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Islands of Space

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Islands of Space

By: John W. Campbell
Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
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About this listen

As Earth's faster-than-light spaceship hung in the void between galaxies, Arcot, Wade, Morey, and Fuller could see below them, like a vast shining horizon, the mass of stars that formed their own island universe. Morey worked a moment with his slide rule, then said, "We made good time! Twenty-nine light years in ten seconds! Yet you had it on at only half power...."

Arcot pushed the control lever all the way to full power. The ship filled with the strain of flowing energy, and sparks snapped in the air of the control room as they raced at an inconceivable speed through the darkness of intergalactic space. But suddenly, far off to their left and far to their right, they saw two shining ships paralleling their course! They held grimly to the course of the Earth ship, bracketing it like an official guard. The Earth scientists stared at them in wonder. "Lord," muttered Morey, "where can they have come from?"

Public Domain (P)2010 Audible, Inc. Science Fiction Transportation Fiction Interstellar Space Science Fiction

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Editor reviews

Science fiction author John W. Campbell was by most accounts an unpleasant man, but at least his enthusiasm for space travel is infectious. In Islands of Space, the listener enters a 22nd-century world of eccentric physicists, faster-than-light spaceships, interplanetary war, and weaponized heat beams.

Oliver Wyman has won numerous Best Voice awards in different genres, but he professes to a love for performing science fiction titles. He can vocalize the byzantine explanations of a mad scientist and the telepathic communications of aliens with the same aplomb. This versatile actor will take listeners to Venus and back, kinetically evoking the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
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Obviously written in the 50s but still a fun story. Still captures the excitement of early Sci Fi

dated but fun

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I thought I would struggle with is story, the nurater was good, and with a bit of patients the characters grow on you.I would say it is a good si fi story.

loved it.

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Well worth the time! A good old fashioned science fiction. No loose ends. Ending could be better.

A very good yarn

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It is a great view into the attitudes of the time, many of which left me cringing, fascinated and laughing, sometimes simultaneously. Can’t get the word “titanic” out of my head though. Great fun but very shallow by modern standards.

An excellent view onto historic s/f

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Might be fun for younger kids.
Was surprised at the 2010 release date when checking afterwards.
I didn’t enjoy it much, it was far too ‘humanity’s the superior interstellar race’.
It amused me that it went so far as to have an alien say something along the lines of ‘man’s so superior without warring against each other’, and the human characters didn’t object…a bit delusional in its writing.

Kids stuff

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Old school pulp sci-fi. More like a fantasy story set in space. Certainly laws of physics get short shift. No female characters, and very dated mores. Little attempt at consistent world building and a nonsensical plot. A reminder of how far we have come and how backwards we were.

dated fantasy in space

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