My Favorites

A Collection of Short Stories

By: Ben Bova

Narrated by: Ben Bova, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Alex Hyde-White, Stefan Rudnicki, Paul Boehmer, Orson Scott Card, Grover Gardner, John Rubinstein, Gabrielle de Cuir, Arthur Morey, Steven Hoye

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

In this new collection, Ben Bova has compiled 14 of his favorite short stories. Each story includes an all-new introduction with compelling insight into the narrative.

Exploring the boundaries of the genre, Bova not only writes of spaceships, aliens, and time travel in most of his titles, but also speculates on the beginnings of science fiction in “Scheherazade and the Storytellers,” as well as the morality of man in “The Angel’s Gift.” Stories such as “The Café Coup” and “We’ll Always Have Paris” dip into speculative historical fiction, asking questions about what would happen if someone could change history for the better. This expansive collection is a key addition for Bova fans and sci-fi lovers alike!

Stories included in this collection: “Monster Slayer,” “Muzhestvo,” “We’ll Always Have Paris,” “The Great Moon Hoax, or A Princess of Mars,” “Inspiration,” “Scheherazade and the Storytellers,” “The Supersonic Zeppelin,” “Mars Farts,” “The Man Who Hated Gravity,” “Sepulcher,” “The Café Coup,” “The Angel’s Gift,” “Waterbot,” and “Sam and the Flying Dutchman.” 

©2020 Ben Bova (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Great Collection Of Sci-Fi

I was very impressed with this collection of 14 Ben Bova stories. I pretty much liked them all. Narrated by a host of well known authors and narrators. Recommended if you are into this genre.

Great

I enjoyed this collection so very much. Engaging, thoughtful and as always well written. A must listen for hard sci go fans

Once well conceived , still relevant !

Great stuff here , now it is obvious where much of the current Sci / Fi concepts originally came from !

Thoroughly enjoyable listen!!!

I loved the stories, and the narration was excellent. SciFi by Ben Bova is a treat to be savored.

NO DOGS HERE

This is a fun, and interesting collection of Bova short stories.
They are extremely interesting and well read.
Only one of these was included in a much longer book
in the " Grand Tour Series". This short story had a little different
twist and was a good add to this book.
If you like a good short listen, these are for you.

Problematic language

As an avid sci-if fan, I listened to this to determine whether to read Bova’s other works. This collection informed my decision not to read his other works, because I found his portrayals of women problematic and archaic. A common theme woven throughout the stories is that of women as objects and ethnicities as defining personality characteristics. The term “Hispanic sculptress” is used to describe a prominent artist in one of the stories. In another, a man falls in love with a woman at first sight, and describes her beauty as “haunted” and “fragile” as though the male character is attracted to this woman on the basis that he sees her as prey, which I found highly disturbing. In that same story, a male character repeatedly runs away from the woman he’s supposed to marry… Add in an entire story based on jokes about ethnic and religious origin and the whole of the collection sounds like it was written a long time ago, which it undoubtedly was. However, this was published in 2020; would it be so bad for the author to revisit and revise his “favorites?”

Great collection

A wide variety of tales from the best authors. A worderful reading. Even a brief return to Bova's Grand Tour.

Ben Bova always great

I have enjoyed bambova stories for many years it's really great to have it inaudible

Mediocre and dated.

I’ve been coming to and fro this collection of shorts for the past month or so, nothing about it peaked my interest long enough to keep at it in full.

Most of the stories are very dated and mostly quite mediocre imho. I understand Ben Bova is quite some year ahead of me and that the book is ‘his favourites’ so shouldn’t be surprised.

What actually did surprise me was the “afterword 1491”, maybe disappointed me is a better choice of words, talking like the USA is the pinnacle of all that is right and good in the world, to the detriment of European “losers”, without mentioning that the americas weren’t exactly empty when your fine nation was discovered by us losers. I get what he was trying to say, but it was poorly executed from someone who should have a more eloquent way with words. It’s actually put me off reading or listening to any further Bova books. I think this was a free book, if it wasn’t it’s getting returned, a wasted credit.

Good Sci-fi

I enjoyed some of the stories, some of them are weird but in general good old fashioned science fiction.

A good sample of late 20th century Sci-Fi.

I enjoyed encountering stories I rembered reading many years ago. i will look for other Ben Bova material

My Favourites (Collection of Short Stories)

Another fantastic book & collection of short stories from a great Sci-Fi story teller. The performance of the readers are brilliant. Highly recommended for Sci-Fi fans such as myself.