Miniatures

The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam, Peter Ganim, Luke Daniels, John Scalzi, Greg Cope White, Fred Berman

Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The ex-planet Pluto has a few choice words about being thrown out of the solar system. A listing of alternate histories tells you all the various ways Hitler has died. A lawyer sues an interplanetary union for dangerous working conditions. And four artificial intelligences explain, in increasingly worrying detail, how they plan not to destroy humanity. Welcome to Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi.

These four stories, along with 14 other pieces, have one thing in common: They're short, sharp, and to the point - science fiction in miniature, with none of the stories longer than 2,300 words. But in that short space exist entire universes, absurd situations, and the sort of futuristic humor that propelled Scalzi to a Hugo with his novel Redshirts. Not to mention yogurt taking over the world (as it would).

Spanning the years from 1991 to 2016, this collection is a quarter century of Scalzi at his briefest and best and features four never-before-published stories exclusive to this collection: "Morning Announcements at the Lucas Interspecies School for Troubled Youth", "Your Smart Appliances Talk About You Behind Your Back", "Important Holidays on Gronghu", and "The AI Are Absolutely Positively Without a Doubt Not Here to End Humanity, Honest".

John Scalzi is the New York Times best-selling author of Old Man's War, Lock In, and Redshirts, among others. His work has won the Hugo and Locus Awards and been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell Awards. He lives in Ohio and online. He enjoys pie.

Full cast of narrators includes Oliver Wyman, Dina Pearlman, and Allyson Johnson.

©2016 John Scalzi (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The production includes six narrators, including Scalzi, with each taking on two or more stories. This proves a smart choice.... Between the narrators and the stories, this collection proves to be a perfect introduction for listeners wanting to get a comprehensive sense of Scalzi's style." ( AudioFile)

Hilarious Sci-Fi

A hilarious compilation of short sci-fi stories that has a little for everyone: Star Trek fans, Star Wars fans, pet lovers, teachers, corporate employees and diplomats.

Good Fun!

This was a fun read! Each piece was unexpected, creative and actually came across as totally plausible scenarios! Lol! I wouldn't hesitate to read anything John wrote in the future of I might come across from the past! Thank You!

So many great ideas!

I read science fiction as much for the ideas as for the stories. And here Scalzi gives us some great little gems. The narrators are superb as well. You can return to this collection again and again whenever you need a quick hit of things that make you think.

Fun diversion

A nice collection of short stories from a talented writer. Nothing too deep, but quite enjoyable.

Great for a car trip - lots of laughs in 3 hours

Highly enjoyable listen, this entire collection of 17 stories and one poem clocks in at just less than 3 hours. Great for a car trip! Several of the stories were laugh-out-loud funny. My favorites were The Missives from Possible Futures #1, State of Super Villainy, Your Smart Appliances Talk About You Behind Your Back, and The AI are Absolutely Positively Without a Doubt Not Here to End Humanity. The very best of all was The Other Large Thing, which unfortunately I cannot say much about without spoiling the surprise.

Love Scalzi

Bit of a mixed bag but overall an enjoyable way to spend a few hours.

Hilarious!

This little book was so much fun. If you are a Scalzi fan, it's a must-read. if you aren't, it will turn you into a Scalzi fan.

Outstanding!

I was reading other novels by Scalzi and enjoying them, so I looked at other stuff of his and found this gem. I usually prefer longer fiction, but I love this collection - I’ve read it 3-4 times now, often after telling different friends about one or another particular story from the collection. My all-time favorite is probably “The Other One,” except I wish it had a more distinctive name!! It’s the one about the cat. It is so accurate to cat-kind that I’ve shared it with most of my friends who are owned by cats. But really, I like or love all the stories… I also adore the story about the world being taken over by yogurt - I really did laugh out loud, and hard. Worth a credit, easily!

A quick and relaxing break between the normal read

I enjoyed the format and the stories told. For such short stories, he covered some detailed material. It was a nice break between my longer reads.

Short snippets to enjoy

If you only have 15-20min here and there to listen, this is an enjoyable way to do it. Scalzi is one of my favorite authors and being able to listen to him in short bursts is great.