New Reviews: Science Fiction

Em Grosland deftly juggles robotic voices and human emotions in this cozy postwar sci-fi. Four robots--Sweetie, Hands, Cayenne, and Staybehind--have survived a devastating war, only to be left alone in a flooded San Francisco burger joint. With no humans to interfere, the robots decide to turn the old restaurant into a sophisticated noodle bar, using their wartime skills to... Read More

Earl T. Kim performs a sci-fi story about an orb that appears in Seoul and absorbs any human it touches. Jeong-su watches as his neighbor is taken and somehow made to split, multiply, and spread across South Korea. Jeong-su is not a hero, but he's driven to reach and protect his elderly parents. Kim shifts among colorful voices that never edge into comical extremes. As the... Read More

Eunice Wong does an outstanding job of narrating this combination of dystopian fantasy, historical fiction, and sci-fi. She captures the atmosphere of each of the three timelines, and the result is an intimate, thought-provoking performance. First, the listener meets Maida in 2106; she has the ability to perceive the history of objects. Second, the listener is introduced to Li... Read More

This new space opera is narrated by Savy Des-Etages. Nimah has worked hard to excel as a cadet, and now she's ready to begin her job as an agent for the Stars Intelligence and Government Authority. But her future is threatened when people learn she's the granddaughter of a famous pirate who has been accused of terrorism. Nimah has little choice but to join the motley crew who... Read More

Barrie Kreinik narrates a sci-fi story that mixes alien politics with communication mishaps. Dalton is the first representative to join Unity--a galactic confederation of various species--but he fumbles through his first assignment with an alien soldier known as "Stickman." Kreinik moves smoothly through the varied accents of characters. Conversations between Dalton and the... Read More

Narrator Kirby Heyborne joins the Meskimen family--Jim, Tamra, and daughter Taylor--in energetically giving voice to a dozen new stories by the winners of the Writers of the Future contest. In this year's crop, AI features strongly with Heyborne creating a tone of schoolboy innocence in "The Boy from Elsewhen" by Barlow Crassmont. Taylor Meskimen finds a deceptively... Read More

Chris Andrew Ciulla narrates a thought-provoking story about a small team of observers who arrive at a dying planet and confront an unusual alien race. Warin's only job is to monitor and report on the final days of Retti 4, where an extinction-level virus is about to wipe the planet clean of the "rettys" that inhabit it. He learns the aliens aren't primitive but are vastly... Read More

Senn Annis narrates this sci-fi thriller. The principal storyteller is Raina. She and Cedric are genetic engineers who were blacklisted in the industry when technology they developed was misused. When an eccentric billionaire approaches them to genetically engineer a solution for the survival of humanity, Raina sees a way of regaining the respect of their peers and escaping... Read More

This heartfelt sci-fi monster mash-up of an audiobook is stunningly narrated by an excellent ensemble. Charlie Albers voices DEMETER, a spaceship that travels between planets whose human passengers keep getting murdered through paranormal encounters. Albers's impressive skill at differentiating voices enlivens the robotic DEMETER, who is filled with anxiety; sobbing children... Read More

Indiana Jones meets "Quantum Leap" in this thrilling new science fiction series, splendidly performed by Roger Wayne. Twenty years after a failed attempt at going back in time to retrieve a long-lost gold menorah and leaving behind his mentee/partner, Aaron, Dr. Rabbit Ward tries again--this time in 535 C.E. Constantinople. Once there, he establishes some connections in the... Read More

Narrator Mike Vendetti draws listeners into this short story of an exploratory space mission. Its discoveries challenge the belief system of a Jesuit priest/chief astrophysicist named Father who believes the heavens declare God's handiwork. The explorers discover a faraway civilization superior to Earth's that was destroyed by a supernova. They also find the civilization's... Read More

Abigail Reno narrates a unique variation on the time-travel genre in which a woman travels to the past via her traumatic memories. Beth has built a machine that allows the human mind to travel back in time. But there are two caveats: The mind can travel only within its own lifetime and can observe the past for only 90 seconds. Reno imbues Beth with pathos as she deals with the... Read More

Dion Graham narrates a sweeping entry into a new series featuring an intriguing multiverse. Societies of people capable of traveling not only between stars but also between dimensions compete for control over all the known worlds. While some simply want to learn, others have more nefarious intentions. A routine mission goes awry, leading representatives from two competing... Read More