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The Black Star Passes

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The Black Star Passes

By: John W. Campbell
Narrated by: Gary Dikeos
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About this listen

Three against the stars! A sky pirate armed with superior weapons of his own invention....

First contact with an alien race dangerous enough to threaten the safety of two planets.... The arrival of an unseen dark sun whose attendant marauders aimed at the very end of civilization in this Solar System.... These were the three challenges that tested the skill and minds of the brilliant team of scientist-astronauts Arcot, Wade, and Morey. Their initial adventures are a classic of science fiction that first brought the name of their author, John W. Campbell, Jr., into prominence as a master of the inventive imagination -- long before he became the editor of Astounding/Analog and changed the field of science fiction forever!

Public Domain (P)2011 Audible, Inc. Adventure Hard Science Fiction Military Science Fiction Space Opera Space Fiction Solar System

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Editor reviews

Author Campbell was a science fiction pioneer. He wrote and published the stuff. Modern sci-fi provides future examples of current issues, the presentation and resolution of which makes apt social commentary. The science seems viable and the environments are copiously drawn; verisimilitude is key. The sci-fi of yesteryear will seem flimsy and naïve to modern readers. But these early works, with their famous recurring theme of good versus evil, set the template for the sophisticated fiction of the future. Narrator Gary Dikeos gives a very casual performance in his deep and drawling voice. His tone channels the masculinity of this trio of smart and rugged space cowboys. The sincerity of his performance does help to substantiate this vintage extraterrestrial realm.
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Typical Campbell, the hero’s of the story can invent technology and solve problems on the fly at at the drop of a hat, always able to out smart and anticipate the moves of their alien adversaries. But in the end it is always the novel ideas that are the real heroes of the stories, with some dodgy but always fun explanations of science as understood more than 90-years ago. This can only be enjoyed if you are able to capture the youthful sense of wonder from an age fallen from living memory.

Fixup of 3 stories first published in 1930

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loved the book, but found the narrator boring. it was like listening to an AI reading on the computer, but less inflection.

Good book,bad reader.

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bit of dud for me, I found it over techy to the point it was like the writer was doing a scientific lecture which I'm sure some people would love but for me it came at the expense of the overall story and was a bit unnecessary but I can see how this story influenced sci-fi literature but in my opinion they improved it, the narration was a bit lacklustre too which probably didn't help

not for me

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An interesting start that quickly became a struggle to listen to conflict never seemed to have real consequences and the characters were skin deep

Struggled to finish

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The narrator sounds like AI, tedious monotone that makes my Satnav soundlike Laurence Olivier. Completely ruined what might have been a decent story.

Horrible Monotone

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Rather basic and incredulous story line. Only surpassed by the total reliance on few characters to discover, rediscover develop and deploy scientific discoveries, all in 'the blink of an eye'.
Being well narrated was one of its positive qualities

Rather basic and incredulous story.

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