The Complete Short Stories

By: J. G. Ballard

Narrated by: Ric Jerrrom, William Gaminara, Sean Barrett, William Hope, Jeff Harding

Length: 63 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

A collection of 98 enthralling and pulse-quickening stories, spanning five decades, venerates the remarkable imagination of J. G. Ballard. With a body of work unparalleled in 20th-century literature, J. G. Ballard is recognized as one of the greatest and most prophetic writers in the world.

With the much-hailed release of The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard, listeners now have a means to celebrate the unmatched range and mesmerizing cadences of a literary genius. Whether writing about musical orchids, human cannibalism, or the secret history of World War III, Ballard's Complete Stories evokes the hallucinations of Kafka and Borges in its ability to render modern paranoia and fantastical creations on the page.

A Washington Post Best Book of 2009, Boston Globe Best Book, Los Angeles Times Favourite Book, and San Francisco Chronicle Best Book.

©2009 J. G. Ballard (P)2014 Audible Studios

love JGB novel's but his short stories are...bla

good performance, and I highly recommend JG Ballard novels such as cocaine night, crash, high-rise, the drowned world, etc.
not so much his chart stories. There's a few good ones but nothing that stands out to me that's great

My Favorite Audiobook. A Lonely Lifework

Ballard had a chilling imagination and a brilliant prose style. He was the literary Twilight Zone, immortalizer of emptiness already long dead, but closer than we think. There are masterpieces here, and even when Ballard is full, he's the top of the heap. "Manhole 69" will forever change the way you look at sleep. Great narrators - including a Colonial Marine from ALIENS!

Why haven't I heard of this guy before?

Ran across this book on an Audible sale. Who is this guy? The stories were great - I've only gotten through 20 so far but I'm really impressed. The stories are all very original, not derivative and each one very different - no formula in the style. Great imagination. Like another reviewer I listen to a couple stories between other books - not to avoid burnout but make this 60 hour gem stretch for as long as I can. I'll probably try some of his novels also.

Incredible collection but flawed by voice actors

This one actor, Jeff Harding, ruins the stories that he's read in this incredible collection. it's like listening to a badly trained news reporter rambling off the sentences with no concern for the story or for the gravity of Ballard's writing. In stark contrast, the rest of the performances are excellent. What a shame to have to skip over every story that Harding has flattened out.

Ballard was a genius

I've loved Ballard since I discovered him in High School 20 years ago. He was WAAAAAY ahead of his time (predicting the internet/Zoom relationships/the weaponization of news for political purposes, etc), writing about topics his peers never dreamed of. He is even more timely in the 21st century as Capitalism crumbles around us. Yes, there are a lot of stories in this collection and Yes, not every single one of them is perfect, but for those of us living in this Distopia, now has never been a better time to (re?) discover this brilliant writer. If you're daunted by the length of this collection like I was, do what I did: Listen to a couple stories in between other books you listen to. This method took months to make my way through these stories, but kept me from burning out, and the stories served as "palate cleansers" in between longer novels. I rarely write reviews of books on here, so that right there speaks to how much I love this writer and how timeless and important these stories are. He knew Reagan would lead to Trumpism. If only folks had listened to him 40 years ago.

Uneven Narration, Wish Sean Barrett Read All of It

One of the narrators actually sounds bored while reading a few of the short stories, which include some of the best that JG Ballard ever wrote. The material is often not properly respected in the reading. I recommend the print version instead of the audio.

Too Depressing

What would have made The Complete Short Stories better?

A less cynical author

Has The Complete Short Stories turned you off from other books in this genre?

No. Asimov's short stories were very good.

What aspect of the narrators’s performance would you have changed?

Their choice of subject matter.

What character would you cut from The Complete Short Stories?

All those suffering a depressing end, i.e., many characters.

Story Title List

At 100 chapters, and 98 short stories, this audiobook really needs chapter titles, but sadly does not have them. Until Audible adds them, here is my attempt, I believe they are correct. Hope this helps.

1) Prima Belladonna
2) Escapement
3) The Concentration City
4) Venus Smiles
5) Manhole 69
6) Track 12
7) The Waiting Grounds
8) Now Zero
9) The Sound-Sweep
10) Zone of Terror
11) Chronopolis
12) The Voices of Time
13) The Last World of Mr. Goddard
14) Studio 5: The Stars
15) Deep End
16) The Overloaded Man
17) Mr. F is Mr. F
18) Billennium
19) The Gentle Assassin
20) The Insane Ones
21) The Garden of Time
22) The Thousand Dreams of Stella Vista
23) 13 to Centaurus
24) Passport to Eternity
25) The Cage of Sand
26) The Watch-Towers
27) The Singing Statues
28) The Man on the 99th Floor
29) The Subliminal Man
30) The Reptile Enclosure
31) A Question of Reentry
32) The Time Tombs
33) Now Wakes the Sea
34) The Venus Hunters
35) End Game
36) Minus One
37) The Sudden Afternoon
38) The Screen Game
39) Time of Passage
40) Prisoner of the Coral Deep
41) The Lost Leonardo
42) The Terminal Beach
43) The Illuminated Man
44) The Delta at Sunset
45) The Drowned Giant
46) The Gioconda of the Twilight Noon
47) The Volcano Dances
48) The Beach Murders
49) The Day of Forever
50) The Impossible Man
51) Storm-Bird, Storm-Dreamer
52) Tomorrow is a Million Years
53) The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race
54) Cry Hope, Cry Fury!
55) The Recognition
56) The Cloud Sculptors of Coral D
57) Why I want to Fuck Ronald Regan
58) The Dead Astronaut
59) The Comsat Angles
60) The Killing Ground
61) A Place and a Time to Die
62) Say Goodbye to the Wind
63) The Greatest Television Show on Earth
64) My Dream of Flying to Wake Island
65) The Air Disaster
66) Low-Flying Aircraft
67) The Life and Death of God
68) Notes Towards a Mental Breakdown
69) The 60 Minute Zoom
70) The Smile
71) The Ultimate City – Part 1
72) The Ultimate City – Part 2
73) The Dead Time
74) The Index
75) The Intensive Care Unit
76) Theatre of War
77) Having a Wonderful Time
78) One Afternoon at Utah Beach
79) Zodiac 2000
80) Motel Architecture
81) A Host of Furious Fancies
82) News from the Sun – Part 1
83) News from the Sun – Part 2
84) Memories of the Space Age
85) Myths of the Near Future
86) Report on an Unidentified Space Station
87) The Object of the Attack
88) Answers to a Questionnaire
89) The Man Who Walked on the Moon
90) The Secret History of World War 3
91) Love in a Colder Climate
92) The Enormous Space
93) The Largest Theme Park in the World
94) War Fever
95) Dream Cargoes
96) A Guide to Virtual Death
97) The Message from Mars
98) Report from an Obscure Planet
99) The Secret Autobiography of J.G.B.
100) The Dying Fall

Jeff Harding shouldn't narrate anything!

Pretty good overall, some stories I felt didn't go anywhere but on the whole enjoyable.

Now that said I'll just be another person complaining about Jeff Harding's terrible narration. Every single sentence is identical, and just doesn't sound good. It's like trying to listen to a bad local news reporter read a story with that annoying news reporter voice.

I have no idea how he gets hired.

A short story collection with no chapter names?!

Really wish Audible would add the chapter names to this collection as they are the titles of the stories! Makes it hard to find specific shorts that have been recommended when the chapters are simply labeled “chapter 34”