Far Futures

· · · ·
· Blackstone Audio Inc. · Narrated by various narrators, Vikas Adam, Paul Boehmer, Susan Hanfield, Alex Hyde-White, and Stefan Rudnicki
2 reviews
Audiobook
16 hr 53 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook

Five novellas of hard science fiction by five modern masters of the form

From Nebula Award winner Gregory Benford comes this ambitious hard SF anthology that collects five original novellas. Each one takes the very long view—all are set at least ten thousand years in the future. The authors take a rigorously scientific view of such grand panoramas, confronting the largest issues of cosmology, astronomy, evolution, and biology.

The last moments of a universe beseiged occupy Greg Bear's Judgment Engine. Can something human matter at the very end of creation, as contorted matter ceases to have meaning and time itself stutters to an eerie halt?

Genesis by Poul Anderson is set a billion years ahead, when humanity has become extinct. Earth is threatened by the slowly warming sun, and vast machine intelligences decide to recreate humans.

Donald Kingsbury contributes Historical Crisis, a starting work on the prediction of the human future that challenges the foundations of psychohistory, as developed in Isaac Asimov's famous Foundation Trilogy.

Joe Haldeman's For White Hill confronts humanity with hostile aliens who remorselessly grind down every defense against them. A lone artist struggles to find a place in this distant, wondrous future when humanity seems doomed.

In At the Eschaton by Charles Sheffield, a man tries to rescue his dying wife from oblivion by hurling himself forward, in both space and time, to the very end of the universe itself.

Five novellas of hard science fiction by five modern masters of the form From Nebula Award winner Gregory Benford comes this ambitious hard SF anthology that collects five original novellas. Each one takes the very long view—all are set at least ten thousand years in the future. The authors take ...

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Ratings and reviews

2 reviews
Nigel Hanks
January 8, 2024
excellent but for money, I expect a proper table of contents. lack of comprehensive contents = incomplete product
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Logan Smith
May 11, 2023
good app
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About the author

Greg Bear is an American author of more than forty books spanning the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. His science fiction works have covered themes of galactic conflict, artificial universes, consciousness and cultural practice, and accelerated evolution. His fiction has garnered five Nebula Awards, two Hugo Awards, the Monty Award, and the Heinlein Award. He has also been an illustrator of science fiction works in both hardcover and paperback. He has written articles on film for the Los Angeles Times and book reviews for the San Diego Union. He is a founding member of the Association of Science Fiction Artists and of the San Diego Comic-Con. and has served as president and vice president of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He has also served as a consultant for NASA, the US Army, the State Department, and other organizations on such matters as crime and criminal justice, virology and evolution, and bio security.

Poul Anderson (1926–2001) was one of the most prolific and popular writers in science fiction. He won the Hugo Award seven times and the Nebula Award three times, as well as many other awards, including the Grand Master Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America for a lifetime of distinguished achievement. With a degree in physics and a wide knowledge of other fields of science, he was noted for building stories on a solid foundation of real science, as well as for being one of the most skilled creators of fast-paced adventure stories. He was author of over one hundred novels and story collections, several hundred short stories, and several mysteries and nonfiction books.

Joe Haldeman is an American author of award-winning science fiction and nonfiction works and a part-time professor at MIT. He earned a BS in physics and astronomy, as well as an MFA in writing. Drafted into the military, he served in Vietnam as a combat engineer in 1968 and 1969, was severely wounded, and earned a Purple Heart. His experience in war and in returning to civilian life are themes he uses in much of his writing. He is the author of numerous novels and several series, including the Forever War series. His science fiction has earned many awards, including five Hugo Awards, five Nebula Awards, a John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, a Locus Award, three Rhysling Awards, a World Fantasy Award, and a James Tiptree Jr. Award. Haldeman was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 2009, received the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement in 2010, and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2012.

Charles Sheffield (1935–2002) was a mathematician, physicist, and author of both nonfiction and science fiction. For his novel Brother to Dragons, he won the 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. He won the Nebula Award in 1993 and the Hugo Award in 1994 for his novelette Georgia on My Mind. He was a president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and of the American Astronautical Society. He served as chief scientist of Earth Satellite Corporation, a company that processed remote sensing satellite data. He was a distinguished lecturer of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a board member of the National Space Society. Born and educated in England, he held bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics and a doctorate in theoretical physics.

Gregory Benford is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. A Woodrow Wilson Fellow and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, he received the Lord Prize for contributions to science in 1995 and the Asimov Memorial Award for popularizing science in 2007. He has written numerous works of science fiction, receiving a Nebula Award and a John W. Campbell Memorial Award for his novel Timescape.

Claire Bloom, CBE, is an English film and stage actress, known for leading roles in plays such as Streetcar Named Desire, A Doll’s House, and Long Day’s Journey into Night, along with nearly sixty films and countless television roles, during a career spanning over six decades. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Queen’s birthday honors for services to drama.

Judy Young is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.

Vikas Adam is a classically trained actor with numerous credits in stage, film, commercials, and television, in addition to his hundreds of recorded audiobooks. In 2025 he was named a Golden Voice, AudioFile magazine’s lifetime achievement honor for audiobook narrators. His narrations have garnered numerous other awards and nominations, including more than twenty-five AudioFile Earphones Awards, various Best of the Year lists, and the prestigious Audie Award. He was an inaugural inductee into the Audible Narrator Hall of Fame.

J. Paul Boehmer is an American actor best known for his numerous appearances in the Star Trek universe. Hkis audiobook narrations have garnered nine AudioFile Earphones Awards and two prestigious Audie Awards for Best Narration, besides being a finalist for the Audie Award in 2012 and 2015. Between narrations, he is active in regional theaters across the country. His television appearances include guest spots on Nip/Tuck and Numb3rs.

Susan Hanfield is an Audie Award–winning narrator who comes from a strong classical theater background and loves bringing deep characterizations to all of her work. She has narrated over twenty books, including Ru Emerson’s six-book Night-Threads series. On camera, she has been seen commercially and in numerous international, national, and regional network spots. She also played the title character in Magdalene, an award-winning short film.

Alex Hyde-White is an actor and a producer of two films and hundreds of audiobooks thru his label Punch Audio.

Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than five thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than nine hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices in 2012.

Greg Bear is an American author of more than forty books spanning the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. His science fiction works have covered themes of galactic conflict, artificial universes, consciousness and cultural practice, and accelerated evolution. His fiction has garnered fiv...

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