A conventional collection of short stories this is not. Michael Andreasen's stories feature the surreal and the odd, along with a healthy dose of science fiction and the absurd. The narration for such an offbeat collection is decidedly a mixed bag. Some narrators in the cast of many well-known names do manage to capture that darkly witty element to great effect. Other narrators strike a tone that sounds overly earnest and enthusiastic, when a more deadpan and sardonic tone would have been more fitting. It may be that the unconventional nature of the stories, featuring the titular amorous sea beast and a headless girl whose brother is her caretaker, makes them difficult to categorize and, thus, results in varied success in narration.
Pub Date: 2018
Duration: 7 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780525527435
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
American colleges are favorable locales for ghastly event and hair-tearing circumstance. There is, for instance, a good deal of pleasure to be had out of professor and past-prodigy Grady Tripp's awful life, as portrayed by Michael Chabon in WONDER BOYS. There is a certain amount of slapstick here, but it's balanced by Chabon's superb portrait of a gale-force mid-life crisis, a soul-destroying albatross of an unfinished novel and the mind-numbing inconsequence of writers' conferences. David Colacci sounds a little starved for oxygen in his reading, but that's not exactly out of keeping with Grady Tripp's personal gestalt.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
As a group of men bring their own emotional baggage to their football-obsessed reunion, R.C. Bray delivers his usual solid narration. He shifts his tones slightly but enough to put the listener in the motel with the men, revealing their foibles as the story progresses. The narrator's role in this book is a descriptive one, and Bray is a good guide. His narration becomes extra important because this is a rare instance when there almost isn't a protagonist. The author's well-written story--which alternates between serious and laugh-out-loud funny--uses quarterback Joe Theismann's 1985 injury, a broken leg, as a McGuffin.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781681680057
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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