Forward
Stories of Tomorrow
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About this listen
2020 Audie Award Finalist for Best Short Stories/Collection Audiobook
For some, it’s the end of the world. For others, it’s just the beginning. With brilliant imagination, today’s most visionary writers point to the future in a collection curated by bestselling author Blake Crouch. These stories range from darkly comic to deeply chilling, but they all look forward. Featuring stories by Andy Weir, Amor Towles, Veronica Roth, N. K. Jemisin, Paul Tremblay, and Blake Crouch; with narration by Evan Rachel Wood, David Harbour, Jason Isaacs, Rosa Salazar, Steven Strait, and Janina Gavankar.
ARK, by Veronica Roth, read by Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld)
On the eve of Earth’s destruction, a young scientist discovers something too precious to lose, in a story of cataclysm and hope by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Divergent trilogy.
It’s only two weeks before an asteroid turns home to dust. Though most of Earth has already been evacuated, it’s Samantha’s job to catalog plant samples for the survivors’ unknowable journey beyond. Preparing to stay behind and watch the world end, she makes a final human connection.
SUMMER FROST, by Blake Crouch, read by Rosa Salazar (Alita: Battle Angel)
A video game developer becomes obsessed with a willful character in her new project, in a mind-bending exploration of what it means to be human by the New York Times bestselling author of Recursion.
Maxine was made to do one thing: die. Except the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision - veering wildly off course and exploring the boundaries of the map. Soon Riley has all new plans for her spontaneous AI, including bringing Max into the real world. But what if Max has real-world plans of her own?
EMERGENCY SKIN, by N. K. Jemisin, read by Jason Isaacs (Star Trek: Discovery)
What will become of our self-destructed planet? The answer shatters all expectations in this subversive speculation from the Hugo Award-winning author of the Broken Earth trilogy.
An explorer returns to gather information from a climate-ravaged Earth that his ancestors, and others among the planet’s finest, fled centuries ago. The mission comes with a warning: a graveyard world awaits him. But so do those left behind - hopeless and unbeautiful wastes of humanity who should have died out ages ago. Get in. Get out. And try not to stare.
YOU HAVE ARRIVED AT YOUR DESTINATION, by Amor Towles, read by David Harbour (Stranger Things)
Nature or nurture? Neither. Discover a bold new way to raise a child in this unsettling story of the near future by the New York Times bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow.
When Sam’s wife first tells him about Vitek, a twenty-first-century fertility lab, he sees it as the natural next step in trying to help their future child get a “leg up” in a competitive world. But the more Sam considers the lives that his child could lead, the more he begins to question the choices he has made in his life.
THE LAST CONVERSATION, by Paul Tremblay, read by Steven Strait (The Expanse)
What’s more frightening: Not knowing who you are? Or finding out? A Bram Stoker Award-winning author explores the answer in a chilling story about human consciousness.
Imagine you’ve woken up in an unfamiliar room with no memory of who you are, how you got there, or where you were before. All you have is the disconnected voice of an attentive caretaker. Dr. Kuhn is there to help you - physically, emotionally, and psychologically. She’ll make sure you reclaim your lost identity. Now answer one question: Are you sure you want to?
RANDOMIZE, by Andy Weir, read by Janina Gavankar (True Blood)
In the near future, if Vegas games are ingeniously scam-proof, then the heists have to be too, in this imaginative and whip-smart story by the New York Times bestselling author of The Martian.
An IT whiz at the Babylon Casino is enlisted to upgrade security for the game of keno and its random-number generator. The new quantum computer system is foolproof. But someone on the inside is no fool. For once the odds may not favor the house.
©2019 Ark © 2019 by Veronica Roth. Summer Frost © 2019 by Blake Crouch. Emergency Skin © 2019 by N. K. Jemisin. You Have Arrived at Your Destination © 2019 by Amor Towles. The Last Conversation © 2019 by Paul Tremblay. Randomize © 2019 by Andy Weir. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Forward
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- C. Windermere Stoke
- 18-01-23
Only 2 Stories Are Good
Overall I give this collection 4 of 5 stars simply for the stories by NK Jemisin and Andy Weir. Arc by Veronica Roth gets 2 stars because boring. Plants bore me. Though it had a sort of happy ending. Summer Frost by Blake Crouch gets 3 stars because intriguing at first, but not a happy ending like usual with Blake’s fiction. Emergency Skin by NK Jemisin: 5 of 5 stars. Absolutely brilliant. If only the selfish men of this world would leave for real. You Have Arrived at Your Destination by Amor Towels: 2 stars because the title is meaningless and the story is boring about what ifs, who cares if your kid is going to turn out to be a reject. The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay: 3 stars because depressing. Randomize by Andy Weir gets 5 stars because it was a cute story with a happy ending.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- JWalden
- 10-07-24
Average stories, mixed performances
Stories all well written but mostly not very original or interesting. Some of the readers were painful to listen to.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Damo
- 28-08-20
Wow
Normally there is a bogey in the middle of a collection of stories, but these were all fantastic.
Each one was so different but really engaging and I was eagerly anticipating the direction each story would take.
The narration also was top notch, it is hard sometimes to find an audiobook where the narrator and story keep me listening and to do this six times in one collection is truly impressive
Cannot praise this enough, thank you Blake Crouch for curating these works and for giving me a raft of new (to me) SF authors to look for.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lea
- 02-05-22
Great Unusual Stories
This is definitely worth a listen. 6 very different short stories that I've not heard anything like before. A break from the norm. loved it. I hope there will be a Forward book 2
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- 11/10 Guy
- 03-06-21
Some good, some not so good narrators
It was an enjoyable listen but a couple of the stories majorly let down by poor narration, especially the first story which was like wading through treacle to finish because of it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Greg
- 15-10-20
amazing listening
Ark and summer frost were my favourites, but they were all good in their own ways.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- murchie
- 20-12-23
Slow start that morphs into a juggernaut
Narration: Near perfect
Stories: 8.5/10
Normally you open a collection of short stories with the best ones; in this case it felt like they packed the best ones in the middle.
I really liked everyone except the first - which wasn't bad per-say, just very slow and forgettable. After that though, there are some real bangers. Very satisfying mix of SciFi and dystopia; maybe the only criticism is I wouldn't buy this book if you are looking for a utopian or positive outlook on the future.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- 436k
- 03-01-21
A big let down
Two of the stories were narrated in such a monotone that I skipped them, unable to bear the droning female voices where everyone sounded exactly the same. Of the remaining stories, two were OK. A shame, as I have read really good work from some of these authors.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Juancornetto
- 08-07-22
Pretentious
A series of preachy, low energy sermons on climate change dressed up as sci-fi. The performance of the voice actors was pretty good to be fair but that's about the only positive I can find.
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