METAtropolis [Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Jay Lake (Author), Tobias Buckell (Author), Elizabeth Bear (Author), Karl Schroeder (Author), John Scalzi (Author, Reader), Michael Hogan (Reader), Scott Brick (Reader), Kandyse McClure (Reader), Alessandro Juliani (Reader), Stefan Rudnicki (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 9, 2009

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. 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 audio.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Editor Scalzi (Zoe's Tale) and four well-known writers thoughtfully postulate the evolution of cities, transcending postapocalyptic clichés to envision genuinely new communities and relationships. Self-sustaining walled cities struggle with their responsibilities to dying suburbs in Scalzi's Utere Nihil Non Extra Quiritationem Suis; goods are exchanged through multiple microtransactions in Tobias S. Buckell's Stochasti-City and a reputation economy in Elizabeth Bear's The Red in the Sky Is Our Blood. A lone man attempts to overthrow an early enclave in Jay Lake's In the Forests of the Night, while Karl Schroeder's To Hie from Far Celenia brilliantly combines steampunk, urban sociology and network theory as entire subcultures go off the grid. Each story shines on its own; as a group they reinforce one another, building a multifaceted view of a realistic and hopeful urban future. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Editor Scalzi (Zoe’s Tale) and four well-known writers thoughtfully postulate the evolution of cities, transcending postapocalyptic clichés to envision genuinely new communities and relationships.… 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, starred review

“Scalzi and his contributors/collaborators have created a fascinating shared urban future that each of them evokes with his or her particular strengths. Originally an audio anthology, this stellar collection is a fascinating example of shared world building, well deserving of a parallel life in print.” —Booklist

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD Lib Ed; Library edition (August 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423394968
• ISBN-13: 978-1423394969
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,637,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Stories about a Possible Future, September 15, 2010

By 

Dave Mayer (Huntington Beach) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: METAtropolis (MP3 CD)

I haven't read SciFi in a long time, though I'm a lover of Star Wars, Star Trek, Battle Star Galactica and Stargate so I was eager to give this a listen, especially since I'm pretty familiar with three of the readers, Michael Hogan, Kandyse McClure and Alessandro Juiliani, as they're all BSG cast members.

The first story in the series started off a little slow, but they had a lot of info to get out to the listeners. These five stories take place about fifty years in the future, countries have collapsed and the lucky live in a loosely aligned system of city states. To live outside isn't good. The second story picks up the pace and it continues through out.

At times the authors were just a tiny bit preachy about being green, but it didn't offend me and being green in these stories fits in. The future painted here is a bit bleak, but I could imagine myself living in it. These authors have woven a set of stories into a future that drew me in. They, with the help of the readers, made the whole think believable.

If you're into science fiction, you'll enjoy this and even if you're not, I think you'll find more here to like then you might think and you'll certainly find a lot to think about.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Promising Concept, Good Execution, Mixed Stories, October 11, 2010

By 

Lonnie E. Holder "The Review's the Thing" (Columbus, Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: METAtropolis (Audio CD)

(What's this?)

Common framework stories exist. "Thieves' World" has served as a framework for multiple anthologies since 1978. One thing that such anthologies have in common is that the different styles of the authors can make the anthology seem uneven.

METAtropolis contains five stories by five different authors, each introduced by editor and author John Scalzi. Though I expected METAtropolis to be in a single city, the authors set their stories in several locations. There are connections between the stories, but each story stands on its own.

The first story is "In the Forests of the Night" by Jay Lake, narrated by actor Michael Hogan. Lake introduces Tyger Tyger as he attempts to enter Cascadiopolis. Tyger is charismatic and intelligent and quickly becomes influential and popular.

Puzzling were the parallel stories. A second, female person boldly enters Cascadiopolis, following Tyger. Then there is Bashar, a military leader of Cascadiopolis. Other significant characters are introduced, all centered on Tyger. In addition to the attempted character development, we learn much about Cascadiopolis, including tidbits that hint at bigger things never exploited.

John Scalzi tells us in the introduction to the story that the reason this story is first is that it provides the most description of the Cascadiopolis metatropolis. Unfortunately, that detail bogs the story down. Tyger's story contains interesting elements, but we deal with so much detail that the Tyger story often fades into the background and I became bored. Worse, by the time we get to the end of the story I was so bored that I actually no longer cared about Tyger. I was thankful that the story was over.

Bottom line: "In the Forests of the Night" is an eminently forgettable story that requires too much energy to wade through for the little value that it adds to METAtropolis. Though the story is coherent, because of the pacing and complexity, I give it two stars out of five.

Things look up with the second story, "Stochasti-City" by Tobias Buckell, narrated by Scott Brick. The hero of our story is an ex-military bouncer who finds himself in the center of plots and schemes. Our hero is initially a victim, but he finally takes charge of his life and works toward something better, all the while revealing some of the complexity of societal evolution in metatropolis. I found myself concerned about the hero of our story and was able to put myself quickly in his position.

The one downside to this story is the underlying messages. Yes, greed is bad, carbon footprint is important, and cars are evil. Unfortunately, Buckell repeated these not-so-subtle messages multiple times and eventually I tired of them. I really did not need to have the evils of internal combustion powered cars rubbed in my face five or ten times to get the message.

Other than the not-so-hidden propaganda, this story was quite interesting and intriguing. I give this story four stars out of five.

The third story, Elizabeth Bear's "The Red in the Sky is Our Blood," read by Kandyse McClure, contained an interesting barter system, in combination with communes and a raft of other philosophical concerns. Sometimes the detail got in the way of the very interesting and complex story. This story points out one of the consistent flaws in this concept: the authors often seemed so caught up in describing their dystopic vision of the future that they forgot that their primary purpose was to tell a story. This story rates three out of five stars.

This collection finishes strong.

The fourth story is John Scalzi's "Utere Nihil non Extra Quiritationem Suis," read by Alessandro Juliani, which I think means something like "Everything but the Squeal."

Scalzi tells the story of Benjy the slacker, who seems to think the world should revolve around him. The reality of life strikes Benjy when he comes of age and is required to get a job or literally get out - of the city. Sadly, Benjy has spent most of his life sucking off the creativity and labor of others and he finds that his only skill (besides being a leech on society) involves pigs. Benjy soon learns that he and pigs have much in common.

Though there are serious undertones to this story, it is quite humorous and reminds me strongly of Robert A. Heinlein. Benjy realizes that he does want to be a good citizen and realizes that his skills are far greater than what he knew he had. Be prepared to laugh and enjoy the best story of this group, the only five star story in the bunch.

The last story has moments where it was cumbersome, but contains a concept so intriguing that it may have been the story that made me think the most. Karl Schroeder's "To Hie from Far Celenia," read by Stefan Rudnicki, describes, as I thought to myself as I listened to it for the third time, circles within circles within circles. You have to listen to the story to understand why I described the story in this way. The closest parallel I have is the plot of "Three Days of Condor," where there was a network within the U.S. intelligence community with its own agenda and rules. Apply to a virtual world where there worlds within worlds. The concept is dizzying and difficult to follow in parts. Reading might have been easier than listening. Four stars out of five for this one.

If you add the totals and divide, you end up with 3.6 stars, which means that this collection is closer (by a small amount) to Amazon's four stars than three stars, but only barely. The struggle is not so much with the rating, but the price. My thought: if you can find this collection for half the normal list price, it is probably worth having. Otherwise, you have to be a fan of audio books and the authors to choose this collection.

Good luck!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars so-so collection of stories, January 19, 2010

By 

Mary Jo DiBella (Rochester, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: METAtropolis (Audio CD)

(What's this?)

I had high hopes for this because I have read and books from several of the authors. Sadly, I don't think it represents their best work.

The first story set the mood... and maybe I am just dumb but I didn't 'get' it. Yes, there was some lovely imagery, descriptions that I could picture so clearly in my mind's eye. It was the story that lacked. What exactly was happening? And more importantly, what was the point?

Overall, this is my biggest problem with these stories. There is a message here, a overbearingly presented 'Capitalism is bad, Environmentalism is good' that overlaid all aspects of each story and frankly it spoiled them. It was hard to follow the stories when this message kept getting in the way.

I stopped and started listening a lot because I just couldn't relate to the characters and thus I could not enjoy the stories.