Brain Wave
by Poul Anderson (Ballantine, 1954)
audiobook read by Tom Weiner (Blackstone, 2011)
Old-school SF ‘what if?’ story, imagining the (near-catastrophic) consequences of a world-wide boost to intelligence. Weiner’s audiobook reading goes some way towards bestowing neglected characterisation, but for the most part this is a thought experiment explored woodenly by Anderson through third-person marionettes.
Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds
by Greg Bear & Gardner Dozois (Subterranean, 2014); audiobook read by various narrators (Blackstone, 2014)
Thirteen stories, four memoir pieces. The anthology starts strongly but loses its way as invited authors, eager to pay homage, craft exposition-laden tales that entirely fail to function as standalones. Tad Williams breaks the camel’s back with a spoofish, egregiously unfunny novella.