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  • Sailing to Byzantium

  • Written by: Robert Silverberg
  • Narrated by: Tom Parker
  • Length: 2 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (6 ratings)

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Sailing to Byzantium

Written by: Robert Silverberg
Narrated by: Tom Parker
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Publisher's Summary

Their hotel was beautifully situated, high on the northern slope of the huge artificial mound known as the paneium that was sacred to the goat-footed god. From here they had a total view of the city: the wide noble boulevards, the soaring obelisks and monuments, the palace of Hadrian just below the hill, the stately and awesome Library, the temple of Poseidon, the teeming marketplace, the royal lodge that Mark Antony had built after his defeat at Actium. And of course the Lighthouse, the wondrous many-windowed Lighthouse, the seventh wonder of the world, that immense pile of marble and limestone rising in majesty at the end of its mile-long causeway. Black smoke from the beacon-fire ar its summit curled lazily into the sky. The city was awakening.

It looked like the past, on Earth. But times had changed...and changed...and changed.

There were ghosts and chimeras and phastasies everywhere about. A burly thick-thighed swordsman appeared on the porch of the temple of Poseidon holding a Gorgon's severed head and waved it in a wide arc, grinning broadly. In the street below the hotel gate, three small pink sphinxes, no bigger than housecats, stretched and yawned and began to prowl the curbside. A larger one, lion-sized, watched warily from an alleyway: their mother, surely. Even at this distance he could hear her loud purring....
©1984, 1985 Agberg, Ltd (P)1999 by Blackstone Audiobooks
Anthologies & Short Stories Literary Fiction Adventure
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What the critics say

"A beautifully worded novella from a highly respected author is made even more enjoyable by the reading of Tom Parker. His precise, cultured voice adds to the wonder felt by the protagonist, and his calmly assured tones give the listener a feeling of comfort." (AudioFile)

What listeners say about Sailing to Byzantium

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Amazing story 39 years latet

Decided to revisit some authors of my youth and am so pleased to find this in Plus. It's a wonderful story that ages bizarrely well, as if Silverberg could see the future. It contains a giant twist, even gobsmacked surprise so don't have hot coffee as you approach the climax.

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