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Review of The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

SFFaudio Radio Drama Review

The Gripping Hand
By Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle; Read by Jay O. Sanders
2 Cassettes – Approx. 3 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Published: 1993
ISBN: 0671791109
Themes: / Science Fiction / Hard SF / Biology / Politics / Economics /Galactic Civilization / Galactic Empire / Mormonism /

Twenty-five years have passed since the second Empire of man quarantined the mysterious aliens known only as Moties within the confines of their own solar system – afraid of the threat these aliens may pose to man kind. But the wall seperating man from the Moties is beginning to crumble…

The Gripping Hand is set in a the “CoDominium” universe originated by Jerry Pournelle. This is the sequel to their first novel together, The Mote In God’s Eye (not available on audio). The setting is that of a future interstellar empire in which humanity has only one major rival for complete dominance. The so-called “Moties” are an intelligent species that is so war-like, so very dangerous, that an enitre human naval task force sits blockading the Motie system’s only exit. The Moties are a species divided into distinct biological forms, each serving a different function. Master. Mediator. Engineer. Warrior. Each type is supremely adapted to its task, and only constant civil war has kept their population in check. Combined with the specialization is a terrible burden; if Moties don’t breed they die agonzing deaths.

For those who haven’t already read The Mote In God’s Eye, you may want to stop reading now as spoilers must follow. At the end of The Mote In God’s Eye, Sir Kevin Renner and His Excellency Horace Bury were secretly enlisted into Imperial Naval Intelligence. For the twenty-five years since then, they’ve acted as unpaid spies, keeping a watchful eye for “outies” (human raiders) in order that the empire might focus its meager resources on the overwhelming Motie threat. Bury is a merchant prince whose dealings allow him access to the underworld of many border worlds. Renner, a former naval officer, now acts as a field agent in the employ of Bury. When a botched Mormon kidnapping plot appears to involve a Motie phrase “the gripping hand”, Bury demands to inspect the fleet blockading the Motie system. His journey leads him to several surprises.

There’s a bit of bad news about this audiobook. If the abridgement had been longer there would still be some question as to whether or not we’d know what is going on in this book. I’ve listened about three times now and I’m pretty impressed at how much sense I’ve managed to make of it in spite of what little of the novel is there. It almost works. It has the barest framework of the plot left, lots of interesting characters, some very good dialogue, and a few simply brilliant SF ideas – but the final feeling I was left with at the end is great disappointment. We would really could have had a special audiobook here, if Simon & Schuster hadn’t knocked out so much in their drive to release 2-cassette abridgments as they did back in the early 1990s. This all is especially upseting because narrator Jay O. Sanders does a fantastic job with the accents and character voices. I think it is safe to say that the fad of abridging the snot out of every novel that comes down the pipe is over. That’s a good thing. It came to late for this audiobook. Some publisher out there should get a hold of The Mote In God’s Eye and record it, complete and unabridged, and while they’re at it they should get Jay O. Sanders to do the reading. We know he’ll do a good job.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Archibald MacLeish’s The Fall Of The City

SFFaudio Radio Drama Review

The Fall Of The City
Based on the script by Archibald MacLeish; Perfomed by a full cast
1 CD – 32 Minutes 11 Seconds [RADIO DRAMA]
Producer / Publisher: Willamette Radio Workshop / LodestoneCatalog.com
Produced / Published: 2004 / 2006
Themes: / Fantasy / Allegory / Prophecy / Utopia / Dystopia / Totalitarianism /

“- In a time like ours seemings and portents signify -“

What few of the pre-WWII fantasy radio dramas produced tended to be allegorical, The Fall Of The City is no different in that respect. This one however has a unique feature – it was written as an extended dramatized poem “verse for radio” as they called it. The original production starred the then ubiquitous Orson Welles and a number of other Hollywood stars. This is the modern re-recording of the original 1937 radio drama. The folks at Willamette Radio Workshop have put the results to CD, but it was actually broadcast on WMNF 88.5 FM in Tampa, Florida in the fall of 2004. The production asks several questions appopriate for totalitarian times: ‘What freedom is worth?’ ‘What is freedom?’ And most importantly, “freedom from what?”

As Fall Of The City begins, a ghostly almost prophetic figure has appeared in city’s cemetary for three days running. When she finally speaks to the gathered mob she fortells the arrival of a conqueror, warning “The city of masterless men will take a master, there will be shouting then, blood after.” The citizenry, shocked that their advanced state may be under dire threat are agitated into a debate about the possible actions they might take to ensure their continued freedom. I found it an experience not unlike that of a staged Greek tragedy, thus it is all three high-browed, reflective and wise. To say more might be to reveal to much. What I can say without fear of spoiling the experience for you is that this is an artful production, sound design and music are beautifully rendered with voice acting in absolute top form. I’d be interested to hear if the team at Willamette will be taking on MacLeish’s 1938 follow up Air Raid another of his poetry dramas.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Voice from the Edge Vol. 1: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

SFFaudio Author of the Month Review

The Voice from the Edge Vol. 1: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
By Harlan Ellison, read by Harlan Ellison
5 CD’s – 6 hours [UNABRIDGED stories]
Publisher: Fantastic Audio
Published: 2002
ISBN: 1574535374
Themes: / Science fiction / Collection / Series / Post-Apocalypse / Artificial intelligence / Utopia / Dystopia / Magic Realism / Love / Hell /

ed. – This is one of two Harlan Ellison collections that were released by Fantastic Audio. The second is called The Voice from the Edge: Midnight at the Sunken Cathedral.

There are two basic reasons to invest in a short story collection by a single author. The first is to experience first hand the stylistic, thematic, and technical contributions the author has made to his genre and to literature in general; the second is to sample the dynamic range the author covers, to gauge the extent of his palette.

This audio book delivers the first in spades. With Harlan Ellison’s friendly, yet curmudgeonly introduction, we are thrust immediately into the gritty rawness he helped bring to science fiction. Such stories as the harrowing, lurid, complex title story, the gleefully offensive misogyny and sociopathy of “A Boy and His Dog”, the pop-cultural, pejorative ranting of “Laugh Track”, and the sophomoric sexual preoccupation of “The Very Last Day of a Good Woman” clearly delineate the dark, adult-oriented themes he introduced, as well as his predilection for unlikable anti-heroes who often leave us feeling a bit less comfortable about ourselves. And on such material, his distinctive narrative style shines. He curses with conviction, and his voice handles guilt, revenge, and damnation with seeming familiarity.

In the overall story choice, we also have a remarkable demonstration of the range of Ellison’s writing. Compare the patient, redemptive power of “Paladin of the Lost Hour” to any of the stories mentioned above, and you’ll see what I mean. Throw in the sly, haunted twist of “The Time of the Eye”, the overwrought post-modernism and tedious beatnik vamping in “’Repent Harlequin!’ said the Tick-Tock Man”, the sublime, hellish search for love in “Grail”, and the puzzling juxtaposition of the truly horrific and the trivial in “The Lingering Scent of Woodsmoke”, and you cover quite a swath of not only the science-fiction spectrum, but the fiction spectrum in general.

Unfortunately, the use of a single narrator for all these stories blurs their uniqueness, especially since that narrator is Harlan Ellison. His delivery style can be enjoyable, but it is so raw, so exaggerated, and so pervasive that it tends to flatten the relief of the work itself. I can’t say that I question the wisdom of having Ellison narrate, for on any single story his voice adds the confident insight that only an author can bring to his own work. But this is a collection, and the diverse stories deserve a wider range of vocal performance to truly showcase their differences. My advice is to make the best of this paradox by taking the collection slowly. The quality of the material, the exceptionally crisp sound and the fine, user-friendly packaging make this an audio book you should not miss. Just make sure to pace yourself.

posted by Kurt

Review of Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks

SFFaudio Audiobook Review

Look to Windward
By Iain M. Banks, read by Robert Lister
10 Cassettes – Approx. 14.25 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Clipper Audio
Published: 1990
ISBN: 1841971839
Themes: / Science fiction / Aliens / Space Travel / War / Afterlife

Civil war has taken its toll on a planet called Chel, whose furry predator-descended people live in a strict caste-based society with an exacting religion. One of them, a famous composer named Ziller, has disowned his home world to live on a Culture orbital called Masaq’. He lives in crusty happiness among the humans and formerly human machines there, composing, exploring, and attending dinner parties. But word has come of a second Chelgrian, a former soldier and monk named Quilan, who appears determined to persuade him to return to Chel. The Culture are partially responsible for instigating the Chelgrian civil war, and it may be that Quilan has a deeper mission that even he knows nothing about.

This is the compelling lead-in to Iain M. Banks’ novel Look to Windward, but it is far from the whole story. The novel takes us far into the future of humanity, across the astoundingly large artificial surface of Masaq’, down deep voids of space on a series of amusingly named spacecraft, through the bitter civil war on Chel, and even into the belly of a large, atmosphere-containing being and the enormous blimp-like life forms inside it. The range of emotion is similarly grand, beginning with a harrowing descent into the war and its aftermath, segueing into an amusing and confusing dinner party, and setting off into stirring adventure and philosophical discussions of risk, war, love, life and death.

This is an introspective novel, and its most involving aspects unfold almost entirely in dialog. Such dependence on conversation demands an author who can produce interesting, distinct, and consistent voices for the various characters. Iain Banks delivers in spades, and Robert Lister interprets his dialog with near-perfection (the notable exception is Kabe, who sounds like a B-grade Igor). Hearing Ziller’s profane peevishness, Quillan’s calm hopelessness, and even Colonel Hyler’s avuncular old war-horse is like perceiving the characters in extra dimensions. In particular, there is a discussion late in the book between Quillan and Hyler that, while horrifying in topic, is presented with such remarkable tenderness that I found it one of the most outstanding scenes of fiction I’ve ever heard.

Look to Windward is part of a larger series of Culture novels, but don’t let that scare you off. I haven’t read any of the others, and you won’t be required to, either. If you like a thoughtfully-paced interplay of characters and ideas in a futuristic but oddly British setting, then you will love this book. And, like me, you’ll soon be trying to get your hands on more.

Posted by Kurt Dietz

Review of Market Forces by Richard K. Morgan

SFFaudio Review

Market Forces
By Richard K. Morgan; Read by Simon Vance
13 CDs – 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 2005
ISBN: 1400101395 (Retail CD), 1400131395 (Library CD), 1400151392 (MP3-CD)
Themes: / Science Fiction / Dystopia / Economics / Satire /

“Human beings have been fighting wars as long as history recalls. It is in our nature, … last century the peacemakers, the governments of this world, did not end war. They simply managed it, and they managed it badly. They poured money without thought of return into conflicts and guerrilla armies abroad, and then into tortuous peace processes that more often than not left the situation no better. They were partisan, dogmatic, and inefficient. Billions wasted in poorly assessed wars that no sane investor would have looked at twice. Huge, unwieldy national armies and clumsy international alliances in short a huge public sector drain on our economic systems. Hundreds of thousands of young people killed in parts of the world they could not even pronounce properly. Decisions based on political dogma and doctrine alone. Well, this model is no more.”

In an interview with Rick Kleffel of The Agony Column Richard K. Morgan describes the motivaton behind Market Forces – ‘there’s a scene’ he said, ‘in the movie Lethal Weapon‘ a scene in which the suicidal cop Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson) is atop a roof, ironically, trying to talk down an suicidal citizen who claims he’s going to jump. Frustrated at the indecision that grips them both Riggs snaps – he handcuffs the citizen to his own wrist and then asks him “Do you really wan’t to jump? Do you wanna?” – then dragging the citizen with him Riggs jumps off the roof. It’s a scene designed to show the inner demons that haunt Riggs, who is, after all, the “Lethal Weapon” of the film’s title. So what does that have to do with Market Forces? This novel is Richard Morgan’s response to the right-wing think tanks which have for years been constantly murmuring in the media soundbites of “let the market decide,” “government is in the way of business,” “the invisible hand can regulate better.” Morgan’s frustration with these ideologues is answered by dystopian satire, a kind of Wall Street meets Mad Max. This is an England in which the gap between the rich and poor has widened. At the top are an elite, an upper-class of executives, driving armoured cars and carrying firearms in their briefcases. At the bottom are the unemployed, disenfranchized and living in deserted slums without access to public transportation, their only escape is to join the police or Special Air Service, both privatized and in mercenary service of the executive class. The commodited investment houses have morphed into “Conflict Investment” houses. It’s a powerful setting, a critical look at where we are now, as 1984 and Farenheit 451 were critical looks at where we used to be – a place we must still fight from going. In essence Morgan says ‘This is what happens when you look at what we’re doing now and then project ahead. This is what happens if you listen to the right-wing think tanks. This is what happens when you jump.’

As a primer let me explain how “conflict investment” works. You find a country, one torn by civil war or revolution. You decide who, amongst the many factions within that country could win, given the right resources and then you back them. In return for providing the arms, equipment and intelligence to win a “small war” the faction must commit to give you a cut of their country’s gross domesitc product for a quarter century or so. Our viewpoint character, Chris Faulkner, has recently been hired on as a junior associate by one of the top conflict investment firms, Shorn Associates – this happened in large part because of Chris’ reputation for savage road duelling. Meanwhile, Chris’ wife, a mechanic from Sweden, (a country with one of the last socialist governments around) is encouraging him to seek more peaceful pastures by defecting to a struggling international peace movement. With rebels in Guatemala to support and a growing record of auto-duel kills Chris is a hot number, but it increasingly seems like someone is setting him up for a fall. It’s up to Chris to decide whether he’s going to be the person his wife wants him to be or if he’s going to continue on his road to corporate partnership.

I ended up really liking Market Forces. There was a time there when I wasn’t sure, the first third of the novel is quite depressing, Morgan’s world has gone to shit and the people in it smell, and smell bad. Part of my problem was with how the world got to be this way. A corporate world full of scum? I can understand that, but a corprate world full of armed scum? It seemed a bit proposterous. Then it came to me, between discs 4 and 5 I realized, “this is a satire”. Like American Pyshco or that corporate raiders sequence in Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life. Eventually Morgan does give an explanation of how we got from where we are now to the fifty or so years from now setting of Market Forces and that explanation works in a ‘give me an inch and I’ll give you a novel’ sort of way. The real explanation however is that to be the story it needed to be actual market forces really had to play into every human transaction. The brutal reality of competitive of an unregulated capitalism working at full force would likely still be insulated by an old boys network, an oligarchy that said it wanted unrestricted competition, but really just wanted power. In arming and glorifying the auto duels Morgan has made Chris Faulkner confront the reality of the world he is making. Ultimately the decision he faces is as terrible as those made by Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four and Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451. It remains to be seen whether Market Forces will be as enduring as those dystopian novels, but it stands among them, bare face in the portrayal of a brutal tommorow based on the unchecked trends of today.

This is a gloomy book marked by several scenes of jagged action and carnal sex, it is a good thing Tantor Media chose a versatile reader. Narrator Simon Vance used his precise English accents to portray the undertones of resentment many of the characters didn’t even realize they had – it carried me through the gloomy bits to the dramatic conclusion. Tantor issued us another of the ~~library~~ retail bound CD editions, though it had identical packaging to Altered Carbon (recently reviewed) two of the indivudal pages came loose in this one while I was pawing through. UPDATE: The good folks at Tantor have informed me that they actually sent the retail edition to us. The library edition is higher priced and comes in a white box with a metal ring binder (as well as a free lifetime CD replacement guarantee).

In researching for the review I found out that Market Forces is based on an unpublished seedling of a short story, entitled Some Serious Driving. Apparently it was originally submitted to Interzone magazine, they rejected it as full of ‘unlikable characters’ – something the novel has too. In an ideal world I’d have liked to see Some Serious Driving bundled in as an extra, perhaps Tantor Media can gather together all of the Richard K. Morgan unpublished shorts to tide us over until the 5th RKM novel comes out?

One last thing, given my description of the plot you might think Market Forces a standalone novel and indeed it does stand nicely on its own- the thing is I found strong evidence that Market Forces is set in the same universe as that of the Takeshi Kovach novels, the books Richard Morgan is best known for. There’s a number of references to conflict investment in general and the Shorn corporation in particular in Broken Angels, the second Takeshi Kovach novel. Cool huh?

Posted by Jesse Willis

Author Focus – Dean Koontz

SFFaudio News

Here’s our SFFaudio Profile of Dean R. Koontz. Dean Koontz, he’s definitely an odd one, almost all of his novels are hard to classify – certainly most are full of suspense, but very often there is a fantastic element in there too. The speculative parts are generally grounded in science, and Koontz has in fact written straight Science Fiction, at least early in his career, but the recurring themes of things like talking dogs, in some later novels might make you question if some of his work isn’t just pure fantasy. The recurring topic of sociopathy on the other hand, a theme he returns to again and again makes him almost unique in the field of fantastic fiction writing. Some readers say his writing falls into the “horror” genre though Koontz flatly denies this. Labels aside a few things are very clear; he’s very prolific, intensely popular and definitely, completely and utterly askew from the mainstream. Koontz’s audiobooks tend to be hard to find after their initial release – if you think you might want one, snap it up while you can. If you can find an older audiobook it will tend to be expensive – collector’s don’t give them up easily. So here it is, our best attempt at cataloguing the complete list of Koontz’s audiobooks old and new:

The Husband
By Dean Koontz; Read by Holter Graham
Cassettes or CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 0739332872(CDs),
“‘We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash.’ Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he’s standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare.”

Forever Odd
By Dean Koontz; Read byDavid Aaron Baker
7 CDs – Approx. 8.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739315595
Another Odd Thomas novel, Thomas isn’st a sleuth himself but the ghosts he sees helps the police chief of his small town solve crimes.

Odd Thomas
By Dean Koontz; Read by David Aaron Baker
7 Cassetes or 9 CDs – Approx. 10.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0739301764
Interesting fantasy that is visually resplendent and full of fun illiteration.

Velocity
By Dean Koontz; Read by Michael Hayden
8 Cassettes or ? CDs -Approx 9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739315552 (Cassettes), 0739307452 (CDs)
Average schmo Bill Wile is surprised to find a strange note on his car one evening. On the note, an apparent maniac threatens the lives of two women. When Bill doesn’t act, one of the two woman is murdered. Then he finds another note from the killer. Now he knows he must act quickly to save innocent lives.

Intensity
By Dean Koontz; Read by Kate Burton
Cassettes or CDs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1995, 2005
ISBN: 0679449167 (Cassettes), 0739323717 (CDs)
Re-issued 10 years after the inital audio release, different cover is avalable on the 1995 edition but the narrator is the same.

Life Expectancy
By Dean Koontz; Read byJohn Bedford Lloyd
10 CDs or 8 Cassettes – Approx. 11.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 0739315536 (CDs), 0739315528 (Cassettes)
Before Joseph Tock dies he predicts that there will be five dark days in his grandson’s life.

Midnight
By Dean Koontz; Read by J. Charles
CDs or Cassettes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 1593553277 (CDs), 1593553250 (Cassettes)

Cold Fire
By Dean Koontz; Read by Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan
9 Cassettes, 12 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: The Reader’s Chair / Brilliance Audio
Published: 1991 / 2004
ISBN: 0962401013 (Reader’s Chair Cassettes), 1593553390 (Brilliance CDs), 1593553374 (Brilliance Cassettes)
The rights for this were purchased from The Readers Chair after that company was bankrupted. “Reporter Holly Thorne is intrigued by Jim Ironheart, who has saved 12 lives in the past three months. Holly wants to know what kind of power drives him, why terrifying visions of a churning windmill haunt his dreams, and just what he means when he whispers in his sleep that an enemy who will kill everyone is coming.”

Hideaway
By Dean Koontz; Read by Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan
9 Cassettes, 12 CDs or 1 MP3 CD – Approx. 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 1593553358
“He was clinically dead after the accident – but was miraculously revived. Now Hatch Harrison and his wife approach each day with a new appreciation for life. But something has come back with Hatch from the other side. A terrible presence that links his mind to a psychotic’s, so that a force of murderous rage courses through him.”

Watchers
By Dean Koontz; Read by J. Charles
10 Cassettes, 13 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – Approx. 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance (Bookcassettes)
Published: 1988, 2004
ISBN: 0930435435 (Bookcassettes Cassettes), 1593553315 (CDs), 1593355505 (MP3-CD)
Collectors should take note the Brilliance imprint called “Bookcassettes” (the 1988 release) has two tracks per cassette side, which requires you to isolate one audio track at a time to listen to it. “From a top secret government laboratory come two genetically altered life forms. One is a magnificent dog of astonishing intelligence. The other, a hybrid monster of a brutally violent nature. And both are on the loose… “

Dark Rivers Of The Heart
By Dean Koontz; Read by Anthony Heald
12 Cassettes – 20 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1994
ISBN: 0679436669
A twisted love story. This audiobook includes a bonus interview with Koontz himself!

The Face
By Dean Koontz; Read by Dylan Baker
16 CDs or 12 Cassettes – Approx. 19.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0739307452 (CDs), 0739301748 (Cassettes)
Reality blurs into terrifying fantasy as a group of mere mortals try to stop the superhuman assassin of a Hollywood superstar.

Mr. Murder
By Dean Koontz, Read by Jay O. Sanders
10 cassettes – 15 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audioworks
Published: 1993
ISBN: 0671881191

One Door Away From Heaven
By Dean Koontz; Read by Anne Twomey
13 Cassettes – Approx. 22 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2001
ISBN: 0736683194
Micky Bellsong befriends a disabled girl named Leilani, and becomes concerned when Leilani’s stepfather, a UFO cultist, believes aliens will cure her. When the family disappears, Micky sets out after them aided by a detective.

From The Corner Of His Eye
By Dean Koontz; Read by Stephen Lang
13 Cassettes or 18cds – Approx. 22 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2000
ISBN: 0553502697, 0736690018 (cassettes), 0736694846 (CDs)
The lives of three strangers become intertwined in a story of heart-stopping suspense and high adventure. An AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award Winner.

The Taking
By Dean Koontz; Read by Ariadne Meyers and Ari Meyer
5 Cassettes – Approx. 9.5 Hours -[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 073931212X
Not his best work. A California couple realizes that an alien race is colonizing the world.

Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein – Book One – Prodigal Son
By Dean Koontz and Kevin J. Anderson; Read by John Bedford Lloyd
? Cassettes – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739317040
Abridged, seek out the Books On Tape edition instead.

Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein – Book One – Prodigal Son
By Dean Koontz and Kevin J. Anderson; Read by Scott Brick
7 Cassettes or 9 CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape Inc.
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739317040
“The first in a mesmerizing four-book original series, PRODIGAL SON is a brilliant re-imagining and updating of the classic Frankenstein story that only Dean Koontz could conceive. Two hundred years old, the “monster,” Deucalion, is a monster no more. Literate and intelligent, he arrives in modern-day New Orleans, where he will join forces with a street-smart police detective and her partner on the trail of a macabre serial killer…a serial killer spawned, Deucalion will discover, by his own creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, now Victor Helios. Now Deucalion will find that there are many others like him…that they live among us at every strata of society…and that his nemesis, Victor Frankenstein, has survived the centuries as well…and dreams of seeding the earth with his creations.”

Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein – Book Two – City Of Night
By Dean Koontz and Ed Gorman; Read by John Bedford Lloyd
5 Cassettes or 7 CDs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 073931713X, 0739317148
For the second instalment, Random House and Books On Tape collaborated in releasing just one unabridged edition (Random House now owns Books On Tape).

The Bad Place
By Dean Koontz; Read by Carol Cowan and Michael Hanson
10 Cassettes, 13 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 15 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 1593553404
“Married detectives Julie and Bobby Dakota, agree to help frightened amnesiac Frank Pollard figure out what he does when he’s asleep. Not only can Frank not remember his past, but he wakes up mornings to find mysterious bags of large-denomination bills by his bed. In due course, Frank and the Dakotas join forces against murderer Candy Pollard and his weird sisters, who want to kill Frank–evidently the sole human in the monstrous family. Candy extends psychic feelers toward potential victims, emanations that are sensed by Julie’s younger brother Thomas. A Down’s syndrome child, Thomas is telepathically gifted and able to warn Bobby of the demons who threaten Julie. Horror follows horror with each crime perpetrated by Candy & Co. as they come ever closer to the Dakotas and other prey.”

False Memory
By Dean Koontz, Narrated by Stephen Lang
12 Cassettes – Approx. 21.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1999
ISBN: 0553479024
Four patients of the same therapist develop crippling fears, revealing the terrifying ability of the mind to torment and destroy.

By The Light Of The Moon
By Dean Koontz; Read by Stephen Lang
12 Cassettes- Approx. 13.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2002
ISBN: 0553502719
Two brothers and their traveling companion race to puzzle out a vicious violation committed against them, only steps ahead of deadly pursuers.

Sole Survivor
By Dean Koontz; Read by David Birney
8 Cassettes – 12 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Publication Date: 1997
ISBN: 067945277X

Ticktock: A novel
By Dean Koontz; Read by B.D. Wong
Cassettes –
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1997
ISBN: 0679452672

Seize The Night
By Dean Koontz; Read by Keith Szarabajka
10 Cassettes – 12 Hours[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0553479016
Christopher Snow, and take a trip to the eerie world of Moonlight Bay. Moonlight Bay, California. A safe, secluded small town that is at its most picturesque in the gentle nighttimes that inspired its name. Now, somewhere in the night, children are disappearing. From their homes. From the streets.

Icebound
By Dean Koontz, Read by John Glover
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0679439358

Fear Nothing
By Dean Koontz; Read by Keith Szarabajka
10 Cassettes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0553479008

Strange Highways (The Strange Highways Collection)
By Dean Koontz; Read by James Spader
4 Cassettes – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Time Warner Audio
Published: 1995
ISBN: 1570422877
One of at least two in an akwardly titled series of short story collections issued by Time Warner Audio. Strange Highways is the title story of this collection of Koontz’s short stories. Joey Shannon, an alcoholic whose life has been going nowhere for 20 years, returns to his hometown for the funeral of his father. As he leaves town, he gets a mysterious second chance to relive the night in 1975 when his life began its downward spiral: to both literally and figuratively take the road that he didn’t originally take.

Chase and Down In The Darkness (The Strange Highways Collection)
By Dean Koontz; Read by Chris Sarandon
4 Cassettes – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Time Warner Audio
Published: 1995
ISBN: 1570422990
One of at least two in an akwardly titled series of short fiction collections.

The Paper Doorway : Funny Verse and Nothing Worse
By Dean Koontz Read by John Ritter
Cassettes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Childrens Audio
Published: 2001
ISBN: 0694525758
A children’s book from a man with no children. Why not?

Shadowfires
By Dean R. Koontz; Read by Jonathon Maroz
11 Cassettes or 13 CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape Inc.
Published: 1994
ISBN: 5553829550 (Cassettes)
Rachel Leben’s violently possessive ex-husband was killed in a freak auto accident, but his hideously mangled body has disappeared from the morgue. Now someone, or something, is watching her. Stalking her. And, although no one will believe her, Rachel knows who it is. His walking corpse a grotesque mockery of life. His brilliant, warped mind once again “alive” and seething with jealous rage. He seeks an unspeakable revenge from beyond her worst nightmare, stalking her with a murderous lust that will not die.

Servants Of Twilight
By Dean R. Koontz; Read by Jonathon Maroz
9 Cassettes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape Inc.
Published: 1993
ISBN: 555710643X
Originally published as a PBO under Koontz’s Leigh Nichols pseudonym Books On Tape released under his real name. “Single parent Christine Scavello and her young son Joey find themselves confronted by a madwoman, Grace Spivey, who fancies she discerns the Antichrist in Joey’s cherubic visage. Spivey is the charismatic leader of a religious cult whose fanatic members do her every bidding, including murdering the little boy, and everyone who stands in their way. After the police fail to provide adequate protection, Christine turns to private detective Charlie Harrison, whose business and home are soon firebombed by the cultists, and two of his men murdered, even as he finds that he is falling in love with Christine.”

Stalkers
By Dean R. Koontz and Robert R. McCammon; Read by ???
[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Dove Audio
Published: 1992
ISBN: 1558004904
Very rare! A collection of nineteen original tales by “today’s masters of terror” includes one novella by Koontz entitled Trapped.

Santa’s Twin
By Dean Koontz; Read by Jay O. Sanders
1 Cassette – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Audio
Published: 1996
ISBN: 0694517712
Perhaps this is comparable to Donald Westlake’s Nackles?

Dragon Tears
By Dean Koontz; Read by Jay O. Sanders
8 Cassettes or 11 CDs – Approx. 13 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audioworks / Simon & Shuster Audio
Published: 1993, 2003
ISBN: 0671865854 (cassettes), 0743529049 (CDs)
Reissued ten years after the initial unabridged publication. “The story of two Southern California police detectives who track down a demonic serial killer with paranormal abilities.”

Demon Seed
By Dean Koontz; Read by Jeff Harding
4 Cassettes or 5 CDs – 5 Hours 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Isis Soundings
Published: 2000
ISBN: 075310914X (Cassettes), 0753122685 (CDs)
The audiobook was released in the UK. “Created in the Prometheus Project, he is officially called Adam Two – the first self-aware machine intelligence, designed to be a servant to mankind. No-one knows that he is able to escape the confines of his physical form, and his box in the laboratory. Until he gains entry to the house of Susan Harris, and closes it off against the world. There he plans to show Susan the future. Their future. With her, he intends to create a ‘child’.”

There’s also one podcast featuring an interview with Koontz about his novel Life Expectancy. You can grab that mp3 HERE.

posted by Jesse