I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You, and Other Stories

De: Julianna Baggott

Narrado por: January LaVoy, Kelli Tager, Natasha Soudek, Emily Woo Zeller, Em Grosland, Rachel Jacobs, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Cassandra Campbell, Lisa Flanagan, Erin Bennett, Sarah Beth Pfeifer, Xe Sands, Emily Lawrence, Tavia Gilbert, Andi Arndt

Bestselling author Julianna Baggott delivers her mind-bending debut short-story collection, featuring an array of genres populated by deeply human characters, and with film rights to the stories already having been sold to Netflix, Paramount, Amblin, Lionsgate, and others!

In the title story, set five minutes in the future where you not only have a credit score but also a dating score, a woman who’s been banished from all dating apps attends a weekly help group with others who have been “banned for life,” and finds herself falling in love. In “Backwards,” a twist on Benjamin Button, a woman reconnects with her estranged father as he de-ages ten years each day they spend together. In “Welcome to Oxhead,” all the parents in a gated community “shut off” when the power goes out. In “Portals,” a small town deals with hope and loss when dozens of portals suddenly open. In “How They Got In,” a grieving family starts to see a murdered girl in all of their old home videos.

This fantastical collection from a unique voice contains a myriad of stories of the weird and wonderful. Julianna Baggott is a talented and clever guide, and I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You will take the listener on a journey unlike anything they’ve experienced.

©2023 Julianna Baggott. “Welcome to Oxhead” originally published in 2022 in Lightspeed. “The Gaslighter's Lament” originally published in 2019 in Conjunctions. “The Virtuals,” previously published as “The Virtual Swallows of Hog Island,” originally published in 2017 at Tor.com. “The Holographer” originally published in 2021 in Conjunctions. “Inkmorphia” originally published in 2021 in Nightmare magazine. “Mental Diplopia: An Eradication” originally published in 2017 at Tor.com (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

Crazy thoughts

Wow, crazy seems like what we’re all thinking and she puts it into stories
Not too terrifying

Performance was great

I normally love a collection of short stories but none of these made any sense to me whatsoever. The narrators were great so I kept listening hoping for one good story. Maybe I’m just too old for these weird stories