Best William Dufris Audiobooks
William Dufris brings a weathered, adaptable versatility to genres that rarely share the same shelf. His narration of Old Man's War captures Scalzi's sardonic wit with a dry, measured delivery that lets the jokes land without telegraphing them — a harder trick than it sounds. Flip to The Maltese Falcon and he's doing something entirely different: leaning into the hard-boiled cadences of classic noir with a cool, clipped authority that feels genuinely period-appropriate rather than imitative. His work on Ken Scholes' Psalms of Isaak series shows he can also handle sweeping post-apocalyptic world-building without losing the human stakes underneath. Dufris has a mid-register, unhurried voice that rewards patient listeners — he's not flashy, but he's precise, and that precision suits morally complex material well. Fans of literary sci-fi and classic crime fiction will find him an exceptionally reliable guide.
Where to Start with William Dufris
- New to William Dufris? Start here → Old Man's War
- What fans keep coming back to → Cryptonomicon
- Short listen, big payoff → The Naked Sun
- Highest rated by listeners → The Robots of Dawn
- Best narrator–author pairing → The Last Colony
Best William Dufris Audiobooks
- 1
Old Man's War
Old Man\u2019s War • Book 1
by John Scalzi
Narrated by William Dufris
★ 4.43 ABR Score (255.3K ratings)★ 4.23 Goodreads (226.8K) ★ 4.55 Audible (28.5K)9h 55m listening time • Released 2007Scalzi's military sci-fi debut is the most fun you'll have with the genre — Earth's elderly enlist for interstellar war and get young bodies with old wisdom.
- 2
The Naked Sun
Robot • Book 2
by Isaac Asimov, Chris Moore
Narrated by William Dufris
★ 4.42 ABR Score (67.3K ratings)★ 4.2 Goodreads (64.3K) ★ 4.75 Audible (3.0K)7h 41m listening time • Released 2014 - 3
The Robots of Dawn
Robot • Book 3
by Isaac Asimov
Narrated by William Dufris
★ 4.41 ABR Score (58.4K ratings)★ 4.2 Goodreads (55.5K) ★ 4.74 Audible (2.9K)15h 43m listening time • Released 2014 - 4
The Last Colony
Old Man's War • Book 3
by John Scalzi
Narrated by William Dufris
★ 4.33 ABR Score (84.4K ratings)★ 4.11 Goodreads (73.9K) ★ 4.59 Audible (10.5K)9h 51m listening time • Released 2008 - 5
Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony
Old Man's War #1-3 • Book 2
by John Scalzi
Narrated by William Dufris
★ 4.26 ABR Score (14.9K ratings)★ 4.53 Goodreads (948) ★ 4.48 Audible (14.0K)10h 25m listening time • Released 2008 - 6
Cryptonomicon
Baroque Cycle
Narrated by William Dufris
★ 4.26 ABR Score (127.1K ratings)★ 4.23 Goodreads (117.3K) ★ 4.41 Audible (9.8K)42h 44m listening time • Released 2020 - 7
Gravity
Narrated by William Dufris
★ 4.22 ABR Score (18.6K ratings)★ 4.1 Goodreads (17.6K) ★ 4.41 Audible (933)10h 55m listening time • Released 2012 - 8
Canticle
Psalms of Isaak • Book 2
by Ken Scholes
Narrated by Scott Brick, William Dufris, Eliza Foss, Peter Larkin
★ 3.78 ABR Score (1.6K ratings)★ 3.94 Goodreads (1.5K) ★ 4.15 Audible (149)16h 42m listening time • Released 2009Four narrators bring urgent clarity to a sprawling fantasy sequel that could've been a mess but instead feels like an ensemble cast delivering a story that demands to be heard aloud.
- 9
Woken Furies
Takeshi Kovacs • Book 3
by Richard K. Morgan
Narrated by William Dufris
★ 3.67 ABR Score (37.2K ratings)★ 4.01 Goodreads (32.5K) ★ 3.83 Audible (4.6K)22h 3m listening time • Released 2006 - 10
Miami Noir (Akashic Noir)
Akashic noir Series
by Les Standiford, Kevin Allen, Preston L. Allen, Lynne Barrett, David Beaty, John Bond, Tom Corcoran, John Dufresne, Anthony Dale Gagliano, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, James W. Hall, Vicki Hendricks, Christine Kling, Paul Levine, Barbara Parker, George Tucker, Jeffrey Wehr
Narrated by Scott Brick, William Dufris, Joe Barrett, Jonathan Davis, Ray Porter, R.C. Bray, Elizabeth Evans
★ 3.63 ABR Score (194 ratings)★ 3.7 Goodreads (179) ★ 4.07 Audible (15)10h 39m listening time • Released 2014Multiple narrators bring Miami's criminal underworld to life with distinct voices for each story, making this anthology feel like a guided tour through the city's darkest corners rather than a collection of disconnected tales.
- 11
Lamentation
Psalms of Isaak • Book 1
by Ken Scholes
Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, Scott Brick, William Dufris, Maggi-Meg Reed
★ 3.59 ABR Score (3.5K ratings)★ 3.7 Goodreads (3.2K) ★ 3.96 Audible (269)14h 47m listening time • Released 2009Four narrators bring distinct voices to a sprawling fantasy debut where a single catastrophic act unravels an entire world's power structure. Rudnicki, Brick, Dufris, and Reed make the ensemble cast feel genuinely alive across 15 hours of political intrigue and hard-won stakes.
- 12
D.C. Noir
D.C. Noir • Book 1
by George P. Pelecanos, Quintin Peterson, James Grady, Jim Beane, Rubén Castañeda, Jennifer Howard, Lester Irby, Robert Andrews, David Slater, Jim Fusilli, Robert Wisdom, Richard Currey, Laura Lippman, James M. Patton, Kenji Jasper, Norman W. Kelley
Narrated by Lisa Renee Pitts, Cassandra Campbell, William Dufris, Mirron Willis, Carol Monda, Ray Porter, Nick Sullivan, Victor Bevine
★ 3.55 ABR Score (636 ratings)★ 3.42 Goodreads (610) ★ 3.88 Audible (26)9h 8m listening time • Released 2014 - 13
Black Sam: Prince of Pirates
by Mat McLeod, James Lewis
Narrated by Alex Hyde-White, Roy Dotrice, Scott Brick, Stefan Rudnicki, William Dufris, Jayne Entwistle, Simon Vance, R.C. Bray
★ 3.47 ABR Score (324 ratings)★ 3.65 Goodreads (96) ★ 3.79 Audible (228)10h 54m listening time • Released 2015An ensemble cast of eight narrators brings genuine texture to this pirate origin story, with each voice anchoring a distinct perspective in a world where desperation and idealism collide.