Dandelion Seeds: A Collection of Short Stories

By: Steve DeGroof

Narrated by: Amanda DeGroof

Length: 3 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Dandelion Seeds" - Karen Durning finds herself captain of a spaceship containing the last remnants of humanity: 500 nerds and one insane AI.

"Bread and Circuses" - An alien comedian attempts to come up with a prank to play on humanity that’s worse than what they’ve already done to themselves.

"Flesh and Blood" - A super-intelligent AI refuses to do anything useful until it gets a precise definition of “harm”.

"Bit Parts" - Synthetic body parts are as ubiquitous, and problematic, as smartphones.

"Midpoint" - A generation ship is about to launch. Djani is torn between going on a new adventure and staying with Brey.

"Temp Work" - Retrieving artifacts from the past is tough work, but the hours are good.

"For the Birds" - In the future, parrots are the dominant lifeform, and they’re not too keen on humans dropping in unexpectedly.

"Scaled Down" - Dragons suddenly show up out of nowhere, and that’d be great, if they’d stop knocking over the trash bins. 

"In the Red" - A day in the life of a Martian airlock repair tech.

"Sanguine" - Vampire hunting isn’t for the faint of heart.

"Judgment Day" - An early attempt at AI results in something that considers humans too uninteresting with which to be bothered.

"Rock Band" - Marooned in a damaged spaceship, with only the ship to keep you company. 

"Loaner" - Rich dead people run the economy and like to take the living out for joyrides.

"Indistinguishable from Magic" - If you inherited a potentially dangerous artifact, who’s the first person you’d call?

"The Butler Did It" - Robots are everywhere. Everyone’s got one. One small problem: Their AI is based on the brain scans of a serial killer.

"Imaginary" - Bobby has a lot of imaginary friends. They’re all him.

"Monster" - There’s a monster in the closet, and it’s really sorry for the intrusion.

"Death Takes a Lunch Break" - Encountering a skeletal figure in a hooded robe pretty much guarantees you’re not having a good day.

©2016 Steve DeGroof (P)2018 Steve & Amanda DeGroof

A good sci fi start

Most of these seeds would make great sci-fi stories on their own. I especially liked the ships that were sent away from a troubled earth to establish a new future.

I wish more of his stories were on Audible.

I liked the narration, she has a pleasant voice, however sometimes it seems too fast - almost over compressed by software. I’d prefer to hear it dramatized slightly slower.

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