The Sam Gunn Omnibus

By: Ben Bova

Narrated by: Richard Brewer, Emily Janice Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, Stephen Hoye, Hillary Huber, Don Leslie, Moria Quirk, Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 29 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

A hero without peer or scruples, Sam Gunn has a nose for trouble, money, and women, though not necessarily in that order. A man with the ego (and stature) of a Napoleon, the business acumen of a P. T. Barnum, and the raging hormones of a teenage boy, Sam is the finest astronaut NASA ever trained and dumped. But more than money, more than women, Sam Gunn loves justice—and he really does love money and women.

Whether he’s suing the Pope, helping twin sisters entangled in the virtual sex trade, or on trial for his life on charges of interplanetary genocide, you can be sure of one thing: this is one space jockey who’ll meet every challenge with a smile on his lips, an ace up his sleeve, and a weapon in his pocket.

Now, for the first time in one volume, Hugo-winner Ben Bova presents all the tales of Sam Gunn to date, including three never-before collected in book form. Here is the entire chronicle of Sam Gunn, trailblazer and scoundrel, as he scams his way from one end of the solar system to the other, giving bold new meaning to the term venture capitalist.

©2007 Ben Bova (P)2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Bova has ambitiously and deftly created a three-in-one narrative that satisfies any and all readerly desires to see the life of his signature rogue assembled into coherent form…. Bova has successfully added to the storehouse of a particularly American folklore. Sam Gunn is Mike Fink and Paul Bunyan (although their opposite in size), Rockefeller and Carnegie, Sam Slick and Penrod, the plucky protagonists from Horatio Alger and the irreverent ones from Mark Twain. His exploits… are new manifestations of an eternal archetype in the American psyche." ( SciFi Weekly)

SAM GUNN LIFE STORY

PERSONS ATTEMPTING TO FIND A MOTIVE IN THIS NARRATIVE WILL BE PROSECUTED;
PERSONS ATTEMPTING TO FIND A MORAL IN IT WILL BE BANISHED;
PERSONS ATTEMPTING TO FIND A PLOT IN IT WILL BE SHOT.
BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR

Sam Gunn is the twenty-first century's greatest entrepreneur and its most hated public figure. Visionary, scoundrel, lover, liar, he is small in stature but larger than life, and his story is that of space exploration itself. He will make and lose fortunes from Earth to the Asteroid Belt, one step ahead of his creditors, one step behind his grand dreams. Through all his varied careers, Sam's goal will always be the same: to go where no one had ever gone before...and come back with a profit. Here is the MAGNIFICENT tale of his amazing life, an adventure told by the men and women who loved or hated him but could never forget him as he carved out man's destiny amongst the stars.

Not What I Was Expecting, but Enjoyable

First off, let me say that I was expecting a space opera of sorts. A collection of stories about a larger than life, arrogant but charming, space hero. That's not what this is, but that's ok.

The protagonist of this collection is the female reporter collecting the stories that are presented. This approach works surprisingly well. But Sam Gunn is no space hero, and the major conflict of the story arc is very personal and relational. So son't expect an epic story here.

Rather, these are a collection of believable stories about a charming con-man who just barely manages to keep ahead of his problems. The stories are voiced by different readers who do a professional and respectable job.

Overall, Sam Gunn's personality began to wear thin with me, but as I mentioned earlier, the story is not really about Sam Gunn and there are well done surprises and a satisfactory conclusion to the collection.

Quaint collection of short stories

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This is an anthology of short stories revolving around the character Sam Gunn. Ben Bova's flavor of sci-fi is not hardcore, operatic, or techno-anything. The stories instead are character-driven and they play out in front of the backdrop of space.Sam is a NASA astronaut who becomes an entrepeneuer. He is a shallow character who likes action and the ladies. The stories are of his outrageous exploits in the "beginning" of interplanetary travel. The stories are framed around a "biography" documentary that is being written by a newish journalist named Jade who lives on the moon. The narration was decent, but the story seemed a bit silly. If I were still about 10 years old and hadn't read any other sci-fi other than Heinlein, I may think this was genius....

Really great!

A whole slew of short stories, all strung together masterfully and narrated beautifully. Highly recommended.

Tom Sawyer in Space - FUN!

Any additional comments?

This was a fantastic listen. Probably one of my favorites. I listen to and read a variety of genre and authors. I love a good long space opera or a fast paced spy thriller. I rarely find something light hearted and humorous that holds my attention. Sam Gunn was fun and entertaining. I listened with a smirk on my face half the time. I thought the segment of him suing the Pope was outstanding. I kept trying to figure out how to describe the book to family and friends when it dawned on me that Sam Gunn was Tom Sawyer in space. Duh, the frequent references to Sam as Huck Finn should have clued me in much sooner. Anyway, if you want a fun, funny and ultimately uplifting read, pick this one. I will definitely listen again - and again.

Great for long roadtrips

The stories of varying length are connected, sort of.

A light hearted and amusing listen.

Well worth a credit.

Of all the anecdotes I most liked the duplicating machine and the rationale for developing it. A precursor for those nifty 3D printers perhaps. I do have to wonder about the black hole and Sam's way of winning on the Stock Exchange. And the holy hologram was good fun.
If you want or need a smile (or chuckle) and are not worried too much by political correctness or looking for a literary masterpiece this really could be a good holiday listen.

Emily Janice Card's Narration = Icepicks in Ears

I had to return this. While I recognize some of my favorite narrators in the list, the first several hours are narrated by a name I didn't recognize: Emily Janice Card, who, it turns out, is Orson Scott Card's daughter. Despite being a grown woman, she has the trendy accent of a millennial teenager: creaky voice, clipped endings of words ending in hard consonants, sssssibilant S's, tortured vowels: "French" is "Franch". "Troubled" is "Trobbled". "Lust" is "Lost". She reads the opening story; after 5 minutes of torture, I decided to skip it and move on to the next. Her again Skip. Again. Again. Again. Now I'm three hours into the narrative and it's still her. I give up.

One of the best produced audio books I've ever heard

The book was quite long, but I could not stop listening.
The character buildup and view from so many different prospectives was fascinating.
I highly recommend this book.
A solid performance- A1

collection of short stories

it's a collection of short stories that follow the same formula. I got tired of hearing about Sam's exploits with the latest beautiful woman

Fantastic in every way

Loved this story and as always Blackstone Audio knocks it out of the park. I think they could do an audio book of a telephone directory and still keep us enthralled.

I only wish there was another 30 hours to enjoy. Sam Gunn is my newest hero and I plan on revisiting this story often.

Fantastic, funny, heartwarming, space opera

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Fantastic, funny, heartwarming, space opera at its best would highly recommend to a friend , made me laugh and wanted more

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sam gunn his story board was like a picture growing with every chapter, he always ends up on top

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Too many to name, his relationships with women and the competition was just enjoyable

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I could yes I would

Any additional comments?

Write more stories

absolutely brilliant

wonderfully put together and a great story. if you like sci fi and Ben Bova this is a must listen!

An enjoyable pulp biography

I came to the book knowing nothing but it was sci-fi and presumably concerned the adventures of a Sam Gunn. Rather than a bunch of stories from his perspective though I got a collection of stories from various associates of his framed through the device of the results of interviews by someone investigating his life.

It’s a fun, pulpy ride through the adventures of Sam Gunn and although at some points some of the language can seem a shade repetitive this is the result of the stories having been collected together.

The use of multiple narrators helps with the framing device and aid immersion.

A personal favourite brought to life

An exciting adventure through a future history of space driven by a con man entrepreneur, the book has been a favourite of mine for many years, but the audio book with its multi cast recording really emfs the story. You get a different performer narrating each of the different stories of Sam Gunn, really gives it some depth, and since each character has an axe to grind, a personal bias and agenda, you don't get lost with the different stories. As to the whole story itself, it's both personal and massive, laying out an age of venturing into space, which compliments the tour of the solar system many of Ben Bova's books take us on. Can't recommend this enough.