Classic Audiobook Collection

Latest Episodes:

Time Crime by H. Beam Piper ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

Time Crime by H. Beam Piper audiobook.

Genre: scifi

On a quiet plantation in the Esaron Sector, guard-captain Kiro Soran notices something that should be impossible: a shipment of slaves whose language, customs, and origins do not match the world where they are being sold. His discovery pulls back the curtain on the Paratime Secret, and the Paratime Police move in fast, led by hard-edged professionals who can travel between probability lines but must keep their existence hidden from every timeline they touch. Special Assistant Verkan Vall and Police Chief Tortha Karf face a case that is bigger than a single kidnapping: an organized slave ring operating across worlds, a trail that runs through multiple levels of civilization, and enemies willing to use disguise, hypnosis, and assassination to protect the operation. As the investigation widens, Vall must balance procedure with urgency, because every step taken across time risks contaminating entire histories. Part police procedural and part high-concept adventure, Time Crime explores the moral cost of treating whole realities as resources, and the brutal logic of criminals who believe infinity means no one will ever find them.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:24:34) Chapter 02

(00:57:08) Chapter 03

(01:24:55) Chapter 04

(01:39:27) Chapter 05

(01:58:59) Chapter 06

(02:20:34) Chapter 07

(02:44:24) Chapter 08

(02:59:44) Chapter 09

(03:21:45) Chapter 10

(03:48:29) Chapter 11

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Temple Trouble by H. Beam Piper ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

Temple Trouble by H. Beam Piper audiobook.

Genre: scifi

On a parallel Earth stuck in a Bronze-to-early-medieval age, the Transtemporal Mining Corporation is quietly extracting valuable ores from behind the safest disguise imaginable: religion. Their outpost is the Temple of Yat-Zar, complete with priests, rituals, and a fearsome six-armed idol - all designed to keep local eyes away from the true miracle hidden inside the sanctuary: a paratime conveyor that can jump between probability lines. Resident agent Stranor Sleth has learned to play theologian, diplomat, and company man at once, but his careful balance begins to crack when a local ruler flirts with a rival cult and the priests of a crocodile god, Muz-Azin, start turning popular anger into political power. When sacred animals begin dying and holy authority shifts overnight, the corporation's cover story risks collapsing - and if this timeline learns the truth about paratime travel, the consequences could ripple across countless worlds. Enter Verkan Vall of the Paratime Police, a hard-nosed troubleshooter tasked with protecting the Paratime Secret, even if it means engineering a few miracles of his own.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:14:38) Chapter 2

(00:29:49) Chapter 3

(00:44:54) Chapter 4

(00:58:43) Chapter 5

(01:11:09) Chapter 6

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Space Viking by H. Beam Piper ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

Space Viking by H. Beam Piper audiobook.

Genre: scifi

The war is over, and the worlds of the Phoenix Cluster are paying the price. Lucas Trask returns home to the planet Tanith to find his people broken by occupation and his wife dead. Refusing to accept a future of quiet ruin, he rallies Tanith's survivors into a hard-edged brotherhood of raiders - the so-called Space Vikings - and launches a campaign across the shattered interstellar frontier. But Trask's crusade is more than vengeance. As he strikes at former enemies and opportunistic rivals, he hunts for the resources, allies, and lost technology that could give Tanith a chance to rebuild in a galaxy where law is fragile and power belongs to whoever can take and hold it.Part military adventure, part political chess match, Space Viking follows Trask as he negotiates uneasy alliances, confronts the ethics of survival by force, and navigates a crumbling civilization still living off the relics of a brighter age. With starship battles, planetfall intrigue, and the constant tension between justice and conquest, Piper delivers a sweeping tale of leadership and the cost of forging a new order from the ashes of the old.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:35:22) Chapter 2

(01:19:38) Chapter 3

(02:13:29) Chapter 4

(02:56:47) Chapter 5

(03:41:21) Chapter 6

(04:33:56) Chapter 7

(05:31:04) Chapter 8

(06:29:16) Chapter 9

(07:13:59) Chapter 27

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Oomphel in the Sky by H. Beam Piper ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

Oomphel in the Sky by H. Beam Piper audiobook.

Genre: scifi

On the colonial world of Kwannon, Terran administrators and a fragile local government try to keep order with paperwork, committees, and tired slogans. Out beyond the capital, however, the native People measure power in spells, spirits, and the authority of the shoonoon. To them, Terran machines are not technology at all but oomphel, a mysterious force that teaches, makes, and performs wonders. When an old prophecy about the Last Hot Time spreads from village to village, fear turns into certainty, and certainty turns into a mass movement that no one in the bureaucracy can slow down. Miles Gilbert, a hard-nosed reporter for the Kwannon Planetwide News Service, arrives to cover what looks like another flare-up of superstition and politics. Instead he finds a powder keg of cultural misunderstanding, economic resentment, and dangerously persuasive storytelling. Caught between soldiers trying to prevent bloodshed, officials who cannot act fast enough, and natives who believe the sky itself is about to change, Miles must decide what kind of truth can actually stop a disaster - and what happens when facts are no match for faith.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:35:40) Chapter 02

(01:13:12) Chapter 03

(01:31:00) Chapter 04

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Naudsonce by H. Beam Piper ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

Naudsonce by H. Beam Piper audiobook.

Genre: scifi

Naudsonce? What does THAT mean? Well, to find out you will need to listen to this story where Piper's unique mind explores what we mean by 'communication' and how it happens. The joint Space Navy-Colonial Office expedition was looking for new planets suitable for colonization; they had been out, now, for four years, which was close to maximum for an exploring expedition. They had entered eleven systems, and made landings on eight planets. Three had been reasonably close to Terra-type but were all disqualified by terrible animals or warlike inhabitants. Now, finally here was an ideal world; their last chance before returning in disgrace. Now the only thing was to get an agreement from the local king or whatever to the colonization. Easy, right? Well first, you've got to talk to them ...... and there the trouble starts.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:21:54) Chapter 2

(00:48:40) Chapter 3

(01:11:49) Chapter 4

(01:31:57) Chapter 5

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Ministry of Disturbance by H. Beam Piper ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Ministry of Disturbance by H. Beam Piper audiobook.

Genre: scifi

Science Fiction at it humorous best written in the golden age of all the greats and published in Astounding Science Fiction December 1958. Piper can't be matched for sardonic comment on human nature. The Empire is stagnant; thousands of planets spread around Earth but nothing new is allowed to happen and disturb the static situation. Our emperor Paul knows this but is powerless to make a dent in the centuries old hide bound bureaucracy of intergalactic politics. But is there a plot to overthrow him? It certainly looks like it. Follow this story closely as it builds to an excellent and exciting climax. Piper's talent and creativity shine through in this story.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:21:58) Chapter 02

(00:42:25) Chapter 03

(01:04:31) Chapter 04

(01:26:39) Chapter 05

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Lone Star Planet by H. Beam Piper ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Lone Star Planet by H. Beam Piper audiobook.

Genre: scifi

Ambassador Stephen Silk expects routine interstellar diplomacy until he is assigned to New Texas, a rough-and-ready colony world settled largely by Texans who are fiercely allergic to outside authority. The Solar League wants New Texas in line, but Silk arrives to find his predecessor, Ambassador Silas Cumshaw, has been murdered - and the locals seem to consider that sort of political housecleaning not only normal, but healthy. While Silk quietly tries to untangle who wanted Cumshaw dead and why, he is also tasked with selling an unpopular message: a dangerous alien power, the z'Srauff, may be closing in, and New Texas might need allies whether it likes it or not. Between cattle the size of boxcars, larger-than-life ranchers, and a political culture built on radical local freedom, Silk must survive long enough to do his job - and figure out whether the biggest threat is off-world, or buried in the planet's own proud, trigger-happy traditions. Part frontier romp, part murder investigation, and part sharp satire of bureaucracy, Lone Star Planet pokes at power, patriotism, and the price of independence.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:14:19) Chapter 02

(00:36:12) Chapter 03

(00:56:32) Chapter 04

(01:18:13) Chapter 05

(01:34:25) Chapter 06

(01:58:20) Chapter 07

(02:16:28) Chapter 08

(02:24:35) Chapter 09

(02:43:41) Chapter 10

(03:07:49) Chapter 11

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Last Enemy by H. Beam Piper ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Last Enemy by H. Beam Piper audiobook.

Genre: scifi

In Last Enemy, H. Beam Piper drops the listener into a polished, tradition-bound society where reincarnation is more than faith - it is the foundation of law, status, and power. Dallona of Hadron, a gifted psychic researcher, is on the verge of a breakthrough that could turn that foundation into something measurable, provable, and therefore dangerously disruptive. Her test is set to unfold at an elegant dinner party hosted by Garnon of Roxor, a gathering that is not a celebration at all but a carefully staged discarnation feast: a voluntary death meant to serve science. When the moment arrives, a trained sensitive in hypnotic trance becomes a living conduit, and the after-death testimony that follows threatens to make death itself a solved problem. But in a world where belief systems are political weapons, proof can be as lethal as any lie. As factions maneuver to control, suppress, or exploit what Dallona has uncovered, she finds herself forced to weigh truth against the human cost of revealing it - and to consider what happens to a civilization when its oldest fear loses its teeth.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:34:55) Chapter 2

(01:09:37) Chapter 3

(01:40:08) Chapter 4

(02:14:34) Chapter 5

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Four Day Planet by H. Beam Piper ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Four Day Planet by H. Beam Piper audiobook.

Genre: scifi

On Fenris, a world where a single 'day' lasts 2,000 hours and a whole year is only four such days, human life survives by hiding from blistering heat and murderous cold in a few hard-bitten settlements. The planet has one prize worth exporting: tallow-wax, a rare, high-value substance taken from enormous sea creatures by daring monster hunters who ride heavy flying-subs that are part aircraft, part submarine, and part whaling boat. Seventeen-year-old Walter 'Walt' Boyd, a cub reporter at the Port Sandor Times, expects his job to be mostly weather, arrivals, and small-town disputes. Instead, a ship's landing, an unexpected visitor, and a sudden shift in the politics of tallow-wax pricing pull him into a struggle that could break Fenris's only industry. As rumors spread and tempers flare, Walt and his father follow money trails, crooked deals, and backroom alliances, trying to expose who is profiting while ordinary hunters risk their lives for less and less. Four-Day Planet blends frontier survival, investigative legwork, and mounting political tension into a classic mid-century tale of integrity versus corruption on the edge of civilization.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:26:51) Chapter 02

(00:50:42) Chapter 03

(01:10:38) Chapter 04

(01:30:45) Chapter 05

(01:52:12) Chapter 06

(02:08:59) Chapter 07

(02:25:22) Chapter 08

(02:42:47) Chapter 09

(02:56:06) Chapter 10

(03:13:33) Chapter 11

(03:29:07) Chapter 12

(03:41:17) Chapter 13

(03:52:26) Chapter 14

(04:04:56) Chapter 15

(04:28:21) Chapter 16

(04:43:40) Chapter 17

(05:02:42) Chapter 18

(05:21:19) Chapter 19

(05:53:45) Chapter 20

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Fables for the Frivolous by Guy Wetmore Carryl ~ Full Audiobook [poetry] Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Fables for the Frivolous by Guy Wetmore Carryl audiobook.

Genre: poetry

In Fables for the Frivolous, Guy Wetmore Carryl turns the familiar shape of the classic fable inside out, delivering a brisk collection of witty verse tales that end not with solemn instruction, but with sly punchlines and upside-down morals. Each short poem introduces a small cast of recognizable characters - vain social climbers, stubborn fools, self-satisfied experts, and a menagerie of animals who behave with all the charming pettiness of polite society. With a narrator who is equal parts storyteller and conspirator, Carryl sketches quick scenes of temptation, pride, miscommunication, and misplaced certainty, then snaps them shut with a concluding couplet that skewers the lesson you thought you were about to learn. The central conflict in these miniatures is almost always the same: a character's tidy worldview colliding with reality, and losing. Written with nimble rhyme and a satirist's eye for human habits, the book invites listeners to laugh at pretension, question easy wisdom, and enjoy language that lands like a well-timed wink. Light, sharp, and endlessly quotable, these fables are built for replay.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:02:57) Chapter 2

(00:05:38) Chapter 3

(00:08:20) Chapter 4

(00:10:23) Chapter 5

(00:12:45) Chapter 6

(00:15:05) Chapter 7

(00:17:03) Chapter 8

(00:19:12) Chapter 9

(00:21:58) Chapter 10