METAtropolis

By: Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, Karl Schroeder

Narrated by: Michael Hogan, Scott Brick, Kandyse McClure, Alessandro Juliani, Stefan Rudnicki, John Scalzi

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to a world where big cities are dying, dead - or transformed into technological megastructures. Where once-thriving suburbs are now treacherous Wilds. Where those who live for technology battle those who would die rather than embrace it. It is a world of zero-footprint cities, virtual nations, and armed camps of eco-survivalists.

Welcome to the dawn of uncivilization.

METAtropolis is an intelligent and stunning creation of five of today's cutting-edge science-fiction writers: 2008 Hugo Award winners John Scalzi and Elizabeth Bear; Campbell Award winner Jay Lake; plus fan favorites Tobias Buckell and Karl Schroeder. Together they set the ground rules and developed the parameters of this "shared universe", then wrote five original novellas - all linked, but each a separate tale.

Bringing this audiobook to life is a dream team of performers: Battlestar Galactica's Michael Hogan ("Saul Tigh"); Alessandro Juliani ("Felix Gaeta"); and Kandyse McClure ("Anastasia 'Dee' Dualla"); plus legendary audiobook narrators Scott Brick (Dune) and Stefan Rudnicki (Ender's Game).

John Scalzi, who served as Project Editor, introduces each story, offering insight into how the METAtropolis team created this unique project exclusively for digital audio.

©2008 Joseph E. Lake, Jr., Tobias S. Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, Karl Schroeder (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• 2009 Hugo Award nominee, Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• 2009 Audie Award nominee, Original Work

“Each story shines on its own; as a group they reinforce one another, building a multifaceted view of a realistic and hopeful urban future.” (Publishers Weekly)
“Scalzi and his contributors/collaborators have created a fascinating shared urban future that each of them evokes with his or her particular strengths.... This stellar collection is a fascinating example of shared world-building.” (Booklist)
"This impressive group of writers imagines what happens when the world moves beyond cities as a locus of human civilization. The range of narrators...brings a unique narrative style to the production. Of the five narrators, all well chosen for the stories, Allessandro Juliani proves to be the best with his rendering of Scalzi's piece." (AudioFile)

Fresh Air!

I really enjoyed these stories! I also loved how the authors came to common ground on some the "layout" of the world so that they make and connected composition when listened to together. It was fun to see how each author approached the story. These are authors that I will look for in future. I am always impressed with the short story format (when well written). I recommend this title to anyone that enjoys fiction.

Inspirational Concepts - Excellent listen

Enjoyed this very much each of these stories were eye opening, very well written and joined together. Even Scott Brick did a very good job and didn't over dramatize things, thanks Scott and to all of the authors who worked on this project for your inspiring minds.

Average

No where near as good as I had hoped, story 1 nearly made me leave…. The rest not too bad.. nor that good either but good enough to pass the time. I did not bother to finish the last it was too painful as well.

Only the second last thrilled me

The other stories were just OK. I wouldn't say that they were great. The narrators were reasonable.

Great Concept and Flawless Execution

I always like when authors cross the boundary into another author's world. If done right, this can lead to amazing things. (Yes, I love when musicians cover other musician's songs too.) This reminds me of the Mongoliad series by Stephenson, Bear, Teppo, et al. but taken in a different direction. You get each author's unique style and perspective and get to hear a tale of their own, but they each inhabit the same world. The audiobook version was very well read!

Mixed Bag

The overall concept is interesting, a number of writers collaborating and writing stories on the same topic.
That being said, while I enjoyed the overlap of the concept from story to story, some of the tales were ponderous and boring.
Even with multiple tries at listening to them, I was unsuccessful.
This was purchased as a daily deal, I'd return it if I'd paid full freight.

The backstory is the story

The trouble with this collaborative world-building effort is that the authors give too much backstory... too much explanation to build the world and then specifically build out each authors own piece of that world. Documentary-style dry narration didn’t help. Overall, just middling...

Fantastic Concept!

This collection of stories set in the near future/ alternate reality rings true. They interlink just enough to flow, yet are individual tales. I loved it, and look forward to the next edition.

Entertaining teaser stories

The stories are interesting, but right about the time you become invested, they end. They were good enough that I'll be checking out at least one of the full books.

A different future

A great twist on what the future could be. No need to be zombies or Star Trek, just people being people with the resources they have