The Status Civilization: Unabridged

Written by Robert Sheckley

Narrated by Frank Harrison

The Status Civilization is a science fiction novel by Robert Sheckley. The protagonist is Will Barrent, who finds himself, without memory of any crime, or, indeed, of his previous life, being shipped across space to the planet Omega. Omega, used to imprison extreme offenders, has a hierarchical society of extreme brutality, where the only way to advance (and avoid dying) is to commit an endless series of crimes. The average life expectancy from time of arrival on Omega is three years. The story tells Barrent's attempt to survive and escape Omega, and return to Earth to clear himself of the accusations against him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Audioliterature
• Release date: Dec 21, 2017

Robert Sheckley

Robert Sheckley was one of the funniest writers in the history of science fiction. He did screwball comedy, broad satire, and farce. He could also be deadly serious, but he was always entertaining and always had something pointed to say about our world using the skewed versions of reality he created in his fiction. Starting in the early 1950s, he was an amazingly prolific short story writer, with a lot of his stories appearing in Galaxy Magazine. He launched his novel-writing career with Immortality, Inc., which he followed up with a sequence of excellent books: The Status Civilization, Journey Beyond Tomorrow, and Mindswap. He continued to produce novels and short stories in abundance until his death in 2005.