More of the Best of Science Fiction and Fantasy

by Richard Curtis (Editor), Arthur C. Clarke (Contributor), Siddig El Fadil (Narrator)

Take 10 journeys into the imaginative worlds of our best SF and fantasy writers 4 cassettes.

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Fantasy, Audiobook

16 pages, Audio Cassette

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE

Graduate of Harrow School and subsequently Christ Church, University of Oxford. Academy Award nominee and recipient of Emmy and BAFTA awards for screenwriting. He is also a director and producer. In 2007, he became a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Reviews

[useFOSS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breaking Strain by Arthur C. Clarke 5/5
A Pail of Air by Fritz Leiber 5/5
Someday by Isaac Asimov 4.5/5
Blood Music by Greg Bear 4.5/5
Sing by Kristine Rusch 2/5
Ado by Connie Willis 3/5
Green Messiah by Jane Yolen 3/5
Vanni Fucci is Alive and Well and Living in Hell by Dan Simmons 4/5
The Man Who Hated Gravity by Ben Bova 3/5
Story Child by Kristine Rusch 2/5
Critical Cats by Susan Shwartz 3/5
audio narration 5/5

[Cole Schoolland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid collection of artists - authors and readers alike.

Arthur C Clarke - Breaking Strain - *****
Kristine K Rusch - Sing - ***
Ben Bova - The Man Who Hated Gravity - ****
Greg Bear - Blood Music - ***
Susan Shwartz - Critical Cats - ****
Fritz Leiber - A Pail of Air - *****
Kristine K Rusch - Story Child - **
Jane Yolen - Green Messiah - **
Connie Willis - Ado - **
Dan Simmons - Vanni Fucci Is Alive and Well and Living in Hell - *****
Isaac Asimov - Someday - ***

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

and old anthology with good stories - but I always come back to rereading "Vanni Fucci is Alive and Well, and Loving in Hell". More than three decades after I read this story, I'm still drawn to it and what it says about our world. it feels more true every read.

[Charles Lupo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up on Audible years ago and just got around to listening to it. It felt like episodes of the Twilight Zone. The Arthur C. Clark story was predictable, and the narrator sounded like Sylvester from Loony Toons. It had to be the worst narration I've heard in quite some time. Imagine Sylvester saying "The ship was comprised of two spheres, connected by a central cylinder...." it was somewhat comical.

There was also a story about a woman who is purposefully turned into a werewolf by scientists, to somehow help bolster the dwindling wolf population in northern Canada. It just ends with her wolfing out and running free. I know it's a short story, but I expected more. Most of the rest of the stories tried to have some sort of twist at the end, and that one just kind of stopped abruptly.

Not really recommended.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A reasonable seeming sci-fi/fantasy collection as audiobook, but the quality of the stories was really hit or miss. Greg Bear's Blood Music short story was the only really excellent story; I'd skip this collection and read that story or the full-length novel version instead. Probably worth what I paid for it (heavily discounted), but very frustrating on audible -- the chapters of the audiobook are uniform length, rather than on a story boundary (9 stories, 8 chapters -- sigh).

[Joe Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this collection.