Short Story Sunday [11]

Welcome to the Monkey House
from: Welcome to the Monkey House
by Kurt Vonnegut

My Welcome to the Monkey House review will be split amongst several weeks of Short Story Sundays.  I will review each short story that appeared in the book.

Review

This story is about a world where instead of taking birth control to cut down on population growth a man developed a pill that causes you to loose all feeling from the waist down, therefore making sex feeling-less and only for reproductive purposes.  

This was such a cool story.  I love how the main character, Nancy, was so set in her beliefs, but by the end she began to realize her concept of the world was flawed.  And others that had been in her exact same situation realized the same thing and began fighting to reclaim their rights to their own bodies.

I also found it very interesting how one super conservative hardcore Catholic guy, J. Edgar Nation, got the entire world to take his pills that removed all temptation for sex.  I find it hard to believe that all the other religions, cultures, and more open minded individuals allowed for that to happen.  I would imagine most people wouldn't want to give that up, despite over population, especially when there are other ways.

Vonnegut has a way of writing ridiculous things that are fun to read but end up being really thought provoking and they stick with you for a while.  This one is no exception.  

In doing a little research on this short story, Vonnegut wrote it in response to Pope Paul VI declaring that the Catholic Church was officially against any sort of contraception.  Once I learned that I enjoyed the story a lot more.  On it's own, it's a little weird, but within the context in which it was written it's a great story.

I give this a 9/10.  Not my favorite Vonnegut story, but definitely a good one.  I listened to this as part of the Welcome to the Monkey House audio book.  It was narrated by David Strathairn.

World War Z

by Max Brooks
Narrated by: Max Brooks, Alan Alda, Mark Hamill, Henry Rollins, Eamonn Walker, Ajay Naidu, Jay o. Sanders, Dennis Boutsikaris, Becky Ann Baker, Steve Park, Frank Kamai, John McElroy, John Turturro, Rob Reiner, Carl Reiner, Jürgen Prochnow, Waleed Zuiater, Dean Edwards, Michelle Kholos, Maz Jobrani

Summary from GoodReads

“The end was near.” —Voices from the Zombie War

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War. 

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brookssays in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”

Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.
Eyewitness reports from the first truly global war

“I found ‘Patient Zero’ behind the locked door of an abandoned apartment across town. . . . His wrists and feet were bound with plastic packing twine. Although he’d rubbed off the skin around his bonds, there was no blood. There was also no blood on his other wounds. . . . He was writhing like an animal; a gag muffled his growls. At first the villagers tried to hold me back. They warned me not to touch him, that he was ‘cursed.’ I shrugged them off and reached for my mask and gloves. The boy’s skin was . . . cold and gray . . . I could find neither his heartbeat nor his pulse.” —Dr. Kwang Jingshu, Greater Chongqing, United Federation of China


“‘Shock and Awe’? Perfect name. . . . But what if the enemy can’t be shocked and awed? Not just won’t, but biologically can’t! That’s what happened that day outside New York City, that’s the failure that almost lost us the whole damn war. The fact that we couldn’t shock and awe Zack boomeranged right back in our faces and actually allowed Zack to shock and awe us! They’re not afraid! No matter what we do, no matter how many we kill, they will never, ever be afraid!” —Todd Wainio, former U.S. Army infantryman and veteran of the Battle of Yonkers


“Two hundred million zombies. Who can even visualize that type of number, let alone combat it? . . . For the first time in history, we faced an enemy that was actively waging total war. They had no limits of endurance. They would never negotiate, never surrender. They would fight until the very end because, unlike us, every single one of them, every second of every day, was devoted to consuming all life on Earth.” —General Travis

Thoughts on the Book

I read this book years ago and I loved it.  For my road trip I grabbed it, I figured of all books to listen to, this one would be the best.  It is, after all, an oral history on the zombie war.

My Review

This book is about World War Z, or the Zombie War.  It is a compilation of different stories about the war told by representatives of each aspect of the war.  

The audio book is sadly abridged, it cut out some of my favorite parts, like the K9 unit and how important dogs were to the war.  I also loved the astronauts section of the book.  But it was still amazing to listen to.  I loved hearing all the different voices telling the tales.  It made it so much more real.  And that's saying a lot because the way Max Brooks wrote this it sounds 100% plausible.  Well, plausible if zombies were actually scientifically possible.

I thought it was so cool that the narrator, the main narrator not the people giving the accounts, was actually Max Brooks.  It gave it that authentic feel.  Max really did interview these people for the United Nations Postwar Commission, the Zombie War was a real thing.

There's so much I love about this book that the audio did an amazing job capturing.  I feel like I'd just be sitting here listing each part of the book saying "this was awesome, I love how they did this"  So main points of the story I absolutely loved - Battle of Yonkers, Israeli Refugee camp (which they cut short- boo), Japanese atom bomb survivor, and the sweep of the United States - especially the battle they needed to be bulldozed out of.  And check out some of the narrators, they're fantastic! Mark Hamill, Rob Reiner, Alan Alda, Becky Ann Baker. So damn good!

I give this a 10/10.  Fantastic book, fantastic narration.  Max Brooks is as much of a genius as his father.  

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Summary From GoodReads

After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family . . . 

Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic Coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, The Graveyard Book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.

Thoughts on the Book

I consider myself a fan of Gaiman, even though I had only ever read one book by him.  I'm not sure why, it could be because he always is categorized with other authors I'm fans of, or I like him from interviews.  When I saw this available as an audio book I jumped at listening to it, because who doesn't want to listen to Gaiman narrating his own book?

My Review

This book follows Nobody Owens in his journey to adulthood.  He grows up in a graveyard, raised by ghosts, after the man Jack killed his family.

I loved this story, right from the beginning.  Who doesn't love a story that starts with Danse Macabre by Saint-Saëns?  It's one of my favorite classical pieces, and so much freaking fun to play!  But besides the amazing music at the beginning and in between each chapter the story itself was great.  Bod was such a sweet kid.  The story really focused on him growing up.  It was very character driven with not too much action until the very end.  But the world was enough to hold interest, and the characters were engaging enough to move the story along.  

I like the mystery of why Jack killed Bod's family, he didn't find out until the very end.  I love also that the prophecy was self fulfilling.  Those are my favorite kind.  I also really enjoyed Liza, the witch, she was my favorite character.  It was cool how the rules of consecrated ground differ from unconsecrated ground, so she could essentially be a second guardian to Bod.

Overall I give this a 10/10. I highly recommend this story.  Gaiman is a fantastic story teller.  Now I want to read this story just to see the illustrations!

Doctor Who: Bloodtide

by Jonathan Morris

Summary from GoodReads

The prehistoric Earth is dying. Thunderclouds roll across the skies, cloaking the land in darkness. The seas crash and boil as the rain turns to acid. The remnants of the Silurian race place themselves in suspended animation, deep below the surface.

One day they will awaken and reclaim their world…

The TARDIS has landed on the Galapagos Islands, a desolate outcrop of rocks shrouded in mist and fear. In the settlement of Baquerizo Moreno, there are rumours that prisoners have been mysteriously disappearing from the gaolhouse. A fisherman has been driven insane by something he saw in the caves. And the Doctor and Evelyn are not the only new arrivals; there is also a young natural philosopher by the name of Charles Darwin…

Chronological Placement
This story takes place between the television adventures, The Trial of a Time Lord and Time and the Rani. 

Thoughts on the Book

I'm a huge Doctor Who fan, I grew up with my dad loving Tom Baker, and I really got into the 2005 reboot.  I've since gone back and hunted through the interwebs to find classic who episodes, I'm currently almost done with the first Doctor.  So when I saw an audio book (for lack of a better term, it's more of a radio serial type story) staring Colin Baker I jumped all over it, a Doctor Who story read by the 6th Doctor? Hells yes.

My Review

The Doctor brings his companion, Evelyn, to the Galapagos when the HMS Beagle is in port as a surprise for her.  They meet Darwin right away but the Doctor quickly discovers something is amiss with the prison on the island.  

I really really enjoyed listening to this.  Each leg of my commute I was able to listen to one installment of it.  I must have looked like an idiot to anyone driving past me, I had a goofy grin the whole time because it was so funny.  The Doctor's horrible puns were just amazing.  I also enjoy when the Doctor has smart companions and Evelyn was definitely one of those, not once did she scream "DOCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!" like so many of the others do when they get into trouble.  She was independent and the Doctor trusted her to do what needed to be done while he was busy with something else.  Even when she ran off with Darwin the Doctor wasn't overly concerned, it was more like "well, I suppose I should go fetch her now".  It was refreshing to have a companion like that, they're few and far between.

The story was fun too, although I need to watch more Classic Who because the Silurians weren't anything like those from the new series.  Anatomically I mean, these had a third eye and had telepathic powers.  The derogatory terms and hostility towards humans definitely remained in the new series, except for that one annoying one Moffet seems to love to include for no reason.

But I digress.  The story was great and it was a really fun listen.  I give this a 9/10.  

So Yesterday

by Scott Westerfeld
narrated by Scott Brick

Summary from GoodReads

Ever wonder who was the first kid to keep a wallet on a big chunky chain, or wear way-too-big pants on purpose? What about the mythical first guy who wore his baseball cap backwards? These are the Innovators, the people on the very cusp of cool. Seventeen-year-old Hunter Braque's job is finding them for the retail market.But when a big-money client disappears, Hunter must use all his cool-hunting talents to find her. Along the way he's drawn into a web of brand-name intrigue-a missing cargo of the coolest shoes he's ever seen, ads for products that don't exist, and a shadowy group dedicated to the downfall of consumerism as we know it. 

Thoughts on the Book

I'm a big Scott Westerfeld fan, and this has been on my TBR list for a long time now.  I was super excited to find it at my library in audio book form.  It was perfect for my road trip!

My Review

This book is about a 'cool hunter', Hunter, who works mainly with shoes.  He meets a girl, Jen, who has awesome shoe laces and convinces her to join him in a commercial screening for 'the client'.  The next day the go to meet Hunter's boss who goes missing, which leads them to find the shoes which sets us up for the rest of the book.

I was a bit let down by this book.  I was expecting some awesome Westerfeld story, but instead I got a book about the perfect pair of shoes that are reminiscent of the original Michael Jordan line of Nike's.  Sorry, totally brand dropped there.  At first I was amused by the 'no brand names' stance, but it quickly got annoying, it pulled focus from the story.  Instead of just naming things Hunter would explain the brand instead of naming it, like his phone "from a certain company in Finland", or the aforementioned brand "A certain basketball player (whose name basically became a brand)".  I get the stance on not name dropping, but couldn't he just have said "I was sent a phone to try out" or describe the shoes as from the 80s?  By talking around the name the reader is paying more attention to the brand than they would be if he had said 'a pair of  Air-Jordan's'.  

The story also was exclusively about finding the Nike knock-offs and his relationship with Jen.  Which from beginning to end was only 3 days.  You'd think it was more than that with all the emotional ups and downs of it.

There were parts of the story that had nothing to do with the main plot line, like the purple dye bit?  Totally unnecessary, and really really pointless.  It didn't progress the plot at all and it seemed at odds with what the Jammers were trying to accomplish.  Oh and there was the bit with the reason for all of this is because some girl was pissed that people were switching to in-line skates?  Seriously?  She also pretty much exclusively work the old style 2x2 skates.  How stupid is that?

As for the narrator, Scott Brick was good.  He was nothing special though, but I didn't hate listening to him, it wasn't boring.  But I also did say "wow, now that's an awesome narrator"

I give this book a 7/10.  It held my interest throughout, mostly waiting for something interesting to happen.  It was a big let down though. 

Book Rating: 7/10
Narration Rating: 7/10

The Name of the Star

by Maureen Johnson
narrated by Nicola Barber

Summary from GoodReads

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago. 

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

Thoughts on the Book

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for a long time (like years).  I love love love Jack the Ripper.  I find him completely fascinating, the mystery of it, the brutality of it - how could someone do that to another person????, the media frenzy around it.  What's not to love?  I'm also a big fan of Maureen Johnson.  So why did it take me so long to read?  I met Maureen and she signed my copy.  With my love of Jack and my love of her I really really didn't want to damage my copy.  My boyfriend and I went to the library before our big road trip and I saw this sitting nicely on the audio-book shelf and I super excitedly grabbed it, while he groaned and commented that we had more than enough books to get us to Canada and back.  I don't think he regretted me grabbing this one though :)

My Review

This book is about Rory, a southern belle from Louisiana who goes to boarding school in London's East End to spend some time away from Louisiana to be more cultured.  She becomes great friends with her roommate and her roommate's friends and struggles with the culture shock of British school versus American school.  The day Rory arrives in London the first of "Jack's" victim's was found, August 31st.  The murders are more of a background thing at first, but after the double murder on September 30th the murders and the search for the culprit come more to the forefront of the story.

I loved this book.  I loved every second of this book.  I'll start with Nicola Barber.  Best voice actress ever!  Her accents were unbelievable - so damn good, no one can be that awesome.  I love how no one sounded the same, even the regular narration voice was totally different from the characters.  Rory's slight southern accent, Jazza's posh English accent,  Boo's more urban London accent, Callum's Irish accent.  Everything was so good!  I don't think I can read the rest of this series, I just have to listen to Nicola read it to me.

Now for the nitty gritty of the book.  I loved how Jerome was so into the murders, I would have acted the exact same way (did I mention that I absolutely love Jack the Ripper?).  He was the most relatable character to me.  The other character besides Jerome I could identify the most with was Jazza.  She's so serious and down to earth about stuff.  

Rory was a great protagonist, while not the best I've ever read, she was definitely up there close to the best.  She was very realistic, she had a good balance of things that needed to be done and enjoying herself.  I especially enjoyed how her romantic relationship was told.  It just happened in the background, it wasn't all encompassing, and it wasn't over the top like so many other YA romances are.

As for the Shades, Stephen was interesting.  I like him, and I can't wait to learn more about it, his past was tragic and he's very closed off to everyone, but I have a feeling he's going to start opening up a bit more, at least to Rory.  Callum I loved, he's such a fun character.  There's so much going on with him, his past was awful as well, but it made him angry where it made Stephen withdrawn.  Boo was also a great character, but she was probably my least favorite, at least of the main characters.  She actually reminded me a lot of Jess's older sister Pinky from Bend it Like Beckham.

Pinky from Bend it Like Beckham

The pacing of the book was great too.  It didn't jump over things, time marched on at a steady pace throughout.  Things didn't happen super fast (I'm getting sick of characters falling madly in love in 3 days, or becoming the best of friends in a day. Really people?  This doesn't happen.) and when they did happen it felt like the natural progression of things.  I also loved that Rory still kept in touch with her friends back home.  While her, Jazza, Jerome, and later Boo became close friends she still didn't ditch her friends.  Sure she didn't talk about them much, but she'd drop hints that she still kept in touch with them.  

I also loved the end of the story. It was so unpredictable, even thinking back over the events there was no foreshadowing of the conclusion, but it didn't feel like it came out of left field.  I completely agreed with Rory for why she was so creeped out everything that was going on.  The very end was awesome as well, I can't wait to read the next in the series!

Overall I give this a 10/10.  Great characters, great story, great pacing, and the best narration I've heard.

Book Rating: 10/10

Narration Rating: 11/10

Short Story Sunday [10]

The Ascent of Unreason
by Marie Brennan

Review

This story is about a dancer who gives up dancing to become a work of art until war changes everything.

I found the story to be pretty unremarkable, it was neither good nor bad, it just was.  I didn't really understand the protagonist.  She didn't like to conform to the rules of dancing so instead of quitting she made sure she was kicked out?  I did like the ending though, her final confrontation with the artist.  It was just getting there that took to long, too much exposition, a little more character development for the main character and less describing dancing and the works of art she became would have been better.

I give this story a 5/10, it was solidly in the middle for me the bad equaled the good and the narration was good.

I listened to this story on Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Go have a listen.

Legend

by Marie Lu
narrated by Steven Kaplan and Mariel Stern

T

Summary from GoodReads

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Thoughts on the Book

This is the first of quite a few audio books I've listened to lately.  I have always sort of wanted to read this series.  Last year at BookCon I saw a panel including Marie Lu which was the first time I had heard of the series.  So when I saw it was available as an audio book it was the first one I listened to.  

My Review

This story is told from two perspectives, Day and June.  One is a rebel fighting against the government (Day), the other is the perfect citizen, striving to be the best in the army (June).  June has always been intrigued by Day and Day has no clue who June is, and really doesn't care.  They are brought together once Day needs to steal plague medicine and June is brought into the investigation.

I absolutely loved this book.  It was such a fun listen.  The narrators, Steven Kaplan for Day's voice and Mariel Stern for June's voice, did such a great job with it.  Stern's intonations I found to be perfect for how June would have sounded, they had the perfect attitude for a super smart overly logical person.

Both characters I found to be totally believable.  June was spoiled because of her test scores, and the fact that Metias loved her and would let some things slide.  She was also very smart and very logical, but it was within the confines of what she was taught.  Day was also smart, although he was more street smart, and could infer things easily and accurately.  

I found the setting very intriguing.  It was a dystopian future, what else is new, but it wasn't so far fetched as other YA dystopias.  Something happened in the US causing the states to separate off, leaving California and some other states as America while the other states became the Colonies.  I loved being able to piece together the world, I get annoyed with stories that are like our world, but at the same time make no sense within our current context.

Overall I give this a 10/10.  I couldn't put it down, my iPod was on and attached to me for the whole day!  I can't wait to continue the series.

Owner's Share

by Nathan Lowell

Summary from PodioBooks

When Diurnia Salvage and Transport undergoes a change in management, Captain Ishmael Horatio Wang finds himself adrift in a sea of red ink, and intrigue. He dives in only to find that he is over his head in a universe where cut-throat competition takes on an all new meaning.

What price will he pay for his Owner’s Share?

Thoughts on the Book

This is the last book in the Trader Tales series.  I've loved the previous 5 books, Ishmael Wang is awesome, I'll never get tired of hearing stories about it.  I waited a long time to finally give this one a listen, mostly because I knew it was the last one and I didn't want it to end.  I also would listen to these stories with my dad when we commuted to work together.  Since we both left that company I didn't feel right listening to it without him.  He did not have those qualms.  So I finally sucked it up and listened.

My Review

Ishmael has finally worked his way up through the ranks from quarter share in the first book to the owner in Owner's Share.  As with most of his advancements this one was thrust upon him in a whirlwind of politics and business.

Lowell did a fantastic job with series continuity in this book.  Characters from earlier installments come back, some in a very large role, others in smaller roles.  Some long running mysteries are solved, one of which was the biggest unknown in Ishmael's life, which drove him at the start of Quarter Share.  Even minor events in Ishmael's travels came back, which concluded the series.  I really hope he shows up in Shaman Tales...

I love the way Lowell writes in a slow meandering fashion.  It really brings out what is important to Ishmael.  Most of his meals are described beautifully, whether he's cooking or not, while other more mundane aspects are not so detailed, like the cleaning.  Although, it is still mentioned quite frequently.

Near the end of the series I was jaw-dropped and close to tears.  The way Lowell wrote out the climax was amazing.  Everything is told through Ishmael's perspective, and the state he was in while everything was happening was just too much.  My heart broke for him.  I wanted to jump into the orbital and help him, try to save him from what was happening.

I've listened to the audio books for the entire series, the ebooks didn't come out until after Captain's Share, I think.  Nathan Lowell is the narrator as well as the author and he does such a fantastic job.  I briefly considered reading Owner's Share but promptly decided against it because Lowell's voice is Ishmael's voice.  Ishmael wouldn't be Ishmael without Lowell narrating.

I absolutely loved this installment, a great end to a wonderful series.  I give it a 10/10.

Lowell writes under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 license.  Which means I can happily say read Owner's Share or start from the beginning of Ishmael's travels with Quarter Share.  Or even take a look at all of Lowell's work here.  Some of his stuff (like Trader's Tales) is available as an ebook, but I highly recommend listening to the audio book, even if you don't usually like listening, try it with this one, Lowell does such a fantastic job reading you may surprise yourself and start to love listening to Ishmael!

Short Story Sunday

Inappropriate Behavior
by Pat Murphy

Review

This story had the potential to be great but it really fell short.  I've been listening to my back log of Escape Pod episodes, so I've been picking and choosing which ones to post here, pretty much whichever ones stand out to me.  Usually it's the really good ones that I want to write about.  This one however, bothered me so much, I can't get it out of my head and the more I think about it the more I dislike it.  It's about an autistic girl who remotely operates a cockroach machine on a deserted island when a man is shipwrecked there and she's the only thing that can save his life.  When the story begins the reader has no clue that the cockroach is an autistic girl, that's discovered later in.  And when it is revealed, boy does the author bash it over your head.

I think the thing that bothered me the most about the story was when Annie, the cockroach girl, asked Evan, the shipwrecked man, to tell her a story.  This happens twice, and the stories were Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk.  Now these stories pretty much everyone in Western society knows.  The few that don't know these stories are too young to comprehend them.  That being said, why did Murphy feel the need to retell this within his story?  Here's why - it was an excuse to bash Annie's autism over your head a little bit more.  Let's take a characters actions from a story then examine their every action and decide if it was something Annie would do or if it was a NT action (a term that was constantly used that bothered me just as much as these retellings).  She decided that Cinderella wasn't NT (aka Cinderella was autistic) because being forced to live on a cot in the kitchen was nice, and going to a ball wasn't, and marrying a prince was just about the worst thing ever.  Annie got upset over the ending because it wasn't what Cinderella would've wanted, she wanted to go back to her filthy cot in the soot of the kitchen.

I get that the Murphy was trying to make a point about autism and try to get people to understand it better through a story, but really, this was the absolute worst way to go about doing it.  I know plenty of autistic people, I haven't met one that I didn't like.  Sure they act a little odd, but once you get used to their peculiarities they're great people.  That being said, Annie was 100% unlikable.  I felt awful for Evan, of all the island he could be stuck on he was on one with her.  She cared more about fiddler crabs having rocks then she did about another person's life.  The only character worse than her was her doctor.  A quack through and through.

I think one thing that made me hate this story as much as I did was the narration.  Usually  when i don't like a narrator I put up with it (the beauty of listening to 30 minute short stories on audio) then promptly forget about it, because either the story was so awesome it made up for the bad narration, or because the story was so unmemorable that the bad narration faded into obscurity just as quickly as the story did.  This story was narrated by MJ Cogburn.  Listening to her read felt like listening to a 9 year old trying to read (and I'm being very generous there).  She paused in all the wrong places, she had extreme difficulty pronouncing simple words. She stumbled over easy sentences, it was torturous to listen to.  She made a bad story drag on twice as long as it needed to.  I don't know if she herself has issues reading aloud, or if it was a decision for the character.  If it was a decision it was poorly executed, Evan and Annie had the same bland toneless slow narration, and if it were done because of Annie, it made her sound like autism wasn't her only problem.

This story gets my lowest rating 1/10.  The only enjoyable part of listening to it was Alasdair's intro and outro.  I first listened to this story on Escape Pod.  The full story is posted there as well, I recommend reading it over listening to it, but I really don't recommend you do either.  Instead just go to the next episode, That Other Sea, it's so much better!

Short Story Sunday

Thirty Seconds from Now
by John Chu

Review

This was such a great story.  It's about a boy who can see the future, or rather, every possibility the future holds.  It's a story about him falling in love, getting his heart broken, surviving college, and the story in its entirety is told before it even happens.  The story begins and ends at the same time.  Scott sitting on the floor, juggling with his dorm room door ajar.

I love the possibilities that Scott sees, I love how Tony is so persistent with what he wants.  I love how Scott sees how everything will turn out and yet he decides to let it happen.  I love how you only know part of the story, and will never know how it ends, or how key things happen, because for the entirety of the story Scott is sitting on his dorm room floor.

This story was a lot of fun.  I give it a 10/10.  

I listened to this one on Escape Pod it was narrated by Joel Kenyon, who did an excellent job with it.  I highly recommend listening to it, but if you're not into that the full text is posted in the same place.

Short Story Sunday

Vestigial Girl by Alex Wilson

Review

This story is about a genius toddler who has to fight a monster in her throat.  I loved everything about this story.  The toddler, Charlene, has adult type reasoning but is only 4 years old; she doesn’t have great mobility and can barely crawl, which upsets her greatly - not to mention the ‘monster’ in her throat that she has to battle in order to speak.  Charlene has two dads, and the reason why she has the difficulties she does is because they spliced her dads’ DNA together rather than using an egg donor with only one of their sperm.    

Throughout the story you hear the two dads fighting in the other room, and the fight is so normal, it’s the kind of fight any two parents would have about a difficult situation with their child.  You get to know each of the dads and can see how much of a struggle it is raising Charlene, and yet how much they love her.  The fight, and presumably fights of similar nature before the story begins, makes Charlene even more determined to fight her monster and win.  If she does then her dads would be happier and understand her better. 

I think the thing I loved most about this story is the fact that Charlene has two dads, Daddy Gary and Daddy Oliver, and the author doesn’t dwell on it.  Charlene doesn’t think that it’s anything other than perfectly normal.  There’s no in your face message saying TWO DADS IS JUST AS GOOD AS A MOTHER AND A FATHER.  Charlene has two dads, she loves them both, and that’s that, now onto the story.  That’s my favorite kind of message, subtle, so subtle within the story that it’s only after you finish it that you reflect on what message the author was sending.

I first heard this story on Escape Pod; it was narrated by Nathaniel Lee, who did a fantastic job with it.  I highly recommend listen.  But if you don’t want to listen to it and just want to read the story, it’s posted in the same place.  

Short Story Sunday

The Wrong Foot

By Stephanie Burgis

This story is a retelling of Cinderella, and I’m a sucker for fairytale retellings.  This retelling is about a horrible, lecherous, prince who “finds” his love.  The girl that he claims as his missing love, Sophia, is, in fact, not who he danced with.  The story revolves around Sophia and how tries to get out of marrying the prince.

I love this story.  Sophia is such an awesome protagonist, she’s so smart.  I also love how the prince is the exact opposite of Charming and the girl’s worst nightmare rather than her dream.  The ending was also fantastic, the way Sophia played on the prince’s faults. 

I give this story a 10/10, Sophia was great and it took such a cool take on the story.  This story is so much fun! I highly highly recommend it!

I first listened to this story on PodCastle.  It was read by Renee Chambliss, who did such a fantastic job with it, her character’s voices were great.  

Short Story Sunday

Paper Menagerie 

by Ken Liu

Summary From GoodReads

A gentle fantasy. Love, paper tigers, mail order bride, culture clash.

Review

This story starts with a young boy of a mixed race family, an American father and a Chinese mother, who didn’t speak English.  The mother made several origami animals for her son, the first of which was a tiger.  When she breathed into them to inflate the animals to their proper size she blew life into them.  The story follows the little boy as he grows into an adult and it focuses on the relationship between him and his mother.

This is one of my favorite stories.  Ken Liu is an amazing author and knows exactly how to pull on your heartstrings.  I love how real the boy is, how he succumbs to peer pressure and tries his hardest to be “normal” before finally coming into himself.  I also love how Liu doesn’t artificially try to make things better for the main character; the people he surrounds himself with are not overly encouraging, there is no token best friend that makes everything okay.  It’s about solely about a boy who is at one with himself until he starts to be aware of how he is viewed by those around him and how he comes to term with his past and who he is.  It’s so realistic, substitute the magical origami animals and Quingming for anything that is culturally specific, and voila this story has played out among countless children growing up in a culture vastly different from their parents.

I first listened to this story on PodCastle, Rajan Khanna does an excellent job narrating.  I highly recommend a listen!