
Bowl of Heaven
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Narrated by:
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James R. Cheatham
About this listen
Bowl of Heaven and Shipstar collects two novels from science fiction masters Larry Niven (Ringworld) and Gregory Benford (Timescape) that weave a thrilling interstellar odyssey in the not-too-distant future.
"If you like hard SF with mind-stretching ideas—both physical and psychological—then you definitely want to read this book." —Analog on the New York Times bestseller Bowl of Heaven
A human expedition to colonize another star system is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure cupping a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths. And which, tantalizingly, is on a direct path heading toward the same system.
Investigating the Bowl, or Shipstar, the human explorers are separated—one group captured by the gigantic structure's alien inhabitants, the other pursued across its strange and dangerous landscape—while the mystery of the Shipstar's origins and purpose propel the human voyagers toward discoveries that transform their understanding of their place in the universe.
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After more than two hundred years as a corpsicle, Jaybee Corbell awoke in someone else’s body and under threat of instant annihilation if he made a wrong move while they were training him for a one-way mission to the stars. But Corbell bided his time and made his own move. Once he was outbound, where the society that ruled Earth could not reach him, he headed his starship toward the galactic core.
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Do you know how people get old?
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Hurrah!
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Genuinely Creative
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By: Larry Niven, and others
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Glorious
- Bowl of Heaven, Book 3
- By: Gregory Benford, Larry Niven
- Narrated by: James R. Cheatham
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
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-
Overall
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Performance
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Audacious astronauts encounter bizarre, sometimes deadly life forms, and strange, exotic, cosmic phenomena, including miniature black holes, dense fields of interstellar plasma, powerful gravity-emitters, and spectacularly massive space-based, alien-built labyrinths. Tasked with exploring this brave new, highly dangerous world, they must also deal with their own personal triumphs and conflicts.
By: Gregory Benford, and others
-
A World Out of Time
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After more than two hundred years as a corpsicle, Jaybee Corbell awoke in someone else’s body and under threat of instant annihilation if he made a wrong move while they were training him for a one-way mission to the stars. But Corbell bided his time and made his own move. Once he was outbound, where the society that ruled Earth could not reach him, he headed his starship toward the galactic core.
-
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Do you know how people get old?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-13-12
By: Larry Niven
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Fleet of Worlds
- 200 Years Before the Discovery of the Ringworld
- By: Larry Niven, Edward M. Lerner
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
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- By Bruce on 01-25-08
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Overall
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-
-
Genuinely Creative
- By Kennet on 05-25-03
By: Larry Niven
-
Hole in the Sky
- A Novel
- By: Daniel H. Wilson
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heliopause is a real place—the very outer edge of our solar system where the sun's solar winds are no longer strong enough to keep debris and intrusions from bombarding our system. It is the farthest edge of our protected boundary (it was recently crossed by Voyager), and the line beyond which space experts look for extraterrestrial presences. This is where Daniel Wilson's fascinating novel begins.
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In the Ocean of Night
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It is 2019. NASA astronaut Nigel Walmsley is sent on a mission to intercept a rogue asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Ordered to destroy it, he instead discovers that it is actually the shell of a derelict space probe - a wreck with just enough power to emit a single electronic signal….
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre. No lesser an authority than Robert A. Heinlein called it "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read".
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A great read!
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By: Larry Niven, and others
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Galaxias
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
By the middle of the 21st century, humanity has managed to overcome a series of catastrophic events and maintain some sense of stability. Space exploration has begun again. Science has led the way. But then one day, the sun goes out. Solar panels are useless, and the world begins to freeze. Earth begins to fall out of its orbit. The end is nigh. Someone has sent us a sign.
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Not a bad idea for a story.
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