Lobsters

By: Charles Stross

Narrated by: Jared Doreck

Manfred Macx is a patent junkie, spending his days dreaming up ideas that will make him rich, very rich indeed. He patents them and then offers them up to anyone for free. In doing so, he has shunned the need for cash, preferring to live off the generosity of his benefactors. Enter uploaded lobsters wanting to defect, government investigations, and a dominatrix ex-girlfriend who works for the IRS and you've got yourself a hip post-cyberpunk tale.

Manfred is a high octane, finger on the pulse, grab it before it's gone guy, focused on the moment, the idea, and the deal. His ex-girlfriend, however, has a subtle but very practical approach to the future. Is Manfred up for the latest and most challenging proposal of his life?

With "Lobsters", Charles "Charlie" Stross has set his stopwatch to just 70 minutes. In that time, he'll blast your senses with an array of images and visualizations via perfect storytelling, skill, and timing. Image after image will explode in your brain with the speed of a flashing strobe light as he tosses off metaphors and similes as if he'd robbed the World Vocabulary Bank.

©2001 Dell Magazines (P)2005 AudioText

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award Nominee, Best Novelette, 2002
• Nebula Award Nominee, Best Novelette, 2003

"The audio zips into your ears with ease!" (sffaudio.com)

Great story, poor narration

This is one of my favorite Stross short stories. It later became part of Accelerando (I wish that were an audiobook). Stross at his best - like the protagonist Manfred Macx, Stross throws out an abundance of ideas every minute. Unfortunately this audio version is marred by an ensemble narration that makes Macx sound like a cheesy cartoon character, and other characters (e.g. Bob Franklin) sound like caricatures rather than real people. I'd give only 2 stars for the narration, at best.

So good it's kinda disorienting

I read this as part of his novel, Accellerando I think. It was so I good I paid to download a CD.