The Collected Short Stories of H. G. Wells cover art

The Collected Short Stories of H. G. Wells

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The Collected Short Stories of H. G. Wells

By: H. G. Wells
Narrated by: Cathy Dobson
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About this listen

A spine-tingling collection of the greatest short stories by the father of science fiction, H. G. Wells.

  • 'The Time Machine'
  • 'The Empire of the Ants'
  • 'The Crystal Egg'
  • 'The Sea-Raiders'
  • 'The Door in the Wall'
  • 'A Dream of Armageddon'
  • 'The Country of the Blind'
  • 'Under the Knife'
  • 'The Stolen Body'
  • 'The Plattner Story'
  • 'The Stolen Bacillus'
  • 'The Magic Shop'
  • 'The Inexperienced Ghost'
  • 'The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes'
  • 'The Argonauts of the Air'
  • 'The Flowering of the Strange Orchid'
  • 'Aepyornis Island'
  • 'The Diamond Maker'
  • 'The Temptation of Haringay'
  • 'The Star'
  • 'The Treasure in the Forest'
  • 'The Red Room'
  • 'The Valley of Spiders'
  • 'Through a Window'
  • 'The Lord of the Dynamos'
  • 'The Moth'
  • 'A Deal in Ostriches'
  • 'The Flying Man'
  • 'In the Avu Observatory'
  • 'The Lost Inheritance'

Plus many more short fiction masterpieces by H. G. Wells.

Public Domain (P)2016 Red Door Audiobooks
Classics Fiction
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What listeners say about The Collected Short Stories of H. G. Wells

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The weirdest narration.

I lasted about 3 minutes. The narrator, god love her, has the weirdest affectation where she extends the final syllable of EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE.
It's like she imagines she's reading in Parseltongue.
Love these stories, just couldn't with the narration.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

worst narrator i have ever heard

The Narrator changes vocal speed every few words and has no apparent idea of normal phrasing; surely there should be at least some token attempt to match how you say something with the meaning behind it.
Awful!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great stories terrible narration

I just signed up for the free trial and I was really looking forward to this but Cathy Dobson narrates the whole thing terribly - I would have far sooner had Stephen Fry or somebody who has some sincerity and doesn't sound like a sarcastic primary school teacher. Extremely disappointing Audible!

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

very poor narration

narration is abysmal, who cast this? I need to write at least 15 words for a review apparently.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great collection of shorts plus a big one or two

Really nice stories but yes Ms Dobson's voice is divisive. I am glad to have a rest from it for a while as I hear it a lot on these older stories. It seems to suit the eerie nature of these Wells tales but her unusual delivery does take some getting used to!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic stories, kinda weird delivery

A fantastic writer with very compelling ideas. He makes the fantastical completely plausible. I was at first not impressed with the reader; she drags out the ends of every single sentence, eg “he went through the dooooooor. He sat on the carpeeeeeeet. Someone rang the bellllll”. It’s weird. But once you’re used to it it’s fine, and lends a sort of spookiness. There was one bit where her accent confused me; she was talking about someone using a ‘crease’ as a weapon. She pronounces ‘this’ as ‘these’ so I worked out she was talking about a kris knife! But it bugged me a little.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars

Hard to listen to

Well Cathy Dobson sounds like a real person, but sadly on this recording she doesn't.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Litterature - woeful narration

What made the experience of listening to The Collected Short Stories of H. G. Wells the most enjoyable?

The literature is fantastic

What did you like best about this story?

wonderful stories, great writing.
If this is your first look at HG Wells please don't let this narration put you off.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I normally manage to switch off from poor narration but this is dreadful. The affection of elongating the last syllable in the last word in every sentence is irksome.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When I gave up and read the hard copy

Any additional comments?

But the book, buy another narration but do yourself a huge favour and don't buy this recording

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Weird intonation with this recording

Not sure what's going on, but there is weird intonation on this recording. Sounds more like automated voice than a real person. Wasted money on this one! Good stories, so chose a different recording!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

perfectly crafted stories

I must admit I did not like the narration at first but very quickly I got used to it and it stopped bothering me. these short stories are perfect page turners or the equivalent. each one is built around an interesting kernel and developed in just the right waym sci fi authors often have good ideas that they feel must be extended over the course of some great time, wells does not suffer from this in general, but shirt stories are the perfect medium for sci fi. that said, the themes of the stories are sometimes about technology or space or mysterious creatures, but not always, and the idea itself is always in service of developing a compelling plot and the the story is never just one long exposition for an idea.

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