As mentioned on SFFaudio Podcast #116 there is no commercially available audiobook edition of The Space Merchants. What I failed to mention, however, is that there is a two-part radio dramatization from 1957:
CBS Radio Workshop – The Space Merchants
Based on the novel by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth; Performed by a full cast
2 MP3 Files – Approx. 1 Hour [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS
Broadcast: February 17th and 24th, 1957
Provider: archive.org
Mitch Courtenay, portrayed by Staats Cotsworth, is a rising star copywriter for the Fowler Schocken Advertising Agency. He’s just been given the company’s biggest campaign – he must promote the colonization of Venus. You’d think would be no problem at all given that Earth is an over-populated planet with polluted air and played-out resources. But there’s a wrinkle – somebody is working against Mitch, and an underground rebellion threatens the very foundations of Earth’s economy!
First serialized in the March through May 1952 issues of Galaxy Science Fiction under the title Gravy Planet, The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth was one of the most popular science fiction novels of the 20th century. Here’s the first ever depiction from it, by Ed Emshwiller, for the cover story from the March 1952 issue of Galaxy:
Darrell Sweet’s cover for the 1976 Ballantine Books paperback edition took inspiration from the original magazine appearance:
Whereas Steve Stone’s cover art for the Orion / Gollancz – SF MASTERWORKS (Volume 54) edition seems more inspired by Blade Runner:
[Thanks Bill]
Posted by Jesse Willis
Damn, I could have listened to that instead.