“Slow Time Between the Stars” Now Out on Amazon and Audible
Posted on June 27, 2023 Posted by John Scalzi 10 Comments
Today’s the day! My new story “Slow Time Between the Stars” is out on Amazon and Audible, as part of the Far Reaches collection, in Kindle and audio versions. If you buy the text version, you get the audio version, narrated by Kay Eluvian, as well; they’re bundled together. If you are a subscriber to Amazon Prime or Kindle Unlimited, “Slow Time” and the other stories in the Far Reaches collection are available to you without any additional cost. If you’re not, you can get each story for a pretty low price: currently 99 cents in the US.
My story tells of Asa, an artificial intelligence who has one mission: to bring humanity to the stars. How that happens, over the span of hundreds of thousands of years, is the crux of the tale. I won’t tell you more about the story than that, because I don’t want to spoil it and also because it’s short anyway; the audio version (which is terrific, by they way; Eluvian’s performance is delightful) can be listened to in an hour.
Short, but, I hope, packing a punch. Back when I announced the story, I mentioned it was slightly different than my usual thing, and it is: A short story is a lovely place to try different things and see what you think of them. It’s, as the title might suggest, a little slower, and also a little more overtly philosophical. I won’t say it’s utterly unlike anything I’ve done before, but it’s a bit of an odd duck in my bibliography. I like that fact about it. I think you will, too.
If you like “Slow Time” then remember that there are five other stories in the Far Reaches collection, by some of the most interesting writers working in science fiction and fantasy: Ann Leckie, James SA Corey, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nnedi Okorafor and Veronica Roth. And like “Slow Time” they’re available to Prime/KU subscribers as part of their subscription, or offered for sale for (currently) 99 cents. Please check them out!
Finally, remember that I created a companion EP of electronic music for this story, called Between the Stars, which is available on all major streaming services (here’s the Amazon Music landing page for it), with two tracks, “Between the Stars” and “Asa” directly inspired by the story.
Happy reading!
— JS
Thanks for the reminder. Grabbed it for my upcoming road trip!
Heads up, if you are a Prime member and you click on the first link to go to the Scalzi story, Amazon will charge you 99 cents (not that it isn’t worth it). But if you click on the second link, you can get the whole collection for free (with your Prime membership). Not sure that this is the intended behavior.
Mark Sidarous:
It didn’t work that way for me – it noted that it was free for me as a Prime user. No idea why there was a difference with our experiences.
No issues for me either upon clicking the link. There were several buttons available — one clearly marked “Free with Prime” and another where you “can” buy it for $0.99.
As an occasional Kindle Unlimited subscriber, I imagine this is to allow you to permanently add it to your library as I suspect it would no longer be available if you cancel your Prime membership.
Read the collection for free!
Thanks!
I liked the story.
I liked it! The vibe reminded me a little of Wait It Out by Niven, without being at all derivative of it. (Very different plot and main character.)
Thanks John and Steve. I think I just missed the “Free with Prime” button.
Listened to it this morning while I was walking my dog. I enjoyed it. I loved the pacing. Kay Eluvian is a perfect narrator. Very calm delivery but still plenty expressive.
It also was weird for me with the audiobook thing. I had to download the story (for free) and then there was a link to get it on audible. Surprised it didn’t just show up in Audible. Regardless, Great Story!