
The Best of Bova, Volume 1
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 $19.74
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
By:
-
Ben Bova
About this listen
The first volume in a sterling collection of stories from legendary hard science fiction master Ben Bova.
These are selected stories from Bova's amazing career at the center of science fiction and space advocacy. He is the creator of the New York Times best-selling Grand Tour series, a six-time Hugo Award winner, and past president of the National Space Society. The very best of Ben Bova, these stories span the five decades of Bova's incandescent career.
Here are tales of star-faring adventure, peril, and drama. Here are journeys into the mind-bending landscapes of virtual worlds and alternate realities. Here you'll also find stories of humanity's astounding future on Earth, on Mars, and in the solar system beyond - stories that always get the science right. And Bova's gathering of deeply realized, totally human characters are the heroic, brave, tricky, sometimes dastardly engineers, astronauts, corporate magnates, politicians, and scientists who will make these futures possible - and those who often find that the problems of tomorrow are always linked to human values and human failings, which are as timeless as the stars.
©2016 Ben Bova (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Sam Gunn Omnibus
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Richard Brewer, Emily Janice Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, and others
- Length: 29 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A hero without peer or scruples, Sam Gunn has a nose for trouble, money, and women, though not necessarily in that order. A man with the ego (and stature) of a Napoleon, the business acumen of a P. T. Barnum, and the raging hormones of a teenage boy, Sam is the finest astronaut NASA ever trained and dumped. But more than money, more than women, Sam Gunn loves justice—and he really does love money and women.
-
-
SAM GUNN LIFE STORY
- By Professor on 11-02-12
By: Ben Bova
-
The Winds of Altair
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Earth is an old planet, and her teeming masses are running out of resources - and time. It is up to men such as Jeff Holman to discover a haven for Earth’s millions. Altair VI is one such planet, and Holman is determined to transform this world into one where the human race can survive. Star probes long ago informed Earth that Altair VI had a flourishing ecology with one very tough beast at the top of the food chain, one that will have to be dealt with before the human colony ships arrive. The beast is not only tough, it is as smart as a man. Holman is faced with a soul-wrenching decision - for to make Altair VI habitable for humans, all native life must die.
-
-
A classic Bova. Intriguing & Enjoyable
- By Read4Life on 08-27-21
By: Ben Bova
-
Carbide Tipped Pens
- Seventeen Tales of Hard Science Fiction
- By: Ben Bova - editor, Eric Choi - editor
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, J. Paul Boehmer, Cassandra Campbell, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Carbide Tipped Pens,over a dozen of today's most creative imaginations explore these frontiers, carrying on the grand tradition of such legendary masters as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and John W. Campbell, while bringing hard science fiction into the 21st century by extrapolating from the latest scientific developments and discoveries.
-
-
Actually Four and a Half for Provocative Stories
- By Lisa Davidson on 04-15-16
By: Ben Bova - editor, and others
-
Powersat
- The Grand Tour Series
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two hundred thousand feet up, things go horribly wrong. An experimental low-orbit spaceplane breaks up on reentry, falling to earth over a trail hundreds of miles long. And in its wake is the beginning of the most important mission in the history of spaceflight.
-
-
Great book but substandard recording
- By Greg on 11-25-11
By: Ben Bova
-
The Kinsman Saga
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 19 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a startling future that's coming closer every year, Chet Kinsman is an astronaut ace who has done everything one can in space - including commit the first murder. It's a secret he can never escape, not even on the moon, where he's head of the first U.S. lunar colony. A series of shocking yet strangely inevitable circumstances will force Kinsman to confront his hidden past and decide Earth's destiny. In a desperate countdown to nuclear annihilation, Kinsman will struggle against a deadly dilemma: if he rescues the world, he risks destroying himself.
-
-
Slooow unraveling keeps you on edge of your seat
- By GH on 07-17-13
By: Ben Bova
-
Death Wave
- The Star Quest Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Kell and his team return to Earth many years after their departure, they find that their world has changed almost beyond recognition. Not only has a second wave of greenhouse flooding caused sea levels to rise, but society has been changed by the consequences of the climate shift. Few people want to face Jordan Kell's news. He must convince Earth's new rulers that the human race is in danger of extinction unless it acts to forestall the death wave coming from the galaxy's heart.
-
-
complete let down don't waste a credit! !
- By Ryan on 12-02-15
By: Ben Bova
-
The Sam Gunn Omnibus
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Richard Brewer, Emily Janice Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, and others
- Length: 29 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A hero without peer or scruples, Sam Gunn has a nose for trouble, money, and women, though not necessarily in that order. A man with the ego (and stature) of a Napoleon, the business acumen of a P. T. Barnum, and the raging hormones of a teenage boy, Sam is the finest astronaut NASA ever trained and dumped. But more than money, more than women, Sam Gunn loves justice—and he really does love money and women.
-
-
SAM GUNN LIFE STORY
- By Professor on 11-02-12
By: Ben Bova
-
The Winds of Altair
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Earth is an old planet, and her teeming masses are running out of resources - and time. It is up to men such as Jeff Holman to discover a haven for Earth’s millions. Altair VI is one such planet, and Holman is determined to transform this world into one where the human race can survive. Star probes long ago informed Earth that Altair VI had a flourishing ecology with one very tough beast at the top of the food chain, one that will have to be dealt with before the human colony ships arrive. The beast is not only tough, it is as smart as a man. Holman is faced with a soul-wrenching decision - for to make Altair VI habitable for humans, all native life must die.
-
-
A classic Bova. Intriguing & Enjoyable
- By Read4Life on 08-27-21
By: Ben Bova
-
Carbide Tipped Pens
- Seventeen Tales of Hard Science Fiction
- By: Ben Bova - editor, Eric Choi - editor
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, J. Paul Boehmer, Cassandra Campbell, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Carbide Tipped Pens,over a dozen of today's most creative imaginations explore these frontiers, carrying on the grand tradition of such legendary masters as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and John W. Campbell, while bringing hard science fiction into the 21st century by extrapolating from the latest scientific developments and discoveries.
-
-
Actually Four and a Half for Provocative Stories
- By Lisa Davidson on 04-15-16
By: Ben Bova - editor, and others
-
Powersat
- The Grand Tour Series
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two hundred thousand feet up, things go horribly wrong. An experimental low-orbit spaceplane breaks up on reentry, falling to earth over a trail hundreds of miles long. And in its wake is the beginning of the most important mission in the history of spaceflight.
-
-
Great book but substandard recording
- By Greg on 11-25-11
By: Ben Bova
-
The Kinsman Saga
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 19 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a startling future that's coming closer every year, Chet Kinsman is an astronaut ace who has done everything one can in space - including commit the first murder. It's a secret he can never escape, not even on the moon, where he's head of the first U.S. lunar colony. A series of shocking yet strangely inevitable circumstances will force Kinsman to confront his hidden past and decide Earth's destiny. In a desperate countdown to nuclear annihilation, Kinsman will struggle against a deadly dilemma: if he rescues the world, he risks destroying himself.
-
-
Slooow unraveling keeps you on edge of your seat
- By GH on 07-17-13
By: Ben Bova
-
Death Wave
- The Star Quest Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Kell and his team return to Earth many years after their departure, they find that their world has changed almost beyond recognition. Not only has a second wave of greenhouse flooding caused sea levels to rise, but society has been changed by the consequences of the climate shift. Few people want to face Jordan Kell's news. He must convince Earth's new rulers that the human race is in danger of extinction unless it acts to forestall the death wave coming from the galaxy's heart.
-
-
complete let down don't waste a credit! !
- By Ryan on 12-02-15
By: Ben Bova
-
Able One
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a nuclear missile launched by a rogue North Korean faction explodes in space, the resulting shock wave destroys most of the world’s satellites, throwing global communication into chaos. U.S. military satellites, designed to withstand such an assault, show that two more missiles are sitting on launch pads in North Korea, ready to be deployed. Faced with the threat of a thermonuclear attack, the United States has only one possible defense: Able One.
-
-
Wasted
- By Michael on 03-08-10
By: Ben Bova
-
Voyagers
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Ben Bova
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stoner knew. The fiery object hurtling toward the Earth was an alien spacecraft. But the world might never know. He was trapped in an iron cordon of secrecy, for the discovery had shattered the world power balance, setting off a brutal struggle for supremacy that raged from the sacred halls of the Vatican to the corridors of the Kremlin and the Pentagon. The forces of fear and treachery would use any weapon at their command, from mind war to sabotage, to keep the world in darkness.
-
-
Not Quite "Rendezvous With Rama"
- By Noe on 02-26-09
By: Ben Bova
-
Gateways
- Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl
- By: Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, and others
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It isn’t easy to get a group of bestselling SF authors to write new stories for an anthology, but that’s what Elizabeth Anne Hull has done in this powerhouse book. With original, captivating tales by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Larry Niven, Vernor Vinge, Gene Wolfe, and others, Gateways is a SF event that will be a must-buy for SF readers of all tastes, from the traditional to the cutting edge; from the darkly serious to the laugh-out-loud funny.
-
-
Spectacular.
- By Steve Reid on 08-21-15
By: Greg Bear, and others
-
Contamination Super Boxed Set (Books 0-7)
- The Complete Post-Apocalyptic Series
- By: T.W. Piperbrook
- Narrated by: Troy Duran
- Length: 34 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The infection has begun, ravaging the American Southwest and leaving chaos in its wake. In this new world, there will be no last meal, no dying wish. The only reward left is to survive another day...The complete Contamination series - all in this one, special edition.
-
-
absolute garbage writing.
- By James mullins on 04-23-22
By: T.W. Piperbrook
-
Heart of the Comet
- By: Gregory Benford, David Brin
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan, Stefan Rudnicki, Gabrielle de Cuir
- Length: 21 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prescient and scientifically accurate, Heart of the Comet is known as one of the great hard SF novels of the 1980s. First published in 1986, it tells the story of an ambitious manned mission to visit Halley's Comet, alter its orbit, and mine it for resources. But all too soon, native cells - that might once have brought life to Earth - begin colonizing the colonists. As factions battle over the comet's future - and that of Earth - only love, courage, and ingenuity can avert disaster and spark a new human destiny.
-
-
Challenging hard sci-fi with some characterization
- By William Tanksley, Jr. on 08-06-18
By: Gregory Benford, and others
-
Exhalation
- Stories
- By: Ted Chiang
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, Amy Landon, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.
-
-
Masterful and singular
- By Brian on 05-15-19
By: Ted Chiang
-
Unfettered
- Tales By Masters of Fantasy
- By: Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, Robert Jordan, and others
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim, Marc Vietor, Bronson Pinchot, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You define life or it defines you. In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both. Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story that Shawn could sell to help alleviate those bills—and suggested he ask the same of his other writer friends. Unfettered is the result: An anthology built in order to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.
-
-
A TRULY BAD COLLECTION OF DOGS
- By Randall on 12-21-18
By: Terry Brooks, and others
-
Carrion Comfort
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Mel Foster, Laural Merlington
- Length: 39 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Caught behind the lines of Hitler's Final Solution, Saul Laski is one of the multitudes destined to die in the notorious Chelmno extermination camp. Until he rises to meet his fate and finds himself face to face with an evil far older, and far greater, than the Nazis themselves. Compelled by the encounter to survive at all costs, so begins a journey that for Saul will span decades and cross continents, plunging into the darkest corners of 20th century history to reveal a secret society of beings who may often exist behind the world's most horrible and violent events.
-
-
Idk who needs to see this, but TRIGGER WARNING
- By WBA on 11-05-19
By: Dan Simmons
-
Minority Report and Other Stories (Unabridged Stories)
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Keir Dullea
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Viewed by many as the greatest science fiction writer on any planet, Philip K. Dick has written some of the most intriguing, original, and thought-provoking fiction of our time. This collection includes "The Minority Report," "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," "Paycheck," "Second Variety," and "The Eyes Have It."
-
-
Nice Collection of Four P.D.K. Short Stories
- By DailyDog on 05-12-11
By: Philip K. Dick
-
Wool
- The Silo Saga, Book 1
- By: Hugh Howey
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world outside has grown toxic, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. The remnants of humanity live underground in a single silo. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they want: They are allowed to go outside.
-
-
THIS is a strong female character
- By Alex on 03-23-23
By: Hugh Howey
-
Shadow Show
- All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
- By: Sam Weller - editor, Mort Castle - editor
- Narrated by: George Takei, Edward Herrmann, Kate Mulgrew, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Bradbury - peerless storyteller, poet of the impossible, and one of America's most beloved authors - is a literary giant whose remarkable career spanned seven decades. Now 26 of today's most diverse and celebrated authors offer new short works in honor of the master; stories of heart, intelligence, and dark wonder from a remarkable range of creative artists.
-
-
THE MAN WHO FORGOT RAY BRADBURY
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-27-17
By: Sam Weller - editor, and others
-
The Mote in God's Eye
- By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
- Narrated by: L J Ganser
- Length: 20 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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".
-
-
A great read!
- By J. Rhoderick on 02-12-10
By: Larry Niven, and others
I tell you true, no clunkers here. All the stories are good listening. Some grabbed me and wouldn't turn loose until the last words. Wow!
Grabbed by the vitals I hung clinging to my cliff as words flowed by. Some like that, great stuff, some good stuff, and no duds.
Good writing is good reading, and, or listening.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A tribute, not a gem
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A little dated, but worth the read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not the best of bova
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.