The Shockwave Rider
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
Buy for $15.67
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Stefan Rudnicki
-
By:
-
John Brunner
About this listen
He was the most dangerous fugitive, but didn’t exist!
Nickie Haflinger had lived several lifetimes...but technically never existed. He was originally a fugitive from Tarnover, the incredibly powerful government think tank that educated him. First he had broken his identity code - then he made his escape.
Now he needed to find a way to restore sanity and freedom to the computerized masses and save a world nearing the brink of disaster. He didn’t care how he accomplished this - but the government did. That’s when his Tarnover teachers took him back into their labs, where Nickie Haflinger was set up to receive a whole new education.
©2014 John Brunner (P)2020 by Blackstone Publishing and Skyboat Media, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Stand on Zanzibar
- By: John Brunner, Bruce Sterling - foreword
- Narrated by: Erik Bergmann
- Length: 21 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Niblock House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of a few all-powerful corporations. His work is leading General Technics to the forefront of global domination, both in the marketplace and politically - it's about to take over a country in Africa. Donald Hogan is his roommate, a seemingly sheepish bookworm. But Hogan is a spy, and he's about to discover a breakthrough in genetic engineering that will change the world...and kill him. Society is squeezed into hive-living madness by god-like mega computers and mass-marketed psychedelic drugs.
-
-
perfect audio experience
- By Darryl on 03-24-14
By: John Brunner, and others
-
Roadmarks
- By: Roger Zelazny
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Road runs from the unimaginable past to the far future, and those who travel it have access to the turnoffs leading to all times and places - even to the alternate time-streams of histories that never happened. Why the Dragons of Bel'kwinith made the Road - or who they are - no one knows. But the Road has always been there and for those who know how to find it, it always will be!
-
-
A Sparkling Gem by a Master of Sci Fi & Fantasy
- By Bonnie on 01-20-22
By: Roger Zelazny
-
Starter Villain
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.
-
-
Volcanic Lairs, Death Rays & Cats… Oh My! 😼
- By C. White on 09-19-23
By: John Scalzi
-
City of Last Chances
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse. What will be the spark that lights the conflagration? Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood–that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.
-
-
Occupied Paris during WW2 In Fantasy World?
- By caleb on 06-19-23
-
The Eleventh Gate
- By: Nancy Kress
- Narrated by: Braden Wright
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite economic and territorial tensions, no one wants the city-states of the Eight Worlds to repeat the Terran Collapse by going to war. But when war accidentally happens, everyone seeks ways to exploit it for gain. The Landry and Peregoy ruling dynasties see opportunities to grab territory, increase profits, and settle old scores. Exploited underclasses use war to fuel rebellion. Ambitious heirs can finally topple their elders’ regimes - or try to.
-
-
Best book I've listened to all year.
- By William L. on 05-15-20
By: Nancy Kress
-
Carrier Wave
- By: Robert Brockway
- Narrated by: Michael Braun
- Length: 22 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humanity listened to the night sky. What we heard shattered the world. Listen. Just once. That’s it. As soon as you hear it, it has you. And once it has you, it’s over. You may think you’re in control. You’re not. You want one more listen. You want to look at that strange spot in the sky. The one that’s been slowly growing. The one that didn’t make sense...until you listened. You want to listen again, and you will do whatever it takes to make everyone else listen. By any means necessary. Even if it kills you. Just one more listen. One more. Listen.
-
-
WHAT A RIDE!
- By Amazon Customer on 06-13-23
By: Robert Brockway
-
Stand on Zanzibar
- By: John Brunner, Bruce Sterling - foreword
- Narrated by: Erik Bergmann
- Length: 21 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Niblock House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of a few all-powerful corporations. His work is leading General Technics to the forefront of global domination, both in the marketplace and politically - it's about to take over a country in Africa. Donald Hogan is his roommate, a seemingly sheepish bookworm. But Hogan is a spy, and he's about to discover a breakthrough in genetic engineering that will change the world...and kill him. Society is squeezed into hive-living madness by god-like mega computers and mass-marketed psychedelic drugs.
-
-
perfect audio experience
- By Darryl on 03-24-14
By: John Brunner, and others
-
Roadmarks
- By: Roger Zelazny
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Road runs from the unimaginable past to the far future, and those who travel it have access to the turnoffs leading to all times and places - even to the alternate time-streams of histories that never happened. Why the Dragons of Bel'kwinith made the Road - or who they are - no one knows. But the Road has always been there and for those who know how to find it, it always will be!
-
-
A Sparkling Gem by a Master of Sci Fi & Fantasy
- By Bonnie on 01-20-22
By: Roger Zelazny
-
Starter Villain
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.
-
-
Volcanic Lairs, Death Rays & Cats… Oh My! 😼
- By C. White on 09-19-23
By: John Scalzi
-
City of Last Chances
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse. What will be the spark that lights the conflagration? Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood–that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.
-
-
Occupied Paris during WW2 In Fantasy World?
- By caleb on 06-19-23
-
The Eleventh Gate
- By: Nancy Kress
- Narrated by: Braden Wright
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite economic and territorial tensions, no one wants the city-states of the Eight Worlds to repeat the Terran Collapse by going to war. But when war accidentally happens, everyone seeks ways to exploit it for gain. The Landry and Peregoy ruling dynasties see opportunities to grab territory, increase profits, and settle old scores. Exploited underclasses use war to fuel rebellion. Ambitious heirs can finally topple their elders’ regimes - or try to.
-
-
Best book I've listened to all year.
- By William L. on 05-15-20
By: Nancy Kress
-
Carrier Wave
- By: Robert Brockway
- Narrated by: Michael Braun
- Length: 22 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humanity listened to the night sky. What we heard shattered the world. Listen. Just once. That’s it. As soon as you hear it, it has you. And once it has you, it’s over. You may think you’re in control. You’re not. You want one more listen. You want to look at that strange spot in the sky. The one that’s been slowly growing. The one that didn’t make sense...until you listened. You want to listen again, and you will do whatever it takes to make everyone else listen. By any means necessary. Even if it kills you. Just one more listen. One more. Listen.
-
-
WHAT A RIDE!
- By Amazon Customer on 06-13-23
By: Robert Brockway
-
Schismatrix Plus
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Pavi Proczko
- Length: 17 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed science fiction luminary and a godfather of the genre’s remarkable offspring - cyberpunk - Bruce Sterling carries readers to a far-future universe where stunning achievements in human development have been tainted by a virulent outbreak of prejudice and hatred.
-
-
Sci-fi should be weird but...
- By Ryan H. on 02-11-21
By: Bruce Sterling
-
Elixir
- A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life
- By: Theresa Levitt
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For centuries, scientists believed that living matter possessed a special quality—a spirit or essence—that differentiated it from nonliving matter. But by the nineteenth century, the scientific consensus was that the building blocks of one were identical to the building blocks of the other. Elixir tells the story of two young chemists who were not convinced, and how their work rewrote the boundary between life and nonlife.
-
-
Thrilling History of Organic Chemistry
- By Mark E. White on 06-13-23
By: Theresa Levitt
-
The Diamond Age
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neal Stephenson, "the hottest science fiction writer in America", takes science fiction to dazzling new levels. The Diamond Age is a stunning tale; set in 21st-century Shanghai, it is the story of what happens what a state-of-the-art interactive device falls into the hands of a street urchin named Nell. Her life, and the entire future of humanity, is about to be decoded and reprogrammed.
-
-
The rock could use a bit more polishing
- By Tango on 05-19-13
By: Neal Stephenson
-
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
-
The Star King
- The Demon Princes Series, Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Five intergalactic criminal masterminds raid the tranquil world of Mount Pleasant, leaving behind only ruin and slaughter - and the orphaned child Kirth Gersen, who comes to manhood swearing to take bloody revenge. Now Gersen roams the galaxy, bringing vengeance to the Demon Princes one by one, in Jack Vance's classic series of hardboiled space opera.
-
-
A longtime favorite, perfectly narrated
- By Gan on 03-05-22
By: Jack Vance
-
Neuromancer
- By: William Gibson
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty years ago, it was as if someone turned on a light. The future blazed into existence with each deliberate word that William Gibson laid down. The winner of Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer didn't just explode onto the science fiction scene - it permeated into the collective consciousness, culture, science, and technology.Today, there is only one science fiction masterpiece to thank for the term "cyberpunk," for easing the way into the information age and Internet society.
-
-
Story? Classic. Narrator? Ugh.
- By Sage on 11-11-14
By: William Gibson
-
The Cyberiad
- Fables for the Cybernetic Age
- By: Stanislaw Lem
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trurl and Klaupacius are constructor robots who try to out-invent each other. Over the course of their adventures in The Cyberiad, they travel to the far corners of the cosmos to take on freelance problem-solving jobs, with dire consequences for their unsuspecting employers.
-
-
If Dr. Suess Wrote Science Fiction...
- By Nils J. Rasmussen on 05-27-14
By: Stanislaw Lem
-
Below Us
- The Abyss, Book 1
- By: Nathan Hystad
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a rough break up, Wyatt moves to New York City, eager to prove himself while working on Wall Street. When he’s asked to visit the father of his ex-girlfriend, a billionaire tycoon, his fate is sealed. The revolutionary company, Nu-En, launches a radical innovation, an energy that will allow every person on the planet access to power. Only it doesn’t perform as anticipated. Harnessing the ocean has consequences, and highly dangerous creatures emerge from the depths. Soon, the Earth is fracturing, and the world will never be the same.
-
-
Interesting story but..
- By Mike Fedotov on 09-28-23
By: Nathan Hystad
-
Julia
- By: Sandra Newman
- Narrated by: Louise Brearley
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, chief city of Airstrip One, the third most populous province of Oceania. It's 1984 and Julia Worthing works as a mechanic fixing the novel-writing machines in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. Under the ideology of IngSoc and the rule of the Party and its leader Big Brother, Julia is a model citizen - cheerfully cynical, believing in nothing and caring not at all about politics. She routinely breaks the rules but also collaborates with the regime whenever necessary. Everyone likes Julia.
-
-
Letdown
- By jay on 12-10-23
By: Sandra Newman
-
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
-
The Will of the Many
- Hierarchy, Book 1
- By: James Islington
- Narrated by: Euan Morton
- Length: 28 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Catenan Republic—the Hierarchy—may rule the world now, but they do not know everything. I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilized society in allowing my strength, my drive, and my focus—what they call Will—to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do.
-
-
I don’t know what the other reviews are on about
- By Chase on 06-24-23
By: James Islington
-
The Cretaceous Past
- By: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: BJ Harrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a Tyrannosaurus rex suffers pain from meat trapped between its enormous teeth, a nearby colony of ants risks entering the great creature's maw to make their own repast from the remains of the dinosaur's most recent meal. From this humble beginning, over the course of millennia, a symbiotic civilization achieves amazing advances, facing dangers and exploiting opportunities at every turn.
-
-
Maddeningly Accessible
- By Makelessnoise on 01-07-22
By: Cixin Liu
What listeners say about The Shockwave Rider
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ian
- 07-30-24
Very abrupt transitions
The sidebars and narrators all blur together because the performer doesn’t put any pauses in his narration. It feels like the story is random stream of consciousness at times because of that.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- SW CORNER
- 04-09-24
Classic Sci Fi from a master
Reading "The Shockwave Rider", back in the '70s, I marveled at the level of quality Brunner brought to another book, following the insanely unique and inventive "Stand on Zanzibar".
Brunner was a very prolific science fiction writer. I read at least a dozen of his books. With the exception of "Stand on Zanzibar", "The Shockwave Rider", "The Seep Look Up" and "The Jagged Orbit", I judged most of them to be of the "pulp" variety, despite the fact that they were always entertaining. I imagined him a suitable inspiration for Vonnegut's character, Kilgore Trout.
When you hear ""The Shockwave Rider", it is vitally important that you keep in mind, that it was written in 1975, long before the internet, before cell phones, before computers were commonplace, before the concept of computer viruses were familiar, even among computer scientists. Brunner's amazing foretelling of these integral parts of today's global reality are astounding, all by themselves. To have put them together in a compelling and masterfully told story is more than a treat, it's almost a miracle.
I was thankful that he had discarded the repeated 4-different-narrative-style organization of "Stand on Zanzibar" (a la John Dos Passos?) to write his other books, and presented "Shockwave Rider" in a more conventional narrative form. I DO NOT recommend the audio version of "Zanzibar", not because I didn't like it, I've never heard it. I have had the unfortunate experience of listening to an audio version of a great book that was difficult to follow, solely by being unable to see the text, instead of merely hearing it. To me, "Zanzibar" would have to be as awful to hear, as it was a joy to read.
All of Brunner's great work is diminished, once again, by the continually disappointing narration of the unaccountably popular Stefan Rudnicki. His rich, bass-baritone voice and excellent articulation are constantly at war with his inability, or unwillingness, to convey distinct audio identification to characters, leaving the listener to wonder who is speaking in every conversation, and missing the emotional nuance required by the text. Even when a spark of differentiation is heard from a particular character, it vanishes before the character's audio identity can be established. Worse still, his name shows up very often, in the titles I choose, more often than any other narrator.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- kerry
- 07-23-21
Best Science Fiction Writer Ever
I’m so glad there are now audio versions of my favorite author’s best work. If you haven’t read The Sheep Look Up or Stand On Zanzibar, get to it. I have to keep wondering how he could have written these and his other prescient works before the internet, suicide bombings, school shootings, or the for profit opioid epidemic, to name just a few visionary ideas. The somewhat hokey endings only make the reality of today’s crazy world sadder.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M.D.
- 03-17-24
Not for everyone
Listened to a almost half and could not get into the story or connect with the characters.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 03-31-24
Not what it sounds like
I couldn’t get into this one. The preview made it sound good, but this isn’t the type of book that I’m interested in.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!