collections there is a variety of stories and they range from great to not. I thought there were five stories that make getting this worth the price. I already mentioned A Pail of Air and there was The Dictator by Milton Lesser, Manners of the Age by Horace Brown Fyre, Sam This is You by Murry Leinster, and Backlash by Winston Marks. A couple more are good and then there are several which are not so good. These are from the 40's and 50's and that should be considered.

FALSE MODESTY IS THE REFUSE OF THE INCOMPETENT
There are several narrators, although most are narrated by Jim Roberts. Several people have complained about his lack of professionalism. It did bother me, when I started listening to these older stories years ago, but after time, Roberts starts to grow on you. I also believe he is the driving force behind getting these collected. These are all in public domain and if you search you can find them all individually. I appreciated that Jim has saved me the work and gathered them together like this. I also believed when he first started recording these, it was at his own expense. So, get off your high horse and give the guy a break.

IT'S NOT GOING TO BE EASY TO LEAVE THE NEST.

So-so

Nothing stood out to me in this collection. It was a lot of classic 50’s Sci fi, which is way too corny. Also, one of the narrators was almost unlistenable- he sounded like he had phlegm in his throat and it was really off-putting.