METAtropolis: Cascadia is Out
Posted on November 16, 2010 Posted by John Scalzi 17 Comments
For those of you who enjoyed METAtropolis — and enough of you did that it became the first audiobook nominated for a Hugo — I’m delighted to inform you that today its sequel METAtropolis Cascadia is out and available for your listening pleasure. M:C not only reunites four of the five original authors of METAtropolis (Elizabeth Bear, Tobias Buckell, Jay Lake and Karl Schroeder) but adds two additional fabulous authors to the mix: Mary Robinette Kowal and Ken Scholes. Each contributes a story focused on the area and themes originally covered by Jay Lake in his METAtropolis story “In the Forests of the Night.”
But wait, there’s more! Each of the stories in M:C is narrated by an actor who performed in the Star Trek universe: Rene Auberjonois, Kate Mulgrew, Wil Wheaton, Gates McFadden, Jonathan Frakes and LeVar Burton, all of whom do a spectacular job reading the words of the authors (you can see the voice talent discuss their work on the project here).
Basically METAtropolis: Cascadia is a big ol’ ball of geek joy. I think you’re going to enjoy the heck out of it. I know I have. I hope you’ll give it a listen.
Sweet. Mine’s downloading now, it’s nice to have a decision that doesn’t stress out my predilection to choice paralysis. It’s funny, I listened to the first one and had no real previous connection to the readers. (Except having heard a couple Stefan Rudnicki narrations in the previous couple of years.) This one, the sequel, every reader is loaded with previous history for me. It was actually very nice to listen to Cheri Priest’s Boneshaker with Wil Wheaton narrating, when I’d been afraid it would be a distraction. There was a very nice balance of enjoying the story and inner squee-ing with “OMG one of my childhood idols is reading me a story, and reading it well”. (Yes, yes, I wanted to be Wesley Crusher. Sue me. But there you go.) On the reverse, I’m now finally watching Battlestar Galactica with my wife, and so when the XO (Michael Hogan) talks I keep expecting him to say something about “Tygre” or “The Cascades” …
Next time I really want Avery Brooks (Deep Space 9’s Commander Sisko). Make it happen, Mr. Scalzi.
Holy Hot Petunias! I am so excited I’m shaking in my boots! Levar, Wil, Tobias, etc. I love these people, I love the story. This is So completely awesome! I feel like cackling maniacally, so I will!
Any plans on a print edition?
I suspect they are shopping it.
Just now reading the first one on the iPad. Loving it so far. You guys do excellent work.
John, is the first one in audio book form?
Ah, never mind, saw that it is. Wish it wasn’t exclusively on audible, but there we are. Might get it for my iPhone, though I wish it was in a usable format for the nook…but given that Amazon owns Audible, that’s not likely to happen.
Not a big fan of audiobooks. Big fan of Rene Auberjonois. Conflicts, conflicts.
Wizardru:
The original METAtropolis is available on iTunes.
Loved Metatropolis, hate audiobooks conflicts conflicts…. hope there is a print edition soon :-)
How about this for a cover image (for something!):
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/16/astronaut-watches-th.html
If you’re a fan of Rene Auberjonois, you’re missing out if you skip this or his other reading-work. He’s a relatively frequent reader on “Selected Shorts,” the radio show of live-recordings of famous people (sometimes authors) reading short fiction. Selected Shorts tours the US from time to time and it’s a don’t-miss live show, but you can subscribe to the podcast from WNYC or through NPR. Leonard Nimoy does a turn at the mic once in a while, as have other stars of SF, such as Kier Dullea and Jane Curtin (think about it). Unfortunately, the stories on SS are rarely anything one could call SF.
And presumably you’re a fan of “Benson,” a terrific sitcom that predates the sentience of most of the readers here, I think…
I don’t recall you ever mentioning this, but why didn’t you contribute this time? I loved the story with the pig and waste management. XD
My schedule didn’t allow for it.
Anyone besides me looking forward to “Metatropolis:Nights,” which features all the characters of the original, but now they’re private detectives?
I have purchased and enjoyed reading Metatropolis, in paper format. I am a passionate reader and a bad listener. I have tried listening to M:C but I had yo stop after a couple minutes — it just doesn’t work for me in audio format. Do you guys plan to also publish M:C in printed format? Thanks.
Ditto to all the above on the print version. Just bought the first MetaTropolis — in hardback, yay — and would love to be able to _read_ M:C as well. Something about being able to read 2-3x faster than people can talk, I think.