Rip-Off!

The premise is take a classic line from another story and/or plot of another story and make it their own. All the narration was fabulous as well.There is also a forward from each author about this challenge put before them. I enjoyed all the stories but I will focus on my favorites Mike Resnick's "the evening line" where Harry and Benny give us color commentary on which woman is going to relieve Malone of his winnings from the race. Hilarious!! Including Zombies and Mages. Allen Steeles "the Big Whale" Where Captain Ahab's wife contracts Ishmael, a hard boiled private dick, to investigate her husbands lover Moby. The story starts where Ishmael just got back from doing work on the unlawful termination case of Bartleby the Scrivenor, who, when he went to collect payment, said he would prefer not to lol. Paul de philiipo "death as she has truly lived" All I am going to say about that is it's the story of my (after)life. I love Mark Twain and this is quite a different adventure than Huckleberry Finn had. I laughed out loud through the whole story.

The above mentioned stories were the top three funny stories. I also want to mention how great john scalzi's and James Patrick Kelly's stories. John scalzi usually writes campy sci-fi stories but "muse of fire" was not at all campy. It was very well written and beautifully narrated by Wil Wheaton. This Confirms what I already suspected Scalzi has agreat imagination and ability to let us see that through his storytelling and Wil Wheaton channels that. James patrick Kelly's "declaration" was an interesting twist on the declaration of independence. It took place in a matrix type world. However you can see where this could be our future.People are interacting less and less IRL so there are mandates on how much time you must spend on hard time ( real life). Some people want to declare their indepedence to live life fully in virtual world. It is very heartbreaking.

Wil Wheaton's narration of "Muse of Fire" took my breath away. It was stunning. Also I laughed all the way through Dina Pearlmans narration of "Karen Coxswain"

"Muse of Fire" was a very moving story. I think it could be about unhealthy or codependant relationships if you want to dig deep into the story. I think I was particularly moved because I did not expect that from Scalzi. Yes he does provoke thought in his novels but they are so fun you just think about it a little and go back to laughing. This story was kind of sad. Also "declaration" moved me because I know someone who lost a brother with a disability and it is both difficult and freeing at the same time so that is very moving.

I wanted to mention that I usually buy anthologies to get a sample of different authors so I can see if I want to read more. Although "the red menace" by Lavie Tidhar was not my favorite I did like the way he told the story so I will definitely be looking up other stories by him. This is definitely a great anthology and I think even if sci-fi is not your thing you might still enjoy it because obviously reading is your thing or you wouldn't be in a book club, right.

The narration by some of these narrators was great. The book introduced my to some new narrators I will seek out.

I like the "Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" story. I thought the concept was great and I had a great chuckle. Great job Tad Williams.

I enjoyed the opening story. The imagery of folks flying through the sky was done well. I enjoyed "Highland Reel", the concept was great with a good story.

I was taken by Wil Wheaton's narration, he surprised me. As I said previously, Tad Williams' story was a good touching story. The astronaut story was touching.

I truly enjoyed this book. Thank you.

Interesting, funny, satisfying.

Let me explain, some of the stories are really great. They range from serious to silly, and I have to say that I enjoyed each of them. Some of them aren't as strong as the others, but that's to be expected with a short story collection from different authors. I'll admit that I got the book largely because of Scalzi's short story (which is good by the way) , but my favorite of the lot has to be "The Evening Line" by Mike Resnick. It was just so over the top that I caught myself laughing out loud every couple minutes. Definitely slapstick but what can I say, right on my level. "The Lady Astronaut" by Mary Robinette Kowal is also one of the better stories, quite touching to be honest. All of the stories were good, but I do think that only a couple of them will get re-listened too.

Hmmm. Hard to say because it's a short story collection. There's something in here for everyone though.

There are so many different narrators that it's hard to quantify. I will say that most of them do a fantastic job.

Nope, I preferred ti split it up by stories while walking the dog.

Nothing except to say that you should give it a try if you are at all interested in Short Stories. The ones here are pretty entertaining.

Rip-Off was a eclectic collection of stories written by Sci-Fi writers that each began with their author's own favourite first line of a book. The variety offered in the book really appealed to me.

Sophia in "Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" by Tad Williams was my favourite character. Unfortunately, if I shared my reasoning, I'd be spoiling the story!

It was a perfect book to listen to if you only have short times free--I found I needed a lot of time to reflect on what I'd listened to in each story.

The stories are incredibly creative

They picked good narrators for each story

The stories range from humorous to disturbing, and everything in between

Twist on classics

All of the stories were so engaging that I don't have just one.

I've never heard any of the narrators before but now that I have I might in the future

There was a couple of times the book moved me

Very good listen everyone should read/listen to it

A fun read.

Stephen King, when he goes deeper into sci fi.

Each story had different narrators, and yes, I'd heard some of them before. Can't remember who off hand.

No. I commute with it.

Some of the stories will stay with me forever. The one about the lady astronaut. And the one about what happened when God created the earth. Interesting heartfelt writing.

Yes. I think the variety of voice actors brings a lot to helping you hear the difference in the authors' voices.

This would be a close tie between the main characters from "The Big Whale" by Allen M. Steele and "Begone" by Daryl Gregory.

I think the scene in "Begone" where the character was talking to the guy from "I Dream of Jeannie" was my favorite. If you watched 60s television, you'll find this story pretty amazing.

Definitely laughed a lot during various authors. Nothing especially sad, though.

I didn't enjoy the first few authors nearly as much as the later bits. If you decide to listen to this, my advice is to give each story 15 minutes or so and skip to the next if you don't enjoy any given author.

N/A

None come to mind, other than compilations of short stories variously over time, but none with this particular take on the themes.

The takeoff on the bewitched TV show was first rate and very humorous- as well as poignant, oddly enough...

There were several- but I wont spoil it for you! ;)

I highly recommend SCIFI fans to this book- but a warning: There is some fantasy here as well. For some that's a good thing, if you don't like fantasy then there are a few stories that will grate on you.

For my SF loving friends it is a yes.

It was a themed anthology. There are a host of these but the theme matters.

I like the diversity of the narrators. Every story got it's own narrator. This is how to handle anthologies. Short of a different one for each story alternating narrators would help differentiate the stories.

Mike Resnick's Damon Runyon inspired story was my favorite. Why isn't there any Runyon on audible?