
Miniatures
The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi
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By:
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John Scalzi
About this listen
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.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever, and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.
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Fun! Things you might want to know:
- By Alexis on 08-29-14
By: John Scalzi
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When the Moon Hits Your Eye
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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For some it’s an opportunity. For others it’s a moment to question their faith: In God, in science, in everything. Still others try to keep the world running in the face of absurdity and uncertainty. And then there are the billions looking to the sky and wondering how a thing that was always just there is now... something absolutely impossible.
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Buyer's Remorse
- By Amy on 03-31-25
By: John Scalzi
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Constituent Service
- A Third District Story
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Amber Benson
- Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins
- Original Recording
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Ashley Perrin is fresh out of college and starting a job as a community liaison for the Third District–the city’s only sector with more alien residents than humans. Ashley’s barely found where the paper clips are kept when she’s beset with constituent complaints–from too much noise at the Annual Lupidian Celebration Parade to a trip-and-fall chicken to a very particular type of alien hornet that threatens the very city itself. And if that’s not terrifying enough, Ashley is next up at the office karaoke night.
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Short and fun!
- By Andrew on 10-04-24
By: John Scalzi
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Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City: Prologue
- A Tor.com Original
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: James MacKenzie
- Length: 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is Old Man's War author John Scalzi's sendup of the heroic fantasy genre, now a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
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Excellent Prologue, not short story
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 03-05-13
By: John Scalzi
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Rip-Off!
- By: John Scalzi, Jack Campbell, Mike Resnick, and others
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton, Scott Brick, Christian Rummel, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In Rip-Off!, 13 of today’s best and most honored writers of speculative fiction face a challenge even they would be hard-pressed to conceive: Pick your favorite opening line from a classic piece of fiction (or even non-fiction) - then use it as the first sentence of an entirely original short story.
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When is a rip-off not a rip-off?
- By Julie W. Capell on 11-24-13
By: John Scalzi, and others
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The Dispatcher
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Zachary Quinto
- Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Zachary Quinto - best known for his role as the Nimoy-approved Spock in the recent Star Trek reboot and the menacing, power-stealing serial killer, Sylar, in Heroes - brings his well-earned sci-fi credentials and simmering intensity to this audio-exclusive novella from master storyteller John Scalzi. One day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone - 999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know.
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IT'S HARD TO GET MYSTICAL ABOUT YOUR JOB
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 10-05-16
By: John Scalzi
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The Kaiju Preservation Society
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food-delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls “an animal rights organization”. Tom’s team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on. What Tom doesn't tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at at least. In an alternate dimension, dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world.
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I'm listening with a permanent smile on my face
- By Lucy A. Pithecus on 03-15-22
By: John Scalzi
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The Collapsing Empire
- The Interdependency, Book 1
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Our universe is ruled by physics, and faster-than-light travel is not possible - until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transports us to other worlds, around other stars. Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It's a hedge against interstellar war - and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.
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THE STUPIDITIES OF COURT
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 04-01-17
By: John Scalzi
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Starter Villain
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.
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Volcanic Lairs, Death Rays & Cats… Oh My! 😼
- By C. White on 09-19-23
By: John Scalzi
What listeners say about Miniatures
Highly rated for:
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- Blakjkpnut
- 01-12-17
Great variety of stories, with intros by author.
What did you love best about Miniatures?
Most of the stories made me laugh out loud! And since I listened to it in the car, I got some really funny looks. (Which, in my opinion, makes it just that much more fun!)
What was one of the most memorable moments of Miniatures?
Hard to choose because each of the stories is so unique. My favorite is 'Denise Jones, Superbooker'. OMG!! So hilarious! The last 'story', though, is a poem he wrote to Penelope (wife of Odysseus), which is extremely sweet. Very touching.
Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?
So many characters, so many voices.... The kids in the Lemonade story had the perfect whiny tones. Ha!
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Not necessary because the stories are so short, but I did want to because it was so entertaining.
Any additional comments?
Could not have asked for a more enjoyable two+ hours of entertainment. If you like Scalzi's work, this is a must-have.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Jennifer C.
- 11-15-22
A wonderful humorous collection of short stories!
This is the second anthology of short stories by John Scalzi that I have read, and I definitely enjoyed them. Not only has Scalzi included a wonderful collection of short stories here, but each one comes with an introduction in which the author provides the reader with a little bit of information about the short story in question.
Among my favorites in this collection were "To Sue the World" due to its connection to Redshirts, which I loved when I read it, "How I Keep Myself Amused on Long Flights" and "How I Keep Myself Amused on Long Flights, Part II," "When the Yogurt Took Over" for its sheer craziness, and "Missives from Possible Futures #1," which had my husband and me laughing out loud while listening.
I definitely recommend listening to this anthology. The different stories have different narrators, all of which did great jobs with their assigned short stories. Of the various narrators, I had only listened to one of them previously - Luke Daniels - though I do have a few audiobooks in my TBR list with one of the other narrators, and I am now looking forward to listening to those books even more.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-30-20
witty with a surprise ending!
these are delightful. and the poem...
I do not know if in your writers mind's eye, you pictured someone waiting a love ptsd has made distant & ultimately impossible. however, intended. you nailed it.
definitely telling my vet group.
I know a bit about both sides of the ptsd equation.
I''m a vietnam vet. (21 months) and yes, I Saw combat.
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- Archie R. Whitehill
- 02-16-18
A Gem
Imaginative writing by John Scalzi. very enjoyable. Mostly humor, and all good reads. Highly recommended.
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- Louis Lindbloom
- 04-16-20
Greatshort stories of each authors - Great!
Loved every Stories of each authors and each of their uniquely contrived characters & their activities & backgrounds !!! I therefore I was very happy how all the characters are & the fantastic storylines too !!!!!!!!
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- A. Beckstrom
- 06-07-18
Entertaining if not essential
Hardly essential, but definitely entertaining for the erstwhile Scalzi fan. Very funny stuff.
4.5 stars
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- Carlo
- 07-11-17
Scalzi, always genius
This is a bit of everything that makes him an amazing author. I'd def pay for a field trip to his mind any day.
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- Hilary
- 04-13-17
Brighten a dull day some fun
This book is short and light weight but gloriously funny, filled with John Scalzi's imagination par excellence. I laughed all the way through and was sorry when it ended. Recommended with happy laughter to brighten your day.
Excellent narrators, each perfect for the particular part they read, made it even more enjoyable. Thank you Mr Scalzi.
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3 people found this helpful
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- RoniElayne
- 03-15-23
Kind of bizarre
This is a collection of about 18 short stories. If you like science-fiction and love strange aliens then you’ll like these stories. I’m not much into sci-fi so I wasn’t too thrilled with this book.
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- Marquis Burge
- 03-12-17
Some of the greatest humors of sci-fi unleashed.
I have always been a fan of Scalzi's writing. He's had these streak of books that have never failed to amuse and engage. so sit back and enjoy.
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