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Farside
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
Farside, the side of the moon that never faces Earth, is the ideal location for an astronomical observatory. It is also the setting for a tangled web of politics, personal ambition, love, jealousy, and murder.
Telescopes on Earth have detected an Earth-sized planet circling a star some 30 light-years away. Now the race is on to get pictures of that distant world, photographs and spectra that show whether or not the planet is truly like Earth - and if it bears life. Farside observatory will have the largest optical telescope in the solar system as well as a vast array of radio antennas, the most sensitive radio telescope possible, insulated from the interference of Earth’s radio chatter by a thousand kilometers of the moon’s solid body.
Building Farside is a complex, often dangerous task. On the airless surface of the moon, under constant bombardment by hard radiation and in-falling micrometeoroids, builders must work in cumbersome spacesuits and use robotic machines as much as possible. Breakdowns - mechanical and emotional - are commonplace. Accidents happen, some of them fatal. But what they ultimately find will stun everyone, and the human race will never be the same.
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Humans call them Monument-Makers. An unknown race, they left stunning alien statues scattered on distant planets throughout the galaxy, encoded with strange inscriptions that defy translation. Searching for clues about the Monument-Makers, teams of 23rd century linguists, historians, engineers and archaeologists have been excavating the enigmatic alien ruins on a number of planets, uncovering strange, massive false cities made of solid rock. But their time is running out.
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Conceptually intriguing, but uneven writing style
- By Michael G Kurilla on 05-12-11
By: Jack McDevitt
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The Forge of God
- By: Greg Bear
- Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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On September 28th, a geologist working in Death Valley finds a mysterious new cinder cone in very well-mapped area. On October 1, the government of Australia announces the discovery of an enormous granite mountain. Like the cinder cone, it wasn't there six months ago.
Something is happening to planet Earth, and the truth is too terrifying to contemplate
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Great Story, Wonderful Listening, But the Editor?
- By George Knight on 07-14-13
By: Greg Bear
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Footfall
- By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 24 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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They first appear as a series of dots on astronomical plates, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. Since the ringed planet carries no life, scientists deduce the mysterious ship to be a visitor from another star. The world's frantic efforts to signal the aliens go unanswered. The first contact is hostile: the invaders blast a Soviet space station, seize the survivors, and then destroy every dam and installation on Earth with a hail of asteriods.
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Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle at Their Best
- By Flatlander on 06-24-10
By: Larry Niven, and others
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Fool's War
- By: Sarah Zettel
- Narrated by: Parisa Johnston
- Length: 19 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In this New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a strange new life form threatens all of humanity, and only a fool would stand in its way. Katmer Al Shei has done well with the starship Pasadena, cutting corners where necessary to keep her crew paid and her journeys profitable. But there are two things she will never skimp on: her crew - and her fool. For a long space journey, a certified Fool’s Guild clown is essential, to amuse, excite, and otherwise distract the crew from the drudgeries of interstellar flight.
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Amazing characters. Amazing story. I loved it.
- By E. Brown on 12-08-18
By: Sarah Zettel
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The Year's Top Short SF Novels 5
- By: Cory Doctorow, Ken Liu, John P Murphy, and others
- Narrated by: Tom Dheere, Nancy Linari
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Short novels are movie-length narratives that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This audio collection presents the best-of-the-best short science fiction novels published in 2014 by current and emerging masters of this vibrant form of storytelling.
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Narrator sounds like Tony Danza
- By Sean on 03-05-16
By: Cory Doctorow, and others
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Gabriel: Zero Point
- Evan Gabriel Trilogy
- By: Steve Umstead
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 2 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Evan Gabriel wasn't always a feared and respected North American Federation Navy Commander. Before dangerous missions to the ice-bound planet of Poliahu, the deadly jungle world of Eden, and politically corrupt Mars, he was a simple recruit, fighting to make his mark in the elite Naval Special Forces…and was part of a top-secret military experiment that would change his life forever. Zero Point tells the tale of a young man faced with difficult choices and dangerous trials.
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THE FLICKER OF THAT MEMORY
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-29-14
By: Steve Umstead
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The Ark
- Children of a Dead Earth, Book 1
- By: Patrick S. Tomlinson
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Humankind has escaped a dying Earth and set out to find a new home among the stars aboard an immense generation ship affectionately named the Ark. Bryan Benson is the Ark's greatest living sports hero, enjoying retirement working as a detective in Avalon, his home module. The hours are good, the work is easy, and the perks can't be beat. But when a crew member goes missing, Bryan is thrust into the center of an ever-expanding web of deception, secrets, and violence.
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Nearly there
- By Michaela on 05-11-16
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The Calculating Stars
- A Lady Astronaut Novel
- By: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the East Coast of the US, including Washington, DC. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the Earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space and requires a much-larger share of humanity to take part in the process. Elma York’s drive to become the first lady astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.
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Never achieves lift off
- By Richard Bruno on 10-01-18
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The Event
- By: Nathan Hystad
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Cities all around the world reported strange alien vessels descending. Some saw them as the heralds of a new age; others fired everything they had at them. All were taken as the beams lashed down and drew them into the sky. Dean was left behind, seemingly the last man on Earth. A trail of clues left by his dead wife guides Dean on a perilous journey across America and beyond to learn the truth behind the mysterious ships and save humanity from its doom.
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Did not inspire me to get the next book.
- By MD on 12-13-18
By: Nathan Hystad
What listeners say about Farside
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- John Wenzelburger
- 12-21-13
not up to Ben Bova's normal standard of writing
What did you love best about Farside?
The story plot was good somewhat unusual story excellent performance
Has Farside turned you off from other books in this genre?
No I like this kind of story
Which scene was your favorite?
none really
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
no was glad when it was over
Any additional comments?
This is NOT Ben Bova's typical writing I have a feeling he wrote it when he was 15 and just published it without rereading it . The story is good but the huge plot holes and just poor writing spoil the book. there are things that just do not make sense he puts things out that don't make sense and later in the book makes some poor expiation about them. like he was too lazy to go back and fix the original writing. An example of a plot hole. There was a "nano" hole in an air lock that depressurized a compartment that was at least a hundred meters wide come on !! Even normal leakage would be more then that . a nano hole would not even be noticed. If this was the only example I could could ignore it, but sadly its not.
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- Will Duke
- 08-18-18
Bova continues with excellence!
My wife and I have loved listening to the Grand Tour series by Ben Bova! In this novel, he presents a believable and scientifically respectable story of the far side of the moon. His characters are multidimensional, and he makes you care about them. The personal interactions and motivations of his characters are often explained by including their unexpressed thoughts. This novel sets the scene for a new sub-series called the Star Quest Trilogy or the New Earth Series (based on the name of the next book.
The reading by Stefan Rudniki is easy to listen to and carries just the right amount and kind of passion for each character. He does a great job here, as he has done in all the other stories that I gave heard him read!
Entertaining and enjoyable. Looking forward to listening to the next in the series: New Earth.
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- kieran curley
- 07-03-23
Clever Plot
Well written and thought provoking about how human nature is always the same no matter how advanced we think we have become. The audio version is particularly good. Give it a shot.
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- Jason
- 04-11-14
Frustrating
Bland characters and methodical writing aren't helped by the narrator. You can tell who the bad guys are right away, but it's really hard to sympathize with the characters.
I would say it was the science that was frustrating, but it's not really science but more basic logical contradictions that puzzle me. (minor spoilers) - It doesn't matter what caused a leak in a spacesuit, airlock or fuel line, the effects would be the same. When someone can't breath suddenly that means he must have lost air pressure, right? But the suit had half its air left, so why couldn't he breath? It just doesn't make any sense. That's like saying "nanobots pulled the trigger to fire the gun, but the bullet never left the barrel, but the guy died of a gunshot wound anyway". In fact they mention several times how slow the leaks were, which means the pressure loss should be detected before there was a real problem. The same could be said for all instances, it just doesn't make any sense.
And what normal functioning person would take their eyes off someone that was part of the plot against the whole station, someone that kidnapped a person and stole a shuttle, someone that you backed into a corner where he would have to face punishment for his actions, and someone that you had just punched in the face and knocked unconscious for a minute.
This book was interesting in that it seemed like a documentary what life might be like on a moon base in the future, but failed as an interesting work of fiction.
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- Shellbin
- 04-06-13
If You Like 1950s Sci Fi...
It is hard to believe that this novel was written in the present era. At one point, the lead character, in a space suit out on the Moon's surface, asks one of his assistants to go inside and get him a camera. Right. Like in a century from now (or whenever the near-ish future date is) that there's not going to be a camera in his suit - or retina, or...There are several similar instances which reveal a poorly conceived future setting (a pad of paper, conveniently found in a desk drawer, on a limited-supply Moon outpost? Riiiight. Even today, the average N American only picks up a pen every few weeks) etc etc. Then there is the dialogue. It's not just cliché-ridden and cringeworthy, it's also frighteningly dated with regard to the sayings people use and rife with cultural references that are already decades past. MAYBE the author intended to use phrases so old that many of today's 20-somethings wouldn't even know what they meant - just so the book would come off as authentic classic sci-fi from another era. Sort of like what SM Stirling did with his Mars & Venus 'Sky People' alternative reality books a few years back. I sure hope so. The alternative - that Bova meant this to be a modern, credible science fiction novel - is scary to contemplate.
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15 people found this helpful
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- Snoeatr9
- 02-04-22
Didn’t get past chapter 6
Sorry, but explaining away a r@pe as ok because the guy was afraid of being shot down is disgusting. Then saying a positive attitude will make it all just go away, instead of the soul crushing thing that it actually is; is reprehensible at best.
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- Odwa
- 07-31-23
Slow-moving then Rushed
This felt like it could have been a really great sci-fi who-done-it, but it wasn't. The overall plot was great but the story really seemed to drag for a while in the middle and then suddenly rush to an unsatisfactory end.
Narrators really make or break stories like this and unfortunately this narrator didn't do it for me.
It's a pity as the story had all my favourite elements and the makings of a riveting book.
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- GG
- 11-24-20
Lazy writing. Had promise.
Not Bova’s best work. Writing seemed lazy and character development could have been better. Cool idea for a story, just not well executed.
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- Henny Button
- 01-17-14
Reads Like 1953 and not in a Good Way
OMG! I just listened to two hours of Farside by Ben Bova. I'm going to quit it and try to return it to Audible. I don't cry "sexist" at most books, but this is the most sexist piece of drivel I've ever read. It seems like it was written in 1953 rather than 2013. Add to the fact that 1/2 of the book so far has a female POV character and it's narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. He's a good narrator, but a very poor choice for this book. He has a very deep voice and can't do women well at all. UGH!
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6 people found this helpful