H. BEAM PIPER (1904-1964) was an influential American Science Fiction and Mystery author. Many of his novels and stories are now in the public domain. This has lead to a great flourishing of audiobook versions of his works. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of “Paratime” alternate history tales. As an autodidact, and gun collector, Piper’s tales display his extensive knowledge of history, science and firearms. Themes that appear over and over in Piper’s stories include, self reliance, space opera, time travel, planetary romance, a cyclical view of history, marriage, and law enforcement. Like Robert E. Howard, Piper cut short his career and ended his life at a time of his choosing. Several prominent SF authors claim to have been inspired by H. Beam Piper’s writings.
Public Domain Audiobooks:
Uller Uprising
By H. Beam Piper; Read by various
16 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 5 Hours 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 24, 2008
Uller Uprising is the story of a confrontation between a human overlord and alien servants, with an ironic twist at the end. Like most of Piper’s best work, Uller Uprising is modeled after an actual event in human history; in this case the Sepoy Mutiny (a Bengal uprising in British-held India brought about when rumors were spread to native soldiers that cartridges being issued by the British were coated with animal fat. The rebellion quickly spread throughout India and led to the massacre of the British Colony at Cawnpore.). Piper’s novel is not a mere retelling of the Indian Mutiny, but rather an analysis of an historical event applied to a similar situation in the far future.
Podcast feed:
http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/uller-uprising-by-h-beam-piper.xml
Space Viking
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
10 Zipped MP3s or Podcast – Approx. 7.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 6th 2008
A galactic war has left the Terran Federation in ruins. Formerly civilized planets have decivilized into barbarism. Space Vikings roam the wreckage, plundering and killing for gain. Lord Lucas Trask of Traskon was no admirer of the Space Vikings, but when murder takes his wife on his wedding day, Trask trades everything he has for his own Space Viking ship and sets out on a galaxy-wide quest for revenge.
Here’s the podcast feed:
http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/space-viking-by-h-beam-piper.xml
The Cosmic Computer
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Mark Nelson
11 MP3s or 11 OGG Files – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox
Published: COMPLETED January 15th 2006
Conn Maxwell returns from Terra to his poverty-stricken home planet of Poictesme, “The Junkyard Planet”, with news of the possible location of Merlin, a military super-computer rumored to have been abandoned there after the last war. The inhabitants hope to find Merlin, which they think will be their ticket to wealth and prosperity. But is Merlin real, or just an old rumor? And if they find it will it save them, or tear them apart?
Little Fuzzy
By H.Beam Piper; Read by Maureen O’Brien
17 Zipped MP3 Files – 6 Hours 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
PODCAST: Maria Lectrix
COMPLETED: October 2006
Available at: Archive.org
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Five Sci-Fi Short Stories By H. Beam Piper
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Mark Nelson
9 MP3 Files or 1 Zipped File of MP3s – Approx. 5 Hour 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 2007
Stories Included:
1. The Answer |MP3| (Fantastic Universe Science Fiction, December, 1959)
2. Temple Trouble |Part 1 MP3|Part 2 MP3| (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1951)
3. Flight From Tomorrow |MP3| (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1948)
4. Police Operation |Part 1 MP3|Part 2 MP3|Part 3 MP3| (A novelette from the pages of Future combined with Science Fiction Stories magazine, the September/October 1950 issue)
5. Graveyard Of Dreams |MP3| (Galaxy Magazine‘s February 1958 issue)
Oomphel In The Sky
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Mark Nelson
4 Zipped MP3s – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2007
Natives of the distant planet of Kwannon believe that their world is about to end, and in preparing for the apocalypse, may be unnecessarily bringing about their own demise. The planetary government can’t overcome its own bureaucracy to help them, and the military is overwhelmed. Can a single newsman change the course of a whole people, and save their world.
Omnilingual
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Mark Nelson
5 Zipped MP3s – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2007
An expedition to Mars discovers the remains of an advanced civilization, which died out many thousands of years ago. They recovered books and documents left behind, and are puzzled by their contents. Would the team find their “Rosetta Stone” that would allow them to unlock the Martian language, and learn the secrets of this long-dead race?
Flight From Tomorrow
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Jerome Lawsen
1 |MP3| – Approx. 47 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 25, 2008
First published in the unwieldy titled “‘Future’ combined with ‘Science Fiction Stories’” magazine’s September/October 1950 issue. This one’s a novelette, an out-in-out time travel tale, that though a bit predictable, and certainly very period, has a certain vintage charm. Jerome Lawsen, reads it well.
Crossroads of Destiny
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Alex C. Telander
1 |MP3| – Approx. 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
No wonder he’d been so interested in the talk of whether our people accepted these theories! *First published in the July 1959 issue of Fantastic Universe Science Fiction magazine.
Time and Time Again
By H. Beam Piper; Read by R. J. Davis
1 |MP3| – Approx. 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 2008
The Answer
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Nicodemus
1 |MP3| Approx. 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007
The Return
By H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire; Read by Reynard T. Fox
2 MP3 Files – 1 Hour 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 4th 2007
Two-hundred years after a global nuclear war, two explorers from a research outpost, that largely survived the cataclysm, discover a settlement of humans who have managed to maintain their civilization despite ferocious cannibal neighbours, the Scowrers. However, the explorers must turn detective in order to understand the mystery of their hosts philosophy and religion.
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|
Podcast feed:
http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-return.xml
The Edge Of The Knife
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Julio Martini
6 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 48 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 12, 2009
The Terro-Human Future History is Piper’s detailed account of the next 6000 years of human history. 1942, the year the first fission reactor was constructed, is defined as the year 1 A.E. (Atomic Era). In 1973, a nuclear war devastates the planet, eventually laying the groundwork for the emergence of a Terran Federation, once humanity goes into space and develops antigravity technology. The story “The Edge of the Knife” (collected in Empire) occurs slightly before the war, and involves a man who sees flashes of the future. It links many key elements of Piper’s series.
Podcast feed:
http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-edge-of-the-knife-by-h-beam-piper.xml
Podiobooks.com
Time Crime
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Nathan Lowell
Podiobook – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: March 2008
“The Paratime Police had a real headache this time! Tracing one man in a population of millions is easy—compared to finding one gang hiding out on one of billions of probability lines! This story from 1955 has rocket ships, time travel, slaves, post-hypnotic suggestions, drugged citizens, and a complete disregard for human rights. And those are the good guys. As a look back in time at “classic” science fiction, it’s an interesting snapshot of a time when tobacco was common, sexism was unconscious, and female characters were a long way from Lara Croft.”
Commercial releases:
Little Fuzzy
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Brian Holsopple
5 CDs – 5 hours, 53 minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
ISBN: 9781897304617
The chartered Zarathustra Company had it all their way. Their charter was for a Class III uninhabited planet, which Zarathustra was, and it meant they owned the planet lock stock and barrel. They exploited it, developed it, and reaped the huge profits from it without interference from the Colonial Government. Then Jack Holloway, a sunstone prospector, appeared on the scene with his family of Fuzzies and the passionate conviction that they were not cute animals but little people…