
The Big Front Yard
And Other Stories
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 $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
About this listen
Tales of the unknown in which a fix-it man crosses into another dimension - and more
Hiram Taine is a handyman who can fix anything. When he isn't fiddling with his tools, he is roaming through the woods with his dog, Towser, as he has done for as long as he can remember. He likes things that he can understand. But when a new ceiling appears in his basement - a ceiling that appears to have the ability to repair television sets so they're better than before - he knows he has come up against a mystery that no man can solve.
Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, The Big Front Yard is a powerful story about what happens when an ordinary man finds reality coming apart around him. Along with the other stories in this collection, it is some of the most lyrical science fiction ever published.
Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this book.
©2015 the Estate of Clifford D. Simak (P)2020 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
I Am Crying All Inside
- And Other Stories (The Complete Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak, Book 1)
- By: Clifford D. Simak
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot, Jonathan Davis, Kevin T. Collins, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
People work; folk play. That is how it has been in this country for as long as Sam can remember. He is happy, and he understands that this is the way it should be. People are bigger than folk. They are stronger. They do not need food or water. They do not need the warmth of a fire. All they need are jobs to do and a blacksmith to fix them when they break. The people work so the folk can drink their moonshine, fish a little, and throw horseshoes. But once Sam starts to wonder why the world is like this, his life will never be the same.
-
-
Classic science fiction short stories
- By Skipper on 05-04-20
-
Way Station
- By: Clifford D. Simak
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Hugo Award-winning classic, Enoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he had done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.
-
-
A very special novel that will inspire you.
- By Noe on 08-08-10
-
City
- By: Clifford D. Simak
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenkins was a robot. He was built to be the perfect worker, tireless and uncomplaining. But, quite unexpectedly, he also became a close companion to generation after generation of his owners as the human race matured, moved beyond the confines of its once tiny planet, and eventually changed beyond all recognition.
-
-
A very special kind of story.
- By Andrew on 08-27-08
-
Special Deliverance
- By: Clifford Simak
- Narrated by: David Baker
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following a conversation with a talking slot machine, Professor Edward Lansing finds himself mysteriously transported to a tavern on a long and empty road. It is immediately obvious to the educator that he is no longer on campus - or even Earth - and that he is not alone. Lansing's new companions - a female engineer, a military officer, a humorless priest, a poetess, and a robot named Jurgens - all hail from separate alternate realities and share Lansing's confusion.
-
-
You're there, now
- By ciak on 05-23-25
By: Clifford Simak
-
Mastodonia
- By: Clifford Simak
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In rural Wisconsin, wonder clashes dangerously with corporate greed when an alien visitor opens up a gateway through time into a breathtaking prehistoric lost world. On sabbatical from teaching at a small university, paleontologist Asa Steele is content to relax amid the pastoral splendor of his Wisconsin farm. That is until his dog starts bringing home unrecognizable artifacts and, strangest of all, fresh dinosaur bones.
-
-
Excellent. But more could have been explored.
- By JSH9 on 06-04-23
By: Clifford Simak
-
All Flesh Is Grass
- By: Clifford Simak
- Narrated by: Steven Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nothing much ever happens in Millville, a small, secluded middle-American community - until the day Brad Carter discovers he is unable to leave. It's not just the nearly bankrupt real estate agent who's being held prisoner; every other resident is also being confined within the town's boundaries by an invisible force field that cannot be breached. As local tensions rapidly reach a breaking point, a set of bizarre circumstances leads Brad to the source of their captivity.
-
-
This is a think piece.
- By Kindle Customer on 09-14-23
By: Clifford Simak
-
I Am Crying All Inside
- And Other Stories (The Complete Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak, Book 1)
- By: Clifford D. Simak
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot, Jonathan Davis, Kevin T. Collins, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
People work; folk play. That is how it has been in this country for as long as Sam can remember. He is happy, and he understands that this is the way it should be. People are bigger than folk. They are stronger. They do not need food or water. They do not need the warmth of a fire. All they need are jobs to do and a blacksmith to fix them when they break. The people work so the folk can drink their moonshine, fish a little, and throw horseshoes. But once Sam starts to wonder why the world is like this, his life will never be the same.
-
-
Classic science fiction short stories
- By Skipper on 05-04-20
-
Way Station
- By: Clifford D. Simak
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Hugo Award-winning classic, Enoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he had done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.
-
-
A very special novel that will inspire you.
- By Noe on 08-08-10
-
City
- By: Clifford D. Simak
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenkins was a robot. He was built to be the perfect worker, tireless and uncomplaining. But, quite unexpectedly, he also became a close companion to generation after generation of his owners as the human race matured, moved beyond the confines of its once tiny planet, and eventually changed beyond all recognition.
-
-
A very special kind of story.
- By Andrew on 08-27-08
-
Special Deliverance
- By: Clifford Simak
- Narrated by: David Baker
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following a conversation with a talking slot machine, Professor Edward Lansing finds himself mysteriously transported to a tavern on a long and empty road. It is immediately obvious to the educator that he is no longer on campus - or even Earth - and that he is not alone. Lansing's new companions - a female engineer, a military officer, a humorless priest, a poetess, and a robot named Jurgens - all hail from separate alternate realities and share Lansing's confusion.
-
-
You're there, now
- By ciak on 05-23-25
By: Clifford Simak
-
Mastodonia
- By: Clifford Simak
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In rural Wisconsin, wonder clashes dangerously with corporate greed when an alien visitor opens up a gateway through time into a breathtaking prehistoric lost world. On sabbatical from teaching at a small university, paleontologist Asa Steele is content to relax amid the pastoral splendor of his Wisconsin farm. That is until his dog starts bringing home unrecognizable artifacts and, strangest of all, fresh dinosaur bones.
-
-
Excellent. But more could have been explored.
- By JSH9 on 06-04-23
By: Clifford Simak
-
All Flesh Is Grass
- By: Clifford Simak
- Narrated by: Steven Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nothing much ever happens in Millville, a small, secluded middle-American community - until the day Brad Carter discovers he is unable to leave. It's not just the nearly bankrupt real estate agent who's being held prisoner; every other resident is also being confined within the town's boundaries by an invisible force field that cannot be breached. As local tensions rapidly reach a breaking point, a set of bizarre circumstances leads Brad to the source of their captivity.
-
-
This is a think piece.
- By Kindle Customer on 09-14-23
By: Clifford Simak
-
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
- By: Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister, Ray Porter, Jonathan Davis
- Length: 51 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From early work like "Rescue Party" and "The Lion of Comarre", through classic stories including "The Star", "Earthlight", "The Nine Billion Names of God", and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the later novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey), all the way to later work like "A Meeting with Medusa" and "The Hammer of God", this comprehensive short story collection encapsulates one of the great science fiction careers of all time.
-
-
List of stories from
- By KW Charlie on 09-15-16
By: Arthur C. Clarke
-
About Time
- 12 Short Stories
- By: Jack Finney
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, James Anderson Foster, Steven Jay Cohen, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
About Time offers a delightful return to the world of time travel and light comedy that distinguished Jack Finney’s all-time classic Time and Again. The protagonists of these 12 stories are well-meaning but at odds with their surroundings and their lives. The time to which they escape - through time travel - doesn’t always fulfill their expectations in the way they had hoped, but sometimes, they can still find their dreams.
-
-
Finney always good
- By Darryl on 07-02-20
By: Jack Finney
-
Space: 1969
- By: Bill Oakley
- Narrated by: Natasha Lyonne, full cast
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nancy Kranich (played by Emmy-nominated actress Natasha Lyonne of Russian Doll and Orange Is the New Black) is a night nurse on an orbiting space station. But Nancy hates her job, is sick of space, and longs to find adventure and a safe place to smoke cigarettes that won’t blow everyone up. But when Nancy gets caught up in an outer-space conspiracy involving President Kennedy, former vice-president Richard Nixon, and an intergalactic object that could change the course of history, she gets way more adventure than she bargained for.
-
-
Simply the Best Full-Cast Audio Book Ever!
- By Veritas on 07-09-22
By: Bill Oakley
-
His Majesty's Airship
- The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine
- By: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tragic fate of the British airship R101—which went down in a spectacular fireball in 1930, killing more people than died in the Hindenburg disaster seven years later—has been largely forgotten. In His Majesty’s Airship, S.C. Gwynne resurrects it in vivid detail, telling the epic story of great ambition gone terribly wrong.
-
-
O, The Humanity
- By Glenn G Poole II on 06-11-23
By: S. C. Gwynne
-
A Night in the Lonesome October
- By: Roger Zelazny
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Loyally accompanying a mysterious knife-wielding gentleman named Jack on his midnight rounds through the murky streets of London, good dog Snuff is busy helping his master collect the grisly ingredients needed for an unearthly rite that will take place not long after the death of the moon. But Snuff and his master are not alone. All manner of participants, both human and not, are gathering with their ancient tools and their animal familiars in preparation for the dread night.
-
-
So happy this is finally on Audible!
- By Shannon GC on 08-23-22
By: Roger Zelazny
-
Red Thunder
- The Thunder and Lightning Series, Book 1
- By: John Varley
- Narrated by: Eddie Lopez
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Chinese and US spacecraft compete to be the first to land on Mars, a former astronaut, his cousin, and four teens from Florida decide to take matters into their own hands. If they can quickly build their own space-worthy ship using scrap metal, appliances, and power tools, they have a chance to come from behind - thanks to an inventive new power source that can propel them to the Red Planet within three days. No guts, no glory.
-
-
Highly Enjoyable
- By Barr Bauer on 09-11-21
By: John Varley
-
Slow Time Between the Stars
- The Far Reaches Collection
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Kay Eluvian
- Length: 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Equipped with the entirety of human knowledge, a sentient ship is launched on a last-ditch journey to find a new home for civilization. Trillions of miles. Tens of thousands of years. In the space between, the AI has plenty of time to think about life, the vastness of the universe, everything it was meant to do, and—with a perspective created but not limited by humans—what it should do.
-
-
Lovely story! Lovely performance
- By Lisa on 06-28-23
By: John Scalzi
-
Lovecraft's Monsters
- By: Neil Gaiman, Ellen Datlow - editor
- Narrated by: Bernard Clark
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prepare to meet the wicked progeny of the master of modern horror. In Lovecraft's Monsters, H. P. Lovecraft's most famous creations--Cthulhu, Shoggoths, Deep Ones, Elder Things, Yog-Sothoth, and more--appear in all their terrifying glory. Each story is a gripping new take on a classic Lovecraftian creature. Contributors include such literary luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Karl Edward Wagner, Elizabeth Bear, and Nick Mamatas.
-
-
PURPLE WARMTH
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 02-04-17
By: Neil Gaiman, and others
-
The Fellowship of the Talisman
- By: Clifford Simak
- Narrated by: Nicholas Techosky
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an alternate world where the Dark Ages never ended, "the Evil" that arises every 500 years has prevented all manner of technological advancement, even well into the 20th century. The son of a powerful English noble, young Duncan Standish has always longed to be a soldier of the Lord, and now he's been offered a rare opportunity to fulfill his dream.
By: Clifford Simak
-
The Collected Works of Philip K. Dick: 11 Science Fiction Stories
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Kevin Killavey
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Collected Works of Philip K. Dick is a collection of 11 science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick.
-
-
Good Stories...well read.
- By cindilla on 12-18-12
By: Philip K. Dick
-
The Goblin Reservation
- By: Clifford Simak
- Narrated by: Bernard Setaro Clark
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The hunt for his killer leads a dead professor of supernatural phenomena into the perilous intrigues of aliens, fairy folk, and time travelers in this classic of science fiction. Until the day he was murdered, Professor Peter Maxwell was a respected faculty member of the College of Supernatural Phenomena. Imagine his chagrin when he turns up at a Wisconsin matter transmission station several weeks later and discovers he's not only dead but unemployed.
-
-
Perhaps my #1 favorite Science Fiction Book
- By Signalshifter on 10-15-16
By: Clifford Simak
-
Travels with Charley in Search of America
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Gary Sinise
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In September 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America, from small towns to growing cities to glorious wilderness oases. Travels with Charley is animated by Steinbeck’s attention to the specific details of the natural world and his sense of how the lives of people are intimately connected to the rhythms of nature—to weather, geography, the cycles of the seasons. His keen ear for the transactions among people is evident, too, as he records the interests and obsessions that preoccupy the Americans he encounters along the way.
-
-
Gary Sinise is fantastic!
- By C. Wilson on 01-11-17
By: John Steinbeck
Why it's different than other SF.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
exact same as other titled audiobook
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.