First Lensman
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $22.84
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Harry Shaw
-
By:
-
E.E. Doc Smith
About this listen
No human had ever landed on the hidden planet of Arisia. A mysterious space barrier turned back both men and ships. Then the word came to Earth; "Go to Arisia!" Samms of the Galactic Patrol went—and came back with the Lens, the strange device that gave its wearer powers no man had ever possessed before. Samms knew the price of that power would be high. But even he had no idea of the ultimate cost, and the weird destiny waiting for the First Lensman.
Book 1 of the classic Lensmen series by E.E. 'Doc' Smith.
Public Domain (P)2022 Mark NelsonListeners also enjoyed...
-
Triplanetary
- Lensman Series, Book 1
- By: E.E. Smith
- Narrated by: Alastair Cameron
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in two parts, Triplanetary introduces the concept of two warring alien races: the Arisians and the Eddorians, whose battles on Earth are unknown to the human race, and in fact the humans are unaware that the Arisians have been secretly and selectively breeding the humans to use as weapons for these battles. From the time of Rome to World War II, the author takes the listener on a lightning-fast journey through Earth's history as the warzone for aliens.
-
-
thank you for the new narrator
- By james on 06-03-17
By: E.E. Smith
-
The Skylark of Space
- Skylark Series #1
- By: E. E. "Doc" Smith
- Narrated by: Reed McColm
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant government scientist Richard Seaton discovers a remarkable faster-than-light fuel that will power his interstellar spaceship, The Skylark. His ruthless rival, Marc DuQuesne, and the sinister World Steel Corporation will do anything to get their hands on the fuel. They kidnap Seaton's fiancée and friends, unleashing a furious pursuit and igniting a burning desire for revenge that will propel The Skylark across the galaxy and back.
-
-
Space Operas - Good Story telling!
- By Madge on 01-27-10
-
Spacehounds of IPC
- By: E.E. "Doc" Smith Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Harry Shaw
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Inter-Planetary Corporation has sent the space ship Arcturus on a routine fact-finding mission, only to have it ambushed by a strange alien craft, leaving physicist Steve Stevens and Nadia Newton first stranded on Ganymede, and then caught up in the Vorkul-Hexan war. A space adventure of staggering proportions by science fiction master writer E. E. “Doc” Smith.
-
-
For me this book was a gift!
- By Roger Lorette on 06-24-15
-
Sixth Column
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The totalitarian East has triumphed in a massive invasion, and the United States has fallen to a dictatorial superpower bent on total domination. That power is consolidating its grip through concentration camps, police state tactics, and a total monopoly upon the very thoughts of the conquered populace. A tiny enclave of scientists and soldiers survives, unbeknownst to America’s new rulers. It’s six against six million - but those six happen to include a scientific genius, a master of subterfuge and disguise who learned his trade as a lawyer-turned-hobo, and a tough-minded commander....
-
-
The Yellow Peril as it was
- By Thomas Martin on 04-16-12
-
PartnerShip
- Brainship
- By: Anne McCaffrey, Margaret Ball
- Narrated by: Constance Towers
- Length: 3 hrs and 16 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A new "shellperson"—someone born with grave physical disabilities that required her human body to be encased in a massive titanium column—is provided a direct link between her mind and the computer of her ship, XN-935. Nancia is now a brand-new member of the elite Courier Service of the Central Worlds, the “brainship” of the most advanced interstellar ships around. But her innocent vision of human nature is shattered on her first voyage. Nevertheless, the idealistic Nancia and her worldly-wise new “brawn” partners must band together to save the galaxy.
-
-
abrided
- By Shirley Lafferty on 03-30-19
By: Anne McCaffrey, and others
-
The Galaxy Primes
- By: E. E. Smith
- Narrated by: Arthur Vincet
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were four of the greatest minds in the Universe: Two men and two women, all Psionic Primes, lost in an experimental spaceship billions of parsecs from home. And as they mentally charted the cosmos to find their way back to Earth, their own loves and hates were as startling as the worlds they encountered. Here is E. E. Smith's classic science fiction novel - one of the greatest space operas of all time!
By: E. E. Smith
-
Triplanetary
- Lensman Series, Book 1
- By: E.E. Smith
- Narrated by: Alastair Cameron
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in two parts, Triplanetary introduces the concept of two warring alien races: the Arisians and the Eddorians, whose battles on Earth are unknown to the human race, and in fact the humans are unaware that the Arisians have been secretly and selectively breeding the humans to use as weapons for these battles. From the time of Rome to World War II, the author takes the listener on a lightning-fast journey through Earth's history as the warzone for aliens.
-
-
thank you for the new narrator
- By james on 06-03-17
By: E.E. Smith
-
The Skylark of Space
- Skylark Series #1
- By: E. E. "Doc" Smith
- Narrated by: Reed McColm
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant government scientist Richard Seaton discovers a remarkable faster-than-light fuel that will power his interstellar spaceship, The Skylark. His ruthless rival, Marc DuQuesne, and the sinister World Steel Corporation will do anything to get their hands on the fuel. They kidnap Seaton's fiancée and friends, unleashing a furious pursuit and igniting a burning desire for revenge that will propel The Skylark across the galaxy and back.
-
-
Space Operas - Good Story telling!
- By Madge on 01-27-10
-
Spacehounds of IPC
- By: E.E. "Doc" Smith Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Harry Shaw
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Inter-Planetary Corporation has sent the space ship Arcturus on a routine fact-finding mission, only to have it ambushed by a strange alien craft, leaving physicist Steve Stevens and Nadia Newton first stranded on Ganymede, and then caught up in the Vorkul-Hexan war. A space adventure of staggering proportions by science fiction master writer E. E. “Doc” Smith.
-
-
For me this book was a gift!
- By Roger Lorette on 06-24-15
-
Sixth Column
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The totalitarian East has triumphed in a massive invasion, and the United States has fallen to a dictatorial superpower bent on total domination. That power is consolidating its grip through concentration camps, police state tactics, and a total monopoly upon the very thoughts of the conquered populace. A tiny enclave of scientists and soldiers survives, unbeknownst to America’s new rulers. It’s six against six million - but those six happen to include a scientific genius, a master of subterfuge and disguise who learned his trade as a lawyer-turned-hobo, and a tough-minded commander....
-
-
The Yellow Peril as it was
- By Thomas Martin on 04-16-12
-
PartnerShip
- Brainship
- By: Anne McCaffrey, Margaret Ball
- Narrated by: Constance Towers
- Length: 3 hrs and 16 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A new "shellperson"—someone born with grave physical disabilities that required her human body to be encased in a massive titanium column—is provided a direct link between her mind and the computer of her ship, XN-935. Nancia is now a brand-new member of the elite Courier Service of the Central Worlds, the “brainship” of the most advanced interstellar ships around. But her innocent vision of human nature is shattered on her first voyage. Nevertheless, the idealistic Nancia and her worldly-wise new “brawn” partners must band together to save the galaxy.
-
-
abrided
- By Shirley Lafferty on 03-30-19
By: Anne McCaffrey, and others
-
The Galaxy Primes
- By: E. E. Smith
- Narrated by: Arthur Vincet
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were four of the greatest minds in the Universe: Two men and two women, all Psionic Primes, lost in an experimental spaceship billions of parsecs from home. And as they mentally charted the cosmos to find their way back to Earth, their own loves and hates were as startling as the worlds they encountered. Here is E. E. Smith's classic science fiction novel - one of the greatest space operas of all time!
By: E. E. Smith
-
The Door into Summer
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dan Davis, an electronics engineer, had finally made the invention of a lifetime: a household robot that could do almost anything. Wild success was within reach, but then Dan's life was ruined. In a plot to steal his business, his greedy partner and greedier fiancée tricked him into taking the "long sleep": suspended animation for 30 years.
-
-
classic
- By Greg on 04-05-09
-
Firefly: Big Damn Hero
- Firefly, Book 1
- By: James Lovegrove
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Battle of Serenity Valley was the turning point that led the Independents to their defeat at the hands of the Alliance. Yet the Browncoats had held the valley for weeks against all odds, before being ordered to lay down their arms. Command stated they refused to send in airpower because the ground war was "too hot". But the soldiers who were there insist that was not true.... While picking up a new cargo on Persephone, Captain Malcolm Reynolds is kidnapped by a bunch of embittered veteran Browncoats who suspect him of sabotaging the Independents during the war.
-
-
Take me out to the black!
- By Adam on 12-06-19
By: James Lovegrove
-
Elric of Melniboné
- Volume 1: Elric of Melnibone, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and The Weird of the White Wolf
- By: Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 24 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Moorcock began chronicling the adventures of the albino sorcerer Elric, last king of decadent Melniboné, and his sentient vampiric sword, Stormbringer, he set out to create a new kind of fantasy adventure, one that broke with tradition and reflected a more up-to-date sophistication of theme and style. The result was a bold and unique hero: a rock-and-roll antihero who would channel all the violent excesses of the '60s into one enduring archetype.
-
-
Skip the first chapter, it's not Moorcock.
- By Ted C. on 02-17-22
By: Michael Moorcock, and others
-
Robert Heinlein Radio Dramas
- By: Robert Heinlein
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This collection features four classic, dramatized Robert Heinlein stories: "Universe", "Requiem", "The Green Hills of Earth", and "The Roads Must Roll".
-
-
Heinlein at his Best
- By Chris on 08-21-07
By: Robert Heinlein
-
Slip Runner
- By: J.N. Chaney, M.F. Lerma
- Narrated by: Neill Thorne
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cole Riker is a Slip Runner. A contractor tasked with finding alien salvage in exchange for credits. For an ex-smuggler like Cole, there’s a catch: Don’t break the terms of parole. That means doing things by the book. Find salvage, turn it in, get paid. But everything changes when a retrieval mission lands him in a previously unknown sector. There, he finds the material he’s been sent to recover, along with something more. A brand-new form of ancient alien life.
-
-
Great Start on a new Renegade Universe Series
- By Robert Meridy Jr on 11-04-22
By: J.N. Chaney, and others
-
The Cat Who Walks through Walls
- By: Robert Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Richard Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions where Lazarus Long still thrives, where Jubal Harshaw lives surrounded by beautiful women, and where a daring plot to rescue the sentient computer called Mike can change the direction of all human history.
-
-
Abridge Version
- By Klipper421 on 10-05-12
By: Robert Heinlein
-
Ringworld
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping. Larry Niven's novel, Ringworld, is the winner of the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.
-
-
Genuinely Creative
- By Kennet on 05-25-03
By: Larry Niven
-
Farmer in the Sky
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Farmer In The Sky is a 1953 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein about a teenage boy who emigrates with his family to Jupiter's moon Ganymede, which is in the process of being terraformed. A condensed version of the novel was published in serial form in 1950 in Boys' Life magazine (August, September, October, November), under the title "Satellite Scout".
-
-
Back to the future.
- By Ray DiFazio on 11-13-16
-
Revelation Space
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason.
-
-
Defeated
- By Eoin on 07-15-12
-
Pushing Ice
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
2057. Humanity has raised exploiting the solar system to an art form. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. And they're good at it. The Rockhopper is nearing the end of its current mission cycle, and everyone is desperate for some much-needed R & R, when startling news arrives from Saturn: Janus, one of Saturn's ice moons, has inexplicably left its natural orbit and is now heading out of the solar system at high speed.
-
-
Proof that a good story doesn't require a trilogy
- By Jesse on 01-14-12
-
Forgotten Ages
- The Complete Saga
- By: Lindsay Buroker
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 23 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The greatest military leader of his time. The most talented code breaker her people have. Sworn enemies. When deadly secrets from the ancient past are unearthed, secrets capable of fracturing the world and destroying all life on the planet, these two enemies will have to work together. They are humanity's only hope.
-
-
Fun and strange mashup of scifi and fantasy
- By domlav on 06-28-16
By: Lindsay Buroker
-
The Stars, Like Dust
- By: Isaac Asimov
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
His name was Biron Farrill and he was a student at the University of Earth. A native of one of the helpless Nebular Kingdoms, he saw his home world conquered and controlled by the planet Tyrann - a ruthless, barbaric Empire that was building a dynasty of cruelty and domination among the stars. Farrill’s own father had been executed for trying to resist the Tyrann dictatorship and now someone was trying to kill Biron. But why? His only hope for survival lay in fleeing Earth and joining the rebellion that was rumored to be forming somewhere in the Kingdoms.
-
-
A Great Literary Master
- By Michael F. kloppel on 06-21-21
By: Isaac Asimov
Related to this topic
-
Triplanetary
- Lensman Series, Book 1
- By: E.E. Smith
- Narrated by: Alastair Cameron
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in two parts, Triplanetary introduces the concept of two warring alien races: the Arisians and the Eddorians, whose battles on Earth are unknown to the human race, and in fact the humans are unaware that the Arisians have been secretly and selectively breeding the humans to use as weapons for these battles. From the time of Rome to World War II, the author takes the listener on a lightning-fast journey through Earth's history as the warzone for aliens.
-
-
thank you for the new narrator
- By james on 06-03-17
By: E.E. Smith
-
The Skylark of Space
- Skylark Series #1
- By: E. E. "Doc" Smith
- Narrated by: Reed McColm
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant government scientist Richard Seaton discovers a remarkable faster-than-light fuel that will power his interstellar spaceship, The Skylark. His ruthless rival, Marc DuQuesne, and the sinister World Steel Corporation will do anything to get their hands on the fuel. They kidnap Seaton's fiancée and friends, unleashing a furious pursuit and igniting a burning desire for revenge that will propel The Skylark across the galaxy and back.
-
-
Space Operas - Good Story telling!
- By Madge on 01-27-10
-
Revolt in 2100
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the fall of the American Ayatollahs (as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land) there is a Second American Revolution; for the first time in human history there is a land with Liberty and Justice for All.
-
-
Heinlein's Future History
- By ShySusan on 05-30-12
-
The Stars, Like Dust
- By: Isaac Asimov
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
His name was Biron Farrill and he was a student at the University of Earth. A native of one of the helpless Nebular Kingdoms, he saw his home world conquered and controlled by the planet Tyrann - a ruthless, barbaric Empire that was building a dynasty of cruelty and domination among the stars. Farrill’s own father had been executed for trying to resist the Tyrann dictatorship and now someone was trying to kill Biron. But why? His only hope for survival lay in fleeing Earth and joining the rebellion that was rumored to be forming somewhere in the Kingdoms.
-
-
A Great Literary Master
- By Michael F. kloppel on 06-21-21
By: Isaac Asimov
-
Gateway
- By: Frederik Pohl
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Robert J. Sawyer
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When prospector Bob Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Robinette Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he is...in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!
-
-
A human-focused SF classic
- By Ryan on 12-05-13
By: Frederik Pohl
-
The Gordian Protocol
- The Gordian Protocol, Book 1
- By: David Weber, Jacob Holo
- Narrated by: Gabriel Vaughan
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Doctor Benjamin Schröder was far from a man of action. In fact, he was a history teacher - chairman of the Castle Rock University history department - and if his life wasn't perfect, it was close. Until, that is the discussion of his star student Elzbietá Abramowski's dissertation on Operation Oz, the Pacific Allies' invasion of Vladivostok, was brutally interrupted. The psychotic episode that turned his entire world upside down struck with absolutely no warning, and it was more terrifying than anything he should have been able to imagine.
-
-
Trash
- By E on 05-08-19
By: David Weber, and others
-
Triplanetary
- Lensman Series, Book 1
- By: E.E. Smith
- Narrated by: Alastair Cameron
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in two parts, Triplanetary introduces the concept of two warring alien races: the Arisians and the Eddorians, whose battles on Earth are unknown to the human race, and in fact the humans are unaware that the Arisians have been secretly and selectively breeding the humans to use as weapons for these battles. From the time of Rome to World War II, the author takes the listener on a lightning-fast journey through Earth's history as the warzone for aliens.
-
-
thank you for the new narrator
- By james on 06-03-17
By: E.E. Smith
-
The Skylark of Space
- Skylark Series #1
- By: E. E. "Doc" Smith
- Narrated by: Reed McColm
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant government scientist Richard Seaton discovers a remarkable faster-than-light fuel that will power his interstellar spaceship, The Skylark. His ruthless rival, Marc DuQuesne, and the sinister World Steel Corporation will do anything to get their hands on the fuel. They kidnap Seaton's fiancée and friends, unleashing a furious pursuit and igniting a burning desire for revenge that will propel The Skylark across the galaxy and back.
-
-
Space Operas - Good Story telling!
- By Madge on 01-27-10
-
Revolt in 2100
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the fall of the American Ayatollahs (as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land) there is a Second American Revolution; for the first time in human history there is a land with Liberty and Justice for All.
-
-
Heinlein's Future History
- By ShySusan on 05-30-12
-
The Stars, Like Dust
- By: Isaac Asimov
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
His name was Biron Farrill and he was a student at the University of Earth. A native of one of the helpless Nebular Kingdoms, he saw his home world conquered and controlled by the planet Tyrann - a ruthless, barbaric Empire that was building a dynasty of cruelty and domination among the stars. Farrill’s own father had been executed for trying to resist the Tyrann dictatorship and now someone was trying to kill Biron. But why? His only hope for survival lay in fleeing Earth and joining the rebellion that was rumored to be forming somewhere in the Kingdoms.
-
-
A Great Literary Master
- By Michael F. kloppel on 06-21-21
By: Isaac Asimov
-
Gateway
- By: Frederik Pohl
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Robert J. Sawyer
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When prospector Bob Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Robinette Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he is...in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!
-
-
A human-focused SF classic
- By Ryan on 12-05-13
By: Frederik Pohl
-
The Gordian Protocol
- The Gordian Protocol, Book 1
- By: David Weber, Jacob Holo
- Narrated by: Gabriel Vaughan
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Doctor Benjamin Schröder was far from a man of action. In fact, he was a history teacher - chairman of the Castle Rock University history department - and if his life wasn't perfect, it was close. Until, that is the discussion of his star student Elzbietá Abramowski's dissertation on Operation Oz, the Pacific Allies' invasion of Vladivostok, was brutally interrupted. The psychotic episode that turned his entire world upside down struck with absolutely no warning, and it was more terrifying than anything he should have been able to imagine.
-
-
Trash
- By E on 05-08-19
By: David Weber, and others
-
Legacy
- Stellar Heritage, Book 1
- By: Bob Mauldin
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 19 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Simon and Katherine Hawke stumble upon an alien shuttle that has landed on earth, it’ll not only change the course of their lives, but of the entire world. Taking the shuttle into orbit, they discover a much larger ship left adrift with no one on board. Commandeering it, they confirm that we’re not alone in the universe and must prepare the human race for what is about to come. Recruiting from all over the world, they begin to expand their fleet and build a federation to give humans a foothold in the galaxy.
-
-
Childish Writer Rant
- By Brutis on 10-25-20
By: Bob Mauldin
-
Max of the Rebellion
- The Last Time Loop, Book 1
- By: Anton Emelianov, Sergei Savinov
- Narrated by: Joshua Story
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Any kind of death annuls everything except his present knowledge and returns him to the past. This is a good way to test all sorts of things. That is, it would be, if not for one little thing.... This loop has real lords and it's unlikely that they'll be happy to hear about an uninvited guest. And that isn't his only problem - all of his memories of the last year have simply disappeared, but the world around him has changed in the meantime.
-
-
Not Great
- By Erik on 04-30-20
By: Anton Emelianov, and others
-
The Rolling Stones
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Heinlein's best-loved works, The Rolling Stones follows the rollicking adventures of the Stone family as they tour the solar system. It doesn't seem likely for twins to have the same middle name. Even so, it's clear that Castor and Pollux Stone both have "Trouble" written in that spot on their birth certificates. Of course, anyone who's met their grandmother Hazel would know they came by it honestly.
-
-
Good story well told
- By Frank on 07-14-15
-
Star Trek: Discovery: Desperate Hours
- By: David Mack
- Narrated by: Susan Eisenberg
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aboard the Starship Shenzhou, Lieutenant Michael Burnham, a human woman raised and educated among Vulcans, is promoted to acting first officer. But if she wants to keep the job, she must prove to Captain Philippa Georgiou that she deserves to have it.
-
-
Could Have Been Great
- By Rick on 11-13-17
By: David Mack
-
Winter's Rising
- Dystance, Book 1
- By: Mark Tufo
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From birth to death, The War is all the citizens of Dystance know. As children it is drilled into their heads that war is the purpose behind all existence. Winter doesn't agree. She's stumbled across remnants of life the way it was before The War began, and now she longs to be as free as her ancestors. With help from her best friend Cedar and the boy she is forbidden to love, Tallow. She believes she can do it. Winter can see a life beyond the Pickets, beyond the constant hunger and the threat of death, beyond the war machine.
-
-
Unbelievable, melodramatic romance.
- By Lynn A Blankenship on 03-28-19
By: Mark Tufo
-
Interstellar Caveman
- Interstellar Caveman, Book 1
- By: Karl Beecher
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You think you’re struggling to find your place in the universe? Consider poor old Colin Douglass, a terminally ill insurance agent who awakens from centuries in cryogenic freeze to find Earth is a devastated wasteland. Now, he’s being pursued by a homicidal interstellar tourist board, and calculating insurance dividends is as outdated as making stone axes. Sci-fi-hating technophobe Colin seeks a cure for his illness in this strange new galaxy where toilets talk back, and door handles are a long-forgotten relic.
-
-
Hairy knees won't stop Colin!
- By Willis Burns on 11-19-19
By: Karl Beecher
-
Sten
- Sten Series, Book 1
- By: Chris Bunch, Allan Cole
- Narrated by: Jerry Sciarrio
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first book in an action–packed new SF adventure series. Vulcan is a factory planet, centuries old, Company run, ugly as sin, and unfeeling as death. Vulcan breeds just two types of native: complacent or tough. Sten is tough. When his family is killed in a mysterious accident, Sten rebels, harassing the Company from the metal world’s endless maze-like warrens. He could end up just another burnt–out Delinquent. But people like Sten never give up.
-
-
THE MASTERPIECE BY JERRY SCIARRIO
- By Professor on 10-31-12
By: Chris Bunch, and others
-
Rebel Stars: Books 0-2
- By: Edward W. Robertson
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 20 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thousand years ago, an alien invasion set humanity back to the Iron Age. Slowly, we recovered, colonizing the Solar System in peace. And discovered that an unknown force is stopping us from exploring any farther. But before the cause can be discovered, a slow-burning conspiracy threatens to explode into System-wide war. With enemies at home and in the darkness beyond, a team of unlikely heroes-a janitor, a mercenary, an asteroid miner, and a pirate-are the only ones who can avert a second apocalypse. This set includes the first three books of the newly-finished REBEL STARS series.
-
-
Fun and entertaining.
- By Shirley on 01-04-18
-
Willful Child
- Willful Child, Book 1
- By: Steven Erikson
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These are the voyages of the starship A.S.F. Willful Child. Its ongoing mission: to seek out strange new worlds on which to plant the Terran flag, to subjugate and if necessary obliterate new life-forms, to boldly blow the... And so we join the not-terribly-bright but exceedingly cock-sure Captain Hadrian Sawback and his motley crew on board the Starship Willful Child for a series of devil-may-care, near-calamitous and downright chaotic adventures through "the infinite vastness of interstellar space".
-
-
Loving, biting, very funny parody of classic SF
- By A reader on 12-12-14
By: Steven Erikson
-
The Tar-Aiym Krang
- A Pip & Flinx Adventure
- By: Alan Dean Foster
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Moth was a beautiful planet, the only one with wings - two great golden clouds suspended in space around it. Here was a wide-open world for any venture a man might scheme. The planet attracted unwary travelers, hardened space-sailors, and merchant buccaneers - a teeming, constantly shifting horde that provided a comfortable income for certain quick-witted fellows like Flinx and his pet flying snake Pip.
-
-
The First of the Flinx and Pip Novels AT LAST!
- By Chris on 01-20-09
By: Alan Dean Foster
-
Vigilante
- By: Michael Anderle, Natalie Grey
- Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a mine owner thinks that he's above the law and continues to utilize slave labor to keep his mines running, Barnabas, a former Ranger One, must fight for justice.
-
-
If I could I would give 10 stars..
- By Trish R. on 08-05-21
By: Michael Anderle, and others
-
Mimic and the Space Engineer Omnibus
- Space Shifter Chronicles, Books 1-3
- By: James David Victor
- Narrated by: Nick Tecosky
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Higgens has the best job in the galaxy. Except for the fact that he’s technically a janitor on a galactic mining vessel. When he discovers an unknown alien species, his world gets turned upside down. He will have to find unlikely allies if he is going to save his new friend and help her build a new home. The Mimic and the Space Engineer boxed set contains the first three books in the Space Shifter Chronicles. If you like fast-paced space adventures with engaging, and quirky, characters, you will love Higgens, Mimic, and their adventures in space.
-
-
Interesting premise, but I've read better
- By Reviewer on 12-05-20
What listeners say about First Lensman
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- o2b18again
- 04-23-23
Great book
I love the series, but the voices the narrator uses don't really match the character. It might be that the voices in my head are a better fit.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael Rapini
- 10-15-23
Still a great series
I’ve been an avid fan of Edward Smith for almost 60 years. Unlike many stories I loved as a youngster I still enjoy his work. The father of Space Opera.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- H. Metz
- 07-24-24
Hm…
Soo… on the downside, we have two things which I can’t decide on which is worse:
One, the whole cycle is built on a strangely good vs evil, deeply intolerant religious philosophy. The good guys do good, and only good things because good, higher-level beings nudge them in that direction - the bad guys do the (only bad) things they’re doing because bad, higher-level beings manipulate them to do them. That is just garbage, sorry. Not only were there already much more open-minded and facetted (science fiction or not) stories around then - but this really disgusting slave perspective also limits any character decelopment or any real depth to the characters to near-zero. Somewhat hard to separate from that issue is the fact that 99% of the population are really just background fodder for the heroic superbeings - and no consideration that maybe every person, even a Lensman, is just one.
The other galling issue is the treatment of women. It’s almost comical how even when those elite superhumans evolve oh-so-far beyond their measly earthly roots… across space and time… still everyone wants to get married. Even at the time that must have been a peculiarly quaint perspective - even given the fact that society made life impossibly hard for women, especially if not being married, wanting to live their lifes, maybe even with a kid. I read somewhere that the author had pulled in his wife for advice on female characters… but the result then is an artwork completed under the mental duress of the societal Stockholm syndrome. And not to speak of the limitations this all puts on the potential of an interesting story.
Add to this the whole Lensmen thing. Yeah, I know, wouldn’t it be great to have the lens, an indestructible super-device ensuring complete fidelity of any wearer to a common greater goal, weeding out all spies and not-quite-good enough folks? Uh… maybe… but maybe the SS (from the time of the author) would have loved to have that type of device, too… for technological reasons, they just had to do with brainwashing and tattoos. And this isn’t a minor quibble - the whole story would completely fall apart without that. You’d immediately have all kinds of complications - like, you know, in real life!?! And this, too, limits the books. Yes, there’s a lot going on… but ultimately, nothing is really happening.
Compare to Star Trek. They also had/have heroes and villains in a fantastic future, sure… but there are moments where life intervenes, and weak humans have to come up with answers to moral questions and stand up for those answers, or not. THAT makes a hero - not some gadget. And THAT is life. And THAT is interesting.
Soo… why is this still somewhat readable (listenable) at all? I’m thinking it’s primarily because of the steady high-speed clip of the ever-expanding action - it’s just flying by, the universe. Which in turn is in the writing perfectly adapted to the original serialized publication of the stories as pulp fiction.
For some reason, I actually feel like the pure science fiction of it all is less interesting here than in the Skylark cycle. It’s just overshadowed here by the genetically engineered, merciless, neverending cult-like postulated goodness of the Lensmen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!