Preview

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Crawlers

By: Philip K. Dick
Narrated by: Mark Bowen
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $1.43

Buy for $1.43

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

The Crawlers is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick. Submitted under the title Foundling Home, it was first published as The Crawlers in Imagination magazine, July 1954.

The story starts out from the point of view of a crawler constructing one of its curious hives. The crawler seems sentient and to genuinely enjoy building its odd dwelling.

The story is set in a small Midwestern town, with references later in the story to mysterious "pools" which seem to cause mutations. Certain families in the area have begun to give birth to abnormal children – "crawlers" – with long, soft, pale, elongated bodies. They have poisonous stings (one crawler stung a dog, who promptly turned black and hard, and died soon after) and pulpy exteriors, and seem to emit a kind of glue that allows them to build. The crawlers seem to love building, and a colony of survivors, crawlers who were not killed by disgusted parents, have set up a hive not far from the town. A government official proposes a plan to move the crawlers to an island, where they can be alone, unpersecuted and with the ability to build as much as they like.

©2023 Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing (P)2023 Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Crawlers

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.