Audiobook Fix: Novellas from Audible Frontiers

As I’ve watched audiobooks climb in popularity over the past several years, I’ve wondered why short fiction hasn’t caught on more with listeners. Not short stories, generally, but rather novelettes and novellas, which, in my opinion, is where a lot of the best science fiction lives. On audio, most novelettes and novellas end up between ninety minutes and four hours long. Select carefully from the untapped wealth that is the collection of science fiction available at this length, ensure that a great narrator does the reading, and what you’ve got is the perfect product for today’s commuter; short enough to be enjoyed in a sitting or two, at least as satisfying as a movie, and no need for the word “abridgment.” Why aren’t they doing this?

That question need not be asked any longer, because Audible is now doing it under the “Audible Frontiers” label. Imagine my joy at their latest batch of offerings, which includes science fiction novellas like “The Hemingway Hoax” by Joe Haldeman, “Inside Job” by Connie Willis, and “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge” by Mike Resnick, and others. Audible Frontiers titles, which include novels as well, are produced to the high standards audiobook listeners have come to treasure—professional and engaging narrators with skillful editing.

Ernest Hemingway once lost a bunch of his writings—short stories, much of a novel, all in a satchel, lost in a train station. Heartbreaking. Joe Haldeman, as he explains at the beginning of this audio, thinks that a person could make a lot of money if he wrote fakeries and passed them off as the contents of that long-lost bag. Instead of doing that, Haldeman wrote this excellent story about a guy who has the same idea. In a dazzling flurry of multiple universes, Haldeman explores the possibility that lost things need to stay lost. Eric Michael Summerer is a narrator I haven’t heard until now, and I’m looking forward to hearing him again.

Publisher: Audible Frontiers (2008)
Price: $9.95
Audiobook: 4 hours, 31 min

Connie Willis wrote a novel called Passage which focuses on life after death and the claims of those who believe in it. “Inside Job” is a return to the tone of that novel, but this time, she takes on the claims of channelers, who are people who say they can allow the dead to possess their bodies and speak their wisdom. Despite what the Sci-Fi Channel might think, the average science fiction fan is not a believer in such things but is very interested in exactly how these people manage to fool their audience. Through characters that spend their lives debunking claims, Willis takes us on a fun ride investigating the claims of a channeler. Dennis Boutsikaris performs here, and he captured Willis’s tone perfectly.

Publisher: Audible Frontiers (2008)
Price: $9.95
Audiobook: 2 hours, 23 min

“Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge” by Mike Resnick is one of the best science fiction stories ever written. The novella starts in the far future, where extraterrestrial archaeologists are exploring the birthplace of the extinct human race. Through aliens that can absorb objects (and by doing so experience what happened around that object), Resnick shows us a brief history of ourselves. Heavy on the sense of wonder, this kind of story is what I love best about science fiction. Veteran narrator Jonathan Davis is consistently excellent; one of the best around.

Publisher: Audible Frontiers (2008)
Price: $7.46
Audiobook: 2 hours, 20 min

Here’s hoping the audio novella gets popular! I know I can’t get enough.