Science Fiction and Fantasy
Talking Books
The titles in this booklist are just a selection of the titles available for loan from the RNIB National Library Talking Book Service.
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Science Fiction
First men in the moon. Read by various narrators, 1 hour 51 minutes. TB 12078.
A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of one of science fiction's classic tales. Join Donald Sinden and James Bolan as they journey through space to man's first incredible voyage to the moon, also starring Gary Olsen and Tom Georgeson. TB 12078.
Grand masters' choice. 1989. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 11 hours 22 minutes. TB 9468.
An anthology of science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, Clifford D. Simak, Arthur C. Clark, Robert A. Heinlein, Andre Norton and Jack Williamson. TB 9468.
The mammoth book of extreme science fiction. 2006. Read by Various Narrators, 25 hours 35 minutes. TB 15391.
Extreme science fiction means what is says. Science fiction is at its best when it's pushing the boundaries, beyond what we would normally think or even dream, and taking us into worlds we might never imagine. This book offers us a journey of vast imaginings, from the simplest of beginnings to the most complex of finalities. Contains strong language. TB 15391.
The way it wasn't: great science fiction stories of alternate history. 1996. Read by Nigel Carrington and Adam Henderson, 11 hours 30 minutes. TB 11301.
This book takes an excursion into speculative history. Here are thirteen memorable stories by renowned science fiction writers, telling what things might be like if... If Elvis Presley was the President of the United States; if the Black Death had killed the entire population of Europe; if John F. Kennedy had survived the 1963 shooting in Dallas; and other short fiction. TB 11301.
Adams, Douglas
The restaurant at the end of the Universe: the hitch-hiker's guide to the Galaxy 2. 1980. Read by Gordon Dulieu, 6 hours 15 minutes. TB 5128.
Hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy series; book 2. Sequel to: The hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy, TB 5072. Accompanied by his good friend and guide Ford Prefect, Arthur Dent continues his adventures through the Universe. TB 5128.
Aldiss, Brian W
Non-stop. 2004. Read by David Thorpe, 9 hours 1 minute. TB 15410.
Curiosity was discouraged in the Greene tribe. Its members lived out their lives in cramped Quarters, hacking away at the encroaching ponics. As to where they were - that was forgotten. Roy Complain decides to find out. With the renegade priest Marapper, he moves into unmapped territory, where they make a series of discoveries which turn their universe upside down. TB 15410.
Aldiss, Brian W
Helliconia summer. 1983. Read by Simon Vance, 20 hours. TB 5982.
Helliconia trilogy series; book 2. Sequel to: Helliconia spring, TB 4333. The King of Borlien is beset by enemies and religious problems. He feels the only people he can trust are his phagor guard. In an attempt to resolve his troubles he decides to divorce his beautiful Queen Inggala and marry instead the princess of neighbouring Oldorando, who is just a child. But the phagors just bide their time, waiting to take advantage of human weakness, especially the king's. His action convinces them that the time is ripe ... TB 5982.
Allen, Roger MacBride
Isaac Asimov's "Inferno". 1988. Read by Eric Meyers, 11 hours 14 minutes. TB 11186.
Caliban series; book 2. Sequel to: Isaac Asimov's Caliban, TB 11111. The laws of robotics state that a robot may not injure a human being. But on Inferno, a fragile Spacer world, the nature of robots is changing. There's been another killing, and two robots are under suspicion. TB 11186.
Allen, Roger MacBride
Isaac Asimov's Utopia. 1996. Read by Eric Meyers, 14 hours 11 minutes. TB 11436.
Caliban series; book 3. Isaac Asimov's famous Three Laws, which provide far-future humanity with omni-compliant robots, ultimately led to a vision of hell-human existence with all challenge and conflict removed. Thus Asimov proposed the New Laws to Roger MacBride Allen, laws which endow humanity with helping hands, but not slaves. 'Isaac Asimov's Utopia' is the third instalment in a trilogy of momentous times. TB 11436.
Amis, Kingsley
The alteration. 1976. Read by Peter Gray, 9 hours 15 minutes. TB 3084.
It is England in 1976, but England with a history very different from that we know - virtually ruled by a Machiavellian Pope who hails from Yorkshire. Taking part in the requiem for Stephen III of England, a boy soprano is unaware that his faultless voice has led his elders to select him as a castrato. TB 3084.
Anderson, Kevin J
The X-files: ground zero. 1995. Read by Nesba Crenshaw, 7 hours 23 minutes. TB 10779.
Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate the death of a nuclear scientist who has been found charred to a radioactive cinder. He has been working on a deadly project which the Federal bureaucracy is at pains to keep secret. When unrelated victims begin to die in the same way it becomes clear that it has fatal consequences for the entire world. TB 10779.
Asimov, Isaac
Nine tomorrows: tales from the near future. 1959. Read by Ian Craig, 7 hours 54 minutes. TB 5745.
Stories combining scientific fact with mankind's unscientific unpredictability provide nine glimpses into the not-to-distant future of earth people. TB 5745.
Asimov, Isaac
I, robot. 1996. Read by William Roberts, 8 hours 12 minutes. TB 14229.
Robots series; book 1. The three Laws of Robotics ensure that humans remain superior and the robots are kept in their rightful place. But an insane telepathic robot results from a production error, and logically deduces its superiority to non-rational humanity. TB 14229.
Asimov, Isaac
Prelude to Foundation. 1989. Read by Jon Cartwright, 14 hours 9 minutes. TB 10260.
Foundation series; book 1. In "Prelude to Foundation", the happenings in the centuries before Asimov's other Foundation novels are now revealed. It is the year 12,020 GE, and Cleon the last Galactic Emperor of the Autun Dynasty, sits uneasily on the throne. Young Outworld mathematician Hari Seldon arrives on the scene with a theory of prediction that Cleon believes his future security may rest on. Hari becomes the most wanted man in the Empire as he tries to keep his theory from falling into the wrong hands and also to forge the key to the future: a power to be known as the Foundation. TB 10260.
Asimov, Isaac
Forward the foundation. 1993. Read by Jon Cartwright, 12 hours 33 minutes. TB 9942.
Foundation series; book 1a. Hari Seldon is an ordinary man with an extraordinary purpose, to preserve humanity through the inevitable fall of the galactic empire. His greatest achievement is the invention of psychohistory. At last the danger, intrigue and sacrifice that brought about the fall of the empire and the birth of the foundation are revealed. TB 9942.
Asimov, Isaac
The complete stories. 1994. Read by Various Narrators, 26 hours 34 minutes. TB 10846.
Many of the forty science fiction stories contained in this volume carried personal meaning for the author. His own favourite story was "The Bicentennial Man", the poignant tale of a robot accidentally endowed with artistic ability. Other stories included are an account of human survival at the frontier of the biosphere and a biography of Asimov's world controlling computer. TB 10846.
Asimov, Isaac
The gods themselves. 1972. Read by Michael de Morgan, 10 hours 30 minutes. TB 2192.
In the year 2100 horrible danger threatens following the invention of an Inter-Universe Electron Pump. TB 2192.
Atwood, Margaret
The handmaid's tale. 1986. Read by Pauline Munro, 10 hours 16 minutes. TB 6374.
In 21st century America, under post-feminist totalitarian rule, Offred is a national resource: she is a handmaid, her viable ovaries making her a precious commodity in the Republic of Gilead. Her third assignment, to a Commander whose wife cannot produce, is even worse than experience has taught her to expect. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 6374.
Ballard, J G
The terminal beach. 1984. Read by William Abney, 9 hours 8 minutes. TB 7078.
A collection of short stories ranging from the title-story's disturbing picture of an abandoned atomic testing site on an island in the Pacific to the shocking Oedipal fantasy of "The Giaconda of the Twilight Noon". At the heart of these stories lies the bitter paradox that the extraordinary creative power of man's imagination is matched only by his reckless instinct for destruction. TB 7078.
Ballard, J G
The disaster area. 1967. Read by Arthur Blake, 6 hours 7 minutes. TB 7728.
These nine stories are science fiction at its most thought provoking. They project current trends into the future and explore the psychological traumas of adjusting to their logical conclusions. The agricultural sprays that produce seagulls with 20 foot wing spans; cars which fall to pieces after six months owing to effective road design; a science student trying to invent a flying machine in a city where space is at its premium. TB 7728.
Banks, Iain
The player of games. 1989. Read by Robbie MacNab, 12 hours 50 minutes. TB 15592.
The culture series; book 2. Sequel to: Consider Phlebas, TB 14771. The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game - a game so complex, so like life itself that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death. Contains strong language. TB 15592.
Baxter, Stephen
The time ships. 1995. Read by Cameron Stewart, 17 hours 47 minutes. TB 11185.
Sequel to: The time machine by H.G. Wells, TB 13034. The author celebrates the centenary of H.G. Wells's classic "The Time Machine" in this sequel. The Time Traveller has abandoned his Eloi friend Weena to the cannibal appetites of the Morlocks, the devolved race of future humans. He promptly embarks on a second journey to the year A.D. 802,701, pledged to rescue Weena. He never arrives - the future was changed by his presence, and will be changed again. The Traveller must resolve the paradoxes building around him and achieve the impossible if Weena is to be saved. TB 11185.
Bear, Greg
Star wars: Rogue planet. 2000. Read by Garrick Hagon, 9 hours 43 minutes. TB 12462.
Star Wars series. Three years after the events of "The Phantom Menace", young Anakin Skywalker and Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi encounter a mysterious world. Dispatched to the planet Zonama Sekot, source of the fastest ships in the galaxy, the pair are swept up in a swirl of deadly intrigue and betrayal. TB 12462.
Bester, Alfred
The demolished man. 1953. Read by Joe Dunlop, 8 hours 32 minutes. TB 6936.
Reich is an obsessed monster, haunted by nightmares of a Man With No Face, driven and compelled to murder a rival magnate in a future where crime can't be hidden from police telepaths. The penalty is Demolition: erasure of the criminal's mind. Armed with an ugly weapon holding very special ammo, an insane jingle to mask his thoughts, and the resources of his interplanetary business empire, Reich takes on the world. It's an impossible problem for police chief Lincoln Powell, one of the hated mind-reading elite - who knows very well whodunnit but can't go to court on telepathic evidence alone. TB 6936.
Bester, Alfred
Tiger Tiger. 1956. Read by David Banks, 8 hours 36 minutes. TB 7669.
Against the seething background of the 24th century the vengeful history of Gulliver Foyle begins. He has reached the age of 30 completely stunted by all lack of ambition and now the lethargic Gulley has been adrift for 170 days, fighting for survival with the passion of a beast in a trap...TB 7669.
Bishop, Michael
No enemy but time: a novel. 1982. Read by Stanley McGeagh, 13 hours 2 minutes. TB 4822.
Joshua Kampa had time-travelled in spirit long before he did so bodily. So effectively could he challenge the experts that he finds himself enlisted into an unusual project which takes him to pre-historic Africa and a band of Homo Habilis - and a very attractive young woman...TB 4822.
Blish, James
Star trek: the classic episodes. 1991. Read by Hayward Morse, 21 hours 49 minutes. TB 10175.
24 tales of exciting adventure from the final season of episodes featuring the original cast. Stories include "The last gunfight", "The paradise syndrome", "The empath" and "All our yesterdays". TB 10175.
Bradbury, Ray
The illustrated man. 1952. Read by Ray Jones, 7 hours 32 minutes. TB 6594.
16 fantasy and horror fiction stories, cleverly linked together. The action is bizarre and surprising - whether it takes place on the barren wastes of Mars or in the nostalgic setting of a small American town. TB 6594.
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian chronicles. 1980. Read by Bruce Montague, 8 hours 30 minutes. TB 5662.
The setting is the planet Mars in the year 1999. The moon is now merely a staging post for astronauts on their journeys into outer space. The chronicles cover the first 25 years of the 21st century. TB 5662.
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451. 1954. Read by Christopher Scott, 6 hours. TB 5454.
Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which a book will burn. Montag is a fireman but the work of the fire brigade is not to put out fires but to burn books. The penalty for any fireman who tries to read or hide away a book is death by the fangs of a mechanical blood-hound - and Montag has begun to doubt the wisdom of the all-powerful system... TB 5454.
Brewer, Gene
On a beam of light: K-PAX II. Read by Jeff Harding, 6 hours 45 minutes. TB 13517.
K-PAX series; book 2. Sequel to: K-PAX, TB 13183. His name is prot. Nobody knows where he's from, but everyone wants to go there... 'On a beam of light' is the sequel to 'K-Pax', in which a man called 'prot' claims he is from a perfect world without wars, government or religion. At the Manhattan Institute his psychiatrist is determined to prove that prot's identity is nothing more than a tragic case of multiple-personality disorder. But with prot's peculiar characteristics many doubt the diagnosis. This time when he leaves Earth, he intends to take some beings back with him to K-Pax, and many of the patients are only too keen to go. TB 13517.
Brunner, John
The complete traveller in black. 1987. Read by Alistair Maydon, 8 hours 48 minutes. TB 11254.
Chaos ruled throughout the universe in this time of the far future – or perhaps the distant past. The scientific laws of cause and effect held no power. But there was one man entrusted with the task of bringing order and reason. A black-clad traveller, who had many names, and who carried with him a staff made of light. Wherever he went he fought the forces of Chaos. This edition contains all the "Traveller in Black" stories.
TB 11254.
Burgess, Anthony
A clockwork orange. 2000. Read by Ben Crystal, 6 hours 29 minutes. TB 15706.
Fifteen-year-old Alex and his three friends start an evening's mayhem by hitting an old man, tearing up his books and stripping him of money and clothes. Because of his delinquent excesses, Alex is jailed and made subject to "Ludovico's Technique", a chilling experiment in reclamation treatment. Contains strong language. TB 15706.
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's game. 2002. Read by Russell Pickering, 10 hours 41 minutes. TB 15273.
Ender Wiggin series; book 1. Humanity is under threat from an alien race, so six-year-old Ender Wiggin leaves his family on Earth to journey to the Belt. There, he enters Battle School and is strictly disciplined in mind games and mock battles. He is unequalled in instinct, compassion and genius, qualities he will need for his unique destiny. TB 15273.
Cherryh, C J
Serpent's reach. 1981. Read by Lucy Scott, 11 hours 26 minutes. TB 13808.
Serpent's Reach is the star system inhabited by the Majat - a powerful, intelligent ant-like race, and its territory forbidden to outsiders. This is the story of Raen whose quest takes her to the heart of this alien culture, with devastating implications. TB 13808.
Clarke, Arthur C
Rama II. 1989. Read by Charlotte Strevens, 18 hours 46 minutes. TB 12134.
Rama series; book 2. Sequel to: Rendez-vous with Rama, TB 2324. 'Rendezvous with Rama' told of the arrival in the solar system in 2130 of a mysterious, apparently untenanted, alien spaceship. 'Rama II' is set in 2200, four years after a second approaching spacecraft has been detected; and this time, knowing what to expect, Earth is ready to mount an expedition which may answer some of the questions posed by Rama. TB 12134.
Clarke, Arthur C
Tales from planet Earth. 1989. Read by Nigel Carrington, 10 hours 23 minutes. TB 9079.
From the furthest arid stars to the secret ways under the oceans, from intelligent termites to super-intelligent aliens, and from ruined empires to the rings of Saturn, this volume is a superb compendium of entertainment, thought-provoking thrills and astral surprises. TB 9079.
Clarke, Arthur C
Richter 10. 1996. Read by Garrick Hagon, 15 hours 4 minutes. TB 11304.